Forbidden ✓

Confessions of Hearts

Mastoorah

As I stood near the high front wall of the rooftop at Uncle Faraan's house, I saw Iyad stepping upstairs through my peripheral vision. It was very much reminiscent of what happened last week when Iyad out of the blue proposed to me.

I was very confused and amazed at this. Iyad wasn't a person who would joke around. His nature wasn't like this. If it was Imad, I might would have considered this. But this didn't go with how Iyad was. And then a few days ago, his sister approached me saying that he was serious about me but the decision was in my court whether to pursue this or not.

As far as I was concerned, then I considered myself very practical. I believed in love but I didn't think of it as something very crucial for a relationship. For me, respect and regard should be present before anything. Marriage was an inevitable part of one's life and it was bound to happen any day.

And if I had to get married, then why should I wed off to someone totally unknown and again become a part of some stranger family? I didn't have my own family even now but I consider these all very dear to me. So Iyad wasn't a bad option. He was a nice, soft-spoken spoken, and intelligent guy. The only halting point was our age difference. I was might be his sister's age. And this made me four years older than him. If I was okay with it then would he be fine after a few years?

Iyad walked up to me, his hands plopped in his pants pocket. The next morning, he had to go back to his training so he wanted to discuss that thing with me sooner.

He smiled. "Don't you think the weather is getting chilly now? Do you want us to talk downstairs?"

I shook my head. "No, it's fine." I changed my posture and faced him. "Iyad, I am a very realistic girl. For me, love isn't important. Respect, companionship, and a promise of forever are important. Marriage is a pivotal part of life. I won't tell you an untruth; if I said I would see to it to Eizal about your proposal, then honestly it's because I don't want any more hardship by going between another stranger's family. I have known you guys since I was a kid and also because there is nothing I can hold against you as a person who can be my potential husband. But..."

Iyad who was listening carefully to me, raised a brow at my deliberate pause. "But what?"

I inhaled a sharp breath. "We have a considerable age gap between us. I am older than you and in today's age, this fact is being frowned upon by society. I want you to think again by taking an ample time if your earlier statement was out of any impulse."

He rubbed his nose quietly before speaking. "I am not an impulsive person, Mastoorah G. My confession wasn't out of any random or one-second attraction or maybe love at first sight." He chuckled. "I have been liking you for a while and last week seemed the best moment to confess. And age doesn't matter to me. You are someone I consider very respectful and loving."

I stared at him silently while understanding his words. He and I indeed had many things in common. We shared a serious demeanor and we both were goal-oriented. At that time, his eyes were so expressive that I had to look away. I didn't even know when he had started to love me.

"Mastoorah G, I genuinely love you and want to marry you," he further said, his voice husky as ever.

I scratched my forehead while looking back at him. "Did you talk to your parents about it?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "First you say yes. My parents will never say no to a girl like you. They have good eyes."

He had a smile on his lips as he completed this. My cheeks burned due to what he said. But the next moment, I nodded because there was seriously not any bad thing regarding this.