Irrevocably In Love

Chapter 20

"Being grateful is not just an act of saying Alhamdulillah. Being grateful is an attitude. It's lifestyle. It's a way of thinking. You are constantly grateful."

-Nouman Ali Khan

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“Rida we need to talk to you.” Rida looked up when she saw her mom peeking through the door. She smiled at her mother and nodded her head.She closed her laptop and walked down to find her father seated on the couch engrossed in his own thoughts.

She looked around to find Faiza but she did not find her and that made things clear that whatever it was, it was serious. She felt her heart hammering in her chest. What was that they wanted to talk about?

“Mom? Dad? You wanted to talk to me?” Rida asked smiling at her parents who exchanged a glance and nodded at her.

“Come sit.” Abdul said and Rida took a seat in front of her parents while smiling at them who looked at each other and her mother nodded her head assuring him while keeping her hand on his shoulder. She looked at them trying to calm her heartbeat while playing with her fingers. She felt her legs trembling due to nervousness and she tried her best to stop them, a habit of hers whenever she would be tensed about something.

“Beta you will be getting married to Rehan tomorrow.” Her father said and Rida felt that everyone in the room could now hear the hammering of her heart. She lowered her face a blush creeping up her face. She started playing with her fingers while biting her lower lip.

From tomorrow she wouldn’t just be Rida Shaikh but Rida Rehan Shaikh and that mere thought gave her goosebumps and a warmth feeling in her chest.

“We have known Rehan for a long time now and we are sure that he will be the best for you but...” Rida glanced up when she saw her father looking at her mother with unsure eyes. She felt herself getting impatient. She felt something in the pit of her stomach. She was sure they wouldn’t cancel the marriage because if they were not willing to get her married to Rehan they wouldn’t have made him the watch and make things official, right?

“But you know we know nothing about his family, like we don’t know where his mother and father are. We wanted to talk to Rehan about this but since we did not wanted to upset him we thought of speaking to you. Do you know anything about his parents?” Her father asked and she gulped. She had known about his parents and she did not want to speak about it, because it wouldn’t be right on Rehan’s part if she speaks about his parents, a topic that was very sensitive to him.

“I have known about his parents Dad, but I don’t think it will be fair of me to speak about them to you. I know if you’ll ask Rehan he will clear all your doubts but I would be happy if you’ll keep the topic disclosed since it is a very sensitive topic to him. I know you both are just worried about me and nothing else, but I don’t think that his family has anything to do with him, right? His character, his behaviour, his hard work is all that matters to us, right?” Rida explained looking at her parents with worried eyes. She did not wanted to upset her parents nor she wanted to upset Rehan. She just wanted her parents to understand what she was trying to say and she heaved a sigh in relief when she saw them giving her a smile.

“We have nothing against him but we just wanted to be clear on our part and since you already know about his parents and if you are willing to get married to him we do not have any objection, because in the end all that matters to us is your happiness.” Her mother said and she smiled at her mother, glad that they had understood her point of view.

“Jazakillah Khairan Khair mom and dad for understanding me.” Rida said while her mom stood up and engulfed Rida in a hug.

“Masha Allah my daughter has grown up.” Her mom said, caressing her cheek while she lowered her head, biting her lip.