Zaarib's pov
Humming my own made song I play with Inaya's fingers who is sitting like a rotten pumpkin beside me on the bed while huffing and puffing to get my attention.
Gosh, why does everyone wants my attention nowadays! I feel so important now. If I was a girl I would have flipped my hair like those girls do.
"Zaarib will you shut up or should I make you, your voice is irritating as hell!" She yells spitting out rubbish on my face, she is a terrible liar, my voice is just like that kpop idol who sang ' we don't talk anymore' with Charlie puth , sweet, dulcet, honeyed, syrupy, musical, heavenly, bubbly, silky, melodious—yeah, in one word it's perfect.
"Huh, an old man once said only a jeweler knows the true assay of diamond and now I get that line" I roll my eyes at the rude girl beside me, still not letting her smooth slender hand to which I am addicted too. I admit that I love her hands.
"Zaarib stop playing around, see this" she points at her engagement ring which looks like, it is made for her "we are engaged"
"Well wasn't I the groom in that engagement?" my voice filled with sarcasm, Was it necessary for her to remind me the terrible drama that took place two days ago.
" God Zaarib" Ai! She pulls her hand away from mine only to turn and look at my unbothered soul. My eyes not leaving her hands which are moving from here to there "we are engaged, you know what that means!" Not again!
"I do, it means we are no more bf and gf. We are each other's fiancé now" I smile at her, what does she think of me. I am updated about everything.
She huffs looking all irritated, what is it now?! She is my fiancé, isn't she? "It means we will get married soon!! My dad was searching for an alliance remember? And your mom was so eager to set you up. When now we are finally engaged they are definitely going to tie us up together very soon, I am sure" she pulls her hair back to tie it up into a messy bun after sending me into a trauma, this sounds like a terrible nightmare.
Am I really getting married? And that too, with my cousin? No no! She is beautiful I agree, she tolerates my childishness I agree, she is smart umm I don't agree that she is stupid I definitely agree but most importantly she is my sister, okay cousin sister and I get that it is normal in Muslims to get married to a cousin, but don't you think it will be awkward. I sure think that it will be.
Why is my life so messed up! I can't marry her!!
"Inaya" I pull her hand again to play with it "I am not ready, I don't want to marry you, I know this rejection will hurt you—" ouch, a hard punch in my chest stops me from talking further "don't be so full of yourself, I don't want to get married either and most importantly not to you." Hmm, feelings are mutual.
"good, how are we going to stop this then? I have so much more to achieve in my life" I breathe out thinking about my bucket list "Oh..what are your achievements?" She mumbles and I lick my lips thinking about my achievements "I want to eat, all the new famous dishes around the world" I dream resting my head back on the pillow.
"Bungee jumping is something I have seen in my general knowledge book when I was young, I want to jump from the top hill while yelling ' I love you' to the one I love. I don't mind if she joins me but you know girls these days are scared of height, so I will yell her name instead" I smile brightly as the scene is filling my mind huh—wait-I shake my head quickly when In my imagination I see Inaya standing beside me giving me thumbs-up, ya Allah this marriage drama is making me go crazy!! Why the hell am I seeing her?!
Calm down Zaarib.
"And?" Her voice is low and soft as she looks curious after hearing my romantic future story "And I have many more things to do, like draw a picture of yours" her face goes to awe but soon drops hearing my next sentence "and beat the hell out of you till you apologize for punching me always and you should also say Zaarib is the best maybe 10 times" yup this is my biggest achievement, please don't bring feminism here.
We are not opening any chat for feminism here.
When girls don't see us poor boys as humans and beat the hell out of us just because we are 'friends' or ' brothers' why should we show any mercy on them, why should girls have all the fun while beating us?
I will bring up Meninism if they bring up feminism here!!
Inaya gives me a hard punch on my stomach with her famous signature glare "that won't happen" she spats with an eye roll as she flops on the bed. I said you I am going to bring Meninism.
"Inaya your punches hurts!" I whine while rubbing the spot, I swear her punches are as hard as rock, they are no joke.
"Zaarib let's be serious now!" When I see a serious expression on her face, I so want to comment the jokers' dialogue ' Why so serious' but I keep my mouth shut didn't want to be gifted by another punch.
"If we were playing a role of being gf bf, we would have ended this up by bringing up an excuse that things didn't match so we broke up, but engagement isn't a joke" she sits up with her legs cross.
"Hm yeah so what is the plan?" I feel like I am on a mission now "let's say everyone the truth" my eyebrows jump in confusion hearing her "the truth?" She nods to my question "Yes truth. Let's tell them that this was just a fake acting, we did this because of Rumaisa and we just wanted to get rid of her"
"Yeah and they will be so proud of us that your mom will pat your head and say daughter 'I am so proud of you your my strong confident daughter' and my mom will hug me and for sure will fill my mouth with sweets for being such a bold liar, let's not talk about how happy Zain will be " I roll my eyes till the back of my head at her Rubbish stupid intelligent Idea.
"God Zaarib this is the best idea, stop being so negative. I am sure they will understand us" she crawls towards me, they won't I am damn sure about it "It will finish with two slaps and some cursing that's it" she speaks a little hesitant.
"Inaya do add one broken leg, injured face and maybe one hand dislocated for lifetime and it all will be gifted to me by your lovely brother" she rolls her eyes listening to my truthful sentence, which I am sure will happen. I can already imagine the terrible future in front of my eyes, gosh that's so scary! I am not listening to her! I love my handsome face!
"NO! I disagree!!" I shake my head totally not agreeing to this stupid plan which can destroy my handsome face.
"Zaarib I promise I will protect you, trust me." No, I don't believe her, I quickly shake my head "God Zaarib stop being a pussy now get up let's go and see what others are doing in the living room if they are in a good mood we will execute our plan if they ignore us which to our greatest surprise they are not doing. But If they do we will stay quiet, okay" she gives me bright smile, already proud of her plan. But I am still not convinced so I shake my head and a frown takes over my face.
"Gosh come one" she stands up while pulling me with her "Inayaa" I whine but walk beside her, we get out of my room with me still sulking "stop being so stubborn—" she stops on her track only to turn to my side with wide eyes and pushes me against the wall with all her force before joining me as well.
"Ouch Inaya what the hell—" she shushes me up with a finger on her lips asking me to shut my mouth so I keep quiet like a kid but hear my mom's faint voice "what is happen—" she turns only to glare at me"okay sorry" I mutter quietly before eves dropping—which is really bad, but sometimes it's forgivable.
Inaya peeks to the side to hear clearly, so I place my hand on her shoulder for support to do the same as she is doing.
Eves dropping is wrong!!
But it is not when it is about us.
"No No your not understanding this is the best idea!! I am telling you just trust me for once!" Mom's voice was heard, wait—I thought we were the one planning, I am now interested to where this is going.
"Farida, I don't think—" My mom cuts Inaya's mom with an irritating whine "Ya Allah why are you not understanding.... I believe Roomi, she would never lie to me" oh mom, only if you knew she was a born liar.
"The way zaarib looked all shocked when Inaya took that big step... I also feel like they are just acting around" My dad's voice was heard and I feel like killing myself for being all shocked but that's not my mistake. It was all so sudden I was not planning to get engaged any time soon.
Inaya looked over her shoulder to give me her famous glare as if she was not planning on breaking our little engagement, such a hypocrite.
"Exactly! We know how those kids are they will go to any extent to save each other's ass. And Zaarib was so against this marriage, I am sure Inaya did this to save him" Why is my mom so intelligent?!
"I umm I think they are together" Jannat finally speaks making me feel proud of my self for the stunt I pulled out which has a nice impact.
"Ah no they are not" Ya Allah! Can My Mom shutup, she is irritating me now.
"Its final, I am not listening to anyone. I am sure this plan will work" Now what the hell is this secret plan.
"I will now call them, I don't want anybody, not even a single soul to interrupt. I am sure this will work!" I can imagine her glaring more like shooting daggers at each soul. I am sure I will die with curiosity, what the hell is her plan?!
"Jannat please go call those idiots!" Before I could think further, the girl beside holds me by my wrist and pulls me towards our room that for a second I thought I would trip and fall.
She keeps the door wide open and flops on the bed as if nothing happened, how can she act so calm after hearing her, curiosity is killing me.
A soft knock was heard so I turn to look at the beautiful woman sent by my mama to bring us to the courtroom, yup it's not less than a courtroom.
Mom is the judge, Inaya's mom is our lawyer others are the jury and the couch is the witness box in which we the accused persons takes place.
And I hope we win this case. Okay, I went too deep into it.
"Umm aunty is calling you" she softly speaks to which I quickly nod but see Inaya already on her legs. When bhabhi was no more in our sight, I peep at Inaya who is looking at me with a hint of nervousness.
"Your mom is dangerous I don't know what she is planning" she whines and I bring my hand to intertwine her's with mine "I am sorry" I feel guilt hitting my chest since she is in this situation because of me.
"Everything is gonna be fine, let's be strong, hmm?" I smile at the girl who gives me a soft smile "I am scared, your mom never thinks normally. What the hell is that stupid plan she was talking about?" She pouts looking all frustrated, and I rub my thumb over her knuckles caressing her hand gently, to assure her that everything is going to be fine while mentally assuring myself to, when my gut feeling says that nothing is going to be alright. Mom is gonna throw a nuclear bomb on my head, I am sure about it.
We quietly leave my room while being engulfed in our scary thought when mom's voice reaches us.
"Come Come! We were waiting for you both" my mom speak excitedly, I can already see her slitting my throat into two with her favourite knife, behind that bright smile.
Taking a seat I force a smile on my face, hiding our intertwined hands between our thighs. Why do they give our hands so much attention, God!!
"Okay, so we called you two here to tell you a great news. I am sure you will be happy" she gives us a bright fake smile, wow she is so good at putting a mask on her face.
"Oh what is— what is that good news?" Stop stuttering Zaarib! You're making it obvious!
She gives me a smile before looking at others
"The way Inaya stood for you and the way you stood for her shows how much you both are in love with each other and I adore you so much, even though I am little upset that you both were doing this behind our back we still are your parents" I am loving the way she is lying, god why am I not as professional as my mom!
I gulp but nod, asking her to continue "So we elders thought of arranging your marriage with Inaya and we came to a conclusion" No No I am not ready for this! My heart is weak to hear such scary sentences!
My heart drops deep down my stomach and my pulse rises hearing her next terrible, unhealthy, unhappy sentence!
"You both are getting married in two weeks and this Sunday which is two days later, you both are getting engaged officially!" She speaks excitedly, when I can swear over my death that my mother would never be excited when the bride is Inaya, everybody knows her pure hate towards Inaya.
I would have snapped my head towards Inaya with wide eyes but I keep my acting posture in line.
Oh my Allah!
This is Not fair! Not even a bit!
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