I press my lips together not knowing what to do, nobody can tell what I am going through, how my heart is trembling and how scared I am right now, when I did nothing.
I only wish the photo was taken from another angle so they could see how badly I was sobbing like a mad women, I wish I did not squeeze him like that because it looks so inappropriate, I wish he should have pushed me and not consoled me by wrapping his arms around my body, I only wish such things could have happened this way and not the way I enjoyed that day so I do not see the look of disappointment my parents are throwing towards me.
I do not blame them for looking me with anger and disappointment, any body would have found it inappropriate. Even I feel disgusted on myself for hugging him like that when I should have maintained distance. But I was not able to think about anything that moment, I just wanted someone to protect me and he was their and he was the only one their for me.
"What is this? Can you explain?" I take a peek at Ziyan chewing my inner cheek to not cry at her loud harsh tone. His eyebrows furrows up in confusion as he walks towards me and takes the picture from my trembling hand I even see many other pics in her hand and I don't even want to know how it looks like and how it is portrayed in my parents mind.
A sigh escapes his lips and he crumbles the picture and throws it away "Throwing it away doesn't change the fact that you guys are hiding something from us" I squeeze my eyes shut when a tear escapes my eyes but I wipe it away angrily. I so want to explain but I am not able to open my mouth.
"We are not hiding anything from you aunty, what are you even telling?" Ziyan sounds annoyed "Oh then please explain why you guys are sticking closer to each other" she gives us a daring glare but I find Ziyan glaring back.
"Aunty? Have you ever thought of hugging someone tightly but found none beside to do so?" Ziyan questions taking a step forward and when she does not reply but only glares at him he continues "I am sure you did and I have also felt the same that day but what happened is, I had someone beside me and that happened to be Ziah, and this picture just shows two human hugging so please calm down" Ziyan explains in a calming tone but I hear Uncle Sam scoffing and coughing at his truth.
Thank god he is not keeping his mouth shut like me and is speaking up.
"Okay then what is this?" She hands him another picture, and that looks worst than before, Ziyan was literally cupping my face, and that was when he wiped my tears and made a joke about something and that tells why I was smiling but from a far the swollen eyes cannot be seen but my red nose and cheeks are visible.
I gulp back my hot tears when Ziyan stays quiet not able to say anything on this and my mother smirks proudly "What happened? You don't have any stories to make?" She raises her eyebrows mockingly and again Ziyan crumbles the paper and throws it on the ground and I so want to go jump on it.
"Mamma—" I flinch back when she cuts me of harshly "you shutup! I did not talk to you so Shut Up." She gives me that glare that literally shuts me up but it do not shuts my eyes, It only builds more tear and this time even after trying so hard not to cry infront of the, tears drops down on the carpet one by one as I keep my head low, I do not even look up, even not when Ziyan curse under his breathe and a silence fills the room.
I keep my head low very low so they do not notice my tears, I hate crying infront of everyone but I am not able to hold it back when Mamma is the one yelling.
I squeeze my fingers out of nervousness but harshly wipe my cheeks to not cry.
"Aunty since your not talking to Ziah talk to me then, what do you want?" Ziyan voice loud, clear, stern but harsh too, a tone he never uses on elders.
Mamma clears her throat probably taken aback from Ziyan's choice of tone. "Listen, we are not trying to scold you kids but this photo was given to me from your relative and to her it was given by someone else and that's how chain links and people starts thinking bad about you both, I don't want people calling my daughter by names, okay even if we understand that those pictures were nothing which we are not able to believe but still even if we believe people will think bad about my daughter and I don't know how many people have seen this pics of you hugging and kissing and all—" Mamma goes on and on with her lecture and my legs are giving up because of the anxiety I am feeling, but Ziyan interrupts by calling her in a warning tone when she tries crossing her line with the choice of her words.
"I want only good for my child and that will happen by engaging you guys and if anybody ask about this I would tell them on their face that they are hugging or doing whatever halal things they want with their fiancé and soon to be wife and husband so shutup" And thats when I raise my head up to glare the hell out of this women who is claimed as my mother and who is talking rubbish.
"What did you say?" I take a step forward pushing Ziyan aside but found myself moving to the side. "You heard me Ziah, I want you both to get married as soon as possible and I don't to hear anything against it especially from you" she gives her scariest glare and a chuckle leaves my lips.
"I think I heard something wrong, so it's going to be your wedding with Ziyan is it? That you expect me to shutup and come and act like a guest, if it is an yes, then Abbu I feel sorry for you and do invite me I would love to come and eat" with that I turn my back but rush away towards my room which is their guest room. I ignore all the loud yells from Mamma, with the only destination in my mind that is the room and the bed were I am going to sleep and cry for hours.
2 hours later
5:30 pm
A knock on the door wakes me up and I stir in sleep. I open my eyes to see mamma walking in and that makes me groan and close my eyes shut again.
I act as if I am sleeping even after knowing that she is aware that I not asleep.
"Ziah darling?" Her sweet voice after so much harshness already builds tears in the back of my eyes but I gulp it down.
"Is my baby angry?" She whispers softly caressing my cheek but I do not say anything, the bed dips indicating that she sat down beside me "can I get a hug baby?" She again pampers me and I stay unmoved "please baby?" And when her voice trembles a little, my heart breaks into trillion pieces and I crawl up to lay myself on her, sobbing quietly.
"I am sorry" she whispers combing my hair and I shakes my head squeezing her "I shouldn't have yelled at you, I am sorry baby, please forgive me" her 'baby' is all that needs to make me sob more.
I love her so much, that her every yell squeezes my heart "I did nothing I swear, I have never seen Ziyan that way, I promise please believe me, he is my cousin my best friend and it was just a hug" my voice stutters and hiccups after hiccups leaves my lips as I cry harder.
"I know I know, I was being an idiot to even say those words to you, I am sorry" she apologises again and again and I nod feeling relieved that she trusts me. We stay like that for few minutes, just she hugging me and with my head rested on her chest as she rubs my back to calm me.
"I don't want to marry him mamma" I mumble and she does not reply to that but combs my hair to calm me down.
"What's wrong in marrying him baby? He is a good guy he will take care of you, I don't see anything wrong in it, why are you so against it?" She questions me the same question she did two days ago but that tone was different from this, she is using her best soft tone on me now and two days ago she was so angry and that made me angry because she was all of a sudden requesting for something she know I won't accept and that literally made me shut my room door on her face with a loud thud.
"He is my cousin my broth—" I sniff while mumbling but mamma cuts me off "If he was your brother and if it was so wrong we wouldn't have set you up with him in first place, if we are requesting you so sweetly then you should know that there is a reason behind it and anyway he is your cousin who you are engaged to and the engagement which you don't believe but we do" I look up to glare at her and she gives me a cheeky grin.
"That was when we were kid mamma, don't bring that up again" I growl getting irritated but hear mamma giggling "well, we were not the one who asked you to get engage with little Ziyan when you were kid, you guys were so in love with each other and you were so determined to get married and stay together, I don't know what happened to that determination now" she mocks finding this very funny, when I am here laying down with flushed embarrassed cheeks.
"Mamma please, forget it already" I groan in irritation mentally slapping and smacking myself for even doing such idiotic this.
When I was kid that was when I was 6 years old I remember dragging the sulking Ziyan who was getting annoyed about the fact that I cried a whole day when he said he won't marry me and I forced him to put a ring on my finger as I did the same and those rings where made by the tree branches and leafs and flowers by non other than me.
Let me point out the fact that I was very creative that time.
Mamma even have the pictures of that day which she snapped, where I am grinning while hugging the sulking Ziyan. But I lost that ring and I am sure Ziyan did too, who would even in right sense will keep something such as a stupid ring safely till now.
I feel like killing myself everytime she brings it up, even she gathered Saif and Naim to tell this story with so much enthusiasm in her voice. And I remember them teasing me till I was about to cry. They are real demons, I swear.
"Okay jokes apart, but I seriously want you to get married to him, he is a very nice guy, not only me but your grandparents wanted that and even your uncle asked Ziyan to take care of you when taking his last breathe, he loved you so much that he cared for you even when he was dying, your aunty loved you so much you have whole pack of your biases here, what will go wrong if you become a part of this family? Nothing, you will just be happy" she explains softly and for a moment my heart flipped the decision I was stern on but I shake my head.
"Let's not talk about the dead here, I know your trying to make me emotional with your words that won't happen" I scoff sitting up. I am not falling for her tactics but she looks genuine here.
"I am just reminding you of what your loved one wanted and want, of course it is your decision even if I try making you emotional you are not a kid to run and come if I show you some candy, please think about it, your relatives our calling me since morning to know the reason behind that pic and I am ignoring every call, my call log is filled with missed calls, and I getting fed up now, check it if you don't believe me" she forwards her phone and I pout feeling bad for her but I take the phone to check who those stupid relatives are who are disturbing my mamma but she snatches her phone away.
"You don't have to check and feel hatred towards your own relatives, I am not that bad to build grudges in my daughters life, but baby give them a reason to Shutup, only if you agree to marry him I would tell them a mouthful for even snapping my babies personal life pictures" she pouts and opens her arms asking for a hug and I crawl to go hug her tightly with my eyes glistening at her love towards me "Mamma I love you, you're the best" I give a tight kiss on her cheek. "So you are ready baby?" She questions again and I feel so bad for putting her under pressure and after a long pause I slowly nod after hearing everything she said and now I feel like nodding as an yes is the only thing I should do.
I roll my eyes getting irritated at my uncles and aunties who are chirping loudly at something which makes no sense.
"I believe Haniya she will make Ziah accept this marriage I am telling you" I mentally groan when Uncle Sam's wife Laiba assures my mother who nods agreeing to it.
Why can't they see us single, they always want us to be tied up to someone or else they won't feel alive.
With my laptop on my lap I take a look at the documents I received just now. But my mind is somewhere else it is in a mess, and I am waiting for the only person missing in the room to come and say something good after taking Rubbish the whole day the way she yelled at Ziah for no apparent reason, boiled me so much that after she left crying I was so near to lash out on them for even uttering rubbish.
But what can I even say when they hold this 'I am elder than you' card up high to shut us up.
The room falls in silence and I lift my eyelids up when I see the reason of their silence walking towards us with a plate in her hand.
A sigh escapes my lips already knowing the answer of Ziah but again my lovely aunty will give a dramatic speech now, on how disappointed she is and how her daughter is not listening to her only wish and all that rubbish.
I keep my eyes on her who is rushing towards us but rest back feeling tired but a gasp leaves my lips when she looks at me with a bright grin and soon she fills my mouth with sweet, I quickly cover my mouth not able to chew the large amount she just now stuffed without any warning.
"Congratulations my soon to be son in law" she laughs and grins brightly filling her mouth with the same sweet but leaving me shocked behind.
Everybody let's out a gasp of surprise but soon it turns into loud cheering "Are you serious?" I blink my eyes not believing this women's word, she smirks proudly handling the plate to her husband as she takes a seat beside me.
"I said you my plan will work" with a wink and proud smile she pulls me into a hug squeezing me in her arms and I am still not believing her words.
Ziah hates me, she won't accept this. But why the hell did she agreed on marrying me, that's not how I thought it will work when I agreed to this stupid plan with these elders.
*****
A/n: Happy New Year my lovely readers. I hope this years brings lots and lots of happiness in your life and I hope it throws away the sadness your life holds and bring only enjoyment and joy.
A short chapter I know, but will update the next chapter super soon and my lovely readers do tell your views on some scenes if you find it funny or irritating because that's how I will know how you feel about my writing and I enjoy reading your comments too.