Sumayya couldn't stop smiling.
The cute little ring on her finger sparkled in the dark night as she kept staring at it with a dreamy smile on her face. A sigh escaped her lips as she rolled on the bed and spooned her pillows tightly. It still felt so surreal.
But she was the legally wedded wife of someone she has sworn to hate for life.
Oh, the irony.
She chuckled while recollecting everything that has happened in the evening. As soon as she said yes to Irtaza he demanded that they get married immediately. She thought he was joking but only he wasn't.
They called their parents and informed them about their desire to get married immediately. Irtaza was the one who did all the convincing. He can be charming when he wants to be. And the family gave in to his demand in the end.
And so, they got married on the very same day.
Sumayya was in a daze throughout the time. She couldn't believe any of which was happening but she gave her full consent to it anyway. She knew it was absolute madness, yet willingly signed up for it.
In Irtaza's defence, he didn't want her to change her mind it seems, so he wanted them to get married as soon as possible and she said yes to that madness.
Sumayya has always wanted a small and simple wedding. And here she was, lying on her bed, grinning like a fool, thinking about their very simple wedding.
She and her husband did get in a lot of trouble for the stunt they've pulled though. Their families were absolutely livid despite agreeing to it. They didn't understand why couldn't they wait for another month or two before getting married. They all wanted it to be huge and whatnot. Which was exactly why they both rushed it too. They did not want to wait. Especially her husband.
The word husband still sends alien feelings to her even after being married for seven hours. It was so weird but she loved this weirdness. And yes, she was counting the hours.
Irtaza: What are you doing?
A warm smile spread across her cheeks as she sat straight and hugged her pillows tightly whilst holding her phone. She smiled at the message like a lovesick fool.
Sumayya: Still in disbelief.
She replied bashfully.
"I can see that," The unexpected voice of her husband made her shriek in shock. Her heart almost skipped a beat.
"Irtaza!" Sumayya whined annoyedly while he laughed at her shocked face. She threw the pillow that she was holding and it hit on his face perfectly taking him off guard.
Good! She felt smug and threw another one at him.
"Ouch, woman. Stop hitting your husband. Where are your manners?" He aksed mock teasingly whilst throwing her pillow back at her. She jumped down from her bed and placed her hands against her hips, glaring at him slightly.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She whisper yelled at him as realisation suddenly dawned upon her and her eyes went wide.
"I wanted to check if this was real. It almost felt like a dream. I wanted to see if you really are my wife" He sighed dreamily whilst taking a seat on her messy bed as if he owned everything here.
Sumayya felt the whole zoo inside her stomach as he muttered those words. When did her annoying cousin turn this charming?
"But when you move in with me, we're having a serious discussion about your messiness." He chuckled while throwing another pillow at her which she dodged skillfully.
"Irtaza, stop being ridiculous. It's one in the night. What if we get caught?" She picked up another pillow and hits him on his shoulder.
"Are you obsessed with pillows or something? Seriously woman! You have so many of them," Irtaza smiled cheekily as she gave him an I'm-so-done-with-you look and took a seat beside him. Her heart raced as she did that, for he wasn't just her cousin anymore.
"But really, I want you to at least try and keep our room clean. I can't stand mess." The way he said our room got her all jittery and bashful. She fought back her smile while gazing into his dreamy hazel brown eyes which were staring back at her fondly.
"Well, I can try. But you should also be nice to me." Sumayya narrowed her eyes at him.
"I am nice." He replied defensively.
"Not to me." She argued.
"Did I tell you what did I do when I first met you?" She didn't understand what this conversation has got to do with that question.
"No. I must be a baby. So technically I can't remember anything." She shrugged.
"Smartass." He chuckled.
"What did you just call me?" Her cheeks heated up in shyness while he grinned at her. This was all so new to her yet it didn't feel like that. They were so comfortable with each other already.
"Nevermind. What did you do when you first met me?" She tore her gaze away as he was smirking mischievously.
"I pinched you." He mumbled incoherently.
"You were sleeping so peacefully looking very tiny and beautiful. So I pinched you."
Sumayya's jaw almost dropped.
"You evil." She picked the pillow and gave him another painful hit. He just laughed it off.
"You know why I did that?" She narrowed her eyes at his stupid question, "to annoy me of course."
"Not really... I pinched because I wanted you to look at me." Irtaza looked pretty serious with that explanation and she couldn't believe her ears.
"That's so stupid! Who does that?"
"I was just seven and a half. So cut me some slack. I thought illogically at times." He shrugged looking proud of his stupidity.
"But what has that got to do with you being nice to me?" Sumayya asked confusedly.
"I behaved differently just with you. If you haven't noticed already." Irtaza smiled sheepishly as he eyed her sideways.
"Yes. Of course, I did. Like pulling my hair all time and teasing me endlessly and annoying me with everything. For a guy who claims to like me so much, you have a weird way of showing it, Irtaza."
"Well. I guess I've always liked you and you just hated me for some reason."
"Excuse me, not for any reason but because you were so annoying."
"Well, yes. I was. You know the saying- sometimes guys annoy girls because they like her so much?" He asked while she shook her head in disbelief.
"I can't believe you." She smacked his shoulders, "are you insane? You did all those annoying things because you liked me?" Sumayya couldn't believe her ears. And he had the audacity to look sheepish about it.
"Yes. You wouldn't even look at me otherwise. I needed your attention. I enjoyed your attention. It is insane I know. But I didn't exactly hate you like you imagine me to be, I annoyed you because I wanted you to notice me. Talk with me. Do anything with me."
"Irtaza!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, he fell back due to the force and she snuggled more comfortably making him chuckle against her head.
They remained like that for a while, enjoying this new closeness. She loved his warm embrace. And his scent was intoxicating.
"Sumayya... I've been foolish most of the time. But I like you so much. I always have. Please don't hate me anymore." He sounded almost vulnerable making her break the hug abruptly and they sat up straight, looking into each other's eyes.
Gosh! His eyes were so beautiful.
"I don't hate you, Irtaza." She tore her gaze away, feeling shy all of a sudden. Her heart began to beat fast.
"You do annoy the hell out of me. But I think I've liked you for a while now."
It was Irtaza's turn to be surprised now.
"Don't lie to me." He added in disbelief.
"I am not lying. I did dislike you a lot because you're so annoying obviously. But I think it was two years ago. I saw you going all the way out to help my family when we got into that accident." Sumayya stopped midway. They don't talk about that accident anymore. It almost killed the entire Mirza family.
But luckily they survived it. Alhamdulillah.
"Don't remind me of that. I thought I lost you." He replied with a shudder as he held her hands tightly, why she assumed was to reassure himself that she was fine.
Sumayya felt touched by that little gesture. Her fondness for him increased ten folds more.
"Yes. It was at that time that I saw a different side of you. You were so caring and soft.
I couldn't believe myself for a few days. You cooked for us every single day. Helped my father to walk again. Seriously, Irtaza. Every other woman would have fallen head over heels in love with you." Her eyes teared up as she recalled those days.
It was at that time when they called a temporary truce and behaved normally with each other. He was good to her.
And she fell in love with him, unknowingly.
Sumayya refused to acknowledge that feeling, even to herself. She is stubborn like that. And today was the first-ever time that she's opening up about it even to her ownself. It was so tough actually when her mind wanted to hate him for how how he behaved with her while her heart had developed a soft spot for him. She had no idea what to do with those feelings, so she did what they were best at. Hated him more. Or at least pretended to when things got back to normal. She didn't imagine she'd ever be married to Irtaza though. It felt like the wildest of dreams.
But she did dream about it. Plenty of times. And hated herself for feeling that way all the time. Because he was Irtaza Riaz. Her annoying and irritating cousin.
But look at the irony.
And when her parents suggested that she get married to him, it became too overwhelming for her. While she assumed that Irtaza hated her for whatever reason, she couldn't accept such feelings from her would be husband which was why she said a big no even before things got finalised.
It was so much hard for her.
As she was still in denial of her feelings towards him and didn't know what to do with that. She wanted to say yes but she knew she deserved nothing but love from her husband. So she said no even when she secretly liked the idea of marrying Irtaza so much.
But when she saw Irtaza at the mall today, looking so vulnerable and broken, asking her marry him. All her fears and doubts vanished in the air. She knew it was going to be okay. Irtaza wasn't as bad after all.
"What about Maaz?" Her husband sounded annoyed and uncertain, making her chukle as she snapped back to the reality.
"He was just my boss. Albeit a good looking one." Irtaza rolled his eyes at that.
"Anyways, I just had a crush on him. It was silly and I was never going to say yes to him."
He mumbled a good making her laugh. She could see the possessiveness through his eyes and weirdly she loved the feel of it.
"Why do you hate him so much?"
"He's a business enemy. I have the same position available in my company as well. You could have worked for me instead." He argued.
"Do you blame me for not wanting to?" She heard his grunt and chuckled. It felt so good, having this open one on one. They should have done this a long ago. But it was never too late.
"So did you?" He asked cryptically. She passed him a puzzled look in return.
"Fall head over heels in love with me that is." He stated with a smile. She blushed crimson, looking down at her hands.
"Maybe I did." Sumayya didn't want to be stubborn and egoistic just because it was about Irtaza. She wanted to openly acknowledge her feelings.
Slowly, she raised her head and found him already staring at her. Heat raised onto her cheeks with the way he was looking at her. So fondly and intensely.
"I love you too. You can't imagine how madly and crazily." He muttered, making her feel goosebumps all over her hands. She blushed under his intense gaze. Her heart bursted out with euphoric feeling.
"We didn't rush our wedding, did we Irtaza?" It was such a stupid question to ask in the middle of an emotional confession. Yet she couldn't stop herself.
"No. I waited too long. I've been foolish. But this marriage is the best thing to have ever happened to me and us. I'll do everything right from now on." He sounded so confident that she smiled.
"Like?" She raised her brows and her heart almost stopped beating as he leaned in towards her slowly and cupped her cheeks, looking deep into her eyes. Their hot breathing fanned over their faces.
He asked for her permission with his eyes and she blinked a yes. That was all it took before he placed his mouth against hers.
There were fireworks everywhere.
The kiss was filled with desperation and longing. Passion and madness. She kissed him back just as wildly. Her hands goes to hold his hair as he deepened it.
It was so intense.
Sumayya has dreamt of this moment. Of when she'd share her first with her husband. It was so much better than all of that. And funnily, Irtaza would always cross her mind at that time and look at the irony. He happens to be her husband now.
That left her wanting to kiss him more and she did just that. He was only too happy.
They broke away, panting softly and Sumayya snuggled into his warm embrace again. He wrapped his arms around her possessively.
"So will you say yes to the ruksathi to happen in two weeks?" He asked so desperately that she laughed.
Their parents were angry because of how quick they got married and yet they were happy too. They've always wanted this it seemed. This is why they planned to keep a grand ruksathi in a month.
But of course, Irtaza didn't want to stay away from her for such a long time.
"Don't you want to live with me already?" He asked making her heart skip several beats.
"I do." She whispered, looking into his dreamy hazel brown eyes. Hugging him more tightly.
"I want to live with you, forever and ever, Irtaza." Irtaza smiled widely at her words looking so pleased.
"Forever and ever, huh?"
"Yes. Forever and ever."
That was Sumayya and Irtaza and this is their crazy love story. They were not perfect but they love each other just the way they are. And somehow, they manage to find their happy ever after despite all the harshness of life.