Aasmano Pe Jo Khuda Hai,
Usse Meri Yahi Dua Hai,
Chand Yeh Har Roz Main Dekhu,
Tere Sath Mein,
Aankh Uthi Mohabbat Ne Angrai Li,
Dil Ka Sauda Hua Chandani Raat Mein.
Ayla POV
Praying extra nawafil for today to go well, I got up from my prayer mat. Right before getting ready, I remembered how ammi would tell me to always give Sadqa (charity) before anything important. So I quickly opened up my laptop and donated about 30,000 Pakistani rupees to the Edhi fund. I was really nervous for today's outcome because me and Salaar literally worked our asses off for this exhibition.
I wore my professional clothes, tied my hair in a sleek ponytail and wearing my work shoes, I headed down to my car and drove to the expo center where the exhibition was being held. I walked inside and this was the first time I was to see what our competitor's had come up with. A lot of the clothes were of a similar theme and that was "princess prom", so fluffy ballgowns which I daresay were extremely gorgeous. I began setting up our lehngas and cholis on the mannequins and it attracted quite the attention because they were so colorful and beautiful.
Salaar was running late but he soon joined me and I daresay, our little stall looked the best. It was full of colour and embroidery. We soon sat down over there and started talking about how today was such a huge day and how we needed to pray that we do well. The judges were yet to arrive so I just took the scarf I had in my bag and sat in the corner to recite Surah Muzammil, as its said to help you out in hard cirumstances.
In about an hour, the judges arrived and they were slowly taking rounds of the stalls of each brand. Then one of the judges, Katie, I read from her nametag, pointed at our stall and they all came near ours. I cleared my throat out and Salaar settled his tie,
"Aylaar that's an interesting name! What does it mean?", Katie asked
"Nothing really, its our names joined together, Ayla and Salaar", I laughed out
"Oh so you're together? You make a cute couple", Katie said winking at me
Before I could deny her, Salaar spoke up, "not yet but soon"
Katie made an O sound and the other two judges with her started looking around at our clothes,
"I love the colours, these are extremely vibrant. Are these traditional South Asian wear?", asked Jonathon
"Yes sir! These are South Asian bridals, all of these dresses were made under supervision and all the embroidery on them is handwork, there is no machine work", I said
"That's impressive! These are beyond beautiful", Jonathon said
"Thank you sir!", I said
"If I dare ask, how much was the cost of these clothes?", asked Darren, the third judge
I left this question to Salaar, because he dealt with the vendor completely on his own. Salaar professionally told Darren the entire cost of the clothing and the shipping. Since we had had these clothes made from Pakistan and due to the high exchange rate, it was actually really nominal in Canadian Dollars and that worked in our favour. The judges were extremely impressed and walked away from our stall.
It was now a waiting game, me and Salaar sat there, with more people coming and looking at our clothes and fortunately so, buying them. There was a Bengali family that just happened to see the sign board of the exhibition and walked right in. They saw our designs and immediately fell in love with them, she took our contact details and decided that we were to make her nikkah dress. The mother even took pictures of our clothes and business cards to spread the word. So far, everything was going all good and I muttered an Alhamdullilah.
After about two hours, we were all called to be seated in the front and the judges were to announce the winners, I was really nervous to be out there. I could sense an anxiety attack coming up and I started trembling, Salaar seeing this immediately grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over my palm, indicating his presence and immediately calming me down.
"After careful observation and discussions, the judges have come up with the winner and the runner ups for this exhibition, I would like to call Mr. Darren Thompson to announce the third prize", a blonde lady announced
"So, the third prize goes to Revella for their little mermaid meets prom edition, they will be awarded with $7000 as a cash prize. A round of applause for them!", said Darren
My heart started racing as the girl from Revella got up and went to the stage, I couldn't help but notice her being disappointed. I am really scared for this. Then, Jonathon was called up on stage to announce the second prize,
"The second prize for this exhibition goes toooo, drumroll please", he said prolonging the announcement
My stomach was filled with knots, I couldn't wait
"DIAMOND COUTURE, AND THEY WIN $25,000 CASH PRIZE", Jonathon yelled
The person behind diamond couture started yelling in happiness and ran up to the stage to collect his cheque and he took a picture with the judges. Now Katie walked onto stage and said,
"For the first prize, me and my fellow judges would like to call our chief guest to announce, please give a huge round of applause to Mr. David Mohammed", she said
Oh my God! David Mohammed was going to announce the first prize, he is a fashion icon and I am a huge huge fan of his fashion line. He was like the Gordon Ramsay of the fashion world, I was officially going to faint. A man in his late forties and streaks of grey hair walked on to stage and thanked the audience for the love.
"Hello guys! So I'm just gonna announce the first prize", he said taking hold of the envelope and raising his eyebrows
"hmmm this is an interesting name, anyway, the winner of this exhibition will be recieving $1 million Canadian Dollars and a predecorated store and office for them to start selling their talent immediately", he said and the entire crowd hooted
"I suppose I should announce the winner now!", he said and I couldn't stop fidgeting my hands, Salaar, grabbed my hand and squeezed it, I could tell he was nervous as well
"AYLAAR BRIDALS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE STAGE, CONGRATULATIONS FOR WINNING THE FIRST PRIZE"
I couldn't stop screaming. Salaar held my hand and we made our way up to the stage and they gave us our cheque and the keys to our office. We then held hands and bowed in front of the audience. I couldn't believe it, our hardwork finally paid off.
Aylaar was happening!
One year later
Its been one year since that fortunate day. Me and Salaar had used up the money wisely and spent an entire coming up with the most perfect designs ever. In the past year, we finished our degrees as well and I graduated top of my class followed by Salaar, I was the valedictorian. We've been extremely busy with bringing Aylaar to life. We even made a short trip to Pakistan a month ago to collect the clothes from our vendor ourselves.
Our office that was given to us was beautiful. The mortgage for two whole years was paid off by Mr. David's company. It was exactly the type of office you would want, with ample working space and everything. We even started hiring people. We were now a family of 20 people, consisting of web designers, junior fashion designers, business analysts, social media managers etc. Life had been perfect for the last year.
Today, however was the most important day in the history of Aylaar. We were officially launching online as a brand. I was so scared and nervous for it to go well. As always, I had given Sadqa so that I could have a peace of mind. I was now nervously pacing around the rooftop of our building. We were to launch in 15 minutes at 8pm.
We, Alhamdulillah, had a huge following because we hired a few of the top influencers to promote our brand and people really liked our designs, so we were flooded with people anticipating the launch which made me even more nervous.
My thoughts were cut short by the shrill sound of my ringtone, I took my phone out of my bag and saw that it was Salaar calling me, I picked it up
"Ayla where are you right now?", I could hear the frantic voice of Salaar
"I'm at the rooftop, just walking out the nerves what's up?", I asked
"Ayla there's a huge huge problem", he said
"Oh my God, I knew it! What happened?", my tears ready to spill
"The website has crashed and no one can figure it out", he said
"Ya Allah Khair, I'm coming downstairs, why don't you ask Bethany to start trying?", I said naming the best web designer we had
"Okay boss" and Salaar hung up.
I gathered my stuff and made my way to the web designing floor, which was the ground floor of the building. The elevator dinged and it was pitch black on the floor.
"Bethany, Salaar, where are you guys?", I called out and I was met with no response.
Suddenly a wave of cold air hit me, I saw the sliding door to the backyard open. I squinted and saw some lights outside. I started walking towards it. I dialed 911 on my phone but I didn't call them just in case, because no one goes to the backyard and I was scared.
I carefully walked outside and I was hit with a blinding golden light, blinking a few times, I tried to get my eyes familiar with the lights, so that I could see and I was met with the most beautiful scenario ever.
I stood there looking at this set up with my mouth wide open. I couldn't comprehend anything and I didn't know how to react, suddenly from behind these letters Salaar came out, with a huge dimpled smile. looking devilishly handsome in black pants and a white shirt and looked at me in the eyes. I know it sounds cringy to say, but I could see the love in his eyes. Henna came from my side and gave me a huge smile, held my hand and made me stand opposite to Salaar infront of those letters. My brain and heart could not comprehend what was going on and I just stood there in shock.
Salaar took a deep breath, smiled at me and started speaking,
"Ayla, two years ago, I first saw you introducing yourself in Mr. Clark's, you had a way with your words and your mannerisms that I was smitten the minute I saw you. You had me spellbound and I couldn't remove my eyes from you. What started as a crush only developed to be stronger than ever with every interaction I had with you. I don't think I've ever said this outloud but Ayla Ahmed, I am crazy for you, I'm madly in love with you. These two years of knowing you have been extremely wonderful, even though we've had multiple ups and downs, you're the one thing I know I want constant in my life. You are the most strongest woman I've ever known and I vow to protect you from everything!"
Kneeling down on one knee,
"So, Ms. Ayla Ahmed would you do the honor of completing half of my deen and becoming my wife?", he asked
I looked at him in disbelief, tears falling down my eyes, I couldn't form the words in my mouth so I simply nodded yes and Salaar broke out into tears as well. He held my left hand and slid the most beautiful ring I've ever seen on my ring finger. I was suddenly engulfed in a hug by no one other than Rozina aunty and she kept giving me dua'as. I hugged her back and thanked the Lord for giving me a second chance at happiness.
Salaar walked into my life like an unknown blessing. I had given up on love and happiness, I thought that it would always be something that I would never get to experience but this man changed my perspective, he made me fall madly in love with every characteristic of his. He accepted me and loved me even though he knew that there will be a lot of hardships we had to face but he did it anyway. He was perfect in every single way and I geniunely could not wait for the day that I became Mrs. Ayla Salaar, his officially in the eyes of Allah and the world!
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS IT. THIS CHAPTER MARKS THE OFFICIAL END OF KHUDGARZI. THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO WAS WITH ME SINCE THE VERY START OF THE BOOK. YOU GUYS ARE ACTUAL GEMS AND I LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH. I WANNA GIVE A SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO
These two people have been reading and showing love on my story when it had less than 30 reads. You two have my dil. Thank you for supporting me throughout these months. There were so many times where I felt like giving up on the book but I didn't because of y'alls love. I geniunely can't thank you enough.
This is it! I'm taking my leave for the one last time! Don't forget to vote, comment and follow! I love you all! M'WAAHHHH!
Okay sorry I'm only being a dramaybaaz rn, Epilouge coming soon, so cya there