Dedicated to SkyCastles for the new cover ^.^
~ Can anyone guess why the story is called 'An Echoing Race?' Have a think and comment below if you can figure it out :)
E N J O Y !
#Chapter Forty#
Three months later.
"I want her home by ten."
"And please, try not to run into the media."
"Message me every hour so that I know where you are and what you're doing."
"Psst, Sameena, there's a little string coming out of your scarf come here so I can fix it."
At the last whisper of a voice, my eyes travelled from my dad and two disgruntled brothers to land on my best friend who was frantically waving me over. Mini sewing scissors were in her hand and she motioned for me to come forward again, rolling her eyes at the fact that I wasn't moving.
Well excuse me for not being able to escape the current outlining of guidelines that was underway!
I ignored her and focused back on the men in front of me. Even Salem was here for the hearing, smiling cheerfully as he listened intently whilst my father rained down rule after rule upon us.
"Do you both understand?"
Tariq, who was standing as still as a statue next to me, cleared his throat. "Yes 'amu. We will try not to get into any...trouble."
"Good." My father gave a curt nod.
Our nikah ceremony had finished an hour ago and yes, I was now married! It all felt too surreal for me and I think I'm still yet to comprehend the fact that I now shared a beautiful and - hopefully - unbreakable bond with someone who I was very much in love with. If there was even a trace of doubt before, the last three month swiftly cleared it away.
As soon as we had arrived home from the hall, Tariq requested to pray Maghreb together. When my father, brothers and Salem had jumped in to announce they needed to pray as well, he had blushed profusely before explaining that he wanted to pray alone with me. I was a little confused at his request - yes I was still in a daze - but they all seemed to get it. Baba nodded as a smile overcame his face and with an affectionate pat on the shoulder he left the room, gesturing for the others to follow.
Of course, the first thing I did was ask him why he wanted to pray with me alone.
He walked up to me, took one of my hands into his warm one and brought it up to his lips. "Because I want to start off our marriage with nothing but the remembrance of Allah. I want to thank Him for everything he has blessed me with. I have a loving, caring family, food on my table and a roof above my head, a job I'm passionate about and now, I've been blessed with a beautiful wife. He's finally answered my prayers Sameena but I want, no need, to show gratitude and to make one final dua; that He bestows his infinite love and mercy upon our marriage and that whatever may come our way, we battle it together with perseverance."
At his words, my knees had gone weak, my eyes had watered due to emotion and the only thing I could do was fling myself into his arms.
So it happened that the first thing we did together as husband and wife - alone - was pray. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Now though, Tariq and I were leaving for our first ever outing together but we were running late on our schedule as baba thought it fit to use twenty minutes of our time just explaining what we should and shouldn't do.
"You can go now," baba said, breaking me from my reverie.
"Ready?" Tariq asked, extending his hand.
I grinned and accepted his hand. "Yep, let's go." I began to walk towards the door then halted as a sudden thought made itself known to me. "Wait...no guards?" I asked, turning back to everyone who was watching us leave.
Talk about pressure.
"No guards," baba repeated.
"Really?" I was shocked. Especially with how unsafe things have been lately.
"Yes," he confirmed with a chuckle. "Just for today."
"Awesome!" I fist-bumped the air.
Salem coughed.
"Erm...Salem you know I love you and you're like my brother and you're cool and everything but...ya'know..." I trailed off awkwardly and everyone laughed.
"Just go will you!" Lia yelled playfully.
"Wait!" Mira yelled, urgently running up to me.
She proceeded to chop off the little string that had apparently annoyed her so much.
"Where did you even get that?" I questioned, pointing to the mini scissors.
She smiled and shrugged. "I keep it handy." She shoved me towards an awaiting Tariq. "Now go have fun."
We looked into each others eyes and since I knew that we would start crying soon if one us didn't move, I quickly pulled her into a hug. "I will. Love you!"
"Love you too!"
"Salam everyone!"
We waved a final goodbye before finally walking out of the house and into the darkness of night. I smiled and waved at Ahmad, Omar and some of the other guards as I passed them by and they all replied with a congratulations.
"So, where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
"Come on," I drawled and Tariq chuckled. We arrived at his car and he opened the passenger door for me.
"Don't worry, you're going to find out very soon." He bent down and gave me a kiss on the forehead before closing the door and walking around to the other side.
It wasn't taking me long to figure out that Tariq was indeed, a very affectionate person. I mean, I should've anticipated it considering how smooth he was with his words but hey, I wasn't complaining.
Once he was buckled up, he started up the car and revved the engine a little to warm it up. He pulled away from the kerb and drove all of fifteen seconds before he indicated left and pulled up to the kerb again. He parked the car and undid his seatbelt.
"Umm, I know you don't like long car rides but this is cutting it a little too short don't you think?"
Amusement danced in his eyes. "Come on, we're here."
"I'm very curious," I voiced as I emerged from the car. Tariq locked it and then clasped my hand in his again, pulling me along with him in the direction of a large brick house.
"Are we visiting someone?"
"Nope."
Instead of going up to the front door like I expected him to, Tariq began to trail the sides of the fence.
"Tariq what're you doing?!"
"Shh!" He faced me. "You have to be extra quiet until we get there."
"Get where?!"
"You'll see."
"Technically, we're breaking and entering!" I whisper-yelled as he continued to pull me along the large green fence. The house was big, resting on a large expanse of land and I was nearly hyperventilating by the time we crossed into the backyard area.
The length of the backyard was longer than the house itself.
"It'll be worth it, I promise!"
"This is not what I expected for my first outing with you!"
I could see Tariq vibrating with laughter. "I guess I managed to successfully surprise you."
"That you did."
We continued to walk the few metres towards the back of the yard. All I could make out in the darkness was an abundance of trees and it wasn't long before I began to get a little creeped out. The feeling only increased when I thought about all the bugs. Cockroaches, spiders, grasshoppers...
I shuddered.
"Tariq!" I whispered fearfully, stopping him before he could pull me under the trees.
"I'm sorry, I know this may seem scary but I promise were here. Trust me," he said, putting one arm around my waist and bringing me closer to him.
I swallowed. "OK. I trust you."
Keeping his arm firmly wrapped around me, I felt a tad safer as we took only a few more steps before halting.
Tariq took out his phone and turned the flash on so that we could see each other's faces properly. "So," he said, taking in a deep breath. "Do you remember on that horrid day we fought, I mentioned how we were neighbours and that there was a tree house that we always used to sit and play in?"
I sucked in a harsh breath as I instantly understood what this surprise was. "Yes."
He grinned. "And you remember how I told you that you used to love it because it overlooked the water?" I nodded, suddenly unable to form any words over the growing lump in my throat. "This right here is the very same tree house. I used to live here, only a few houses down from you."
I sniffed. "Oh Tariq..."
"I wanted to bring you somewhere that held meaning to both of us. This is where the roots of our relationship began and I just thought it was fitting..."
I was overwhelmed. Both because of his continuous ability to surprise me with his sweet gestures and the heartbreaking realisation that I couldn't even conjure up one memory of this place.
"Let's go up," he said when he noticed how emotional I had become. I took slow, steady steps up the ladder that was attached to the tree house up ahead, careful not to trip over my skirt.
Finally, I hauled myself up into the tree house and moved aside so Tariq could come in next to me.
In the meantime, I took a look around and my heart stopped.
"Like it?"
The scene before me was stunning. Stunning.
Little fairy lights had been draped all over the inside and outside of the tree house to give the place a very soft, romantic feel. Lanterns of all shapes and colours added to picturesque scene. As the house was more than two metres by two metres long, arabian styled carpets had been laid out with little bean bags lined up against the wall. A picnic basket filled with food and drinks rested to the side as well as a few pillows and folded blankets.
Suddenly, I started crying.
"I-I'm sorry. This is j-just so amazing and y-you are so s-sweet!"
Tariq pulled me into his arms and rested his chin atop my head. "You deserve this all and more."
I hiccuped and pulled away to look into his face. "I love you Tariq."
His grey eyes held mine captive as he spoke. "I love you too Sameena." He kissed my nose and pulled me back towards the edge of the tree house. "Come see."
And just like he had said, not far off in the distance the twinkling ocean lay bare in all its beauty before us.
"I really do feel like I'm floating above crystals," I breathed. The moon's light made every wave and movement of water shine. I lay my head against his shoulder and in response, he put an arm around mine. I immediately snuggled in closer to him.
"It's beautiful, I know."
"Tariq, why didn't you just ask the neighbour if we could use his tree house?"
"I actually knocked on his door a week ago to ask him that. A bitter old man opened the door and before I had even finished my sentence, he slammed it shut in my face."
I laughed at his annoyed expression. "So you thought sneaking into his home was the right thing to do?"
"Hey, my father built this tree house with his bare hands!"
"What if this old man decides to come outside and he finds us in his backyard?"
"I'll fight him to the death," he replied, smiling when I shook with laughter again.
"How charming."
"Anything for you baby," he teased and I pushed him playfully.
"So, you did this all yourself?"
"Nah, I got my sister, Mira and Sarah to help me. I actually didn't think it would turn out looking this good," he remarked as he glanced around the room again. "Sarah had most of the ideas for designing it actually."
I nodded my head. "That would make sense. She's an interior designer."
"Really? I never knew that."
"Yeah, she's amazing honestly. She's got a magical touch when it comes to these things. I'll probably have her design our home." When Tariq didn't reply, I looked up at him to find him already staring down at me. "What?"
I could feel myself blushing.
"Nothing it's just that...you said our home. Sounds pretty amazing if you ask me."
"It does doesn't it."
For the next hour, we spent it snuggled up against each other, staring out at sea. At times we made each other laugh and at others, we were content with our mutual silence.
The rest of the night however, was spent with filling up our stomachs, playing twenty questions and prank calling people.
Lets just say Tariq was amazing at accents.
It was the most fun I've had in a long time and I was glad it was shared with someone so close to my heart.
By nine thirty, we both sprawled out against the carpet, one hand resting on our bloated stomachs and our legs tangled in a blanket that had been thrown over our feet haphazardly. My mouth hurt from laughing so much and I took this time to recuperate.
"We should probably head back."
I checked the time on my wrist watch. "Yeah we should."
"That means moving though."
I closed my eyes and smiled. "Mmm tell me about it. Why did we eat so much?"
"Maybe we're just gluttonous?"
I snorted in a very unladylike manner, before breaking out into full laughter. "I think we are."
"Did you just snort?" Tariq heaved himself up on his elbows to stare down at me incredulously.
I nodded my head as I covered my mouth. "Y-yes!"
"What's so funny?"
"I don't know. Gluttonous is a funny word."
"I think you're sugar drunk," Tariq muttered before he began laughing himself.
After a few minutes I calmed down. "OK we really need to go now before baba hunts us down."
With slow movements, we proceeded to pack up all the little bits and pieces around us, making sure to put everything back into the basket. I pulled my ballet flats back on and Tariq his boots.
Just as I was about to descend the ladder again, Tariq grabbed my wrist and swept me into his arms again but this time, his lips made contact with mine. It was abrupt and I wasn't expecting it at all but my initial shock was soon forgotten when I got lost in between all the passion and need that was exuding from the both of us. We pulled away from each other rather breathlessly and at that moment, we simply smiled at each other as no words needed to be expressed.
It was the perfect ending to a wonderful night.
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Aww. Now keep dreaming for a man like Tariq ladies lol.
For any men reading my stories...BE LIKE TARIQ! lol