Samaar's POV
It was a Friday morning and sure enough I knew Sheath was working today even without knowing his full work schedule. I looked at my phone wondering why I don't use it as much as I should. Right then, my phone began vibrating like no tomorrow. When I reached out to grab my phone with my eyes closed, I fingered the whole desk beside my bed to realize my phone was under my pillow. I forcefully opened my eyes against my will and annoyance. Who would call me at nine o'clock in the morning when everyone knows I'm not a morning person? The vibration on my phone continued and I felt as if I was holding a fish...
"It's been buzzing for an hour. Aren't you going to pick it up?" Aakifah asked, as she dried her hair with a mint green towel.
"Really? I just woke up... " I said, trying not to explode. It was Sheath. But I didn't want to look at the message for some reason. I still had a hard time believing what he felt about me. I'm not saying it's a lie, but I guess I needed time to clear my head.
"Come on! Get up! We have to leave today, remember?" Aakifah said as she put some cream on her face. She took out the eyeliner out of her purse, but then put it back right in. We were attending a family event tonight at Ruhi's house. Our parents and Sarah were staying there for the time being. For the full week, ever since Aakifah was taken to the hospital, they kept pestering us to just come home already. I held them off for as long as I could and so did Aakifah but it's effortless. "You're wearing the new maroon abaya we brought with dad a year ago, right?" She asked me. Maroon abaya? Do we even have one that color? Our dad always buys us abaya's since it's basically the only clothing we wore. But ever since he lost his job, it was amazing if we got him to buy us a simple skirt. We began saving like crazy. Although our depression (as I call it) only lasted about two years, we simply forgot all about money and everything.
"Here, I'll get it out for you." She said walking up to the closet. She brought out two Abayas in her hand, and that's when I remembered the maroon Abaya my dad bought me. How could I forget? I literally spent a year begging him to buy me it and right after graduation he took me to the store and made me pick one out for me and Aakifah. The Abaya was really fancy... in an elegant way. I mean, all I have are plain black Abayas and I love the simplicity and the colour. It had a gold band with a studded diamond in the middle. The Abaya was arranged in such a way that whoever wore it could be a model.
"Do you know when mom and dad are leaving?" I asked, trying to get out of bed. I tied my hair in a pony tail and started folding my blanket.
"I guess this week... They said someone important was coming and I had to make sure we were both presentable. I wonder who it is..." As do I, as do I.
"That's weird." I looked over to my phone and it finally stopped buzzing. I was startled by Aakifah's push. She started pushing me into the bathroom and telling me to get ready.
"Hurry up, you have to do my makeup and I have to do yours."
"Okay, okay! What's the rush?" I asked, annoyed. Ugh, makeup? Why? I asked myself. Whenever we did each others makeup it would be better than doing it ourselves for some reason. Aakifah and me didn't really know much about it. But we did watch about a couple of tutorials on YouTube.
"We have to leave to get stuff from the mall first. So before we go to Ruhi's house, we have to go get Sarah some nice clothes for tonight." She replied.
"Are we taking Sarah too?" I asked, getting excited. She nodded.
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When we arrived at the mall with Sarah, we big sister's did a lot of research. In the end I dressed casually because I didn't want to walk around the mall in something so fancy... Aakifah also did the same. But she did iron both of them before we left. Sarah was as chubby as ever, and active too. She'd wobbled off when we unconciously let her hand go. She was about to turn three soon, which means we would finally be able to throw the Barbie stroller of hers away. Not to be rude and inconsiderate, but Barbie... was just not my thing. Especially when I would sleep with Sarah last year, I would always be haunted with the Barbie doll in her hand. It was also clear that her favorite colour was pink- every little girl's favorite colour. Again, not to be rude but I thought Sarah was a little unique but no! She's just one of the million girls who are waiting for their prince charming.
"Sarah! Stop!" Aakifah screamed, as Sarah ran into the elevator with an old couple. My mouth opened in shock. The elevator was closing and we were too far. Some girl suddenly pressed the elevator button getting it to open as we ran to it. "We're so, so, so sorry!" Aakifah said as I grabbed Sarah, and gave an apologetic smile. The girl looked like she was about twelve years old, and was so sweet. She left right after grinning at Sarah. Sarah, on the other hand, was clueless.
"You're done!" I spoke in Arabic with anger. There were only a couple of times I spoke in Arabic- when I was mad, sorry or trying to speak behind someone's back. At this point I was mad. Aakifah turned to Sarah.
"When are you ever going to grow up?" She asked, kneeling down to pull Sarah's pants up. Sarah just shook her head and frowned, not understanding why were we angry at her. I held onto her hand and grabbed her to the children's clothing store to the right. In the end I was tired of bending low to hold her hand. I put her in the stroller and she began crying.
"What do you want then?" I asked, tired.
"Hug!" She screamed. I looked around embarrassed. I picked her up and found that she was really light.
"Sarah, it doesn't feel like you gained any weight. How come you look like it though?" I asked, as I kissed her on her white puffy cheecks.
In the end we brought her a violet dress with black sparkles covering big bows all over the dress. I brought her tights too with the extra money we had after buying her a pair of super small black boots. She looked adorable when she tried on her dress. Her flubber wasn't even sticking out which was surprising.
When we went back to the girls dormitory, we took Sarah and gave her a nice small bath. It was funny how my parents actually trusted us with Sarah for a day. They usually thought we hated her because she would always cry whenever she was with us. Well with Aakifah she was a little quiet. Only a little. I was still wondering how Subhee got her to do everything she hated - being quiet and lovable. Yes, I still raise my eyebrows to that... ten times a day I guess.
"So what time do we go?" I asked, as I slid into my abaya.
"Six O'clock." Aakifah said blow drying Sarah's hair. I took my black heel boots and put them on. Okay fine, I struggled to put them on, but then I found out there was something in it.
"A...kifah..." I said, getting a little scared that it might be a rat.
"Yes, Samaar?" Aakifah said as she started parting Sarah's hair without looking up.
"I think there's a rat in my shoe!" I screamed. She stopped styling Sarah's hair and turned scared too. Now this was a problem with two girls living alone - they hated rats, insects and raccoons especially. There's no brave person in this household...
Then she started laughing. And so did Sarah, following her big sister's lead. "It's not a rat. You can trust us on that." She said as she stopped laughing.
"Oh, Oka... Wait. What?" I asked. "How would you know?" I asked confused. Did she put something in on purpose? Or is it just me?
"Check." She said as she got back to styling Sarah's hair. I reached into my boot and took out a fuzzy lime green ball out of the boot. What? Why would they put this in my boot? I looked at them in confusion. Then I felt something at the side of the ball. It was a zipper. When I opened it I found a bracelet in it. It was a pretty bracelet with mint green diamonds on it.
"I know you don't like celebrating birthdays but your birthday is tomorrow. So technically me and Sarah are not celebrating tomorrow, but today. That's why I took you to the mall today. You liked it so I picked it up and brought it." She said with a smile. "And, and Sarah pitched in too... with her love slash hatred for you."
Every birthday I'd get chocolates from her and I never used to ask her why she got it for me. I just simply used to eat it happily. But now it was a big shock. "You guys are amazing!" I said as I hugged Aakifah and Sarah. Somehow even though Aakifah was older than me, I still couldn't believe how mature she was.
It was about five thirty when we left the house, taking the bus. Riding the bus with high heels... is a horrible idea. With the maroon Abaya I was wearing a black hijab with a necklace placed right above it. My makeup was pretty simple. Well actually it didn't even look like I was wearing anything. Just some eyeliner at the top of my eyelids with light mascara. No I'm... not really into mascara because it scares me well.. when I put it on it does.
Aakifah was wearing her bright purple Abaya and it was styled exactly like mine. Sarah sat down on my lap as she played with my purse. The purse really was useless though. The only thing I kept in there was backup makeup and food... lots and lots of food. But the food was mostly for Sarah though since she was too greedy to give us some. I was glaring at her as she chuncked down a full chocolate bar down her throat. She had chocolate all over her now. And I was glad we didn't buy her a white dress. I grabbed some tissues from my bag (which I had by chance) and smeared it across her face making her cry. When we got off the bus, we instantly found the house in front of us because surprisingly the bus stop was right in front of Ruhi's house.
Zafeer, Ruhi's little brother, opened the door for us and started grinning at Sarah. That's suspicious. Sarah's been living with him for like what two weeks? Does he miss her... or does he want to beat her up? Sarah looked down with disgust and cuddled into my arms comfortably. Sarah, just in case you know I'm wearing high heels... I'm not your bed! That's what I wanted to say but I couldn't because she looked adorable. Masha'Allah! I took off my heels after entering the house and putting Sarah down. Before I could look to Sarah, I saw her wobbling off to the living room. I hear my aunt talking and I heard someone else too... I went into the kitchen with Aakifah and saw Sheath standing in a corner with my aunt and uncle. He was smiling and laughing. His hair seemed like he just woke up or something and he looked a little cute while smiling. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and tie under it. It was only till Aakifah nudged me that I realized.... Why in the world was Sheath here? My mom was coming down the stairs with a nice white dress and a black hijab wrapped around tightly. My dad came a few seconds later. His beard was trimmed but that didn't hide... the gray hair that was developing. My mom still looked pretty with only a few wrinkles. It's only been two months... Why do they look so old? Once they saw me and Akifah they literally ran down the stairs and hugged us till we ran out of breath.
"I thought I was never going to see you guys ever again!" My dad said as he grinned at me. I smiled.
"Why do you look so old?" I asked him as he hugged me again.
"What do you mean?" He asked after he stopped hugging me. "I thought I was turning younger by the day?" I laughed. My dad went to hug Aakifah and my mom started hugging the life out of me.
"Assalamualaikum, my rubber ducky!" My mom said hugging me tightly.
"Waalaikumasalaam. Wait! I told you to stop calling me that..." My mom backed away, hurt.
"Why would I ever listen to you?" She asked, sarcastically. I laughed.
"Mom... Why's Sheath here?" I asked in a low voice.
"What do you mean? It's your first family dinner, shouldn't you have attended with your husband? Aakifah, didn't you tell her?" I looked at Aakifah giving her a glare. She smiled.
"Dad told me not to. He told me to get her dressed up nicely and that's all." Aakifah replied with a shrug. I looked over to my dad, then started glaring at him. He shrugged. The next moment Sheath was standing next to me, trying to grab my attention... Except... I was a little frightened about how I jumped him the other day... I mean, what if I did that in front of my family?? I was scared of myself... The family scattered around. Everyone was talking and it was only us two. He was looking down at me, unable to say a word. I didn't even look up.
"How did you get here?" I asked in a low tone. I thought I would have to repeat myself but the next thing I knew he was leaning down to my ear.
"Your parents." He said, whispering. I think my ears were turning bright red and suddenly I was hot. I immediately started walking to the fan for some cool air. There was a sofa where I sat down, and a moment later so did he.
I unconsciously started smiling as I looked at the ground. When I looked at him, he was already staring right at me. I stopped smiling and forgot whatever I was about to say. I turned my head down.
"Is it that awkward?" He asked, laughing a little.
"Well, yeah. I can't believe what I was thinking when I just walked up to your house and did.. that to you." I answered.
"You're lucky I didn't attack you first." He said in the lowest voice, trying to stop me from hearing it. Then he said a little louder, "Yeah, now I feel like a violated girl now..." He said it a little two loud and Aakifah almost turned her head to me but my aunt was calling her. He was laughing and trying to stop.
"Violated? Don't you mean, I felt violated that day?" I said, talking in a normal voice now. No one was around us. And he stopped laughing and I realized what I said. Oh yeah... he doesn't even know what happened to me that day... Without me noticing, he flicked my forehead... really hard!
"What are you trying to say? You stupid girl?" He said in Arabic. I stuck out my tongue and saw Sarah at the corner of my eyes.
"If you can flick my forehead, don't forget I can flick you to Mars." I said, staring at Sarah. My mood went extremely down from remembering what happened to me that day.
"Now I have an abusive wife?" He asked me as Zafeer and Sarah started playing with a toy truck with Barbie dolls loaded into it.
"I'm not abusive!" I said in an offended voice as I looked back at him. "I'm just strong. Here, let's play mercy." I said, grinning.
"So you're going to start by breaking my hand?" He asked. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What were my parents thinking? To get me married off to a monster?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What were my parents thinking when they married me off to a snail? No backbone whatsoever." I grabbed his hand, but he pushed me away. When I looked up at him, his face was a little paler than usual. I took his hand carefully and looked at it. I rolled up his sleeve a little, and saw a huge bruise on his wrist extending to his arm. My heart felt like there were tones of rocks on it. "What happened?" I asked, with a dry voice.
"Nothing much. I just fell on it... I guess." I rolled down his sleeves and pressed on it. He pulled back his wrist.
"You didn't fight with anyone, did you?" I asked, trying to breath.
"...No..." He answered after a moment of hesitation. "I'm telling you, I fell down the stairs and my hand was positioned the wrong way. You don't have to worry. I've already seen a doctor and he said I don't need a cast. Just some medicine." For some reason I didn't feel right.
There was a knock on the door, and the whole household just stopped doing whatever. "They're here?" My mom asked. Weren't they supposed to be here an hour later?" She asked my dad. I forgot I was holding Sheath's hand and looked around. Sheath did too.
"Was someone else supposed to come?" I asked.
"Yeah, your in-laws." My what? My what? My what?