Samiha's P.O.V
1 month later
Time seemed to be flying. When I was told, a whole month ago, that we'll be getting married in a month, it felt too soon, and I was right. The whole month just passed over a blink of my eyes, or so I felt. I couldn't believe it, that today, my very much dreaded day has finally come. A lot more dreaded than my engagement. Today was the day my sister and I were getting married, and I did not look forward to it.
My whole family had gathered at our place again. That nasty incident during the day of my engagement seemed to have been forgotten by everyone and I was glad for that. I wouldn't want dad to even get a whiff of what happened that day. If he finds out, he'll blame himself for our current situation, whereas for Samaah and I, this whole marriage is the least we can do to repay all that dad did for us.
I looked at Samaah's sleeping form and felt relieved that atleast we won't be separated. We were ten girls, consisting of Aysha, Rahma, Zahra, Husna, Layla, Warda, Samaah, myself, and Zahra's two daughters, Maryam and Fatimah, all sleeping on mattresses in mine and Samaah's room. There were nine boys, consisting of Zahra and Layla's husbands, Assad and Saeed, my brother Saamih, and my six cousins Irfan, Jamal, Saad, Faizaan, Wasim and Waheed. They all slept in the living room on mattresses. Irfan and Jamal's wives stayed at the Hamid residence since they were related to the Hamid family. My parents' room had mum, Aunt Yusra, Aunt Najma, and Aunt Ruwayda, and Saamih's room was occupied by dad, Uncle Qassim, Uncle Fahd, and Uncle Hateem. Our tiny little house was extremely congested and crowded, and due to the presence of non-mahrams, we had to be extremely careful and covered up all the time.
I decided I couldn't sleep anymore due to the anxiety so I got up and stepped over Rahma, Husna and Zahra's sleeping bodies to reach the door. I checked the time on the digital clock we had hung on the door and groaned. It was only 6:22 in the morning. Mum had told us that as brides, Samaah and I needed enough rest. Well, Samaah was asleep, lucky her. But I on the other hand just kept on tossing and turning after Fajr. I opened the door and decided to get some breakfast before any men wake up and make me uncomfortable.
As I was eating my cereal, Saamih came and sat across me.
"I can't believe my Granny Grumps is going away today! Ha! Atleast I won't have to deal with your anger issues anymore," he said. I shot him a death glare. Trust Saamih to come and tell you such things instead of comforting you. "What? Can't I be happy for once? I'll have peace at last! And yeah, I can finally have your and Samaah's room!"
"Saamih, just go back to sleep," I told him and carried on eating my cereal.
"Dude, I thought I heard an earthquake happening so I woke up, but it was just you coming downstairs. Thanks for waking me up, now deal with me," he said, shooting me a dirty look.
"Oh come on, it's not my fault you have such an overactive imagination," I retorted.
"Yup, and that's because I'm way too awesome," he said, smugly.
"You should tell that to Wa- oops, nothing!" I said, clamping my hand over my mouth, and hoping he didn't catch anything. Saamih wasn't aware that we teased Warda with him, and if he found out, he wouldn't be too happy. He barely even acknowledges her existence so I feel relieved that she doesn't have any feelings for him.
He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "I should tell that to who?"
"Um...you should tell that to Wasim. I'm sure he doesn't agree with you," I said, and laughed nervously. He looked at me as if I had three pairs of eyes.
"Wasim? What on earth made you even bring him up? You're weird, Samiha, I won't lie," he said.
"I don't know. I think maybe I heard him tell you how lame you were last night?" I said, totally making that up.
"Really Samiha? He was, unlike you, actually praising me on how I'm handling your wedding arrangements," Saamih said, and leaned over to snatch my bowl of cereal. I pulled it out of his reach.
"Go get your own, lazy bones," I said.
"Why should I when I can just take yours?" He replied, and made a swipe again, successful in grabbing my bowl this time.
"SAAMIH!" I bellowed. I started hitting his arm.
"Your hits are so lame, I actually feel as if you're trying to tickle me and failing miserably," he said, laughing at me.
"Saamih, you're such a pain! And it's not my fault you're made of rock!"
"I'm not made of rock, it's all muscle. Your bro is just too awesome for you, face it!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I rolled my eyes at him.
"Um, let's see. I need a nice comfy bed and a nice warm duvet with some comfortable pillows," he said.
"Saamih, I really can't believe you're 26 years old. You're such a kid! And you're rubbing off on Samaah, she'll become like you in no time if she continues hanging out with you!" I told him.
"See, unlike you, she accepts the fact that her brother is not only amazingly handsome and awesome, but also great company, so she likes to hang out with me. You on the other hand," he scrunched his nose at me and waved his hand at me in a dismissing manner, "are too deep in denial to accept the reality of your brother."
"In your dreams," I told him.
As we continued bickering, I realised how much I was going to miss Saamih. I didn't want to leave him. He was always there to cheer me up, besides Samaah. I had grown accustomed to his lame jokes, his teasing and his shrewd remarks. The best thing about him was that I could always rely on him. He could be very serious when he wanted to, but when it was time for jokes, he went all out.
"I'm going to miss you, munchkin," he told me, patting my head, as though he read my mind.
"Munchkin? What happened to calling me Granny Grumps?" I joked.
"I thought maybe I've bullied you enough for the day. Let me be sweet now. But if you insist, I can go back to -"
"No!" I interrupted. "Anyway, what were you saying earlier on?"
"I'll really miss you two. A lot! What's worse is both of you are going away at the same time. At least if you got married first, I'd still have Samaah," he said. That earned him a pinch from me. Saamih could never be just sweet. Every sweet remark he made had to be topped up with his typical insults. But that's what made Saamih, Saamih and I really did love my brother.
"Ouch! What was that for? You are so violent, taubah!" He said, rubbing his arm.
"Oh, and I thought you said my hits felt like my miserable attempts to tickle you?" I said, raising my eyebrows at him.
"Yeah, that is true. They are like miserable attempts to tickle someone. Don't try them on your hubby. You'll embarrass yourself," he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
"Go dig a grave, Saamih. You'll give me a migraine before this dreadful day even begins properly," I said, shooting him a dirty look.
"Oh and here comes Granny Grumps again. I wondered what you did with her," he said and laughed.
"God Saamih, you're exhausting!" I huffed and poured some more cereal for myself since Saamih snatched mine.
"Admit it, you'll miss me," he said.
"I will," I replied quietly, forcing back my tears that threatened to spill. My reply caught Saamih off guard since he expected me to say something like "you wish". But I honestly will miss him. He saw how I failed miserably at trying not to cry and immediately got up and came to my side. He gave me a hug and murmed comforting words in my ear.
"You know, I'm always just a phone call away, right? Your mother in law is very nice, she'll always allow you to come here. Just give me a call when you need me and I'll be there to pick you," he said, rubbing my back comfortingly.
"But Saamih, I always need you," I spoke into his chest.
"You'll have Samaah. She's a mini me," he replied.
"And what about her? Wouldn't she need you? She can fill your gap for me, but who will fill your gap for her?" I asked.
"Samiha, be positive. You make it sound like you'll be gone so far away forever. We're in the same town and I'll come to visit you as frequently as possible. I will miss my baby sisters, and I can't stay too far from you two for long," he said. I nodded and looked up at him.
"I love you, bro. I'm sorry for everytime I've yelled at you and you've had to deal with my tantrums," I said.
"And I love you more, sis. You don't need to be sorry, silly. In fact, I'm sorry for all the teasing, although let me warn you, it's never going to stop," he said, and I gave him a watery smile. He poked my side and I laughed. "Ah, now this is the sound I wanted to hear," he said.
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Four hours later, I was sitting in front of the dressing table next to Samaah with the hair dresser working on my hair and the makeup artist working on her face. My make up was already done and so was Samaah's hair.
The environment around me was, in one word, chaotic. Everyone rushed about getting ready. Everyone was stressed out and busy. There was yelling, and shouting, and bustling about and all.
"Mumma, please tie my sash," Maryam was telling Zahra behind me.
"Maryam, can't you see I'm busy? Go tell Auntie Husna," Zahra snapped at her daughter.
"Zahra! She's just a child," Husna scolded. "Come here, sweetie, let me tie it up for you."
"Hey, Warda? Where are my shoes? I told you to bring them from home," Aunt Yusra shouted from mum's room.
"They're in dad's suitcase, mum!" Warda yelled from our room.
"Aysh, your dress is too long for me, can you tell Rahma to lend me hers?" I heard Layla tell Aysha.
"Okay. And can I borrow your mascara, Layl?" Aysha replied.
"Sure. Hus! Can you come here a moment?" Layla called.
I could even hear the boys' voices from where they were downstairs. Saad wanted to talk to his sister Aysha but the room was filled with us cousins so when he called her from outside, we all began teasing Husna. A minute later, Rahma burst into our room, looking flushed, with a dress and dumped it on Layla.
"What's up, Rahma?" Layla asked her.
"Nothing, except that your dearest brother Wasim decided to come barging into Aunt Naila's room, before I could put on my hijaab," she huffed.
"Aww, this is the second time such an incident happened. The first time was when you banged into him by accident when you turned around and didn't see him there and he was to shy to warn you that he was behind you," Layla teased.
"Don't remind me!" She said through gritted teeth.
"Imagine, two sisters, you and Aysha, marrying the two brothers, Wasim and Faizaan! Aww! Just like Samiha and Samaah marrying Asif and Arif," Layla said with a dreamy look on her face.
"Layl, sorry to disappoint you, but that will never happen," Aysha said, with Rahma saying " That's so not happening" at the same time.
When everyone finally got ready and our hair and makeup ladies were done working wonders on us, everyone finally decided to make a move. The men went to the masjid and all the girls left our room and the ladies left mum's room to go downstairs. The invited ladies then started piling into the house.
Before dad left, however, he came up to our room, kissed mine and Samaah's forehead, apologised to us for putting us through this and then gave us the official marriage papers to sign.
The nikkah was carried out at the masjid and the men were present. I was so glad that Asif and Arif's parents did not flaunt their money and have a lavish wedding. They kept it as simple as possible, with all the ladies at our house.
When it came for the grooms to say "I accept", Saamih called on mum's phone which she put on speaker and he put his own phone on speaker so first we heard Asif say "I accept Samiha bint Habib in my Nikkah" followed by Arif who said "I accept Samaah bint Habib in my Nikkah". And just like that, it was all done. I was a married woman now and so was my sister.
I wasn't happy but I didn't let anyone see that. I plastered a large smile on my face and hoped it didn't look fake. But I could barely believe that I was actually married and I wondered, was this for real or was it just an illusion?
♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧
And they finally got married.
How was this chapter?
I purposely put Saamih moments because I am personally fangirling over my own character.
Now that they are finally married, I can rest a little.