Aaliya's POV
I heard the alarm ring as I felt someone poking my sides and hitting me with a pillow. Pulling the blanket off of my face I came face to face with none other than my baby Amira who had an angry look on her face and a glass of water in her hands. As she saw me she placed the glass of water down and a wave of relief was seen on her face.
"Good morning mommy do you know how long I have been trying to wake you up?" Amira asked in her cute baby voice whilst sitting down on the bed next to me hugging me.
"I'm sorry baby I was just tired, what's wrong where's everybody?" I asked Amira as I picked up my phone and looked at my phone. It was currently 10:51.
"Everybody is downstairs eating breakfast. They were waiting for you mommy but you took way too long so they started without you. Plus nano (mum's mum) said that there is something special going on tomorrow".
"Okay tell everybody I am coming I will just get ready," I said to Amira as I kissed the top of her head and made my way to the bathroom.
I quickly stripped off all my clothes and jumped into the shower having a warm relaxing shower to cool off my muscles as realization dawned upon me that it was my NIKAH tomorrow!! I quickly finished my shower and walked into my bedroom to see my phone screen blown up with text messages from the group chat I had created #we Are Lit.
Safina: So how is my sister to be feeling today knowing that very soon she will be living in my house.
Amir: Umm excuse me it's my house as well who said it's urs I paid for it.
Safina: Ohh shut up we all helped u pay for the house it ain't urs.
Shazeb: U helped him pay for the house!! What type of brother are you, mate.
Subhan: Not a very nice 1 that's for sure.
Amir: Oh shut it you remember I still have to get some revenge on what u did.
Subhan: Please forgive me I am sorry.
Me: As-Salaam guys how are you and what did you do Subhan?
Subhan: Nothing... Okay, I played a small prank on Amir bhai and now he is mad at me.
Me: Well his pranks can't be that bad I mean come on does he look like he has fun?
Amir: Umm excuse me just to let u know I can be very fun and I am the king of pranks so he has a right to be scared.
Me: Well you better watch out as I am the queen of pranks and I am going to get you back plus remember you are my servant for a month.
Safina: You didn't answer my question, how are u feeling?
Zaira: Yes bhai Amir u better watch out cause she is sick at pranks and will get u easily sorry u are stuck with her 4 ever.
Me: I am a bit nervous Safina but who isn't and Zaira u know I am right here. But I have got to go and have breakfast now so see you all soon bye guys. For all the girls only bye xx.
I turned my phone off and put it on charge and headed downstairs after getting dressed in a light army green long sleeved dress that reached my knees and paired it with black leggings and black boots with a rose gold Michael Kors watch on my left wrist and a real diamond bracelet on the other wrist.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs the smell of pancakes hit me right in the face. I quickly went into the dining room and saw everybody sitting there.
"Finally here comes the queen. What took you so long?" Amar asked me with a smirk on his face knowing that I was on the group chat as he, Ameena and Aleena all knew I was talking to them.
"Be quite Amar and leave your sister alone, this is her last day in this house to make the best and most of it." My mum said as I had tears in my eyes that wouldn't fall out and everybody had a sad smile on their face.
"Well it may be my last day in this house as an Ahmed but I will always visit you guys whenever I get the chance to, don't you guys worry about that. Plus ammi and abbu you guys never told us how you met or your love story." I said with a smile knowing that will change the topic and the atmosphere.
Luckily my mom started to tell us the story of her love life whilst I ate my pancakes nodding along occasionally and my siblings all started at me and I knew the reason why because it is my last day here as Aaliya Ahmed as I will become Mrs Aaliya Ahmed Shezard.
"So mum have the dresses we ordered arrived yet the ones for my sisters and sister in laws and my friends and my dress have they come because I was heading over to pick Safina and Simra and bring them here as it's the mehndi today in the night and the Nikah tomorrow and was wondering if we get all the close men relatives clothes and bring them here and keep them in the basement locked in a cupboard? ", I asked my mum as we had all done our shopping yesterday and we all ordered our dresses yesterday but I don't know what it looks like as I was blindfolded whilst I got told to put it on and show everyone how it looks.
The Nikah will be done and it will be kept quite simple and plain as we will do it in a masjid but as everyone complained we let them plan the Walima and they went all out with the outfits that everybody is going to wear including me.
So for the Walima all the girls from my side will be wearing a baby pink lengha with gold embroidery and stitching with a gold scarf and all the girls from Amir's side will be wearing the same just their colours will be switched around, the lengha will be a nice gold colour with baby pink embroidery and baby pink stitching with a baby pink scarf. And the men from my side will be wearing baby pink sherwani with light gold skinny shalwar and a light gold scarf around their necks with it and the men from Amir's side will be wearing the same but the colours will be switched around light gold sherwani with baby pink skinny shalwar and a baby pink scarf around their necks.
Amir and I don't know what our outfits look like. We only know that they match in some way and that they look amazing on us.
"Yes beti that will be an amazing idea as all our guests know what the colour theme is and what colours they are wearing and which way round you can do that as we have a lot of space in our house and we can definitely do that because that way they will be safe", my mum said as she picked up her phone and rang my future mother in law.
So now I was driving towards Safina's house to pick her and Simra up so I can go and get the outfits and head home where we need to start the preparations for the mehndi that's happening tonight.
I had picked up the girls and the clothes and we were currently heading home after raiding a sweet shop for snacks and sweets needed for our massive sleepover. We had Deen Squad 'Deen Stars' on full blast as I sped down the highway to my house.
"Oh I can't believe I am alive oh how good it is to finally be on the ground", Simra said as she ran over to the house door and rang the bell.
"Oh stop being so dramatic Simra it was only a five-minute drive", Safina said as she rolled her eyes and laughed. The door was finally opened by my oh so annoying brother Amar who had a cheeky grin on his face as he helped me unload the outfits and carried them downstairs to the basement.
"What's so funny? Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him as we made our way back upstairs.
"Oh nothing my lovely sweet sister nothing at all", he replied which made me so suspicious as he has never called me sweet.
As we walked up the stairs that led to the living room the lights turn off and a hand grabbed my waist and covered my mouth, at first I thought it was a prank but when they didn't move their hand tears started to stream down my cheeks like waterfalls as all the nightmares about Ibrahim came back to me.
Before I could respond I was picked up and threw onto a hard shoulder, screaming and kicking whoever it was I was thrown into a pool, as I came up to the surface I calmed down as I saw it was Amar standing with Safina and Simra crying from laughter. Getting out of the pool I punched Amar on the arm hardly as I gave him a death stare.
"I am sorry for doing that but that would be the last prank I get to do on you before you become a married woman so I thought why not take the opportunity but I am sorry for hurting you", Amar said as he hugged me and wiped my tears whilst kissing my forehead.
"That's okay now get dad and leave the house as it's time for my mehndi function and it's a girl only function why don't you go to Amir's bachelor party and have your own fun there okay, bye love you", I said as I quickly hugged him and placed a kiss on his cheek and pushed him out of the house with my dad.
As soon as they left the house the mehndi artists came through the door and made themselves at home as they are my mum's friends daughters. The older daughter's name was Henna and the younger one's name was Amelia. They were really nice people, Henna started on my hands and Amelia started on my right foot.
The house started to get full as people started coming through the doors and congratulating me on the wedding and started to feed me a bit of matai (Pakistani sweet) and putting money in my lap even though I wasn't accepting it they still carried on so I just let them. I saw Zaira come through the door and she ran over to me and gave me a quick hug trying to not ruin the mehndi that was on my right, as there was a little gap so she could write Amir's, and foot as they started my left foot and hand.
"So how excited are you to be getting married?" she asked me as she looked down at my hands with a smile.
"Alhamdulillah I am fine and I am actually a bit excited but scared but I will be fine", I said as I looked at my hands and feet which were nearly completed.
"What is the name of your husband to be Aaliya?" Henna asked me as I told her it was Amir. She nodded and then did her work and wrote his name so well hidden even I couldn't find it.
"Well he is going to have a hard time finding his name isn't he, Aaliya look here," Zaira said as I looked at her and heard a click.
"You just did not take a photo of me in a state like this if you show anyone I will kill you," I threatened her as I gave her a death stare.
"If looks can kill then I would be six feet underground by now sheesh calm down I won't show anyone apart from Amir bhai," she said.
"Oh that's good you better not show any.....wait WHAT you show Amir that photo then you will definitely be six feet underground," I said to her as I am currently wearing my summer night clothes which are basically shorts and a crop top so as it's a girls night out only I wore it as it won't be in the way of my mehndi.
"Relax Aaliya I won't show it to him now, maybe after you guys are married I might show him then", she said with a mischievous smile on her face. I just ignored her as I watched Henna and Amelia put the final touches on my mehndi and it looked absolutely amazing, my hands looked peng I quickly got Zaira to take a picture of my hands, arms and feet and post it on my Snapchat and Instagram.
My mom smiled at me as she came over and told me to get something to eat and then chat with the guests for a bit before heading up to my bedroom ready for my sleepover. My mom got my food as she saw I couldn't get it myself and smiled at me as she fed me with tears in her eyes.
"Ammi please don't cry as you will make me cry save that for tomorrow when I finally become a married woman", I look at her with a smile on my face hoping to make her smile and it worked.
"Okay beti I will save the crying for tomorrow but don't say I didn't warn you when I don't stop", she said putting the food in my mouth and kissing my forehead before leaving me to attend to the guests.
After what seemed hours my mehndi finally dried on both my hands and feet so I was able to get up and walk around my back was killing me, I got up and talked to all the guests that had come and smiled and before I knew it the function had ended the only people that were staying were my cousins and friends and my mother and sisters-in-laws.
I quickly got Safina to bring the sweets and snacks and drinks out of the kitchen as my mehndi was still wet and hadn't dried fully.
I walked into the living room and saw everyone staring at my hands and arms and feet as I looked at every single girl's hands to find them covered in henna just like mine only theirs was less complicated as Amelia and Henna thought it was okay to go with complicated designs for my hands, arms and feet without asking me.
"Hey Aaliya you know you love me right so will you show me where my brother's name is on your hand", Simra asked me to which I nodded and put out both my hands for her to find out herself as I sweetly smiled at her.
"Have fun finding the name yourself darling," I said to Simra as I walked forward and sat down on my bed. As she came and sat down next to me on my bed and got to work trying to find Amir's name but it was proving to be difficult. After what seemed like hours she finally found it.
"I have found his name, it's right there in the middle right of your right hand," Simra said as everybody else in the room came and looked at it. I felt like some famous Instagram model as all the attention was on me. Simra smiled and so did everybody else and Zaira and Maryam both looked up at me and winked.
"Why are you all looking at me for, did one of you smudge my henna?" I asked as they all continued to smile.
"Sofia, if you don't tell me what is going on then I will not give you free chocolate for a week," I said to Sofia knowing her weak point.
"Ok, ok I will tell you the reason we are smiling is that next to your 'hubby's' name there is a small little love heart. That's why we were all smiling, happy now?" she asked and I nodded and looked down at my hands and they were right there was indeed a small heart next to Amir's name. I am so gonna kill Henna when I see her.
I stood up and walked to the bed stand next to my bed and opened the middle drawer and fumbled around for a bit and I finally found what I was looking for, I stood up and walked to the girls and they all gave me questioning looks. I took the chocolate bar from out behind my back and threw it at her and smiled, I then sat on the floor in front of them all and pulled out the photo album from behind my back.
"Okay guys it is now story time of all of our most funny moments we have had together, but because we have had a lot of funny moments I will only be sharing one that I have had with all of you guys and I am sorry Safina and Simra as I haven't known you guys that long that we have had a proper funny moment together".
"I am going to go with Sofia first, remember when we were walking to our next lesson in school as we had just finished our break and we saw a really big and chubby guy and you thought it was funny to use me as a ping pong ball and you pushed me into him and there was a small wooden fence that I pushed that guy into and we both fell over and he ended up falling on me with his bum inches away from my face and I was screaming and I pushed him away and we both ran to our next lesson and we had Mrs S for I.C.T and we hated her so much coz she was horrible to me and you always put us in between boys even when you complained to her". By the time I had finished, we were all laughing so much that we were almost pissing ourselves and Sofia was laughing so much she actually had to use the toilet.
"I remember that it was so funny and I felt so bad and I hated it but then we both were late to lessons and it was worth it, I am sorry for doing that", she said and came over and gave me a hug.
"Now I am going to go with Lucy, do you remember the time where we hated the girl that her name begins with E and her surname begins with M and she started to talk really bad rumours about us and someone called her a specific name as her last name and then she started chatting so much crap about as and some little kid called her pig and we started laughing and the joke continued and we would laugh along but never got involved and whenever we would have Mrs S she would act like crazy and once you asked 'what are you on?' and she would never understand and everybody will be laughing and you would never intend to make it sound like that. Like your asking her if she's on drugs."
"Yeah I remember those good old school days I wish we could have more of those days it was soo funny, I wonder why she left probably got caught putting her feet on the desks without shoes on. stinking up the whole room," Lucy said laughing and I joined in so did Dasha and Sofia as we all went to the same school when we were younger and have been friends ever since.
"Now I am gonna start with Dasha, remember whenever the summer would come and we would buy slushies form our school and me, you and Sofia would all have slushy fights and end up all sticky and smell like Vimto for the rest of the day and there was this one time were we were having a slushy fight and I wanted to join in so I threw it aimed for the back of your neck and you moved and it landed straight in between our headteacher eyes and we ducked down behind the car park and he started looking around and we quietly and sneakily got away and started laughing so much we carried on with our slushy fight."
"I remember that Aaliya it was so funny we were laughing our asses off and we needed to pee so bad it was hilarious I wish we could continue to do that," Dasha said whilst laughing and Safina and Simra looked at us with astonishment mixed with shock and I just smiled at her.
"Now I will go onto Maryam, remember the time it was our cousin Moneeb's wedding and we came to your house after the wedding and me, Zaira and you had to sleep in your living room downstairs because all the rooms were taken up by all our aunties and cousins even though all the boys and men went to our other aunt's house to sleep and when we went to the living room I made up some story to scare Zaira and you went along with it and it worked coz Zaira ended up leaving us and went upstairs to sleep," and by this point we all had to use the toilet and decided to open the Doritos roulette packet and do a little challenge whilst we recalled all the old memories we all had tears in our eyes.
I wished I didn't have to leave all this behind as a sudden sadness overwhelmed me. I tried not to let it show and enjoy my last night as a single lady with all my best friends. There was a knock on the door and I got up to open the door and it was my mother, mother in law, Aleena, Ameena, Amira, Sidrah, Natasha, Ayesha, Sofia's mum, Dasha's mum, Zaira's mum, Maryam's mum, Maryam's sister in law Zara who is expecting her first child, Lucy's mum and Sasha . I quickly went over everything I told already and by the time I finished we were all laughing.
"Now it is time for Zaira, remember the time we were really little and I was left at your house to be babysat by your dad and our uncle Nazim and we found some permanent markers and we scribbled all over your front door, bathroom door, the hallway walls and all over each other and when they realized why we were all quite it was too late and they saw us they were shocked and made up clean it all up. Also the times we would play silly, little truth and dare games with our silly dares and I made you put your hand in the toilet and flush it so the water that was coming down would go on your hands and you were mortified by it and washed your hands so many times." We all laughed so much and I was surprised due to the fact my room is big enough for 22 people and still has enough space to move around freely and sit in a circle on the floor with enough space in the middle for Amira to run and roll about. By enough space I mean shoulders just about touching.
We spent the rest of the night talking and laughing and eating sweets and snacks seeing who could eat the sourest sweet and then our parents thought it was funny to talk about MY funny and embarrassing childhood memories and we made it a tradition now that whenever one of the girls out of family members or friends would get married we would all get together on her mehndi night and embarrass her with childhood stories and do what we pretty much did today and that's how my night went. Not getting any beauty sleep and laughing all night long making memories that will last forever in sha Allah. Whilst I made dua to Allah to make sure everything would be alright and that all our lives will be filled with happiness.
Little did I know it was all calm before the storm.