A year and a half later...
"Laila... my little angel, please don't cry." Dunia cradles the little girl in her arms.
"Abbu! Abbu! Abbu!" Laila whines as she throws a fit in her mother's arms.
"Abbu won't be home until later today. Here, play with this." Dunia hands Laila a toy, which instantly stops her crying.
"My Dunia, you're so good at being a mother, Mash'Allah. You make it look you're a professional." Dunia's mother says gleefully.
Dunia fell pregnant a few weeks after the night that her and Barqat had reconciled. The second Barqat and Dunia found out they were going to be parents, they felt every bit of their life fill up with even more joy. Parenthood was the best thing that's ever happened to them because now they're able to share their unconditional love with their daughter.
A year after having their daughter, they're affection and love has only grown even more than before.
Dunia lays her head on her mother's shoulders, "I'm so exhausted, I haven't been able to sleep for the past week. Being a mother is tough but it's such a blessing that I can't even complain."
"Api, you're giving me baby fever, I want my own so bad." Eliza carefully squeezes Laila's cheeks. "Just. Look. At. Her."
Dunia smirks, "I think I can solve that problem. There are a lot of suitors whom are ready to take you away." She teases.
"API!" Eliza covers her cheeks to stop them from turning red.
"Look at my pretty granddaughter. She has her father's blue eyes. They suit her so well." Dunia's mother admires Laila.
It was almost like Laila understood what her grandmother said, she begins cooing lovingly and crawls to her to sit on her lap.
"Oh my God! Ammi, did you see that?!" Dunia says excitedly.
"I wish I caught that on camera!" Eliza frowns. "Where's Abbu? He's missing out."
"He's coming in about an hour, Insh'Allah. He'll be coming here with Barqat, Adnaan Bhai, and Sabina. Maheen is coming separately because of school."
"OMG, it's going to be a party!" Eliza says enthusiastically.
Dunia's mother rolls her eyes, "Everything's a party for you, Eliza. Being a pre-med student hasn't improved your childish behaviours one bit."
"Never!" Eliza laughs, making the two other women laugh with her.
• • •
"Ammi, Abbu, please sit." Barqat asks his parents to sit.
He had reconciled his differences with his father and had moved passed his grudge against his step-mother. He even addresses her as Ammi to show respect because she had always wanted him to address her in that way.
Laila stretches out her arms to Barqat and begins cooing, telling him to pick her up.
Barqat picks her up and cuddles with her. Dunia hasn't gotten over the sight of fatherly looking Barqat, it melts her heart every single time. "My sweet baby girl... did you have fun today?"
Barqat tickles Laila and she begins giggling.
"Oh my Gosh! I'm so sorry I'm late. My stupid Law class professor just wouldn't stop talking." Maheen is currently studying Law as her post-secondary major.
When Laila sees Maheen, she tries pushing him away, signalling at him that she wants to go to Maheen.
Barqat puts Laila down. "Oh? You like your Phupo better than me?" He pouts but Laila ignores him and crawls right onto Maheen's lap making everyone giggle.
"Is our granddaughter not going to see us?" Barqat's father makes sad faces. "Laila! Beta! Come to Dada-jee and Dadi-jee!"
Laila quickly crawls off Maheen's lap and makes her way in between Barqat's mother and father.
Maheen huffs jokingly, "She has no loyalty." Making everyone laugh again.
"Oh, yes. I forgot to mention, Imran, Aamir, Ashley and Inaya will be here shortly as well." Barqat says. "Dunia, my love, can I have a word with you upstairs?"
"I told you it was going to be a party." Eliza mumbles to her mother.
Dunia nods. They excuse themselves from the family and goes upstairs.
• • •
"Are you ready to tell them?" Barqat asks.
"Yes... I think so..." Dunia says.
Barqat wraps his arms around Dunia and rests his chin on top of her head. "I can't believe we created another person." He leans back and caresses Dunia's stomach, which isn't visible yet.
"I hope we're able to raise them to be amazing people, I hope we live up to being parents, I hope we stay happy like this forever. Ameen." Dunia whispers.
Barqat places a finger under her chin and lifts it so she can meet his eyes.
Dunia thinks about how his eyes are just as beautiful as ever. The cool icy shade of his orbs are filled with so much warmth and affection that every time she looks into them, she feels butterflies at the pit of her stomach as if she's looking into them for the first time.
Barqat leans in closer to her lips and says,"This is going to sound cheesy as hell but...every time I see you, I fall in love all over again."
Dunia smiles and begins giggling out of the blue.
"What's so funny?" Barqat asks.
"Aren't you glad that this woman stepped on your $3,000 shoes a few years ago?" Dunia censors the word bitch by using 'woman' as she tries not to laugh too loud.
Barqat intakes a sharp breath, wondering who told her about that, "$3,000—who told y—"
"Aamir, who else?" She bites her lower lip to stifle her laughter.
Barqat makes a face, thinking about how he's going to kill Aamir. However, then he smirks. Suddenly, his voice drops to a low, seductive tone, "Say... Don't you think you still owe me for those shoes, my love?"
"I don't think so." Dunia raises a brow.
Barqat's lips hover over hers as he whispers, "I'm glad you stepped on this idiot's shoes and changed his life forever."
Dunia hates being teased like this so she pulls him into her and their lips fit into each other's like a puzzle piece being put back together in place.
Barqat's hands trail up her body, exploring every inch as if he's in unknown territory. His hands rest on her hips, pulling her closer into his body.
Dunia can feel everything around her dissolving so she quickly pulls away before this leads to something else.
"We have guests." She gasps as she tries to catch her breath.
"We do, don't we? We could still..." He begins leaving kisses down her neck, making her feel weak to her knees.
"Ya Allah, Barqat! Not now!" She begins blushing.
As she turns around to walk away, Barqat pulls her back into him, her back against his chest. He wraps his hands around her and rests his head on her shoulders, leaning against her cheek.
"I love you, Dunia Sheikh. I love you so goddamn much." He whispers in her ears, sending chills down her spine, making the butterflies in her stomach go wild, and making her body melt in his embrace. Seriously, how does he have this big of an effect on her, even after so long?
"I love you too." And they just stand like that for a few seconds, in tranquility.
Then, Dunia turns around, "They're going to get worried, we've been gone for a while. I know for sure Eliza and Maheen are going to start speculating inappropriate things and wouldn't have a problem saying their thoughts out loud."
Barqat smiles, "Yes, you're right, my love. We don't want everyone questioning us about this."
Dunia caresses her tiny bump one more time. She lets out a hard sigh because of nervousness, "Are you ready?"
Barqat nods.
• • •
"Look who finally decided to join us again!" Eliza says.
Imran, Ashley, Aamir and Inaya has arrived five minutes ago.
Imran and Ashley have been engaged for the past few months.
Inaya, who is Dunia's best friend since childhood, finished school for now and had moved back when she met Aamir. They clicked almost immediately, now they're soon to wed.
"Inaya! Ashley!" Dunia exclaims excitedly as she runs to embrace them both.
"You're glowing! What's your secret?" Inaya asks.
Ashley looks at Dunia in a teasingly suspicious way as she cradles Laila in her arms, "Yes... What are you up to now?"
"Uh..." Dunia begins but is cut off.
"Dear, what is it that you were going to tell us?" Barqat's mother asks.
Barqat and Dunia look at each other. He intertwines his fingers through hers and holds her hand in a firm, supportive grip.
"We're expecting again." The couple says in unison.
"Alhamdulillah." Dunia adds in.
Everyone in the room is silent for about a second or two, trying to process what Barqat and Dunia just said. Then, they all explode with cheering. The women begin crying almost instantly. Barqat and Dunia's fathers shed a few tears.
That evening Dunia and Barqat both realize how loved they are by these people, how not having their love and support would have been a terrible thing. Being able to share such happy and sometimes not so happy memories with the people you love builds a strong relationship and lays a pathway to so much more love and respect for each other.
The love and support of family and friends are life's greatest blessings.
- - -
A/N: THE END! ♥️
I'd like to say thank you so very much for joining me on this journey! I had a lot of ups and downs while writing, I would have trouble updating on time a lot because of school or I would have writer's block. But you guys were not once pushy, I appreciate that so much! ❤️
Writing Dunia and Barqat's story really warmed my heart, taught me a few things on the way myself. I hope you were able to take a part of the story with you and maybe learn something from it as well! 🧡
I just want to thank you guys once last time for supporting my story and spending time to read it, enjoy it, interact with it by leaving comments. I loved reading what you guys thought of each chapter. 💛
I'll be posting an author's note right after this to answer some of your frequently asked questions about what's next! Please read that if you're interested! 💚