Azzahra's POV
I woke up to a snoring Humaira sleeping right next to me. Last nights events came flashing back.
We watched the movie "ouija". It was really scary. I only ate one slice Of pizza. Humaira finished the rest. I was expecting that of her. I'm trying to get in a diet anyways.
The hard wood floor sent shivers up my legs as I walked my way to the bathroom. When I came back to the room I see Humaira perched on top of the bed texting furiously on her phone.
It's a habit of hers to text each and every one of her friends when she wakes up.
I heard foot steps coming upstairs and heading towards this room. "What are you two doing! Come on, move, move, move! Guests are coming over! I need the house clean! Up you two! Wear something nice. They're coming at 4 pm sharp," Humaira's mom screamed out after sprinting down stairs.
"I have to go home. Tell your mom
That I'm leaving," I say to Humaira as I pack my cloth in my bag.
"Go jump off a cliff, you bastard. Now I have to clean the whole house my self and get tortured by my moms speeches."
I walked out of the room holding my bag in my hand."love you too, boo!"
Humaira POV
That bastard left my house so she didn't have to deal with the war downstairs. I lazily got off of my bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. When I came back I changed into some traditionally Bengali cloth.
The day went on by me cleaning the house and getting around 20 to 25 speeches from my mother on how to act like a "real women" when I get married and how to "shut up" when she gives me the death glares.
The door bell rang and my father came jogging from the living room. "Asalamwalikum, how are you doing?" He spoke.
Lots of footsteps filled the entrance of the door as they all came barging in. 4 people came into the kitchen where me and my mom sat at the dining room.
"Asalamwalikum, How are you doing Fahima?" The older women out of the 4 spoke. I'm guessing she was the mother since she called my mom by her name.
I smiled at the other 3 ladies as they smiled back.
"waalaikumsalam, I'm fine, what about you? Oh my Allah! You lost so much weight from the last time I saw you," my mom says enthusiastically.
"I'm doing great alhamdulillah, and is this your daughter! She's gotten so tall, mashallah!"
"Asalamwalikum aunty," I greet the lady. She gave me a huge grin and the looked at my mom with a raised eyebrow.
"I like her already," the lady says to my mom. My mom and her randomly start talking about food and recipes.
It got really boring. So I decided to start a conversation with the three girls. "Hi, I'm Humaira."
They looked exactly alike except for their hair Color. The one at the far right had dark red hair. The middle one had brown hair and the last one had black hair with blue tips at the ends.
"I'm Warda, the oldest," the red head spoke.
"I'm Rona, the second oldest," the brown head spoke.
"And I'm Zartaj, the youngest," the one with the black hair spoke.
I kinda like that name, Zartaj. It reminds me of.....Zayad. Oh my Allah what is wrong with you Humaira. Stop thinking about him!
"Nice to meet you guys, um, let's go to my room. Follow me," as I start walking upstairs to my room leading them to my room.
I sat down at the corner of my bed and the three of the just sat at the side.
"Your so pretty, I thought you would be the opposite. Oh and I heard your getting married," the brown head, Rona spoke.
"Who told you I'm getting married? I still haven't given my answer yet," I answered her immediately. God. Does everyone know?
The three looked at each other with a smirk and the red head, Warda spoke up,"Are you kidding? Did you see him? He is smoking," she says while fanning her self with her hand.
I rolled my eyes. "You guys know him?," I asked.
"Of course we do. My mother gave them a marriage proposal for his hand in marriage, but he Refused," the red head, Warda spoke.
"He refused?"
"I heard he refused every marriage proposal and rumor has it that he asked for your hand in marriage! Is it true," the girl with the black hair, Zartaj spoke up.
"Um, yeah I geuss," I said to them, still very confused on why he refused every marriage proposal and then ask for my hand in marriage.
The three girls squeaked all at ounce which caused me to jump a little. "He likes you! Don't you see! Every girl that I have known has given him a proposal but he refused all the time. Your the lucky bird!," the brown head, Rona squeaked.
"Um, okay then," I say while scratching my neck. Why would he like me? No one likes me. This is all lies.
"What should I wear to the wedding! I should wear that black lehenga or that purple long dress," the black head, Zartaj spoke up.
"Wow, wow, wow, hold up there ladies, I still haven't said yes." I wave my hands around.
"But you will," the brown head, Rona said after winking at me.
"I still haven't given my answer yet." I think I do but I don't know. "And plus, I don't even know him that much."
"Don't worry we'll help you with that," Warda says.
"And how exactly are you gonna help me," I ask them with a smirk knowing that they probably don't even know one thing about him.
"Oh honey, we know everything about him. His age, height, favorite color, you name it," Zartaj spoke up.
My jaw dropped to the ground. "But how?," I asked surprised as ever.
"My mother always asks questions to people she wants me to get married to, literally. She has a paper full of questions," Warda says.
"Um, ok," I manage to spit out, still shocked at the fact that they know everything about him. I didn't know what to ask them. His favorite color? Wow great going Humaira. You don't know the guy and want to know so many things about him but when there are answers at your feet, your mind is empty.
"Since you don't know what to ask, we'll just tell you the basics," Warda says.
• • •
I have learnt so much about Zayad it's scary. His favorite color is navy blue, he's scared of heights, pizza isn't his thing. Zayad loves coffee and doesn't have a favorite food which got me pretty mad. Who doesn't have a favorite food! He's 5'9" and used to be a player.
When they said he was a player, I was a bit taken back because he doesn't look like the type that would go around and start dating girls and then dumping them after that. He looks empty in a way. Like he's missing something.
My mother called us down stairs.
"I guess we're leaving. It was very nice to meet you Humaira khan," Zartaj says with a smirk.
I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"If you say yes, call me. I wanna know the theme for the wedding," Rona whispers.
I was still trying to process everything that I was bombarded with during the last few hours.
"I'll see you at the engagement then." Warda winks at me and then runs down stairs.
The guests finally left and I think I made 3 new annoying friends.
I texted Az saying,
Humaira - come here now!
Bae 💕 - ok, calm down women. I'm coming. This better be good.
Humaira - you better be here in 5 minutes
Bae 💕 - aye, aye captain!
I rolled my eyes at Az's joke that she got from spongebob.
The door bell rang and I ran down stairs, almost tripping but I held on to the railing.
"Finally, your here." I pull her inside with all my force.
"What is it, Mrs. Khan."
"Shut up and don't get me started Mrs. Sayed, your getting married first."
"It's Azzahra Ahmed boo," Az says
Before going upstairs to my room.
• • •
I told Az every thing, and by every thing I mean everything that the three girls, Warda, Rona, and Zartaj have told me.
"I want to meet these girls. It seems like we will get along just fine," Az says grinning wide as the grinch.
"Ooooohh someone wants to know more about Zain." I wiggle my eyebrows like a maniac.
"Shutup, I meant by meeting them to arrange your wedding," she says.
"Yeah sure." Note, sarcasm.
Az suddenly had a serious expression. "Humaira, do you have your answer or do you need some more time."
"I'm still thinking. I don't know yet."I fiddle with my fingers. "Do you have your answer?," I asked her and looked up.
Az was looking down with a huge grin and automatically I knew something was up. "What happened that your not telling me," I say to her with a serious expression.
"What do you mean? Nothing's up," Az says looking away with a smile.
"You pickle head. I've known you ever since we were 5. You can't hide anything from me. Now speak up before I go screaming downstairs that you have a boyfriend." I give her a threatening look.
"You wouldn't dare." Az's eyes widen.
I flip my hijab and say, "oh honey, I would."
"Ok, ok fine, but promise me you won't tell anyone." She suddenly has this serious tone.
"This must be big." I raise my eyebrow
"Just promise," Az looks up at me with worried eyes. I was kind of scared on what she's going to tell me.
"Ok fine, I pròmisè," I add with an accent.
"Ok, this is gonna be long." she starts smiling.
"Just go on already."
"This happened right after I came out of your house," she says.
*Flahback*
Azzahras POV
I came out of Humaira's house and drove to my house. I still had a bunch of home work that I had to finish.
I walked into the house and started opening my shoes until my mom came running out if the living room.
"Wear your shoes again, Zain's coming to pick you up!," she says screaming at me.
I was not expecting this. "What, why!?!," I asked her.
"He said its a surprise and I'm not aloud to tell you."
"Since when have you and Zain been getting along?" Like literally. When did this catastrophe happen?
"Why wouldn't I be getting along with my son-in-law? He is going to be part of the family," she says it like it was obvious.
"Mom! I haven't given him my answer yet and your already giving out names!," I scream a her.
Just then, I heard the sound of a car honking. I looked out the window and sure enough, It was Zain's car. I gave my mother a death glare, and before I could protest, she pushed me out of the house and closed the door shut. The sound of the door being locked meant that this Wasn't a joke.
I walked up to his car and opened the back door. When I popped my head. "you can sit in the passenger seat if you want," he spoke.
I nodded and opened the door to the passenger seat. When I got in, the smell of his cologne filled my nostrils making me smile a little.
"Uh, so, where are we going?," I asked him politely. He smiled and then looked at me.
"Its a surprise, you'll have to wait,"he says with a smirk before hitting the pedal and driving who knows where.
I was growing more and more impatient. Finally, without knowing it, we arrived when the car stopped to a halt. Me and Zain got out of the car and the smell of the cologne was gone.
I found the place that we were walking up to quite familiar and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. When we walked to the entrance, a lady handed me a brochure. I read the title and it felt like I just got slapped in the face.
We were at Louvre Museum!!! Oh my Allah!! I couldn't talk. My mouth was dry. I looked up at Zain and he was smiling at me.
"Y-you planned this?," I asked him completely shocked.
"Your mom told me that your really into art and that you've planning on coming here but never had the time, so I decided to make it a surprise." This is amazing. I've always planned on coming here but I've never had the time to.
I wanted to hug him. Wait what! Why would I want to hug him.
"T-thank you so much. I-," I was cutoff by him saying,"no, no, you don't have to thank me. Don't think of this as a gift, just think of it as just to get to know each other," he says.
I nod and start to have a conversation on how this was the museum in which they held the painting of Mona Lisa.
We spent nearly 3 hours at that museum looking at all the painting and having fun with the guards there.
Zain and I played a prank with one of them. It was hilarious.
The guard had on sponge Bob boxers that we're showing through so we took a picture of them, showed it to the guard and took a run for it. He was literally chasing us through the whole museum until we managed to lose him.
Eventually, the museum had to close so we got out 10 min before it did. Zain and I couldn't stop talking. We talked about everything. I knew things about him that were hilarious and something started growing in me.
I never felt like this for a boy. He drove me home and when we arrived. he stopped right in front of my house.
"Thank you, for this day. I had really good time," I told him with my gaze lowered.
"Remember what I said, no thank you's," he says.
I smile at that and nod. "Well I better get going."
"Oh, ok. Well um, bye," he says scratching his neck.
I smiled at him. "bye."
I walked up to my front door and rang the door bell. In one second my mom opened the door with a huge grin. I rolled my eyes and knew what would be next.
"Oh my god! How was it! What did you guys do! Tell me everything!," she screams.
My dad was In the living room drinking tea and working on his laptop.
"Shhhhh!," I said to her before grabbing her hand and taking her to the kitchen. "I'll tell you the whole thing if you keep quite."
***
I told my mom everything, from him surprising me to when he dropped me off.
"That's it, I'm calling them to arrange the engagement," she says while walking over to the phone.
"Mom! Are you serious! I haven't given him my answer yet!" Why do parents always have to go to conclusions?
She rolls her eyes and just when she was going to speak, I got a text message from Humaira saying that I have to come to her house right this minute.
I kissed my moms cheek, got out of the house, went into my car and drove to her house.
• • •
Humaira's POV
"And that was that," Az finishes.
I can't believe Zain took her to the art museum that's she has been planing on going to since the very beginning.
My mouth was hanging and I had no words. Az thought I was in a mental shock and was about to call the police until I suddenly started screaming.
"He fricken took you to the Louvre art Museum and you did not have the slightest energy to text me! You pickle head!," I screamed at her.
"I bet you were having too much fun with your husband to tell me." She could have at least told me.
Az rolls her eyes but kept smiling. I kept nudging her with my elbow and wiggling my eyebrows. "For the first time In my life, I have witnessed Azzahra Ahmed blushing because of a boy. Oh wait no, her soon-to-be hubby!," I scream out while putting a hand on my heart with my right hand.
"And more on the serious note, do you accept him?," I asked her.
"I-I um....," she says fiddling with her fingers unsure of what to say.
"Just say it already!," I scream at her.
"I-yes! Yes, I accept," she says while blushing furiously. Oh. My. God.
I got up and started running downstairs. "Qubool hai! Qubool hai! The bride has accepted! Where ma sweets at! My best friends getting married!," I scream out until I tripped and fell.
"You idiot, calm down, the neighbors are gonna complain," Az whisper yelled while coming down stairs.
"Oh honey, they're only gonna complain at your wedding night," I winked at her.
Her face turned completely red. My mom came running from the kitchen holding a spoon.
"What happened! Are you girls alright?!? I heard screaming."
"Az said yes to the proposal!"
My mom had a shocked expression and then started waving the spoon around. "Oh my Allah! What saree should I wear! Red! No green! Yes green! And the shoe-," she was about to finish when Az spoke up.
"Aunty, I still haven't told my mom yet and your already planning on what your going to wear," Az says with both hands on her hips.
I pushed her upstairs to my room and said,"I'm coming over to your house to record the reaction of your mom."
I got ready to go to Az's house. I'm using my car and Az is using her car since I'm not going to be staying over at her house.
We took off and then arrived at her front door. Az didn't have the guts to knock on the door so I did anyways.
The door swung open to Az's happy mom. We walked in, took off our shoes and went into the kitchen.
I cleared my throat and said, "aunty, Az has some news for you." She looked confused as ever.
Just at the right moment I took my phone out and went to the camera app. I hid the phone behind my hand so she won't see and pressed record.
"Az would you like to do the honors," I told her. She shook her head with a frown and looked away.
"What is it, just tell me already," aunty says.
A smiled really wide and screamed,"Azzahra Ahmed has agreed to marry Zain Sayed!!"
Aunty's eyes were popping out and she looked at Az and gave her a tight hug. "I knew it! See, your mother is always right! Now, what should I wear to the engagement!! Oh my god! Oh my god!"
Az rolls her eyes and grabs my hand to take me to her room. "I was expecting that of her," she says while plopping her self on the bed.