His Little Neighbour

seven

Mashal was a nervous wreck.

Not because she's going to meet up with her possible future husband but because of the interview she gave yesterday. They said they'd call her back today if she was chosen.

She was already way disappointed with her previous six interviews, for there was no callback. At first, it hurt. The rejection was something which she was not very used to it, at all. But during the second time, she has learned to accept it gracefully. So was the third, fourth, fifth and sixth time. It was rejection after rejection. She couldn't believe the real world was so hard and competitive to survive. Her confidence level was decreasing with every passing day. But she tried to be optimistic.

Her no working experience was her biggest drawback after all.

She was so frustrated and on top of that, her mother has asked her to dress up nicely to entertain some guests, who will be deciding if she was good enough to be their son's wife. She felt like banging her head somewhere. The past two weeks were that stressful.

"Aapi, why are you looking at the phone like that? Are mama and papa forcing you into this?" Meher asked her worriedly, as she kept staring at the phone continuously. The company said they'd call before eight-thirty in the night. It was eight right now and she still didn't receive any well, which was so disappointing considering, she was very optimistic about this one. Her mood was beginning to get worse with each passing second.

"Oh no, of course not. I'm worried about something else entirely. And you know our parents, they'd never do something like that. I gave my full consent before going ahead with this proposal. Chill."

Even if this proposal news came out as a shock, she did give her whole consent. She wanted to move on from her crush and be in a halal relationship. Which is why she agreed with her mother without many tantrums.

Mashal smiled at her sister, but Meher just huffed, fighting away her tears.

"What happened? Are those tears?" She held her sister's chin and stared at her quizzically. Her sister shook her head and pouted sadly.

"What is it?" Mashal asked again.

"You're going to leave me," Meher whispered sadly, whilst gazing at her hands, unable to meet her sister's eyes, lest she'd start weeping.

"Come here," Mashal felt tears brimming her eyes automatically as she pulled her sister close to her, hugging her tightly.

I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon. Okay? This is just the first step. Even if everything goes well and I do get married to this guy, I'll always be around to annoy you. Don't worry." She chuckled whilst placing a soft kiss on her sister's forehead, who was still very sad but she nodded her head anyway.

"I'm not gone yet. Don't make such faces." She smacked her hands but Meher huffed before hugging her tightly again, Mashal became speechless at this point. Meher wasn't always vocal about her affection. This reaction coming from her meant how deeply she was affected by the news of her marriage. But they've always been close, so this reaction was very much expected.

She fought away those damn tears, which was threatening to ruin her makeup.

"Stop being so emotional now. I'm not married yet." Mashal broke the hug and cupped her sister's face, who was already weeping sadly.

"Look at you." She wiped her tears and sighed.

"I'm not going anywhere. If you cry like this, I'll always be coming around here. To annoy you. Every single day. And you'll regret crying like this I'm telling you." They both chuckled at the end and Meher nodded happily.