Khudgarzi

2

Banno re banno meri chali sasural ko
Ankhiyon me paani de gayi
Dua'a me, meethi gud dhani le gayi

Last night's events had me confused but a part of me let it be, maybe he was just as nervous as I was, whereas, the other part of me, sensed that something was off. But I barely paid attention to that because it was my rukhsati today. I could barely sleep with the realization that it would be my last day with my parents. I had just brushed my teeth, when my sister came in and told me to hurry up as we were going to the makeup artist so that I'd get ready.

In a few hours, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and I saw a beautiful version of me. I have to say, the makeup artist was well known for a reason. I felt beautiful and for the first time in the past few months, I felt an emotion that I didn't feel; hope. I felt hopeful for the life ahead of me. I felt excited thinking about how I would "blow my husband's mind away" when he would first see me. For the first time, I was blushing and giggling like a bride would.

My sister came in and recited a few Quranic verses and prayed for me. She told me that my brother in law was waiting outside for us. It was time now for me to head to the event. The journey there was smooth but as we reached nearer and nearer to the venue, I felt knots being tied in my stomach. My sister consoled me saying that it was probably nervousness for the event and told me to close my eyes and rest. Closing my eyes, all I saw was this;

Flashback starts:

Eight months ago

The past four months have been so hard on our family. To treat ammi's tumor, abbu had to sell almost every property we ever owned. The only thing, we had left was our family home and the expenses have now become too much to handle that abbu is thinking of selling this as well. I, however, have been working extremely hard in college so that I could get into a good fashion school and guess what? I did!

I can't wait to go home and tell ammi and abbu about this. They will be so happy to know that I made it! I think that the school emailed them as well, because they've told me that they have to congratulate me on something as well! I can't wait to see the happiness on their faces when I tell them this news!

I can say this without any doubt that every cloud indeed has a silver lining.

Flashback ends

"Aylu kin khayalon main gum hou, hum aa gaye hain", I heard aapi teasing me. I looked around to indeed find myself outside the wedding hall. I was about to get off when the photographers came around and started taking pictures of me enroute to the bridal room. Apparently, this was a trend as well. My sister came and helped me settle in the bridal room now. It was almost time for my baraat to come and I couldn't wait.
(Ayla who's thoughts are you lost in? We're here!)

My cousins gathered around me once again and this time when they teased me, I was blushing. Today, I felt like an actual bride, because I was genuinely looking forward for the life that was to follow me. Soon after, I could hear the dhol walay, which only meant one thing, my baraat was here. The cousins who once gathered around me, quickly ran outside so that they could charge my groom some entry fee. I could hear them bargaining and I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
(drummers)

Eventually, my cousin's let them in and my sister came in to tell me that my parents in-laws want to come and see me. They knocked on the door, came and sat beside me. It was at this moment that I realized that I hadn't met them before either, nor had they shown up to the nikkah last night. It was as if they read my face and told me that they just landed from Canada today, calming my nerves. However, my sixth sense was telling me that something is not right with their behavior and I have to keep alert around them.

It was now time for me to walk down the aisle and go meet my husband. If anyone measured my heart rate right now, it would be crossing 200 beats per minute. I was that nervous and excited to see him. The lights in the hall dimmed with only a spotlight on me, being walked down the aisle by my parents. I didn't dare look up towards him, because I knew I would blush furiously and my family would make fun of me. We reached the stage and my parents settled me next to him.

Two hours passed by, all he'd said to me was Salam and he had not talked to me. I tried initiating a conversation and I was only met by "hmm" and "mhm" so I thought it was best to remain quiet. Even when the food was served, he didn't even bother helping me out but instead, walked away and went to eat with his parents. Thankfully, aapi had come to the rescue and sat with me.

I was almost in tears now, the thought of leaving my parents was now secondary but the thought of leaving my parents to be with a guy who has ignored me this entire evening had clouded my thoughts. All of my relatives came and sympathized with me telling me its just the nerves of leaving my parents that I'm like this, but only if they knew what I was going through internally.

A/N: please review it and lemme know if you like it and don't forget to vote!