Changing His Ways

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER | EIGHT | UMAYMAH | POV

It was that Wednesday afternoon when I figured that leaving all wedding preparations to my in laws was easier said than done. It came down to this because not only did I feel jealous that they could go wedding shopping and have a great laugh about this wedding, but also because my family became traitors and went next door to help, leaving me like a baffled baboon with nothing to do. I wouldn't have minded, but I knew they were going to come back teasing me as they knew more about my own wedding than I did.

'There has to be something I can do!' I thought exasperatedly. My best friend turned out to be a traitor too and luckily, as we're next door, I could hear their laughter from bedroom window. Well, not that lucky I suppose.

It was only four in the afternoon and the sun was still out but I could see it was about to go down any minute now. There was no use trying to go out since the air was cold in this particular November day and my parents would be mad if they found out I went out at this time without someone. If it was Summer it wouldn't be much of an issue, but now that it's Winter, the sun sets more quickly.

Looking around my room I couldn't see anything that would perhaps occupy me until my family came home. And so, I got up and strolled out the room and went downstairs. Not that next door had been doing the entire wedding preparations because the clothes of my family for Saturday were all neatly sprawled out onto the sofa. Well, at least they knew what they were going to be wearing. Especially Jasmine; she was one of my two bridesmaids that I had, the other one being my Assia.

All I had received was the amount I needed to pay for my dress and I happily obliged but I had a feeling that wasn't the right amount. Maybe it was just the panic which I realised had now started to gradually sink it; thank goodness it wasn't major though.

The colour theme for the guests and family was the only thing I was allowed to pick out which made happy knowing that I finally had a choice. Maroon and creme is what I had decided on, but it wasn't compulsory as the wedding was such short notice, to me even!

Sighing I began to clear up the clothes and leave them neatly on a pile so that when they came home they could take it up themselves. I might have been helpful enough to sort it out, but I wasn't that nice to put it up in their rooms. There was no denying how left out I felt about my own wedding but I decided not to think about it too much or else I'd end up with a tub of ice cream thinking about life - not that I'm complaining. Well the ice cream part anyway.

Just then something had caught my eye. Looking closer to what had fallen from behind the couch, I saw it was a baby picture of me. I almost burst out laughing by what I saw: a chubby toddler with out of control curly hair, smearing cake on my father. I had no idea where this was taken or why but I'm glad it had been because it's pretty funny looking at it now.

"Well let's put this where it belongs eh?" It had become a habit of mine; talking to myself when I was alone and I wasn't sure whether to think I was going mental or shrug it off. Nevertheless, the thought of me being mental didn't sound nice and so I just shrug the the idea off.

All the albums which we stored our pictures in were in the basement and I wondered what it was even doing out of its place. Taking a few steps I came to the basement door and pushed it open, going down the stairs where a bunch of old things we didn't use was down there.

Old toys, TV's, a pile of our baby clothes and some old video tapes were all nearly stored on the shelves and it made me wonder why we still had these. Maybe it was just the memories of when we weren't a nuisance that my parents wanted to remember. Finally on the last shelf were the albums; an entire shelf had been dedicated for this because mom and dad would love taking pictures of us when were smaller. Perhaps causing the selfie addiction we had now.