The Wedding

Chapter 31

Saturday

Wedding day

Laila forced a polite smile as another aunt squeezed her shoulder reassuringly "Poor child"

It was 10 am and she had come out of the room, tired of basking in her misery to have breakfast only to be stopped by every relative in the house so they could sympathise with her. Most of them were leaving so she went to see them off. Amidst their goodbyes they'd smile sadly at her, tell her it was for the best and some even teasingly assured her that they'd be back next year for another wedding.

"Laila"

Her father pulled her away from everyone to speak to her privately in his living room. She joined him, closed the door after her

"Yusuf's father suggested we meet somewhere, the four of us and talk this out. There has to be something Yusuf's not telling us, he can't just say he doesn't want to get married anymore a day to the wedding without a good reason"

She began to panic. What if they find out the truth?

"Did you two fight?"

"I mean we had misunderstandings but- uh, I don't know which one caused this"

"Misunderstandings are normal. I think it's a good idea we go. This house is full of people so they can't come here, similarly theirs is full too, we could meet at some café, what do you think?"

She had let Yusuf do all the talking yesterday, but she had to do something now or they were going to be pushed back together.

"Baba I don't want to go"

"I understand you must not be in the mood. But the sooner we clear this misunderstanding the better Laila"

"Baba I don't just mean now, I don't want to fix things"

"Because of what he did yesterday? He must have a reason"

"Not because of that. I just think it's better-" she searched her brain for an explanation "I need time"

Her father sighed "It's alright. It's not like you can get married today even if you sort things out so why not"

She stood up, hiding her relief. She'd continue this way and maybe after a while they'd understand and they'd let her be. They couldn't keep pestering her if both she and Yusuf were unwilling. "Thank you"

"I don't know why this is happening" she paused to listen "First Zainab then Halima now you..." he rubbed his forehead

"Mum and you" she reminded him

"Yeah, us too"

"So she's still leaving?"

"I don't ask her everyday" he rolled his eyes at his daughter "but last time I checked... yes"

"I'm sorry baba"

He had a reassuring smile as she walked out.

Nothing was perfect, nothing was good but Laila couldn't help feeling light hearted. She met Zee on the corridor and Laila swung her arm over Zee's shoulder as they walked to the kitchen to eat. Nothing was the way it was supposed to be but since she had managed the most difficult task of all; she had hope that others would fall into place too. Maybe not everything would be fixed, some things had shifted and they couldn't be put back in place. But she'd try. Because that was who she was, she'd try everything she could to get her sister back into her husband's home, to make sure her parents stayed together to face this senator threat and to find a way to help Ya Zainab and Jafar to fix things if they could. If their family proved to be too big an issue for them to get over then she'd help her sister accept fate that it wasn't meant to be. But she'd do all that later, now; she had a Yaseer to win back