His Hafizah and her Hafiz

Marriage?

Hawa POV:

Mom had picked out a red dress and a black scarf for me to wear. I stared at the shiny sequences glued to the top, glistening under the sun's rays that poured down through the open window. It's just aunt and uncle, why did I have to dress up for them? 

"Hawa dear, everyone's waiting to see you." Mom hollered from downstairs, her voice cheerful as ever. 

"Coming!" I answered, my nerves feeling all jittery as I stared at myself in the mirror. 

Okay Hawa! There was nothing to stress about, mom just probably wanted me to look good in front of my uncle and aunt. There. That was probably it. 

Without another ounce of thought, I shoved the dress on, wrapped my hair in a messy bun, and  loosely draped my hijab on my head hastily. 

I looked in the mirror for the last time and did a small twirl, glancing at my 5'4 figure wearing an elegant flowy dress. I guess I was good to go!

I hastily ran down the stairs and catiously peeked in the living room where everyone was chatting away, unaware of my presence. Mom and Aunty were catching up with their latest familial news, Uncle Benyamin and Dad were probably gossiping about Dad's taraweeh's prayer, and grandma was probably practicing her dramatic skills on grandpa.

"Assalamu Alaikum everyone!" I greeted nervously, forcefully stretching my lips upwards and abruptly plopping myself beside mom on the sofa. Why did I have to be such a nervous wreck?

"Sarah meet my daughter Hawa." Mom smiled placing her arms around my shoulders, engulfing me in a light hug. 

"Yes, sis. I think we've meet plenty of times ever since the day she was born, right hon?" Aunt Sarah said, rolling her eyes playfully at mom joke.

"Yup Aunty." I smiled. 

"You grow beautiful every single time I see you dear." Uncle Benyamin winked at me, his green familiar eyes blazed with adoration. 

"Agreed to that!" My aunt nodded with a treasing smile. 

"Darling you too? A stick?" My grandma gasped dramatically. 

"Stick? Where?" I asked quizically, looking around the room for the stick she needed. 

"Mom!" Both my dad and uncle Benyamin shouted. "Aunty!" From the other side, mom and aunty shouted all together.

"Please not again with the twigs and sticks, please Mariam." Grandpa whined, throwing his head back. "It's getting annoying now!"

"Fine. I'l stop! But, if you guys don't feed your kids,  I swearI'll do so much worse." Grandma smirked evilly, adjoining her palms together as she brewed a devillish plan in her head. Now where have a seen a similar smirk before?

"Can we get over with this? We have other places to go." Dad looked worriedly down at his wrist watch.

"So... Hawa?" Uncle Ben started, clapping his hands once.  "We want you to meet your betrothed."

What?

"I'm sorry..." I trailed off, glancing at my family members reaction one by one. 

"You didn't hear wrong." My dad said softly, keeping a straight face while observing my reaction.

I looked up at them horrified, my eyes were bulging out of their sockets as I clenched on the ledge of the sofa hard feeling slightly dizzy. "Why?" I whispered, barely audible, my breath leaving my lungs.

 What did I do wrong in this world? What did I do to deserve this? Was I being sold off? I tried to be the best daughter I could...

"Because we want you to have the chance to know him." Dad continued.