B.O.A.T - Brownest of All Time

Chapter 9

Wow so it's happening. I never thought this will happen so soon. Yes, I'm getting married to Haroon today. Arranged marriage of course but everything looks perfect and everyone is happy. I'm dolled up and I even feel pretty. Haroon is seated next to me and he looks like a goat. He's holding my hands and he really seems to like me. Maybe I will learn to love him too. So this is my happy ending after all! It's all good until I spot a face so familiar. Oh crap! Sameer is here and he's walking towards me. Why the hell would he come here when I didn't even invite him? I can't do this anymore. I'm not happy. I'm not ready for this marriage. Oh God! I can't breathe. I feel weak. And that's it I faint and the last words I hear are, "Open your eyes Ilhaam!"

I get up and sit on my bed all confused like I've just seen a ghost. Mom is standing next to me holding a cup of tea in her hands. It's my room and mom is in normal clothes and so am I! There is no Haroon! There is no wedding! Wow so it was a dream after all. And that was mom's voice trying to wake me up for work that I heard at last.

Okay that was the strangest dream ever! Somehow I'm smiling endlessly and I'm not sure why I'm doing that. Is it because I dreamt of Haroon as my husband? — Eww no! Or is it because the whole thing was just a dream? — Probably.

There's this conversation with Sameer that keeps playing in my head over and over again where he says "I love you" to me. I mean a hopelessly romantic one that I'm most likely to imagine about — or did it really happen?

Sleep deprivation can really drive people crazy, I guess. And maybe mom is right about phone overuse causing memory loss.

I unlock my phone and open Instagram. Sameer replied to my story last night, so his name is right on top in my DMs. The last message from me is a heart. Why did I send him a heart?

Wait, so it actually happened? Nah, everyone on Instagram uses a heart to end any conversation and that's perfectly normal. Better check it anyway.

So, I click on his name just to confirm whether I'm imagining it or not. And this is what I find:

Sameer: S — I guess it's me 😛
Me: Or maybe Saad 😂
Sameer: Nah I know what ur heart wants 😉
Me: how do u know what my heart wants? 😛
Sameer: I know everything 😇
Me: Wow smart boy! 🥳
Sameer: thanks 😘
Me: Okay leave that 😂 tell me what kind of girl do you want? We have a good broker to find u a match! 😉
Sameer: A girl like u ♥️ can the broker do that for me?
Me: A little hard because I'm a special edition but let's see 😛
Sameer: What would it take for me to get exactly the special edition? 🧐
Me: Figure it out! U are the smart one 👻
Sameer: What if I propose to the special edition? Would it work? 🤔
Me: May be or may be not 💁🏾‍♀️
Sameer: I love you Ilhaam ♥️ Will you marry me? 😌
Me: lol nice proposal 😂
Sameer: You are supposed to say 'yes' or 'no' 😒
Me: Okay the special edition says 'yes' 😘
Sameer: 😍
Sameer: Wait, were you serious about what u just said?
Me: I dunno 🤷🏾‍♀️ were u serious about asking me that?
Sameer: if u were serious, then yes me too
Me: same...if u were serious, then I was too
Sameer: Ilhaam I'm 101% serious. I love you ❤️ I gotta run to work now. Get some sleep. Will call u by afternoon babe 😘
Me: Okay babe 😍 I love you too
Me: ♥️

Woah! So it really happened! I'm not crazy. I wasn't imagining things. Sameer really did say "I love you" to me and called me "babe"!

So, that's it? All it took was a few hours of late-night flirting via texts to get a confession from your crush? Didn't know it was this easy. I would've done this long time back had I known this would be the outcome.