If somebody asked Zahra - "do we ever reach a point in time when we just cannot love a person any longer?" - she wouldn't know.
Zahra Yusuf is the most sensible girl in her family. She listens to her mind more than her heart, maybe that's why her Na...
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chapter 12: don't say my name out loud
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"Okay, tell me what's wrong with this one." Humrah didi asked.
I sighed dramatically. Today was really not my day — it was a cloudy morning and my breakfast was cold. Shafaq would be here soon but my older sister was showing me pictures of people she found eligible to be my husband.
Humrah didi's engagement was finalised to just be a simple family get-together and went by in the blink of an eye. An entire month had passed, with absolutely no harmful events occurring around me. I was finally feeling like things were going back to normal. The only added person into my present was the guy who had decided that his life's purpose was to protect me.
The morning meetings with Shafaq saturated me with enough thoughts to last 24 hours. It was until recently that I found myself looking forward to meeting him.
It was absurd — I knew that. But if someone asked me what this new feeling was, I didn't know what it was. But it definitely was something.
Now I looked at Humrah didi and smiled, her attempts to show me photograph after photograph of guys who were deemed "a good fit" for me was tiring.
"Didi, let's just get you married first."
"Come on, that's not the answer I'm looking for." Humrah didi rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with him?" She said, shoving a picture in my hand.
"I don't know him, I wouldn't know." I pointed out. "I don't judge based on looks!"
"Does that mean you want to meet him?" Humrah didi raised an eyebrow.
"No!" I chuckled. "I'm just not interested in him."
She raised an eyebrow at me, catching me off-guard.
"What?" I blinked.
"It's Shafaq Sultan, isn't it?" She narrowed her eyes. "The guy you're interested in."
"Huh?"
"He clearly said it's not safe to marry you to him." Humrah didi shook her head.
"I don't know what—"
"You know very well what I'm talking about."
"It's not because of him." I answer finally, knowing it might not entirely be true.
"Then why don't you want to get married?" Humrah didi waved the picture in her hand.
