Unexpected Promises

Chapter 36

Saad's pov :

"Now are you even going to tell us what happened or just sulk here like a kid?" Bhai asked me, plopping down on the bed beside me. I turned my face to stare at him, an involuntary sigh escaping my lips. Looking back down at the file in my left hand and a pencil in my right hand, I realised I had drifted off with my thoughts in another world, and abandoned my work.

Keeping the pencil in the file and closing it, I pushed it on the coffee table in front of me, deciding to work on it later on. Bhai forwarded a mug of tea towards me, and it was then that I noticed him holding two mugs of tea in his hand. Grabbing it, I smiled at him gratefully.

It had been a few hours since we arrived here and it was going to be Zuhr soon. Alayna was sleeping in her room, and I was kind of thankful for that. Because I didn't want her to give away anything to bhai, bhabi or mama, baba.

Mama and baba didn't even know anything about my nikkah yet. And I was scared of their reaction. I didn't want Alayna to disclose anything to them. I wanted to be the one to tell them about it. I wanted to be the one to endure their warth, if there was any. I didn't want them to take their anger out on Alayna.

I would have to ask her to keep this a secret somehow, I thought. But I didn't even know what I would have to do or say for her to keep it a secret, since she was still just a kid and they were so innocent and pure. Just asking them to keep a secret felt like a sin. Like I did something which I was never supposed to do. Actually, maybe I did something which I wasn't supposed to do. I felt like I had tainted her innocence and it was all my mistake in the first place. Ya Allah, what would I do now!? My head felt like it would explode from all these thoughts.

And if it was about telling bhai and bhabi about whatever happened there, then I didn't know. I didn't know how to tell them or what to tell them. I wasn't ready to tell them about it yet. Maybe I would tell them, but after a while?

Rubbing two fingers on my forehead, trying to cease the headache, I sipped my tea. "It's nothing bhai, don't worry about it much." I told him, looking down.

"Chote..." He was about to say something but trailed off with a sigh, nodding his head. "Accha. I'm going to leave that topic for now. But just for now, understood? I'm here for you, always remember that." He patted my back with that, a small assuring smile on his face.

I smiled back at him while nodding my head. I wanted to tell him that I knew that. That I knew he wouldn't ever leave my side and would be with me till the end, but I stayed mum. I felt drained. It seemed like all of my energy was sucked out of me and I didn't even know how to get it back.

._._._.

The atmosphere of the house was filled with laughter and delicious amora. Mama was in the kitchen with bhabi, making something 'special' because her kids 'just returned from a week long trip' and 'they haven't eaten anything properly because they look so weak'. Although I doubted that was true because I think I actually gained a bit of weight since as far as I remember, I was stuffed by ammi quite a lot.

But since I couldn't tell that to mama and argue with her, I would just have to cope up with having even more food. And there went my plan of going on a diet once I was back home.

"Baba stop!" Alayna squealed, giggles escaping past her lips and her eyes squeezed shut.

"Naah ah ahh! I have to make it up for the time you weren't here." He replied, tickling her even more, earning more giggles from her.

I turned my gaze away from my laptop with a small smile on my lips to look at them. A chuckle escaped bhai's lips as he too stared at them, amusement clear in his eyes. Shaking my head, I turned back to work on the project at hand. I had to complete it, it was due from quite a long time now.