Love, Mubaraka

thirty one

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Dedicated to Aneurin_Tanisha and rapunxel_x ♥️

Chapter 31 | Eyeballing

The first few days, an uproar thundered through the two families.

Khalid did not hold back his disdain as Nausheen announced the news to him-proclaiming how he had some right, as Aaryan's father, to hold some if not all power regarding this important aspect of his son's life. Nausheen lovingly patted his arm and said, with a voice that did not waiver the slightest, that had he been put in her position, his final decision wouldn't have been anything but this either. And realizing the truth in her words, he gave in.

Saboor was on cloud nine, and quite literally at that. She was exceptionally bouncy, as if someone had drilled springs into the ends of her feet. She tried numerous times to coerce Mubaraka and Aaryan to at least converse once now that their wedding was fixed-'Talking is important. If not in person, at least over text?'-but Mubaraka refused to. She had already learnt her lessons, had already sailed the turbulent waters. Now, she prayed for nothing but a smooth sailing and if it was written in her Qadr, a smooth sailing she'd get.

When Aaryan would end up in the Khalids' prayer room at the same time as Maha, he'd sit down quietly in the back with his Qur'an in his lap while Maha's sniffles would reverberate in the room. Aaryan always knew that although on surface level, Maha and Saboor had more similarities than differences, deep down they were anything but. Saboor housed as much iron and steel within her as she displayed, while Maha's was just a front. Their youngest sister, the baby of the family, was a soft, gooey marshmallow, and until today, he'd never understood how much he and his happiness mattered to her.

Sometimes it is the prayers of your loved ones coupled with your own that even the angels say ameen to. And Aaryan had a rapture belief that it was Maha's prayers Allah had responded to.

Wahdan, on the other hand, refused to speak to Mubaraka. In a flurry of theatrics, he even told Mubaraka he was was 'disinheriting' and 'disowning' her because she had taken someone else in more confidence than her own brother. He admitted he'd already been planning on first discussing the matter thoroughly with Aaryan and if he hinted his approval, they could move on to formal discussions. Mubaraka felt he was right in his place, but so was she in hers.

She could not keep it in her any longer. The story within her had had its pages filled up for a long time, and when the ink had dried and the pages had withered and her eyes had worn out of reading and rereading it, she'd finally handed it over, giving someone else the honor to read through it as well.

And in Mubaraka's hazy mind, she felt no one was more deserving of it than the one person who loved Aaryan more than she did-his very own mother.