Atifa's pov :

"I told you to sit straight and don't move. Warna I won't be able to do your hairstyle correctly." Emaan chided, getting annoyed, a frown adorning her face. Sighing while sitting straighter, I turned to look at her. (Or else)

"When I'm going to wear my hijab, what is the need for this hairstyle?" I asked her while quoting the word 'hairstyle', getting annoyed myself. I have been sitting here for the last one hour and she is still not yet done with me. She keeps saying it's almost done but I know she won't let me go so easily.

"Keep quiet and this is the last time I'm saying, don't move. Or else I might accidentally poke you with this pin or something." She replied, frustrated. "And we get married just once in our lifetime, might as well enjoy it to the fullest. So let me do it for your and your future husband's sake." She added in a teasing tone, making me glare at her. "Oh and for my sake too. It will help me practice some nice hairstyles for myself." She added with a grin as she turned me back to my old position.

"Yeah right!" I muttered but did as she told me to. I can't even watch myself until she is done with me. 'That's a rule and believe me, you will look more beautiful after you are ready and finally watch yourself!' She had exclaimed happily. Honestly, I have never heard of that rule before. But since I knew she wouldn't budge, I had agreed. But now I'm kind of regretting it because she has taken it too seriously and wouldn't even let me check how much of her work is left.

I sighed while scrolling through my mobile. Emaan chuckled, "I promise it's almost done this time, I'm just pinning the remaining pearls to your hair, then you are done."

"I don't believe your promises anymore." I mumbled and pouted like a child, making her laugh.

"Okay, don't make me laugh while I'm using pins, I might poke you." Controlling her laugh, she said with a grin.

"I wasn't joking that it made you laugh." I muttered back. We got the kids ready before Emaan started her experiment on me. Other than me, only Emaan is left to get ready. I hope ammi has already gotten ready or else we will have to nag her to do that. I don't know about him though... But why am I even thinking about him right now?

Before I could think about him or anything else, Emaan's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Tadaaa! And we are done!" She exclaimed as she let her hands fall by her side.

Sighing in relief, I looked at her gratefully. "Alhamdulillah!" I exclaimed as I started to stand up and see what she did to my poor face.

But before I could turn around to look at myself, she held my shoulders, stopping me. "Just a minute more." Grinning, she made me sit again and started taking out strands of my hair from the front, framing my face. "Okay, now go and change while I get my makeup done." Smiling sweetly, she told me.

"Yeah I'm going to do just that, but first let me see myself." Raising my eyebrow, I replied as I stood up and turned around.

I could only take a glimpse of myself when she came in front of me. "No, first change and then you can see." Instructing me sternly, she pointed towards the washroom with my dress in her hands. Before I could argue, she added, looking at me with her puppy eyes. "Please Atifa, it's getting late already and even I have to get ready. So go and change before your mom comes in and have a mini panic attack."

Groaning in frustration, I complied taking my dress from her and turned around to go to the washroom. She has a point. Ammi will literally have a mini panic attack realising we are not ready yet. A smile made its way onto my face as I realised even my washroom as a mirror. Maybe Emaan forgot about it. Grinning, I entered the washroom and closed the door quickly before she could realise it and change her mind. I turned to look at the mirror but as soon as my eyes landed on it, a frustrated groan escaped my lips. "Emaaaaannn!"

I could hear her laughter from behind the closed doors. I'm not going to leave this girl! I will take my revenge when the time comes. I glared at my - now ruined - mirror. She had gone out of her way by using lipstick and scribbling gibberish on the mirror. At the end she wrote, 'I did not forget about it' with a smiley face. Now I can't even see my reflection here.

A sigh escaped my lips as I changed into my dress and prayed that the fitting fits me well. It did Alhamdulillah. Smiling slightly, I looked down at my dress and ran my hand through its fabric. I had imagined my wedding day when I was a kid. Even as I got older, I have thought about it. Maybe not much but yeah, at times I did. I'm sure almost every girl has thought about it at least once in their lifetime. But since that incident, I stopped thinking about it, let alone getting married this early. I thought that I would, maybe, complete my studies and help ammi financially.

But as it is said, we plan and Allah plan and He is the best of Planners. I'm sure there must be khair in this decision of His. I trust Him more than anyone in my life. And I know no matter what, He won't abandon me or let me make any wrong decision.

With these thoughts in my mind, I stepped out of the washroom, still looking down, only to be greeted by my heels resting on the mat. Wearing them, I looked up to find Emaan looking at me in awe. Rolling my eyes at her, I went towards the mirror. "Wow!" Emaan breathed out as she stood up from the dressing table, leaving her makeup in the middle. "I knew that you would look beautiful, but I wasn't expecting for it to turn out this..." She trailed off, trying to find a perfect word to describe me. "Stunning!" She murmured absent-mindedly, still gazing at me. "I wish I was a boy so that I could marry such a beautiful young lady." She added with a grin as she kept her hand on her heart in a dramatic manner.

Chuckling at her, I stood in front of the mirror. Looking at myself, I couldn't believe that I'm the same girl as before. Not that I couldn't recognise myself or something. I had requested Emaan to do a light nude makeup look on me, and she has truly outdone herself.

The french tail and the hair strands framing my face, made my features stand out. My eyes were sparkling more than usual and the small smile resting on my nude pink lips doesn't seem to leave me. The light makeup looks natural and looked well with my cream coloured beaded gown.

I was still looking at myself, examining myself, when I heard a click, bringing me out of my trance. Blinking my eyes, I saw Emaan clicking my pictures from behind me. "Emaan!" I shook my head at her antics and turned away from the mirror. "Get ready, it's getting late. Ammi will come here anytime now and if she watches you like this then you know the consequences." I told her, making my way towards the bed and sitting down.

She was still clicking my pictures, making me glare at her playfully. She laughed. "Okay okay, I will get ready but please don't glare. Your pictures won't come out good." She pleaded with a pout. I rolled my eyes as a smile made its way on my face once again. "Yeah exactly that cute smile!" She added with a smile as she started telling me poses to take some pictures.

._._._.

I couldn't stop playing with my bracelet - the one which Emaan gifted me - absent-mindedly, as I sat in front of the mirror all dolled up, ready to go downstairs when I'm called. Emaan was sitting with me, thankfully ready now, and clicking our pictures. She was wearing a light pink coloured gown, her hair left open with light makeup. She looks gorgeous.

The kids had come by a while ago, and after gushing over how beautiful we were looking and taking pictures with us, they ran downstairs to watch the decoration. I didn't even know they were decorating downstairs. But I guess, since my uncle - ammi's brother - arrived with his family, he might have insisted on doing it with his sons. They didn't have any daughter and since I was the first girl born in the family, they loved me like their own daughter. I was glad that they came by even on such a short notice, since I was missing abbu terribly. Maybe with them being here, I might not feel as lonely as I would have felt without them.

Even Emaan's family arrived a while back. Her mom came to meet me with mami. And now they are all downstairs, probably helping ammi. Surprisingly, ammi didn't come to check up on me yet. Given the outburst earlier, I thought she would be the first one to come and see me. But I guess she was avoiding me. Or most probably wanted to distract herself from being emotional again.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the ringing of the phone. Looking at Emaan, I saw an annoyed look crossing her face. Raising an eyebrow, I silently asked her what's wrong. She just shook her head as she picked up the call. Sighing, I picked up my phone to distract myself. I was clicking my hand pictures when my attention was caught by Emaan. "Okay, can you take some pictures of Saad?" She rolled her eyes as she added, "Please bhai, will you take some pictures of Saad and send us?"

I was looking at her wide eyed and when she looked back at me, she chuckled. Cutting the call, she gave me a mischievous look before asking me innocently. "What happened Atifa?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You don't know what happened?" I countered back. "Why do you want his pictures now when we will be going down and you can see him yourself." And as an afterthought, I added, "Actually, why do you even want to see him, you should be lowering your gaze, right?" I raised my eyebrow at her.

"Oh, can you smell something?" She asked me with a frown as she sniffed and looked around. I furrowed my eyebrows as I sniffed. Just as I was about to ask her what she added with a smirk. "Something burning."

Narrowing my eyes at her, I replied in annoyance. "No I can't smell anything and nothing is burning." She was trying to play that trick with me again and I was falling for it!

She laughed, "Yeah and I'm the Queen of England."

"Oh wow, Ma Shaa Allah, I didn't know that! How come you are here, my highness?" I replied sarcastically.

She continued laughing as she raised her hands up in a defensive manner and told me with a wink. "It's not my fault that your soon to be husband is hot."

I was busy glaring at her when her phone pinged with notifications. Smirking, she opened the chat and started downloading the pictures. When she looked up at me, she was taken off guard. "Okay okay, I was kidding. Geez woman! I asked his pictures to send them to you. Wouldn't you like to see how he is looking? I mean... How nice he is looking." She added the last part, stuttering.

Before I could reply, a knock resounded in the room, followed by ammi coming in. She was looking beautiful in the light pink dress which she donned. It was more of a gown. And even she had her hair open with light makeup, just enough to make her look younger than her age. The theme of the nikkah was light pink and grey. The girls were wearing light pink dresses while the men wore grey suits, except for him of course. Just the colour and dresses of the Bride and Groom differ from the others. It was one of my dreams as a kid to keep this pink and grey theme. And surprisingly, ammi remembered it and brought only those coloured outfits yesterday.

Smiling at us, ammi came to stand in front of us. Even we stood up. "You are looking gorgeous aunty!" Emaan complimented her with a smile.

"Yeah ammi, you are looking beautiful." I added and then breathed out, "As always." As I gave her a small nervous smile.

"Jazak Allahu Khairan, you are looking stunning as well." Ammi replied to Emaan as she passed her a smile before turning to look at me. Maybe it was time. Maybe she came here to take me down. Suddenly, I was feeling much more nervous. Her eyes were glossy as she examined me from head to toe.

"Waiyyakum." Saying this, Emaan wore her matching hijab before making her way towards the door. "I'm going downstairs." She announced turning to look at me from behind ammi. Gesturing something about sending me the pictures, she left, closing the door behind her.

I turned my attention back to ammi. She held my face in her hands gently as she kissed my forehead. "You are looking beautiful. Truly just like a princess ready to start her life with her prince charming." She smiled mischievously as she added, "I'm sure Saad won't be able to take his eyes off of you."

I could feel my cheeks heating up as I whined. "Ammi, not you too!"

She laughed, "So Emaan did her part of the job. I should be thanking her for that, shouldn't I?" She asked me, a mischievously look on her face.

I think my already heated cheeks might be burning by now. "No, you should be scolding her, not thanking her!" I replied with a pout while folding my arms.

"And why should I do that?" She asked me, amusement twinkling in her eyes and heard in her voice.

"Because... because she was teasing me." I replied, turning away from her to hide my burning face. I'm sure this light makeup won't be able to hide this much redness.

"Oh! Isn't that her work as your best friend? To tease you and enjoy with you. To be there for you in good and bad. To make memories with you and stuff?" Ammi asked me, coming in front of me as she raised her eyebrow.

"Ya Allah ammi, I know that! I was just kidding." I replied as I let my hands fall by my side.

"I know that too, princess. Even I was teasing you." She smiled at me before suddenly becoming emotional, as if remembering a precious memory. Wiping a tear from under her eye, she said, "Your abbu would have been so happy to see you like this today. Believe me, he would have been so proud of you."

I heaved a long sigh remembering abbu and watching ammi finally talk about him. It was getting emotional for me too. I could feel the tears brimming my eyes too. "Ammi." I hugged her tightly in hopes of calming her down. A few tear drops leaked from my eyes as I hastily wiped them away. I don't have any words to comfort her. I don't know what to say when I know that her grief is far greater than mine. I just resorted to murmuring sweet nothings in her ears as I rubbed her back. I could feel her taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and gather herself.

She gently pulled back from the hug, dabbing under her eyes. Her face had turned pale now. "I'm okay. I just... got a bit emotional." She gave me a weak smile. "Okay it's getting late, let's pray Zuhr before heading downstairs. Everyone is waiting for us. You have your wudu right?" Ammi asked me happily, her face gaining back the faded colours.

Smiling at her, I replied. "Yeah, let's pray."

._._._.

I was admiring the simple and elegant decoration which was done in our home to make it memorable. I couldn't take my eyes off the staircase railing as I walked down the steps, towards the drawing-room, which was where the nikkah will be held. Light pink and grey balloons covered the railing, making it a perfect place for taking photos.

Ammi and Emaan were by my side. Emaan seemed more nervous than me because she kept squeezing my hands. I passed her a warm smile, "I'm okay, don't worry so much girl! You seem more nervous than me." I whispered to her quietly, making her release a breathy laugh.

"No, I'm not! I'm just..." She tried to protest but her voice trailed off, not being able to find the right word. She shook her head in annoyance and sighed.

I chuckled slowly and as we neared the drawing-room, I could feel my heart beat rising and nervousness creeping up as I started scratching the flower bouquet in my hand. Glancing at ammi, I saw her smiling as she left my side to go in the room before us. Sighing, I looked at Emaan. Surprisingly, she looked calm, unlike the nervous mess which she was a few moments ago. I raised my eyebrow at her, silently asking her what happened. She just gave me a cheeky smile before adding, "I just realised you should be the nervous one, not me. After all, you are getting married and you will have to live with him."

"Thank you Emaan, this is helping me a lot in calming me down!" I muttered sarcastically, to which she just gave me a teasing smile.

"I know Atifa, after all what am I even here for?" She looked at me innocently and added with a smirk, "Now let's go inside, everyone must be wondering where we are." Putting an arm around my shoulder, she guided me in the room. I immediately looked down and tightened my grip on the flower bouquet. My heels actually look so interesting right now. Like, I didn't even notice how beautiful they really were. I heard the room getting silent and I could feel everyone's gaze on me.

I hate attention. It was one of the reasons for me to always want a small wedding with only family and close friends. I never liked how people gawked at others like they have never seen them before or something. Don't get me wrong, I know many people like attention and I mean no offence to them, but I personally never preferred attention, it just made me uncomfortable knowing that my each and every move will be watched.

Emaan made me sit on the love seat and after a while, sat beside me. I still had my head down so I couldn't see the decoration of this room. And that was the only thing which could distract me from the current situation right now. I peeked from under my lashes, hoping no one catches me looking around. I quickly surveyed my surroundings and thankfully, no one was looking at me anymore. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I relaxed a bit. Everyone was busy talking to each other and the kids seem to be busy in their own world.

Once again, I peeked up and this time, I took in my surroundings. The first thing which caught my attention was the grey sparking net wall separating us. It was set in front of me, which meant that he was sitting right in front of me, but I couldn't see his face, which was a good thing.

My eyes roamed around as I saw balloons scattered on the floor. A few of them were framing the door frame. The window curtains were changed to pink colour. The grey sofa and couches kept around have pink coloured cushions, which means that even the cushion covers were changed. I wonder when did this all happen, since yesterday night none of this was there. I guess mamu's family helped a lot. Or maybe, ammi had it all planned actually and she just... I don't know. I won't be surprised if that would be the case. She did look really excited for this wedding.

I was brought out of my thoughts as someone stood in front of me and kept their hand on my head. Abbu? Is it abbu? Is he here? Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I looked up.

._._._.

GLOSSARY :

- Mami - Mom's sister-in-law, mamu's wife.

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▪ What theme would you like to keep for your wedding?

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