AHAD POV:
Our wedding is starting in 2 weeks and I'm kind of excited, I want to spend my life with her, she has become a part of my life without even my knowing...
"bhai, you take a lot of time, let's go downstairs everyone's here already," Ashar said while pulling me with him, he got some guts, I'll see him later...
"Here's the groom, what did your mother think while arranging the marriage with her, she isn't even beautiful, and she wears pants and a shirt regularly, Oh my, my, she got no shame," my paternal aunt said while gesturing to the people around her...
"Oh, my beloved aunt. You do not need to think about her, I'm her groom. She is going to marry me, not my family, and what I think is all she needs to care about, and you my dear aunt look at your son and daughter, I heard your son was caught last week drinking and harassing a girl. Shouldn't you be more shameful about such an act of your beloved son?" I said in front of all the people who were there for my marriage...
Does she think, she will get away after insulting my wife?
"Oh, yeah, aunt, I have some pictures of your daughter from her college. She was smoking, Oh, my. How did you give birth to such a disgraceful daughter aunt, lock her down!" Ashar said dramatically while passing his phone towards the people sitting in the lounge, I looked at Ashar to find him showing his 32 teeth to me...
Today my parents and relatives are going to give bari (all the presents given to the bride before the wedding) to my soon-to-be wife, and here I'm getting anxious to know how she will react seeing all the things...
I have sent gifts with Ashar especially hoping she would love them, a notification was heard in my silent room, I looked at it and saw a video, a video of her holding the gifts I sent for her, she was looking happy yet nervous.
Ashar was insisting her to open all the gifts but she opened only one, which was a sapphire necklace, it's not a big one but a small piece that wasn't visible to anyone much till they came closer to see it, seeing her expression I could tell she liked it a lot, my heart felt at ease now, seeing her eyes shine looking at the gifts...
"Thank you for all the gifts, I love the necklace the most since I haven't opened others yet, hehe." Her text came, and it instantly put a smile on my dull face.
I replied instantly "Anytime, my soon-to-be wife."
I love calling her my soon-to-be wife till I make her officially mine to call her my wife in front of the world.
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The meet-up at Do Darya before our wedding has to be memorable for my wifey, right? And so, I have been practicing continuously every night just to be able to make her shy and remember this night forever...
Parking my bike at the side of the road, I got down with the guitar backpack, making my way towards the crowd, who were singing songs loudly, the bonfire in the middle of the place had everyone sitting around it.
I looked around to find Hayat being hit on her head by Ashar, looking at the scene I got furious, how dare he?
Hurrying towards him, I stood in front of Hayat and grabbed his wrist. My voice came out sharper than I intended, "Are you freaking crazy Ashar?"
"You don't even know what she did and you are angry at me bhai?" questioned Ashar, he looked furious too.
"Whatever the reason is, you are not allowed to hit her, or even anyone, if I ever saw you doing this act again, I'll not think twice before chopping your hands off, got that?" he nodded his head, turning around, sipping his drink.
I turned towards Hayat. She looked up at me, her eyes filled with a mix of mischief and nervousness.
"Hayat, are you okay? What happened?" I crouched down in front of her, noticing how small and vulnerable she looked with her wide, nervous eyes.
Before I could stop myself, I added softly, "Little cat, what's wrong?" The nickname slipped out before I could stop myself.
"Well, Ahad-" Before she could say a word more, Ashar interpreted, "What time it is bhai?" asking me a dumb question, even though he had his phone in his hand.
"Ashar, you have a phone in your hand. Can't you check the time yourself?" I snapped, irritation dripping down my tone, "did you forget how to use it anymore?"
"Bhai, I'm trying to make you understand what Hayat might tell you now, so tell me what time is it right now?" he said glaring at Hayat who looked everywhere else just not at Ashar.
"It's 2 a.m.," I said, dumbfounded.
"Exactly, Hayat, 2 am, now you can continue" he walked off, taking his cigarette out of his pocket.
"So, yeah what exactly happened is, Ahad I came here in uncle's civic, you know I wanted to drive it, so, well, you know... just" she kept fumblingly with words instead of speaking clearly.
"Don't be nervous, I'm not going to eat you alive" I joked, but my voice softened when I felt Ashar leaning his head on my shoulder, glaring at Hayat again.
"Speak up like you dared to do a stupid act Hayat, or if I did, just know Bhai will be so angry that he'll turn red like a cherry tomato," Ashar spoke making Hayat glare at him.
"So, Ahad, as I drove down the underpass to get here, I found a man lying on the ground near the other side of the underpass with his bike lying beside him, I thought he got into an accident, and I was worried and got out to help me, just as I went near him, some people came from out of nowhere and surrounded me, they were creepy, my first reaction was to shout but someone held me from back and you know a girl on her bike was crossing the underpass understood the situation and started to beat the men, and she saved me" my heart clenched as she spoke. I couldn't bear the thought of her being in such danger, let alone her handling it all alone, knowing the sensitivity of the topic I tried to calm myself to speak softly to her.
"No, she isn't telling you the whole truth as she told me, what exactly happened is, she, this lady, right here, told the bike girl to let them go instead of filing FIR or calling anyone of us! Is she a kid or something that she let them go?" Ashar's angry and hyper behavior makes sense but that still doesn't justify the hitting part.
"Hayat, why didn't you call anyone of us, didn't you have our number on speed dial, didn't I tell you to call me any time, any moment?" I said softly, keeping Ashar at my side before he burst out again.
"I don't want to disturb you both" she whispered, and it offended me.
"Look at his face, Hayat, he is as much offended as me now," said Ashar, I don't know how to keep Ashar quiet now.
"You good?"
"yes, I am."
"You sure, okay?"
"I'm good... but not the girl who saved me" Her eyes flickered to mine briefly, her voice barely above a whisper, fidgeting with her sleeves she continued, "She got hurt because of me, I was so scared, Ahad, there were many people, I-" she swallowed hard, "I panicked and messed up the situation, I hit her instead of the man behind her, and I didn't realize it until it was over."
I reached out and passed her the water bottle as she took a sip, "It's okay Janam (darling), you were scared, that's okay and you were really brave too, hmm."
"No, Ahad, I- I'm stupid, I shouldn't have moved out, I always mess up, even 4 years ago and today too, I even let them go, I should have called you or Ashar, I'm so stupid" she was panicking, and couldn't do more but comfort her...
"Listen to me carefully Janam (darling)," my voice softened but the intensity of emotions came through, "You are never alone, you have me, you have Ashar, call us, no matter what, day or night, I'll drop everything to be there for you. But please, promise me you'll think twice before helping someone in dangerous places like underpasses, empty roads, or highways. If your gut tells you something is wrong, trust it. Next time, call me first or an ambulance, anything but putting yourself at risk like this. Alright?" I tried to make her understand the situation.
"I said the same, didn't I, you stupid?" Ashar interpreted.
"Can you shut up Ashar and let us talk for a moment?" I know he's concerned but he needs to understand the situation too.
"Come to the bonfire area after your chit-chat" he walked away grumpily after saying, "You are lucky this time, Hayat, next time you might not walk away this easily, and do you think I would forgive bhai or even myself if something worse happens to you?"
"I'll make sure to keep it in my mind," she whispered, how can Ashar scold her, my heart stops when she gets a little sad like right now... after calming down a little she looked up at me again.
"Should we move to the bonfire? I don't know how Ashar knew I love bonfires on a winter night. Maybe he wanted to enjoy it, so he arranged it," said Hayat, walking side by side with me. She forgot that she posted a story on her Instagram two weeks ago about a bonfire with twinkling hearts, and I, as her fiancé, will fulfill her every desire.
The whole underpass setting doesn't sit right with me... random thugs don't usually hang around underpasses like that. It felt... planned, my gut feeling says it's not as simple as it looks...
As I sat near Ashar and saw Hayat taking a seat right in front of me, she glanced up in our direction from time to time, I knew how her mind might be interpreting the whole situation, she would be overthinking, and to lighten up the mood I wanted to do something...
Oh yeah, I have my guitar here. Why not do what I came here to do I thought to myself. I stood up and moved towards the area where I placed the guitar. Picking it up, I walked up to the guys.
Suddenly, Hayat looked up, and her expression gave away the feeling of excitement. Her sparkly eyes told me how much she was excited, boosting my confidence in starting to play the guitar.
Taking my seat beside Ashar, I took the guitar out of the bag and heard people hoot in joy and excitement, "Oh, Bhai, you got some plans that's why you made me arrange a bonfire here, hmm" Ashar teased glancing time to time at Hayat as she looked dumbfounded.
"Shut up Ashar and let people enjoy the moment" he's going through some mood swing phase I think.
"People or just Hayat, Bhai?" not wanting to make the whole scene awkward I hit him lightly and started playing guitar.
My fingers moved gently across the strings, but my eyes never left her. Hayat tried to steal glances at me, but each one felt like she was silently telling me her secrets, the connection at that moment felt too deep and strong.
The soft, melodic strumming of "Still with you" could be heard around our silent surroundings, the urge to let her know the feelings and emotions I feel for her without expressing words, through the unspoken words, connection, and longing ushered me to move forward with her.
Her captivated hazel eyes locked with mine, and I couldn't help but feel that we were speaking the language that no one else could hear.
The moment was broken when everyone started to clap, but we still held eye contact, "that's how I feel, darling" I mouthed, the light smile that was on my lips seeing her figuring out what I said and then looking surprised as she pointed at herself, flustered she stood up, leaving me to laugh and enjoy the heartfelt moment.
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It's my bachelor party, arranged by Ashar. I've been texting and calling my friends to join us, but they're all busy. Ashar is great company, but I still miss those dumb idiots.
"Where are you lost bhai, let's go, aren't you excited, your nikkah will be happening 2 days from now on, and here you are looking like a dead wish" He gave me his favorite duh look while I said "I miss the idiots, they can't come" I looked at my phone again....
Shaking my head, we went to Do Darya. Today, we are going to end the night with a race...
I was wearing my helmet when someone tapped my shoulder, turning around. I saw my friends, all of them there, "Hammad, Sahil, Samir, you all here! Didn't you guys say you were busy? What a great way to surprise," I said, rolling my eyes at them, hugging them tightly....
"So, how's our sister-in-law?" Sahil asked...
"She made you fall for her, right?" Samir said...
"You are excited for the marriage, hmm," Hammad joined them even though he knows everything...
All of them were trying to tease me, huh dumb people...
"Yeah, I like her. She's just amazing, and I'm ready to be known as her" I said proudly, putting my hand on my heart, making it look like I'm in love, which I am...and I am not complaining okay!
"You, shameless man," Sahil said, giving me his famous disgusting look...
"What's disgusting in it?" I asked keenly...
"Nothing, let's go for a ride. Since we are here, why don't we go out of the city on the bike for a night ride? It's been a long time since we enjoyed riding together" I heard Hammad. Looking at him surprisingly, I said, "Bro, we have been going to charity house every week together on this bike, well just leave it and let's go to my house first, let's grab our backpack and ride the night out" I said and gestured them to towards there bike....
Ashar got Sahil and Samir bikes from his friends for a day, so we could enjoy ourselves together....
While riding back home, I got a notification, I took the phone out of my pocket and looked at it.....
Checking the name of the person who texted me got a very big smile on my face, "soon-to-be wifey" was written on my screen...
"You haven't sent me the book voiceover in the last 4 days, may I ask why?" I read her text and smiled, knowing what I wanted to reply. I texted back, "Well, I figured you wouldn't need the book voiceover anymore... because pretty soon, you'll have a much better voice to listen to every day."
"1 bachelor down, 4 to go..." I heard from behind, turning around I found Sahil looking at me with mischievous eyes as he nodded his head toward others.
"Give us your phone, no chat with your fiancé, till tomorrow morning!" Said Hammad as he snatched my phone off my hand.
"Hey, you can't do that," I said in protest. What if she called me? Well, we never called before, but what if...
"You can't tell us what to do and what not to do!" said Samir jokingly as he folded his hands together.
"You guys are being too much. It's not like I can't go and see my bride if I want to," I said proudly, imagining the Bollywood scene I wanted to recreate by climbing her window.
Soon, we got inside the house, after everyone got ready and filled their tummies as we moved towards our destination.
"Bhai, I'm going." I heard Ashar from downstairs, I went to him and asked where he was going, it was odd to think that he'd ditch me on my bachelor party day.
"Well, I'm going to Hayat, you got your friends here with you and she got none if not for me, so I would prefer to ditch my brother to join my girlfriend's bachelor party." He said and walked out without hearing my response...
Shaking my head a little, I made my way towards my guys, after a while we rode off towards our destination, and Ashar was on his way to Hayat, my brother does love his best friend, yet he does irritates her a lot but as I see they take care of each other too, I might get added into the group officially after the marriage too...
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