CHAPTER | EIGHT | UMAYMAH | POV

It was that Wednesday afternoon when I figured that leaving all wedding preparations to my in laws was easier said than done. It came down to this because not only did I feel jealous that they could go wedding shopping and have a great laugh about this wedding, but also because my family became traitors and went next door to help, leaving me like a baffled baboon with nothing to do. I wouldn't have minded, but I knew they were going to come back teasing me as they knew more about my own wedding than I did.

'There has to be something I can do!' I thought exasperatedly. My best friend turned out to be a traitor too and luckily, as we're next door, I could hear their laughter from bedroom window. Well, not that lucky I suppose.

It was only four in the afternoon and the sun was still out but I could see it was about to go down any minute now. There was no use trying to go out since the air was cold in this particular November day and my parents would be mad if they found out I went out at this time without someone. If it was Summer it wouldn't be much of an issue, but now that it's Winter, the sun sets more quickly.

Looking around my room I couldn't see anything that would perhaps occupy me until my family came home. And so, I got up and strolled out the room and went downstairs. Not that next door had been doing the entire wedding preparations because the clothes of my family for Saturday were all neatly sprawled out onto the sofa. Well, at least they knew what they were going to be wearing. Especially Jasmine; she was one of my two bridesmaids that I had, the other one being my Assia.

All I had received was the amount I needed to pay for my dress and I happily obliged but I had a feeling that wasn't the right amount. Maybe it was just the panic which I realised had now started to gradually sink it; thank goodness it wasn't major though.

The colour theme for the guests and family was the only thing I was allowed to pick out which made happy knowing that I finally had a choice. Maroon and creme is what I had decided on, but it wasn't compulsory as the wedding was such short notice, to me even!

Sighing I began to clear up the clothes and leave them neatly on a pile so that when they came home they could take it up themselves. I might have been helpful enough to sort it out, but I wasn't that nice to put it up in their rooms. There was no denying how left out I felt about my own wedding but I decided not to think about it too much or else I'd end up with a tub of ice cream thinking about life - not that I'm complaining. Well the ice cream part anyway.

Just then something had caught my eye. Looking closer to what had fallen from behind the couch, I saw it was a baby picture of me. I almost burst out laughing by what I saw: a chubby toddler with out of control curly hair, smearing cake on my father. I had no idea where this was taken or why but I'm glad it had been because it's pretty funny looking at it now.

"Well let's put this where it belongs eh?" It had become a habit of mine; talking to myself when I was alone and I wasn't sure whether to think I was going mental or shrug it off. Nevertheless, the thought of me being mental didn't sound nice and so I just shrug the the idea off.

All the albums which we stored our pictures in were in the basement and I wondered what it was even doing out of its place. Taking a few steps I came to the basement door and pushed it open, going down the stairs where a bunch of old things we didn't use was down there.

Old toys, TV's, a pile of our baby clothes and some old video tapes were all nearly stored on the shelves and it made me wonder why we still had these. Maybe it was just the memories of when we weren't a nuisance that my parents wanted to remember. Finally on the last shelf were the albums; an entire shelf had been dedicated for this because mom and dad would love taking pictures of us when were smaller. Perhaps causing the selfie addiction we had now.

Taking a random album off the shelf I found a spare pocket for the picture to slide in. Before I even had time to try and look through the other pictures, I heard the front door open and close. This was where my fear kicked in. Was someone trying to steal something, or was it just my family coming back? It couldn't have been the latter because they would've been making a whole lot of noise.

Desperately looking around, I tried finding something to cover my hair. There was old baby clothes but I doubt I wanted those on my head but then I remembered there was a pile of old hijabs down here no one used and finding it, I placed one on my head. Now time to see who was trying to break in.

My steps were silent but quick as I dashed up the stairs and was now hiding in the corner of my living room. Instantly, the breath I was holding in was gone as I realised who the silent intruder was in my living room.

"ASSIA!" I screamed and jumped onto her back making her stumble on the ground and since I was on her, I fell also. There was no denying the excitement when I saw my best friend standing there and so this was the consequences.

"What are you doing woman?!" She looked at with a glare and knowing how idiotic she looked with her hijab half sprawled on her face while giving me dirties, made me laugh out loud. It was a matter of time before she joined me in my laughing fit as we sat upright.

"Sorry. I was just so bored without everyone and I thought a thief broke in but then I saw it was just you." I have her a sheepish smile and helped her up on her two feet.

We both dusted ourselves off, but then a thought came to me.

"Hey, why would you sneak in like that? You could've told me you were here." I looked at her accusingly knowing that she was up to something.

"What? No, I was just about to come and get you..." As she trailed off I saw there was something behind her back; a parcel maybe. As quick as I could, I grabbed whatever she was hiding and began running around hoping she'll stop chasing me and cursing out profanities at me.

"First tell me what's in here then I'll consider giving it back to you." It wasn't a lie - I just wanted to know what she was hiding and I would give it back to her.

"Are you sure?" She questioned and I nodded showing her I was sincere to what I'd just said. "Okay but you give it back straight away. Your mom told me to take your wedding dress and put it in her room." Unfortunately for me, Assia by now had already grabbed the dress out of my hands.

Pouting, I said, "That's not fair! I thought it was the groom that shouldn't see the dress, not the bride." The desire to see my dress was getting annoying to me even but I wasn't to be blamed.

"I know but you know they're going to kill me if you saw and before you suggest it, I can't show it to you and not tell them." The girl standing in front of me was pure evil and I wondered how we even got to be best friends. Surely best friends would want each other to see the wedding dress that their evil neighbour picked out for them.

I slumped down onto the sofa with my arms crossed and the pout didn't fade off while my best friend chuckled and proceeded up the stairs to my parents bedroom to safely store the dress.

"One more thing, don't even think about looking at it once I'm gone." She was now downstairs again and I mentally cursed myself for not thinking of that idea before. Then again it's not like she would know.

"You're going to be the death of me, I'm telling you." I glared and pointed a finger at her. "But, why not let me come next door if you're so worried." It was a suggestion and a pretty good one too considering there was nothing to do here.

She considered it for a moment before nodding in defeat, making me squeal and jumping up to give her a big hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She let me finish before rolling her eyes and dragging me along with her next door. The sun had definitely set by now and if it wasn't for the street lights as well as the light pouring out of next door, I wouldn't have seen where we were going.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to let you come here, but behave okay!" I nodded enthusiastically. This had to be the highlight of my day considering I was stuck in a house for two hours while everyone else was having fun.

I didn't see where Assia had now wondered off to inside the house but seeing I was still outside, I made my way in, not closing the door since it was open when we arrived. A smile hung on my lips when I saw the mess on the floor, stairs and even some sticky strings on the ceiling. Planning a wedding definitely looked like a mess.

Wondering off inside, I thought whether I should announce I was here. Maybe they'd let me stay or maybe they'd make me go home; I didn't like the second option. I was actually desperate to stay here and help with anything they needed.

Peeping through the kitchen I could see a lot of ladies and children looking at something in a magazine while pointing and laughing. They made jokes here and there and discussed some wedding stuff but I decided to go upstairs to look for Assia because she wasn't in the kitchen.

It had been a long time since I set foot in their house but it was simple enough to know where to go. I was actually surprised by them being billionaires yet choosing to stay in this simple house without a lot of luxuries you'd expect rich people to have. I for one was really disappointed when I found out they didn't have a room dedicated for food.

After reaching the top of the stairs, there were four rooms, one had to be aunty's and uncle's, one for the bathroom and the other two were probably shared by the five siblings. Luck wasn't on my side as I didn't know which room Assia could be in, or maybe I made a mistake by thinking she was upstairs. I had completely forgotten about the garden and maybe she was outside.

Before I could take a step to go down, a hand had grabbed my arm. I mentally prayed it wasn't Shoaib so that I wouldn't have to slap his haraam self for touching me like that.

"Umaymah your future mom in law isn't going to be happy if she sees you here." Turning around I let out a sigh of relief seeing that it was just my brother.

"Urgh well she doesn't have to know Zakariya." I looked at him with pleading eyes but he was more focused on something behind me.

"It's a bit late for that now." I closed my eyes hoping that I had just imagined hearing aunty Aliza say something behind me. How could she have known so quick that I was here?

Assia.

Turning back round again, I was faced to face with my future mother in law who held a smile on her face, but I knew she wouldn't have wanted me here at this moment.

"Er hey, I mean Asalaamalaikum, I just came to see this beautiful future mother in law of mine, but I really should get going." I didn't give her time to say anything as I ran past her down the stairs and out the the door. I did hear her and Zakariya laughing at me though.

Great, back to square one. Being in my house bored to death without anything to do. 'Wedding preparations are just too much fun', I thought sarcastically.

I came inside my house again and fell back in the sofa thinking that if I gave aunty Aliza time to talk, she might have let me stayed. Sure I would be begging but there was a possibility I would still be there instead of here.

Gazing around the room I wondered what it would feel like when it would be time to leave. I grew up here with so many memories - getting a slipper thrown at me at six when I drew on the walls. A slap on the back of my head when I put salt instead of sugar at the age of nine when I first made tea. Having to run away from my mom as she held a wooden spoon in her hand ready to hit for me something I did wrong; no age applied to that considering it's been happening to me as far as I could remember.

The memories were both painful and happy but I'd be making new ones now and I was ready. I wasn't sure how happy life would be with a bi polar boy who needs anger management more than my mom, but this was a good cause.