I gaped at my fiance in complete surprise. A year ago on my 17th birthday we had gotten engaged. It was the happiest day of my life. And it was just before the Day of Ashes... The worst day of my life.

"Zah..Zahra...?" Rasheed stared at me in surprise. It had been so long. "I thought I'd never see you again..."

Abdul-Karim looked at us both in confusion, "You know each othew?" I smiled at him carefully.

"Yes, habibi... We were going to get married..." He stared at me in surprise.

"Oh..."

Well this was reaaaallllyyy awkward. All the sudden, there was a huge slam on the door of the safe house. We all ducked into a corner.

"ZAHRA!!!" I smiled at the familiar voice. Malak was here. Rasheed rolled his eyes.

"Always the same Malak, she just has to make an entrance." I stuck my tongue out at him and ran to hug my sister. We held the embrace for a good five minutes before a good-looking man (AstaghfirAllah ;D) cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Um... Malak, do you think you can take it from here?"

"Oh, um, yeah, thanks so much for this Aziz."

I raised my eyebrows at Malak, implying haram things. She pretended to gag, but I could tell she had a thing for this guy. Boy, did we have a lot to talk about.

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It was almost midnight and Abdul-Karim was slowly dozing off in Malak's lap. Despite my doubts, the two had actually hit it off really well.

"Sooooo..." Malak said mischeviously. "I see Mister Chace the Fantastic is back for your hand."

"Oh shut up, we haven't really talked about what this means for us. Besides, he's Rasheed now." I batted my eyelashes, looking like a total idiot. Then it was my turn. "Soooooo... Aziz huh?" Malak blushed a fiery red, which happens once every millenium. This was more serious than I thought. "What did he do, save your life or something?"

She smiled, "Something like that..." I tsked her.

"Someone forgot to lower their gaze..." She stuck her tongue out at me as she laid Abdul-Karim down.

"So what's with the kid? We keepin' him?"

I smiled at Malak sheepishly. "How can we not?"

There was a quiet knock on the door. Rasheed's head peaked through the doorway.

"Hey, Zahra, can we... talk?" He stared at the floor in respect. Malak sighed in boredom and walked out.

"What's up Rasheed?"

"Well, before all this craziness happened... we were kind of-"

"Engaged?" I was really worried about where this was heading. This could end only one of two ways.

"Well, I don't know about you but..."

"Rasheed..." He gave me a stern look, begging me to listen.

"Zahra Rahman... Will you still marry me?"

My breath caught in my throat And my heart skipped a beat.

"I..."