Allah knows what's best for you and when its best for you to have it.

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Inaraah's room:

The best feeling is when you bow your head on the ground and your prayers are heard somewhere above 7 skies. You don't need to say them loud yet they are heard by the Al-Wahhab(The Bestower). With her head in prostration, Inaraah felt content with everything the Almighty has bestowed upon her. Her lips mumbling Alhamdullilah (All Praise to Allah) numerous times and her mind and heart at ease.

The dinner with her in-laws went well and the elders have decided that the marriage would be held after a month. Everything seems to be at a fast pace and she was trying her best to cope up with it. After a long inner debate between her heart and mind, Inaraah decided to quit her job. She was very uncomfortable and was unable to focus on her work mainly because of the girls who were envious of her. This job was her dream but she had to give upon it, so she can welcome a new phase of her life. Alhaan was not happy with her decision but couldn't do anything when Mr. Rahman Qureshi accepted Inaraah's resignation.

And now with only 20 days left for wedding, everyone was busy in the preparations. Inaraah wanted to spend most of her time with her family because after 20 days she won't be Syeda Inaraah Yousuf anymore. But to her disappointment the ladies have decided to go for shopping which Inaraah abhorred. At first she denied but later had to agree since these ladies were not ready to take no as an answer. They named it as 'Young Ladies Day Out."

Inaraah laughed at her Bhabis silliness. This young ladies batch included Inaraah's elder cousin Inayaah, her and Alhaan's sister-in-laws. Inaraah asked Suhana to accompany them with her elder sister for 'Young Ladies Day Out' since her wedding was held a month later after Inaraah's wedding. Inaraah was very happy when she learned about Suhana's wedding. Both are still scared of marriage but they have put their trust completely upon Al-Alim(All-Knowing) who knows what's best for them.

After placing the prayer rug in its place, Inaraah corrected her appearance. She took her handbag and was about to leave when Suhana along with all the young ladies walked in her room.

"Assalamualaikum(May Peace of Allah be upon you)," Inaraah greeted them.

"Walaikum Asalam(Peace of Allah be upon you too)," everyone replied to her greeting in unison.

"Inaraah you do know right that Alhaan isn't coming with us. You don't have to look this beautiful." Aiza said in a playful manner. Inaraah looked down feeling blood rushing to her cheeks painting them red. Nowadays Alhaan's name is enough for her to blush red. All the ladies started laughing at her expression except Suhana. Yeah she is another sufferer of this teasing session.

"Shall we leave." Suhana asked in order to save her friend but unfortunately trapped herself. "Oh our little Suhana is very eager to get married I guess. We can pre-pone your wedding if you want Suhana." Afreen teased her. Both the friends looked at each other helplessly knowing very well that this is how they are going to spend their time shopping.

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Charminar, famous not only for its historical monument but the best place for wedding shopping. Just by looking around the number of shops, Inaraah felt tired. She was praying to survive till the end of the day.

(Pic of Charminar.. 👇👇👇)

Kashish bridal collection: Their first stop. Inaraah was surprised by the number of clothes hung around the showroom. As if she wasn't aware before, the reality hit her hard. She is the bride, Alhaan's bride In sha Allah. And this feeling made her tingly all over again.

While scanning around, her eyes fell on a beautiful bridal wear which was placed in the centre on a podium for display. The dress was a beautiful combination of black and pink. It had a green red border all along the lehenga including dupatta with multi colour kundan(gemstones).

Inaraah was awestruck and caught hold of Suhana. She looked at her and showed her the dress. Both eyes were stuck on the dress. "Seems our brides have selected their outfits." Afreen teased them again. They looked at each other embarrassed at being caught. After a little more teasing they started with their shopping. The shopkeeper placed different collection of bridal outfits like lehengas, khada dupatta, etc.

(A/n: In case anyone doesn't know Khada dupatta is a traditional Hyderabad outfit. The ladies of Nizam family mostly wore this dress. In Hyderabad, mostly the brides wear Khada dupatta on the wedding day).

However they opted to chose sarees and salwar suits since its the groom's side who selects the bridal outfit. Even though Ghazala and Aiza were shopping with them but Inaraah's wedding outfit was already selected and finalized by Alhaan's mother and sister-in-laws before. Inaraah selected few dressed for herself which were simple yet elegant.

They visited almost every shop there and now again they were in another Saree shop bargaining like typical Indians about the price. Inaraah and Suhana were exhausted but these ladies didn't show any sign of tiredness.

"Please Bhabi no more Sarees. Whatever we have selected are good enough for family functions. I don't like wearing them since they reveal too much. And these net Sarees still reveal even if we try to drape it properly." Inaraah requested for what felt like umpteenth time to her.

"Inaraah we have just 4 Sarees for you. And its okay if you don't want to wear them in functions but wear them only for Alhaan at least." Ghazala said. All the ladies were enjoying while Inaraah's mouth was ajar.

"What? No never. I am not gonna wear them for anyone." Inaraah replied.

Inaraah and Suhana's continuous requests fell on deaf ears as the ladies did what they wanted to. Only the thought of wearing such Saree for Alhaan was sending chills along her spine. Unknowingly fear started bubbling up in her and now she was scared. But every girl has to go through this phase. Inaraah became silent all of the sudden thinking about her wedding.

'You are not ready for this Inu' her mind screamed at her.

The ladies moved to Laad Bazaar which is famous for bangles. The shops were illuminating with variety of bangles studded with gemstones. They were so many beautiful bangles that they had hard time to select anyone.

After shopping for bangles, they next stop was footwear showroom. However they decided to go to City mall since they had to buy cosmetics and makeup kits as well. All the while Inaraah didn't speak a word and except Suhana none noticed that.

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At the mall:

Again the ladies moved to the clothing section to buy some casual wears. After going through innumerable clothes, they finally selected few Kurtis and leggings. "Lets go shop some night wears." Inayaah said.

"Night wears?" Suhana asked with a questioning look.

"Yeah. We need to get some good night gowns for you both." Aiza replied.

"No. We don't need anything. Lets go." Suhana said. Inaraah looked at them who were in full mood to argue. She would surely die of embarrassment if they bought something inappropriate and she needs to stop them.

"Inayaah di my legs are hurting and moreover I am hungry. Can we please go to cafe and have something." Inaraah said more like pleaded her sister.

"Okay. Common lets go." Inayaah said. Both the girls sighed in relief when they agreed.

They made their way to cafe and ordered food for them. As usual the teasing session started and this time their target was Suhana. They started calling Daniyal with different names and commenting on how he would approach Suhana.

Suhana didn't know anything about Daniyal except for his profession. She just saw him once when he came along with his family to her house. They neither spoke nor once tried to get to know each other. They are nothing but strangers and within two months they would be tied in a beautiful bond of marriage.

Suhana looked at Inaraah for help but she was lost in her own thoughts. Just then their order arrived and they started devouring the delicacies. After filling their stomachs, they resumed their never ending shopping.

However Suhana asked the ladies to shop for her and Inaraah as they have to buy gift for Khushi. That brought a smile on Inaraah's face as now Khushi will be going back to her mother Asra. They decided to gift her something as a token of remembrance and love. Suhana and Inaraah moved towards the kids section while the rest of them moved to the other side.

"Now tell me what's bothering you?" Suhana asked.

Inaraah was trying to keep her emotions at bay but as always she couldn't. "I am scared Suhana. Everything is happening so fast and I feel I am not ready for this. I don't know how to explain. I feel Alhaan sir deserves a better girl."

"Don't say that Inu. Alhaan jiju is really lucky to have you. I know what you are feeling since I am going through the same phase. We have willingly stepped into this and we have to prepare ourselves." Suhana tried to comfort Inaraah but she herself was scared inside.

Marriage is the most pious relation. It completes half of the Deen. It binds two people in a bond of love, trust, friendship. They become companions for life, supporting each other in any situation whether good or bad.

Their life would be completely different in few days. There will be no space for irresponsible and indolent behaviour. They have to put their husband before them and fulfil their duty as a wife. Everyone is having fun teasing them unknown of the inner turmoil the two girls are going through.

Leaving behind the people who were their everything once and moving to a new family is not easy. They know that they were just an amanat(fidelity) in their parents house and their husbands home is where they belong.

There is a difference between fantasy world and reality but still we build an imaginary life for ourselves. And when reality hits us, we are too numb to respond to it.

"Its Allah's will Inu. He has planned this life for us and He knows what's best for us. Lets just put our full faith in Him and go with the flow." Suhana said but it felt like she was comforting herself.

They then shopped for Khushi. They purchased a beautiful maroon gown having net flares which overlapped giving an appearance of rose petals. It had a beautiful butterfly brooch on the left side. They bought matching hair clips and band to go with the dress. They moved to toy store to buy some soft toys for her. After finalizing everything, they were about to leave when Inaraah stopped in front of men's store.

"What happened Inu? Why did you stop?" Suhana asked.

"Uh..Don't you think we should buy something for them?" Inaraah spoke.

Suhana was still confused and didn't understand what she meant. "For whom?" Suhana questioned and Inaraah face palm at her friend's reply.

"I mean why don't we shop for, you know.. like you can gift something to Daniyal jiju and I can buy something for Alhaan sir." Inaraah replied.

Suhana smirked at her reply and was about to tease her when Inaraah interrupted her saying, "We had enough teasing for the day Suhana. Now please you don't get started." Suhana laughed at her comment and they went inside the shop to buy a gift for their would be husband.

"Ya Allah, this was a very bad idea. What gifts can be given to boys?" Inaraah asked Suhana who was equally confused as her.

"You should know that Inu. After all it was your idea to buy gifts for them." Suhana replied dryly .

They stood their thinking about what to purchase. "How about cuff links?" Inaraah suggested. Suhana looked at her for a brief moment and said, "You are a genius Inaraah." Inaraah just rolled her eyes at her and they started to look for cuff links. After searching, debating, rejecting, they finally selected what they were looking for.

Inaraah bought a plain white cuff links for Alhaan. Though they looked simple, they were beautiful. While Suhana bought a pair of black cuff links for Daniyal.

"Inu listen, lets keep these gifts with Khushi's gift. If these ladies saw them, then they will tease us to no end." Suhana said. Inaraah agreed to it. She was exhausted and cannot handle their comments anymore. After hiding the gifts, they joined them who finally decided to call if for the day. Inaraah and Suhana thanked Allah for saving them. And the shopping day finally came to an end with dozens of shopping bags.