CHAPTER | FOUR | ALIZA | POV

Don't you hate when someone makes you say 'Wallah' or 'Wallahi' and after you've said it, they still don't believe you? Well that's what's happening right now. It's Friday night, the day before Isa and his family would be coming over and Mom and Dad decided to fill the rest of the kids in on this now. Now, I'm being questioned; I didn't ask to be on set of who wants to be a millionaire, thank you.

"Guys enough of the questioning! I just want to go upstairs and sleep because this isn't exactly a thing for me to be doing tomorrow!" I scolded at my brothers who were making this situation worse.

Without waiting for their answers, I marched up the stairs to my room and gently closed it behind me. I'd never thought I would be this happy to see this all too familiar purple four walled room in my life, but now I'm glad! Their questioning was just getting way out of hand for me, like:

'Did you guys have a relationship before he asked to marry you?'

'Are you guys going to have kids soon?'

'Did Adam know you were dating his best friend?'

That last one got my blood boiling a little. How could my own brothers think that I was dating someone?! That idea was just ridiculous and I nearly burst out shouting at them if it wasn't for Mustafa sitting there looking at me expectantly to answer all these questions being shot at me.

I didn't answer any of them though and if I could blush I would have been the shade of a tomato right now. Especially when they asked me if I wanted to have kids soon. I knew the answer to that and it was yes. I liked the idea of having kids but that was something to be discussed about. Again if I could blush, that's what would be happening to my face right now.

Suddenly my phone started ringing and Ellie Goulding- Burn rang throughout my room. I ran to the corner of my room where my desk lay and where my phone was buzzing. Not bothering to check the caller I.D, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Err hi, is this Aliza?" The voice rang through my ears and I knew for sure that this wasn't someone that I knew.

"Depends. Are you a thirty five year old man stalking me?" I asked the man on the phone.

"Well that's a very random number but fourty seven would be more exact," He replied and I think my eyes came bulging out. Literally.

"Err listen, I don't kno-" I was cut off by laughter and I just stood there awkwardly not really knowing what to do in this situation anymore. Sure school and my parents had told me if anything like this ever happened, just don't talk to them. Period.

"You're so gullible! Wallah!" Okay this was starting to creep me out even more than before. What does this person mean I'm gullible? Sure I trust people, that doesn't mean I'm gullible, right?

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" I asked getting into my sassy mood now.

"Aliza first of all I'm not a forty seven year old man who's stalking you. Two, this is Isa," Well that was now clear to me. But I didn't understand why he would be calling me, especially so late at night.

"Well err, can I help you with something?" I asked him and mentally face palmed by how awkward it probably sounds right now.

After a few more seconds he replied back to me. "I just wanted to see how you were feeling because we're going to be coming over tomorrow and, well I don't really know. Just checking up on you I guess."

I felt somewhat giddy that he thought of checking up on me even though we had never talked to each other before or even see each other properly before. 

"Well I'm fine, Jazakallah for asking. I'll see you tomorrow, bye." I didn't even wait for him to reply before I ended the call. I felt bad for ending the call so quick and I didn't even ask how he was feeling about this!

Looking back on the call history I saved Isa's number as 'Possible Future Husband' which is kind of true but if he ever saw that I saved his name as this on my phone I would probably die right there and then of humiliation.

A knock on my door disturbed my thoughts and I called whoever it was inside.

"Hey Ali, who were you speaking to?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow and I couldn't help but notice just how much attention he had been paying to me these past few days. It was getting kind of creepy to be honest. 

I wasn't going to lie to him though, so I told the truth. "It was Isa. He was calling to see if I was okay. Speaking of which, did you by any chance give him my number?" I forgot to ask him where he got my number from.

"He called you?! And no I didn't but I'm going to kill whoever did!" In a sudden the calm person in front of me had changed to being angry.

"Adam what is going on with you? So he called me, there's nothing wrong with my future husband calling me and you shouldn't be having a problem with it!" Now I was shouting and had lost my patience with him. It's not my fault he can't handle being a mature person like he is meant to be.

He just stared at me coldly for a few more seconds, within the next second he had stalked out my room and banged the door shut which left me cringing. Why can't he just calm down for a few seconds and accept the fact that I could be getting married in a few weeks with his best friend? I understand that's a hard thing to accept, but he's going to have to.

The rest of the night I didn't bother speaking to Adam whenever I saw him. If he wanted to act like a child then who am I to stop him? His baby sister that might be getting married to his best friend? Either way I knew I couldn't stay mad at him for too long. The Prophet PBUH said the longest to ever be mad at someone is for three days.

Baba tried getting us to talk again because the whole house had heard us two arguing and they didn't particularly like that; we were the closest of all the siblings in the house and we'd never had such a big fight before, even if we only said a few things to each other, it was still a big deal.

Talking with Farah on the phone didn't help me get over our little argument either, because I could hear Farah's siblings in the background fighting with each other and it reminded me of the fight with Adam earlier.

I was still stuck in my room. I had been looking at my clock ever since Adam had stormed out; so far it had been an hour and a half and I was getting sick of it. If he couldn't see sense in this then I was going to make him.

Stepping out of bed I put my slippers on that was lying at the bottom of my bed and swiftly opened the door to my room to notice that all the lights were off, so everyone was mostly asleep by now. I tiptoed over to Adam's room and took a deep breath before knocking. No answer. I tried again but there was another round of silence that followed the knocking.

I shook my head and opened the door without bothering to knock this time because I knew that Adam could never sleep at this time so there's no point in him trying to fake it. As soon as I walked in I saw Adam by the window with his guitar in his lap and quietly plucking the strings. I know that he heard me walk in, but he must be ignoring me.

Turning the lights on to his room I went closer to my brother. "Adam, I'm sorry," There, I said it. It might not be one heck of an apology but I don't want us fighting and even if I had to apologise first then so be it. I shall.

He still continued to look at his guitar and ignoring me, so I continued speaking. "I know that it's hard for your head to get around the fact that your baby sister might be getting married to your best friend but even you said that you're glad it's him and not some random stranger. And I also know this marriage proposal is not the thing that you're mad about." Okay, that was a lie. But as soon as I said it his head shot up to face mine.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He said as convincingly as he could but I could see through that lie and so I went over to sit by him on his window seat. For a few seconds I stared at him while his head had snapped back down to his guitar on his lap.

"Adam this marriage thing isn't what you're angry about is it? Don't lie and tell me what's going on," He still didn't look up at me even after I had said that, so I just snatched the guitar off him and without causing any damage to it, I set it down on the floor.

"Ali I'm sorry too but can you just leave it?" He asked and I thought about it for a second but I really wanted to help my older brother in what he was going through so why shouldn't I?

"No can do. Now either you tell me what is happening with you or the guitar gets it." Before he could grab the guitar, I beat him to it and held it behind my back so he wouldn't be able to reach it.

He glared at me playfully and laid his head back on the wall and breathed out a sigh. Was I that much of a nuisance? Either way I prefer not to answer that question.

"Ali what do you do when you start to like someone more than you should?" He was now looking at me fully in the eye and his face held some sign of hope that I would know the answer to the question that he just asked me. Did I though? Not really.

"Adam, I'm not really sure where this is going..." My answer wasn't probably what he was expecting but then again his question wasn't what I expected either.

"Ali, you know Khaled's sister, Khadija right? Well I've liked, scratch that, I think I might even love her! And Ali I have no idea what to do so this frustration I've had, I've been taking out on you and I'm really sorry!" To say this shocked me had to be an understatement!

My brother was in love and I had no idea about it. Why didn't I see this before? Every time I spoke to Khadija at the Masjid or when we went to each other's houses, Adam would get flustered when he saw the girl. Allah knows it was worse when the girl began talking to him! 

"Adam I think you should tell Mom and Dad." I knew what I was saying and I knew he did too but he still looked surprised when I suggested it. 

I may not know much about this love situation because I've never loved someone like that but I sure as hell did know that if you felt like that about someone then the best person to tell would be your parents. They would understand...at a certain extent anyway.

He simply nodded at me and I took that as a cue for me to leave. Getting up from his window seat I went to the door and with a final look at my lost brother, I closed the door and slowly made my way back to my own room.

Deep down I was really happy for my brother that he was feeling this way but the fact that he seemed so lost and doesn't know what to do about it just makes it sad. I even wondered if I'll ever think of Isa that way. Well I'll definitely try.

Prophet PBUH said: When a husband and wife look at each other with love, Allah (will) look at them with mercy. I always wanted something like that and if getting married to Isa is the right choice then I will love him with all my heart, even if he might not feel the same.

These last few days I've been thinking that after we get married that maybe Isa won't love me or something ridiculous like that and it might or might not be ridiculous but that's how I felt. I had never spoken to this boy in my life apart from today and I'm pretty sure neither has he seen me around before since I'd never seen any of Adam's friends.

The reason to why he actually wanted my hand in marriage was gnawing at me and if I ever get a chance to speak to him tomorrow then that's the question which I'm going to be getting answers from.

***

Asalaamalikum guys and this is a short chapter which I know probably isn't all that but I got distracted along the way and some of my ideas just..poofed outta my head like a magic trick because everyone just had to use the laptop when I needed to write! So nice of them! No certain amount of votes needed to update the next chapter because I shall be writing it when I feel it is time to update.

Dedicated to @Away_From_Here who seems to be enjoying my book a lot and if I get a new cover then she's the one who I shall be asking! Also because I will be posting new chapter when I think necessary, there might be a new chapter every week not a few days! Otherwise it will just be moving too fast.

Have a Good Day and May God Bless You All.