Chapter 46: Brother's advise. 

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"Understand dearest, 

Just because I married you. 

Doesn't mean you own me.

I am my person. 

I own myself."

-2am-

*

The mosque was full of people that day. Most of them were there to see just who, Aanabia Sadaf was marrying while others were there for food and gossip. Zamaairah stood in between Kulthum and Amyrah, smiling at the people passing by. Aanabia stood beside Qaidah who was proudly showing her off. Zama then hugged the two before excusing herself to leave. Qaidah pulled her back by her ears with a smile.

"Promise me, you will come to dinner with us tonight" she said and Zama let out a wide smile.

"In Sha Allah" she told her and Qaidah nodded. Zama congratulated Aanabia before giving a hug to grandmother Zaeef and walking out of the crowded place. Whispers of how the tomboy Aanabia is getting married in such a well off family spread around her like wild fire. So much that she had to avoid snapping at a few people. It is her life, her decisions. What is it to you? She wanted to scream at them but kept quiet. She was new here and she wanted no trouble. She would leave soon anyway.

She walked down the white marble steps to the end and stood in the hot sun. Today was very sunny, she noted silently. Her eyes searched for her shoes, one she forgot where she left at. She finally found the white Adidas sneakers of hers at the very end. Huh. Clutching her phone in her hand and car keys in the second finger from the thumb of the same hand, she walked towards her shoes. The cement was hot and it threatened to burn the soles of her feet. She walked past the mass of kids playing, a few women chatting and a whole lot of scattered shoes.

She placed her right feet in and balanced herself on one foot, while wearing the other. She stared down at the untied laces with a sigh. Who untied them? Huffing a breath, she began walking towards her car, the old Toyota Rav4. She unlocked it and opened the doors to get it. That was when she realized there was another car blocking her way. Great. Her shoes were untied and now there was a car blocking hers.

"I see you still don't know how to tie your shoe laces" she turned around with a small laugh to see Safwah Zaeef smiling at her.

"Unfortunately I didn't" she replied, looking down at her white shoes. Safwah shook his head at the sass of the young lady before he got down on his knees. Zama's eyes widened a fraction.

"Safwah, you know you don't have to-"she started but he had already picked up the loose laces. She tried to pull back her feet but to no avail.

"Stop fidgeting Maira, you will only hurt yourself" he told her and she let out a small smile at the old nickname.

"Safaa" she teased him and he laughed, tying the knots of one shoe before moving to the other shoe.

"How come you never learnt?" he asked her and she shrugged.

"No time. No one to teach"

"That is exactly why we have internet"

-

Yazdan was congratulated by almost a hundred men or more, who knows. He lost count after 20. Finally he was left with his brothers and Yahyah. The latter was consistently smirking at him but Yazdan knew there was something else that he was hiding. Being a good friend he is, he decided to not probe him for any details until Yahyah is ready to speak about it. For now, he will focus on the present. His present.

"How does-"

"Don't finish that sentence or I will assassinate you" Yazdan warned the youngest Zaeef who; with wide eyes, held his hands up in surrender and backed away slowly to his other brother.

"Okay. What's wrong?" Kayan turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Yazdan sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"For the past 10 minutes, people have asked me the same question. Over and over and over again" said Yazdan and Kayan shook his head with a small laugh.

"Say sorry to Karmaan. You took out your frustration of other people on your own brother. You know better than that, Yazdan" Kayan told him and nodded to the youngest brother who stood with the Sahl and Yahyah, a little further away from the two. Yazdan sighed again. Right. I should not have done that.

"I know you are stressed over this whole thing, but don't take it out on your siblings. Deal with it like you always do" reprimanded Kayan and Yazdan nodded with a guilty expression. Deal with it? Run? I could go for one.

"Meanwhile, I am heading out. Duty calls" he told his brother before walking away. Yazdan watched Kayan leave the mosque and walked over to the boys, before pulling Karmaan by the cardigan collar to the side. The others saw this but chose to ignore it. Either Karmaan was about to get reprimanded or the two have something important to talk about. Either way, the rest would eventually find out.

Karmaan looked at his brother, waiting for him to speak.

"What is it, bhaiyu?" he questioned, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets. Yazdan knew his brothers well enough to know that the youngest sibling was nervous. He let out a small laugh.

"I am sorry. For being mean" Yazdan stated and Karmaan let out a sigh of relief before looking up at his brother with a smile.

"All good. I didn't mean to annoy you" he said and Yazdan shook his head.

"You didn't. I was annoyed at literally every person who asked me that exact question. And there were over 15 of them, mind you" he replied causing the younger sibling to let out a small laugh, leaning back slightly. The manner of laughing of Karmaan was similar to that of the other siblings. Their head tilted slightly back and their backs slightly arched, all the while showing their wide pearly teeth.

"I think we should head home"

Oh god. No.

Yazdan turned to the others who nodded at Karmaan before they walked out of the mosque. Yazdan took the lead while pulling Yahyah with him while Karmaan and Sahl walked behind them. Yazdan's phone began vibrating in his pocket so he pulled it out to see Kulthum calling. Huh. He picked it up.

"As salaam alaikum"

"Wa alaikum mus salaam. CONGRATULATIONS!" Yazdan pulled the phone away from his ears to prevent damage to his ear drums. When he confirmed that his sister and sister-in-law had stopped screaming, he placed it back at this ear.

"Jazak Allah Khair." He replied shyly and Yahyah laughed beside him. Yazdan elbowed him in the stomach but Yahyah was quick to avoid. Sneaky.

"Ah Kayan bhai wants to talk to you, Bhaiyu. Hurry up!"

"I am on my way, Kulthum. Calm down"

"Alrighty. Bye" with that (and without waiting for his reply), his sister hung up. He wore his shoes before walking towards the mosque parking lot. The place was almost empty now. He caught Kayan by the fence on phone. Kayan, upon seeing him, hung up and turned to him.

"I did not want to do this but Amyrah and mom forced me to" he warned Yazdan who frowned.

"Do what?"

"Talk. To you. About marriage" Yazdan groaned, blushing bright red when his brother said that. Kayan let out a small laugh, patting his shoulder.

"First things first, do whatever takes for you to make her happy. She is leaving everything for you so don't make her regret it. Second, when you two argue; yes you will, don't look at me like that," Kayan rolled his eyes at his brother's expression. "Keep calm. If she is angry, keep calm. Basically keep calm all the time. It's a marriage, not a deal between two people so please act like it. Ah..... What else" Kayan tapped his feet as he thought. Yazdan raised an eyebrow, trying to absorb as much information as he could.

"Ah yes. When she says no, it's a no! Consent is important" Kayan told him and Yazdan frowned. Consent? Ah. Damn it, bhai. He blushed bright red but it didn't deter Kayan from his advice.

"I am serious Yazdan. See, most people think that when one gets married, Sexual intimacy is a must between them, whether either partner is okay or not. They think it's.......... Essential for it to occur. It's wrong though- consent is important. Either partners. A no is a no. End of story. I don't want my brothers to be part of the spectrum of people who don't understand consent" he stated firmly and Yazdan nodded thoughtfully. Consent.

"Communication is the key, Yazdan. Talk it out. Don't stress over things you have not talked about. There will be a time when you will be so fed up that you'll want to leave it all. But trust me, at that point, look back at all you've got. Don't leave it because of one bad circumstance." Yazdan smiled at his brother. Yes brother.

"Anything else?" he teased Kayan who hit his shoulder playfully.

"That is all I have. Oh and I called the Australian Embassy, they are all clear for her to enter Australia. Let me know when I should book the tickets and also where you guys want the honeymoon. Mom is giving me an earful because of it" he said and Yazdan nodded.

"I will check and let you know. Thank you bhai" Yazdan smiled and hugged his brother. I am blessed with such an amazing family.

"Now go"

By the time the brothers were back, Aanabia and Amyrah were yawning. Everyone had left for their home while Kashaf and Kavyaan slept in the Air conditioned SUV of Kayan's. The girls were leaning onto the vehicle while chatting. When they saw their husbands they stopped.

"You two took an awful lot of time" teased Amyrah, who knew what was going on while Aanabia stood clueless and Yazdan stood blushing. Yazdan turned to Aanabia with a grin and Aanabia wanted to cry. This was the first time she saw him with a grin. And it was beautiful. She is beautiful were his thoughts instead.

"Guys, we are heading to the hotel." Amyrah told them and Yazdan nodded, walking over to stand beside Aanabia. Amyrah turned to Aanabia with a smile. "And when do you want to come to Australia?" Aanabia looked at Yazdan, tilting her head up (since he was taller).

"I am leaving in two days" Yazdan told her and her eyes widened while her lips turned into a frown.

"Two days? What about me?" she asked him and he nodded at Kayan.

"Kayan bhai has settled that. He just needs to know when you can leave" Aanabia bit her nude shades lips and Yazdan frowned. It is going to bleed.

"Then I'll leave with you" she told him with determination after a while. Yazdan nodded at her.

All the while, Amyrah watched them with fascination. Kayan placed an arm on her waist, smiling down at her.

"What is it?" he whispered to her. Amyrah turned to him with a small smile.

"I can't believe this is the same guy who walked in on us kissing when we got married" she told him and Kayan barked a laugh. This startled the duo in front of the couple.

Yazdan frowned at his brother while Aanabia grinned at Amyrah.

"Okay so you two will leave Monday morning?" Amyrah confirmed and Yazdan nodded. She smiled at the two and walked over to Aanabia. She hugged Aanabia, whispered something in her ear and walked back to her husband.

"Let's go"

Yazdan turned to his wife when his brother guided Amyrah into the SUV.

"What did she say?" he asked her and she blushed brighter.

"Nothing. She said absolutely nothing" Yazdan raised an eyebrow at her. Kayan honked at them while driving off and Yazdan nodded before turning back to his wife.

"Shall we?" he asked, holding out his hand. Aanabia smiled at him.

"We shall" she placed her hand in his, their fingers interlocking. It was a perfect fit, like lock and key. 

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| UNEDITED CHAPTER |

Salaam guys.

 I apologize for not censoring the words in this chapter but get used to it. Things of importance shall not be censored. This is a good medium to spread awareness so here it is regarding consent in every relationship. :)

I hope you guys enjoyed it. The upcoming ones would have lots of cuteness, don't worry. hahaah. 

| R - C - V |

xx, 

Aalihha.