//Aneel

I narrowed my eyes at Aisha who was fiddling around with her soup. She groaned and looked up at me.

"Can I have the shepherd pie instead? I don't want this."

Biting back my groan, I stood up and put a slice of the shepherd pie inside the microwave. I leaned back on the counter as I waited for it to be over.

"Are you angry with me?" Aisha asked as she stepped in front of me. She smiled innocently at me as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

I turned the other way and took the plate out the microwave. "Just eat."

She huffed and sat down, taking her plate with her. I took my empty plate to the sink before sitting back where she was. Leaning back on the chair, I watched as she silently ate her food. She only had a couple of bites before pushing the plate away.

"I feel sick, I don't want to eat anything else."

It stayed silent for a while as I glared at her. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and now she still wasn't eating. The fear of her going back to starving herself ran through my head so many times. The fact that Nafeesa said that going back to the hospital brings all those emotions up again didn't really help.

Leaving her at the table, I went to go and sit on the sofa. She didn't waste a second before making her way towards me. "Can you tell me what I did to make you angry?"

"It's not you, babe. You haven't eaten anything since breakfast and now you're barely eating and I just-"

"Aneel." She put a hand on my cheek. I looked over at her with a frown. "I'm not going back to that, I promise." She pressed her lips against my head and I closed my eyes. "I promise you."

I nodded my head and pulled her into a hug. "I missed you." I heard her giggle and opened my eyes with a smile.

"You've said that already. But I missed you too."

I pulled back from the hug and she rest her head on my shoulder. I pulled her in closer to me and sighed. "I'm sorry I got angry. It just annoyed me that  you weren't taking care of yourself."

"It's fine. You care. It feels so good to sit down, I've been on my feet all day."

I pulled her legs onto my lap but she quickly pulled the away. "Gimme your feet now."

"No."

"Come on, I bet you they are hurting. I'll give you a small massage and then you'll feel better."

"No, Aneel. You don't have to do that."

I picked up her feet again and this time she didn't say anything. I took off her slippers, dropping them on the floor. "Just relax. Let me do this. I'm your husband and I can take care of you too."

She leaned back into the sofa and I saw her start to relax. "You've done too much already."

"Not enough."

I continued to massage her feet as she lay down on the sofa. I must have been doing it for an hour when I looked back at her to see her sleeping. A small smile made its way to my face as I leaned over and kissed her cheek. I picked up the blanket on the other sofa before putting it over her.

After I had cleared everything away, I picked her up from the sofa to put her down in bed. Making sure she was tucked in properly, I then made my way to spare room to start on some work.

As soon as I made it back to my desk at work, there were files stacked on top of each other that I had to go through. I had to go through five and decide which one would be the best for some event that we had and the rest were accounts I had to look at for the company. And one file took way longer than it needed anyways but I had four of them to get through in the next two days.

I clicked my fingers and put my glasses on. Once I opened my laptop, I opened the first file and got to work.

* * *

I got to the third file when I saw someone put a sandwich down in front of me. I smiled as I felt Aisha wrap her arms around me. She kissed the top of my head and I sighed.

"It's almost one. How long you been doing this for?"

"Don't know, probably since eight. After you fell asleep." I lifted one of her hands up and pulled her around so she was in front of me. I sat her down on my lap and she sat cross legged facing me. "I could use a break now anyways."

She stared at me for a while whilst smiling. I raised an eyebrow as she continued. "You're wearing glasses. You look kind of nice in them." I chuckled and put my hands on her waist. She leaned down and pecked my lips before taking my glasses off. "Do they look nice on me?" I shook my head with another laugh.

"You have your own pair." She took them off and gently put them back on me. I watched as she bit her lip as she concentrated on trying not to poke me anywhere.

"There. Now you can see my beautiful face now."

I slowly raised a hand to her cheek. I smiled at her and leaned up to give her a gentle kiss. "That's the first time you called yourself beautiful," I whispered. She put her and arms around my neck and smiled.

"You make me feel beautiful."

"I'm glad." She turned back and picked up the plate, putting it on her lap. I looked down at the four sandwiches and then back at her. "You eating two of them?"

"Only one. Sorry, but I'm hungry too." With a smile, she picked up one of them and bit into it. Of course she took a tiny bite. "One of them is tuna. And the other two are cheese."

"Yes! I'm been craving a nice cheese sandwich."

"Who said it will be nice?" I looked at her with a smile. She raised both her eyebrows at me as she bit into her sandwich. I felt my smile turn into a small smirk as I looked at her eyebrows again. She still couldn't raise one.

We both ate the sandwich silently as we stayed in the same places. I put the empty plate back onto the table and my hands wrapped around her waist again. I sighed with a smile whilst looking up at her. She smiled back as she ran a hand through my hair. I buried my head into her neck and she continued to run her hand through my hair. I slowly closed my eyes as I lay my head on her shoulder.

* * *

THURSDAY

I looked across to my mother who was sitting opposite me. I raised an eyebrow as I leaned forward. She had a huge smile on her face, looking back at me. Her husband sat beside her whilst holding her hand.

"You're moving here?"

She eagerly nodded her head. "Yeah. It's gonna be ten minutes away from you so it's close by. We already bought the house and the kids are moving their stuff in right now."

"Your jobs? You're leaving everything just to be next to me. No, Amma-"

"It doesn't matter. We already talked through this already," her husband said. "We've been talking about this for a month or two so I already got a job placement here. You mum is a bit stubborn so she didn't really me any choice."

I slowly smiled and then made my way over to hug her. She quickly wrapped her arms around me and I closed my eyes. Nothing was better than being in the arms of your mother. She kissed the top of my head and I sighed. I would do anything to make sure I don't lose her again.

"Oi, you dickhead-" Chris stopped talking as his eyes widened. I bit back my laughter as my mum stared at him.

"Parents?" he said whilst cringing. I stood up and nodded. "I'm so sorry. Aunty, Uncle, it's so nice to meet you. Trust me, Aneel has talked non-stop about you. And yesterday he was just talking about how great it was to meet you."

My mum's husband laughed and Chris stopped rambling. He looked at me and shook his head in amusement. "Have a nice friend there." I smiled back and Rashid marched in, probably pissed.

"I told you not to steal my fucking food again!"

I was right. He was pissed at Chris for stealing his food again. Chris had that bad habit of stealing all our food whenever he wanted so we always had to hide it away. just like Chris, Rashid's eyes widened. However, he looked scared this time.

"Did anything happen? She's okay isn't she? Nothing happened to her did it?"

"Wait, who are you talking about?" Rashid looked over at me whilst rubbing the back of his neck. My mum looked at me nervously and her husband shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. "Can someone please tell me what's happening?"

"Chris. you asshole. Did you take my food again?" As soon Nazrul came in, he cursed under his breath. I would have laughed at his face but my mind was now on Rashid who looked like he would do anything but be here. How could he possibly know my parents and how does he know someone through them? Most importantly, who?

"Rashid, don't make me come over there."

"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't know at first."

"Can you just tell me, please?"

He looked down at his hands and bounced from one foot to another. "I used to go and see my aunty all the time in the hospital. Remember that? I used to go every weekend." I nodded my head and he sighed. "Whenever I went there, there was always this girl sitting in the waiting room. I always used to speak to her whilst I waited for her to come out. Then we became friends." I raised a hand to my mouth as I stared at him. I knew where he was going with this. "Then whenever I met my aunty, I would stay and talk to her for another hour or two. She used to tell me that she had a brother named Aneel but I always put it down as a coincidence. Then after my aunty passed away, I still went back to meet her." I shook my head as the tears came to my eyes.

"You knew. You knew all this time and you didn't tell me?"

"No! No, I promise you I didn't know, I only found out two months ago when your parents came to meet her and when they said the exact same story as you told me, I knew. My dad told me not to tell you because he wanted you to be in a good place first. Please, believe me, Aneel. You know I would have told you if I could. You're my brother, Aneel."

I wiped away my tears and looked at him again. "Is she okay?" He looked shocked at first but then nodded his head. "She's good? I want her to be okay."

"She's okay. She's more than okay. Amina has come a long, long way."

"She's coming out of hospital on Saturday," Amma said. I smiled and looked at her. "Your sister is coming home on Saturday. She said she wants to meet you then."

"Aneel, I love her," Rashid said as he walked over to me. "Aneel, I love her and I want to marry her. Please, I want your permission to marry her. I promise to take care of her. I know when she is at her worst and I know how to help her. I've been there for her at the worst times she had and I helped her get to how she is now. Please, Aneel." I looked into Rashid's glazed eyes and felt my own eyes burn. "I will keep her happy, I promise you."

"Stop, Rashid. Please don't beg me like this. Of course I would say yes." He pulled me into a tight hug and started to mumble on my shoulder. "I guess we're brothers for real now."

Chris started to cheer and soon Nazrul joined in. Me and Rashid pulled away with a laugh. Amma went to go and hug Rashid and they soon began their own conversation. I can't believe Rashid was meeting my sister all this time. He knew for the last two months and didn't say anything. But then again, he was told not to say anything by his own father.

I excused myself from the room and went into one of the spare rooms we had. I sat beside the window and opened it, welcoming the fresh air into my lungs. I looked down at my phone and sighed. I needed to hear her voice. I dialled her number and pressed the phone against my ear.

"Hey!" I heard her cheerful voice and leaned back, my head gently hitting the wall.

"Can you do me a favour and come here? I really need you right now." I heard her shuffle around and talk to someone else.

"I'm on my way. I just came out shopping with Carly but she's turning the car around now. I'll be there in ten minutes, Aneel." Minutes went by in silence as I held the phone to my ear, listening to her breathing. In a strange way, it calmed me down a little.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too, Aneel. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need you to hold me and tell me everything is going to be fine. I need you to tell me I can do this because I don't think I can do this anymore, Aisha. I can't do any of this anymore."

"Hey, don't cry over the phone, Aneel. I can't wipe away your tears that way." I smiled at her attempt of a joke. I really needed to teach her good jokes. I blinked back my tears and looked out the window. "What happened, Aneel?"

"My mum is here." I inhaled sharply as I raised my hand to my forehead. "How far away are you?"

"Getting out the car as I speak. Okay, through the building and down to the last elevators," I heard her mumble to herself. She came here on Tuesday and I remembered telling her the instructions as we spoke on the phone. "Okay, which room are you in?"

"The one right at the end. Turn left from the lift and go right to the very end."

"Okay, I'll see you then." I heard the line end and placed it back into my pocket. Two minutes later, Aisha stepped into the room. She closed the door behind her and dropped her bag onto the desk.

She didn't say anything as she looked at me for a full minute. She then walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. I felt myself relax in her arms and as she ran her hand through my hair. Her other hand rubbed my back softly and I felt the first few tears start to spill. I only planned to cry a little but soon I was sobbing into her chest. My grip on her tightened and I pulled her in closer to me. I was tired of being strong about this. I was tired of pretending everything was okay because it wasn't. Why couldn't they find me earlier? Why did I have to grow up without my parents? All those years I grieved over my family, blaming myself for not being able to look after them and now they're back?

"Shh, it's okay," I heard Aisha whisper in my ear. I felt her kiss the top of my head and I slowly quietened down. She held me for another two minutes after I stopped crying and then pulled back slightly. Aisha sadly smiled at me as she slowly wiped the tears off my face. "You want to talk about it?"

"She's moving here. Ten minutes away from our home. My mum is gonna be ten minutes away from me. She wasn't that close to me all this while I grieved over her death. She didn't hold me in her arms whenever I cried. She wasn't there whenever I went off somewhere."

"Aneel...it wasn't her fault-"

"I know! I know but I-" I sighed and closed my eyes. "How can a mother forget her own children, Aisha? How did she forget us? Didn't she feel like anything was missing? I want her, Aisha. I want her right next to me but at the same time, I don't. I don't know what I want anymore, Aisha. What do I do?"

She kissed the top of my head again and I opened my eyes. "You stop being angry at her. What happened wasn't her fault and I can't imagine what she went though when she did remember again. But you need to stop being angry at her, Aneel. What happened wasn't her fault and what happened to you wasn't her fault. You made your own decisions and that's on you. I'm sorry if I upset you here but that's the truth. You're upset that she wasn't here for you and she had other children. You're angry because they got to have the childhood with your mum and you didn't." I looked down at my feet but she raised my head by putting a hand under my chin. "It's okay. It's okay to feel like this, Aneel. But you need to forget this and create memories with your mum now. You have her now and that's all that matters." I pulled her back in for a hug and heard her giggle as my fingers ran down her back.

"Rashid is marrying my sister."

"What?" She pulled back and stared at me. "When did this happen?"

"He knew about it for two months. He says he loves her and wants to marry her." Aisha giggled to herself and I looked at her with a smile.

"I'm sorry. It's just Rashid admitting he loves someone is too funny. But are you upset about that?"

"No." I raised a hand to her cheek and smiled softly. "Thank you for coming," I whispered. She took the hand off her cheek and held it in her hands. "It means a lot. You have no idea how much I needed you to just hold me."

"Don't thank me." She kissed the top of my head again and I closed my eyes. "I'll always come for you. Anytime."

"Aneel, your mum is-oh." Chris stood at the door, blushing. "Hey, Aisha." She pulled away from me and waved at Chris who was now looking at me. "Were you crying?"

"No, Chris. Don't worry, I'm fine." He narrowed his eyes at me and stood in front of me. "Chris."

"Aneel." He raised an eyebrow and held my face in his hands. "You were crying." He then looked over at Aisha. "Why was he crying?"

Aisha looked over at me and I shrugged my shoulders. It was her choice whether she wanted to tell him or not. Being Chris. he would somehow find out anyways. "He was just a little emotional about everything. He let everything pile up and it was too much." Chris smacked my arm and I groaned. He hit quite hard.

"I thought we shared everything?"

"Don't start that. You didn't tell me about Amy these past-"

"Doesn't matter." I looked at Chris who had his jaw clenched. He looked away from me but I knew something was wrong. This guy was literally the happiest guy I kno.

"Chris, what happened?"

He looked up at me with his eyes glazed. I sighed and got up to hug him. He quickly tightened his arms around me and I heard him start to cry. This was the second time I heard him crying over the years I have known him. I remember the first he cried and that was when he thought his father was going to die. "I thought she loved me. I walked in on both of them and I broke up with her then and there."

"Why didn't you tell anyone before?"

"You had the problem with your mum and everyone was focussed on you and I didn't want to take that away and bring the attention to me." I pulled back and punched his arm. He gasped at the pain and made an effort to lunge at me but I dodged it. "What the fuck is your problem? That fucking hurt you asshole." He wiped the few tears that fell out his eyes before turning back to glare at me.

"You'll live. How many times have I told you that it doesn't matter who's problem we are facing we all share it anyways? Next time talk to me." He smiled at me and nodded his head. I saw Aisha roll her eyes and opened my arms for her. She stepped into them with a smile. "What was it that my mum wanted?"

"Yes. She said she wanted to meet Aisha. I kind of told her she was here," he said sheepishly. "I saw her come out the lift and go down the hall. And I figured since you weren't in the room, you'd be here since you like to come here for a break."

I looked down at Aisha whose eyes were wide. "Aneel, no. I look like some idiot right now and I've got no makeup on so I look-"

"Beautiful." She sighed and looked up at me. "If you managed to call yourself beautiful when your hair was all messed up and you just woke up from sleep, then why can't you now?"

"But it's your mum, Aneel."

"Aisha, I'm gonna come there and drag you to his mum if you don't shut up," Chris said. He smirked and made his way over to her. "You're a beautiful woman, nothing to worry about."

And within seconds she was gone from my arms and being dragged out the room by Chris. I laughed to myself as I picked up her bag and made my out the room. As soon as I was near enough to the office, I saw Aisha and my mum hugging whilst laughing. It seemed as though they were getting along just fine. I stepped in and Rashid walked over to me, playing with his hands.

"Don't think about apologising. It wasn't your fault." He sighed and dropped his hands to his side. "Rashid."

"I'm sorry."

"I told you it's fine." I put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad that my sister is going to marry someone that I know and love. Thank you for being there for her."

"Hey everyone," Uncle said as he walked in the room. He had that smile on his face that brightened the whole room. He looked at Rashid and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Rashid shook his head. They stared at each other for a few seconds and then Uncle opened his arms. Rashid didn't waste a second before going into them. That's one thing I loved about Uncle, he was always there for all of us. He didn't make us feel any different just because we weren't his sons because he made us feel as though we were. Aisha stood beside me and I looked down at her with a smile.

I kissed the top of her head and watched her blush a little. "I love you," I whispered into her ear so no one else could hear. She smiled back at me and then gave my hand a squeeze. When she wanted to let go, I held her hand tightly and pulled her closer to me. "Don't go."

"How about we all go out for dinner?" Amma said. "Everyone. Nazrul, you have a wife, don't you?"

"Yes. But there is no one to look after the kids today and I can't take them-"

"Bring them, please. I want to spend time with all my son's friends." She turned to me and smiled. "Bring your brother too. And your two sisters."

"Sisters went on a holiday with their parents after my wedding. Are you sure about this?" She eagerly nodded her head and I smiled. She was too excited. I remember the times my dad would come home from work and hand her a bunch of flowers and she would be jumping around all happy fro the rest of the day. "In that case, you invite all my brothers and sisters. I want to meet them."

"Are you sure? You don't have to do that."

"I want to."

She then went around asking how many people each were coming and she then called her other children which all of them said yes to. Her husband then turned around with a grin on his face. "That's twenty-nine people coming." I let out a small whistle and everyone went silent. "What's the best restaurant here?"

"I think you should have a vote. That's what we do with my family," Aisha said. Amma's eyes widened and she looked at her. "No. I am not inviting my family. There is more than enough people coming today."

I chuckled as I put an arm around her shoulder. "Nice to know you're already saying no to my mother."

"No! I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry, Aunty."

Amma came over and squeezed her cheeks. Before she could speak, her husband made his way over and pulled her back. "Good. This one is too stubborn."

"I am not!" All he did was laugh and put his arms around her. He winked at me and I laughed. She was way too stubborn.

I loved how free she was now with her husband. Even when my dad was well and they were happy, she was never this free. It's like she had nothing to worry about anymore. Aisha walked off to Chris who was smiling whilst drifting off to space. I followed after her.

"If I think about it, I never really loved her. I was just so quick to fill this emptiness in me that I went with the first woman I saw. Is that a bad thing?" I shook my head and he looked between me and Aisha. "This is love. Nazrul and Priya are love. Your mum and dad are love. Hassan and Maya. I never had that." He laughed to himself as he looked around the office. "Uncle and Aunty are love. Not me and Amy. When I walked in on you two together, I saw the way you looked at her. You were comfortable enough to break down in front of her, in her arms, not worrying about whether she is going to judge you or not but knowing she will still see you as a man after. She would still see you as the man she fell in love with and not some whimpy asshole. But I never felt like that with Amy. I never felt comfortable enough to breakdown and know she won't judge me."

Aisha lightly put an arm around his shoulder and he smiled at her. He pulled her into a hug and I smiled at them both. She didn't even have to say anything to make people feel better. "You want to come over and talk anytime, I'll be there. Your sister is there too, you know. She was telling me just how much she was missing you on the ride to the shops. She said every morning she would wake up and see you rushing off to work and hear you shout morning from outside the door."

"I haven't told her yet," he admitted as he let go of her. "She's got so much going on with the kids that she doesn't need me to-" I raised my arm and he nervously laughed. "I'll tell her."

"I mean it, Chris. She's your sister."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Chris," Aisha said. He smiled at her sweetly and she only glared back.

"I promise." He looked back at me and smiled. "Thank you guys." I opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it. "I mean it. And Aisha, thank you so much for being there for me these last couple months. You could have just said that Aneel was enough for you but you went beyond and made us all your friends but I can tell you you are like my sister to me and I am pretty sure the others feel like that. And thank you for being here for Aneel." Aisha looked up at me with a small smile as I pulled her into me. I kissed the top of her head and she giggled as she looked back at Chris. "I'm glad I have people around me to look up to. I know what love is meant to be and I now know that I haven't felt that yet."

"And you said you weren't romantic," Nazrul said as he smacked his back.

The rest of the day went by with all of us just talking in the office. Nazrul called his wife and she came with the kids who played with everyone. Amma's husband reserved a table for us at a Turkish restaurant nearby.

Just an hour before our reservation, Amma's children came in and I felt myself tense. Aisha squeezed my hand and smiled at me. I hadn't let go of her hand over the last few hours so when she did, I felt like there was something missing. She pushed me gently towards them and I greeted them in. Amma watched me from afar and I could see her smiling softly at me. We all made small conversation with each other and I forgot that they were my mum's other children. The youngest one was twelve and to be honest, he was the most innocent twelve year old I have ever seen. Most twelve year olds nowadays were grown up, had their own phone and thought they were all grown up. But this one, he already hit puberty so he was really tall but he still didn't act all cocky. The others were a bit sly though. They weren't bad or anything, but had their moments of throwing in dirty jokes.

I heard Aisha scream and looked back at her to see Priya covering her mouth. She quickly came over to me and dragged me over to Priya. "What's wrong?"

Priya glared at Aisha. Nazrul walked over and kissed his wife's cheek. His eyes went down to her stomach and he smiled before looking back at us. I would have normally missed that but that was what he used to do whenever Priya was pregnant. "Another one?" Nazrul's eyes widened and he looked over at a sheepish Priya. She smiled innocently at him as she wrapped her arms around his.

"I thought you we weren't going to tell them you were pregnant till next month?"

I laughed lightly and waved at my brother who stepped in. His eyes widened at the number of people in the room but he made his way over to us. Nazrul's kids attacked him with a hug and he flipped them all round once before they ran off somewhere. Once they joined us. Rashid and Chris came up to us. "There's gonna be another Nazrul running around," Priya said proudly. I heard the others laugh and they pulled them both into a hug. Maya blushed and looked around the room.

"She's not the only one, guys." I looked over at my brother who had the biggest smile on his face I had ever seen. He rocked back and forth before I attacked him with a hug. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm so happy for you! You've been waiting for this for ages!" Before I could let him go, I felt the other boys join in with the hug and I laughed. Sure was a lot of hugs going around.

We all let each other go and I went back to Aisha, pulling her in front of me so I could wrap my arms around her again. I put my head on top of hers and smiled at the people around the room. Soon enough my sister would be with us and that only made my smile grow.

"Now you're next," Chris said with a smirk. Aisha smacked his arm and he winced. "F...You are so lucky that there are children here." He glared at a blushing Aisha and I laughed. She glared up at me and I bit back the laughter.

"Aneel, you okay?" Amma asked. I looked at her and smiled. Letting go of Aisha, I made my way to Amma who was standing beside us all.

"I want you to meet my brother. Hassan." He looked over at me whilst laughing at something Chris said. He dropped the arm around Maya's shoulder and stepped beside me.

"Nice to meet you Aunty. Are you okay? Is Aneel making you feel comfortable?" She laughed and nodded her head.

"Don't worry about him, he's always trying to make me look bad. Thinks he can always do better."

"Because I can." I playfully glared at him to which he only innocently smiled. "And I am." He gently took my mum's hand off mine and took her to a side. They both began laughing and I shook my head. Hassan always had a way to make everyone like him.

The other Aneel came up to me and smiled. Soon Amina came then Waheed and soon Kabir, the twelve year old. They all stood there with a smile so I introduced them all to my friends. I gently pulled Aisha in front of me and smiled. "This is my wife, Aisha."

"Imagine if I get married to a woman named Aisha too? That would have been so weird." I chuckled and faced him. "My brother is coming here soon with his wife and my sister. Shall I just tell them to stay down there or go down to bring them up?"

"I'll go down with you and we will bring them up."

"I have an idea. Lets mix everyone together," Aisha said. She looked up at everyone with a bright smile. "How many cars did you guys get and how many seats do they have?"

"Woah, so many people," someone said at the door. They had a kid in their arms and Amma rushed over to them.

"That's our brother and his wife and kid." He then stretched his neck and looked back at me. "And that's our sister with her husband and two kids. I can officially tell you that you have a lot of nieces and nephews." He dragged me by my hand to the door. I saw a few people looking into the office, curious on what was happening. "Bhai, meet Aneel, our brother."

"So you're my long lost brother?" he asked as a joke. I laughed and shook his hand. "We're the ones that are the same age?"

"I guess we are. Is that your older sister?"

I looked back at the woman who was struggling to carry the baby seat in her arms. Her husband didn't look bothered and I heard Aneel curse him under his breath. Before he could go to her, I went and took the baby seat from her. She smiled at me and stepped into the room.

"Aneel?"

"That's me." She let out a small laugh but stopped when her husband walked right past her.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I looked up at her with a frown. "Please, I need your advice on something." I closed the door and we both stood outside it. "I just...Amma told me that you got divorced once. I...how do you know when it's the right time to let them go?"

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I tried again but I couldn't process anything. My sister was standing in front of me, first time ever meeting her and she wanted advice on getting a divorce from her husband. I saw the tears in her eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. "My situation was very different. You've got kids. Two of them. I saw that little devil running in through before." She laughed at my description of her daughter who I saw just briefly run past the door before the older brother came into view. "In your case, you look at whether you are happy or not and you look at whether or not this is the best decision for your children." She nodded her head and looked down at her son.

"He wants to leave me," she whispered. "I tried to get him to stay and then we had my little boy and I thought things would change between us but it hasn't. He still wants to leave. He doesn't want kids." I heard her laugh to herself. "Fuck it. I'm glad he's gonna leave. He's a dead beat dad that doesn't do anything for them. My little girl doesn't even try to show him anything anymore. She knows that he doesn't care. I'm gonna leave him and I'm gonna bring my kids up by myself." I smiled at her and leaned against the wall.

"I have a friend. He's thirty-two. Has one kid who is six. It's a girl, by the way. Just letting you know he's out there and single." Her eyes widened as she looked at me. I chuckled and looked down at the little boy who was beginning to wake up.

"You did not just throw that at me. Are you already trying to set me up with someone else?"

"I did it with my brother-in-law and my ex-wife. They seem to be getting along pretty well. He met her on that day and already sent his proposal." She shook her head with a smile.

"That combination is just weird. But I think I need some alone time anyways. Thanks for the offer."

"So I tell him to wait? Trust me, he is sexy. Got those muscles, toned body and don't even get me started on those man's eyebrows." She laughed again and took her baby out from the car seat.

"Your Uncle Aneel is crazy."

"You got three months anyways."

Just before she could say anything, Aisha opened the door. She smiled at me and blushed when she saw we were having a conversation. Before she could walk away, I gently pulled her beside me. "This is my wife, Aisha."

"Hey." Aisha took a step in front of her and slowly extended her arms.

"Can I hold him please?"

"Of course you can." I watched as she slowly handed the baby into Aisha's arms. "There you go, Omar. That's your Aunty Aisha."

"Hey, Reema." I turned around to face her husband. She tensed up as he neared her. "When we gonna start going? All people are doing are-"

"Then just go, Raheem. You can just go home. I'm gonna stay with Amma for a couple of days."

"Fine." Without saying anything else, he walked to the lift and was gone within a minute. Reema sadly smiled and shrugged her shoulders at me.

"I'm just gonna take a cab back home. He took the car-"

"There are more than enough cars to go around," Aisha said with a smile. "We just made a plan for who is going in which car but we can change some names around and get another car if you'd like."

She nodded with a smile and we all stepped back into the room. Aisha still had the baby in her arms as we all changed the names around. I walked up to Aisha and kissed the top of her head as I lightly put my arms around her. She looked up with a smile and I smiled back.

"I've been thinking this last week," she whispered. I looked back at the crowd who were all pouring drinks into plastic cups that Rashid's mum and sister got with them. "I've been talking to my sister for the last couple of days about pregnancies and having a baby and all of that. Then I thought back to when I said we needed some time for ourselves." I smiled down at the baby who was waving his hands about everywhere whilst laughing. I lifted a hand from her waist and held one of the baby's hands. "I know you probably want more time since this is all rushed but I'm ready to have a baby, Aneel. And I mean it this time."

"Are you being serious?"

She turned around with a smile. "Of course I am. Any time, Aneel."

"God, I'm gonna sound like such a dickhead right now but I think we need more time with this." I thought the smile would drop from her face but it only grew.

"I'm not saying that I want one right now, right now. I just mean that I'm ready for this and I don't care if I'm pregnant now. If it's more time that you want then I don't care. I'll have to wait anyways, can't make a baby without you."

I let a smirk settle on my face as I pulled her in again. She looked down at the baby and smiled. "I say we start practising tonight," I whispered in her ear. As expected, she gasped and turned around. With one hand, she pressed it to her blushing cheek. "I missed you all hot and sweaty," I whispered in her ear. "It's been a week."

"Aneel!" I laughed and kissed her cheek. "It's only Thursday," she mumbled. "Pretty sure you can live for an entire week."

"I can. But you can't." She turned around to glare at me but I only laughed. "Babe, you're too easy," I said whilst pinching her cheeks. She smacked my arm away and walked off to my mum. I saw her waving her arm around and look back at me every few seconds.

"Are you teaming up with her already?" I asked my mum. She put a hand on Aisha's shoulder with a smile.  "Amma, seriously?"

"Women always team up together. Especially against their husbands." I gasped as I put a hand on my chest. Aisha rolled her eyes and handed Omar over to my mum.

"You women are so heartless!"

"Tell me about it," her husband said as he put an arm around my mum. "I say the men start their own team. We're more than them."

"Women always win," Amma said with smirk. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

"Only because we let you, Jaan."

"You do not! We win fair and easy." He looked up at me and grinned. How does this guy keep smiling all the time?

"That's just what they think, ey?" Kabir gently pulled Amma beside him with a frown.

"Abbu, you're always picking on her. Leave her alone."

I stood behind Aisha and put my arms loosely around her shoulders. "Wife's are there to pick on. You'll understand when you have your own wife to torture." Aisha giggled as she nodded her head. I tightened my arms around, kissing her on the cheek. She smiled at me and I smiled back. She put a hand over mine as she looked around the room. Amma went off to talk to Priya and Maya and I was pretty sure it had something to do with their pregnancy. I sat on the desk and Aisha sat beside me. I put my head on top of her head and looked around the room. Everyone was talking to each other and the kids were playing together. "This is my family," I whispered. Aisha held my hand, squeezing it tightly. "Only my sister is left to join." I looked down at her and smiled. She was too busy looking around the room that she didn't notice. I put my head back on top of hers with a sigh. "Look at how happy everyone is. I want it to stay like this forever."

"It will. With love and effort, anything can be possible."

"Thank you," I whispered.

"For what?"

I sighed and squeezed her hand. I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand and smiled. "For being you. For loving me and my many, many flaws."

"You love someone and you accept all of them. Including their big family. I just realised that you have nine siblings." She laughed and looked up at me. "At least we know that our children with have loads of uncles and aunty's to look after them and loads of cousins to play with. Don't you think?"

"More than one I see. The more children the more time in bed," I whispered in her ear. She rolled her eyes whilst standing up from the table. "Oh, no fight this time?"

"Remember," she said whilst lowering her head to my ear. "Practise tonight," she whispered. Too shocked to do anything else, I watched as she winked before walking away to my other siblings. Chris came in front of me and waved his hand to get my attention. I tore my eyes away from a smirking Aisha.

"We are gonna start to go. Everyone is going into their cars. You're taking Aneel and Reema and her baby, right?" I shook my head with a laugh.

"It's a bit weird hearing another person say Aneel. I always think it's about me."

"Not everything is about you," Aneel said. I chuckled and turned to face him. He gulped down the rest of his drink and smiled. "We're all ready." Reeema stood at the door, saying goodbye to her daughter who was going with Nazrul. She had gotten along so well with them that she didn't really leave us a choice. It was either she goes with her new best friends or she isn't going at all.

Ten minutes later, we were all in our separate cars and driving to the restaurant. Aisha sat in the back with Reema and Omar. I heard her laughing whilst playing with the baby and the thought of her doing that with our own baby made me smile. We've only been married for two weeks and we went through quite a lot. It meant a lot that she stood by in everything, dealing with me crying like a baby every now and then but still loving me the same. I still didn't get a chance to get her back for what she did back at the office. She stopped laughing and I looked into the mirror to see what she was up to. She was staring at a sleeping Omar with a smile on her face. I couldn't wait for the day I would wake up during the night to find her like that with our child, smiling at them as they slept. She looked up and smiled at me through the mirror.

"Once you're done staring at your wife, can you put your eyes back on the road?" Aneel said as he looked out the window. I smacked his arm but he only laughed. Him and his side comments. I looked to the side and saw Chris waving at me. I laughed and waved back. Behind them was Kabir who was in the car with Yusuf, the oldest brother. I went into their lane and we all turned right to go into the restaurant car park. Once we got there, Uncle was standing next a line of empty parking spaces. He must have called them all before to clear some spaces up because it was a nightmare to get spaces in this restaurant. At the moment they were building a second car park which I think will make life so much easier.

I quickly got out the car and went to open the door for Aisha. I extended a hand for her to take and she did so with a smile. Giving her cheek a kiss, I turned my attention to getting Omar out. Reema started to fiddle with the seatbelt but I shooed her away. Once Omar's car seat was in my hand, we all went into the restaurant where some of the others were sitting down. The kids all sat down in between some of the parents and I smiled at them all. They were so busy talking to each other that it looked like they were high on sugar. I sat next to my mum and Aisha sat beside me.

Soon, everyone gathered at the table. The fresh bread and dips were passed along quite quickly and the waiter returned again to take orders for the drinks. I put a hand on Aisha's knee and she put a hand over mine. It wasn't a deliberate thing but I was so used to doing that it came naturally now. I kissed the top of her head and she stopped talking to Reema to smile at me.

"Don't distract her, she was talking to me," she said. Amina laughed and looked over at us. I hadn't really talked to her much because she didn't say much. I just guessed she was the shy one. But over the last fifteen minutes we've been sitting at the table, I've heard more dirty jokes come out from her mouth than Aneel and Yusuf. Of course she got a smack from Reema every time she did but that didn't stop her.

"Let them fondle each other under the table. It's their foreplay so when they go home they can jump straight into bed," she said with a smirk. I expected Aisha to blush and shy away but she just threw her head back laughing. I raised my eyebrow at Amina and soon smiled.

"Not as innocent as you look are you?" Reema scoffed and I laughed.

"Far from innocent, Bhai," she said with a smirk. 

Aisha looked up with a smile. I haven't seen that smile off her face for the last few hours and I couldn't be more happier.  "I like her."

"Glad someone does." I chuckled before turning back to my mum. My hand went back to her knee and almost immediately her hand come over mine. I put mine over hers and gave it a squeeze.

///

The rest of the dinner went great and I got to know everyone quite well. Some of us went back to the office so everyone could get their own cars and go home since we left some of them here. I spoke to Uncle about having a day off tomorrow but he only agreed to a unpaid day off which I didn't really mind. I just needed a day to get my thoughts together before I met my sister and I wanted a day to me and Aisha because we hadn't really spent any time together due to the amount of work I had overdue.

Aisha giggled as I ran a hand over her leg. She lightly hit my chest but I only laughed. She looked down at me with a smile and I smiled back. I held her waist again and rested my head against her stomach. I sighed and closed my eyes. Aisha's hand went through my hair and a small smile settled on my face as she held me in her arms.

I opened my eyes and looked at the clock on the side to see it was already four. Aisha tightened her arms around me and I closed my eyes again. She was already asleep. I didn't even need to ask her to hold me tonight because she did straight away. I slipped my hand under her t-shirt and sighed. Now it was time for me to go to sleep.