My mother came in, empty handed and threw the keys at my brother. "Shopping," was all she said. I lightly shoved Aneel and he looked at me as if I was crazy. I pointed to my brother and he rolled his eyes as he left the house.

"Aisha!" I heard my mother scream. I quickly went over to her and saw her stirring the rice that I was cooking. "How long is it going to take?"

"Half an hour." I stood there waiting for her to start screaming but nothing.

"Is Aneel treating you right?"

"Very well?" It ended up sounding more like a question because I didn't know how to respond to her. She rarely ever asked about that kind of stuff.

"You don't sound so sure. How are you treating him?"

"The best way possible, Amma," Aneel said. He came in and gently put the bags on the table. He smiled at me before walking over to my mum. "Salaam, Amma. How are you?"

"Walaikum as-salaam, Aneel. I'm okay, just did some shopping as you can see." He picked up an apple from the fruit bowl but my mum took it off him again. "No. Must I start treating you like my son?"

"I thought I was already your son, Amma." I rolled my eyes with a smile. My mum always liked Aneel and they had this great relationship that grew over the last six months. She laughed and then put the apple back into the bowl. "When are the guests coming?"

"In about an hour or two. Are you hungry?" I asked. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Amma looked back at me.

"Did you bring only that set of clothes?" I looked down at myself and frowned. "Don't worry. I'm going to go and get changed. Check on the rice and see if it needs any extra water, okay?"

"Okay." My mum smiled at me and walked off. I looked down at my clothes again and frowned. Are they that bad?

"I think you look beautiful," Aneel whispered. He picked up the apple again, rubbed it on his shirt and bit into it. My brother came in, bags on his hands. Like Aneel, he put them on the table.

"Jamil!" his wife screamed. He rolled his eyes and picked up an orange.

"What?" She came into the kitchen holding their daughter in her arms. She smiled at me and I took her. "Can't you just hold her for two minutes without getting tired?" He raised an eyebrow as he started peeling the orange.

"Don't do that here. And plus, I have been taking care of her all night." My brother rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed.

***

After the first set of guests came in, I was pretty much in the kitchen since. It was always serving other people, cooking, preparing the table or sometimes even looking after my niece. I think I saw Aneel once or twice but other than that, nothing.

Slowly, everyone started to leave and when there were just close family members left, we all sat down and are together. Aneel sat next to me as he ate but my mum would always be putting food on his plate.

"No, Amma. No more. Please," he begged. Half the table laughed as he turned to me with the plate in his hands. "Stop her!"

"Amma, come on, he has eaten enough." She grunted and then sat back down. "All done. You are free to go." As soon as I said that, he was already running to the sink. "Leave your plate, I'll wash it."

He looked back at me and smiled. "It's okay. It's only a plate." My Aunty stood up and walked over to him.

"Seriously Aneel, leave it. The ladies will do it." He looked around the kitchen and sighed, putting his washed plate up on the rack. Aneel came back to sit next to me, which was pretty weird.

"Take more rice, Aisha," he said.

"No. I'm still eating this plate!" He rolled his eyes and picked up the rice bowl. "Don't!"

"You eat so slow and you've barely eaten anything." I sighed when he put two spoons of rice onto my plate knowing that I had to eat that now. Great!