- Noor's POV -

After our time with the kittens was up, Yasir drove me back to the office.

The whole time he only played with one kitten and pretended like he hated every second of it.

What's with men and their weak sense of masculinity? I won't freak out if I see him playing with a cat.

I hop out of the car and before shutting the door, I peak my head back in. "Thank you again for tonight. I really appreciate it, it meant a lot."

"It's not a big deal." Yasir says quite awkwardly.

"I mean it, it really made my whole week. I guess you're not that big of a bully." I giggle.

"Very funny." He rolls his eyes.

"Have a great night!" I close the door and head to my own car.

I couldn't stop smiling while driving all the way back home.

"Assalamualikum!" I say as I enter the house.

"Walaikum Assalam!" I hear Abbu's reply from the family room. "Could you come here and greet the guests, please?"

I groan and quickly fix my scarf and my overall appearance in the mirror.

The second I walk in, I see my sister on the edge of the couch with a smirk plastered on her face.

My parents are seated right beside each other with big smiles on their faces.

"Noor dear, this is Mister and Missus Ahmad." Abbu points are the nice looking older couple. "And this is Omar Ahmad." He points the handsome boy, maybe a year or two older than me.

"She's so beautiful, Mash'Allah!" The auntie says.

I smile politely at her.

Oh, no... oh, no, no, no.

I know exactly what this is.

"Please, sit." Amma pats the seat beside her. "We want to talk to you about something."

No.

"Yes?" I say.

"Mister and Missus Ahmad have brought in a rishta (marriage proposal) for you for their son, Omar." Amma explains.

Why would they put me on spot? This is absolutely outrageous!

"There's no pressure, dear." Mr. Ahmad says. "Your father has been a great friend and co-worker of mine. I've seen a picture of you on his desk and thought this would be perfect!"

"You're too kind! Mr. Ahmad is my boss at the bank. He's the one who's promoted me." Abbu laughs.

Ah... I'm turning into a mere commodity. Exchange me for status. Of course, no one is doing this on purpose but there's probably a sense of responsibility that my father feels that he owes this man.

"How about we leave these two to talk and see if they can get along? And then we can talk further." His mother recommends.

Please, no.

After the adults and my sister have all left the room. I'm left with this stranger, Omar Ahmad.

"I should formally introduce myself. My name's Omar." He smiles.

He does have a sweet smile. Sort it reminds me of Lateef.

"I'm Noor." I say.

There's this deathly awkward silence.

"So, Noor... where do you work?" He asks.

"I work as a secretary at Khan Enterprise." I look down at my hands on my lap.

"Oh, no way! Who do you work for?" He asks.

"Mr. Yasir Khan." I answer.

"That's amazing!" He sound genuinely excited.

"How about you?" I ask, finally looking up.

"I'm an aerospace engineering student with a paid internship at Aviation Co." He answers.

"Woah, you design and build airplanes? That must be exciting!" I think my face lit up. I did actually find that to be pretty cool.

"It is! I want to go into spaceships though. That's where I'm hoping I end up. I've been in talks with a few space stations. Maybe work for NASA one day, you know?"

"Oh my God! That's so cool! I'd love to see a space station one day. I've always been so fascinated by space but never had enough brains to go into the field." I frown.

"I can sneak us in." He grins.

"You're serious?" I widen my eyes.

"Dead serious. I may or may not know someone who can smuggle us inside and give us a tour." He chuckles.

"I'm in. Definitely up for this." I smile.

I ended up talking to him for another hour about our interests, hobbies, music taste and honestly... it went really well.

Ayesha knocks on the door. "Can we come in?"

"Uh, yes!" I reply.

"Unless you're okay with letting us talk a little longer." Omar jokes.

Ayesha smirks. "Amma! Abbu! Pull out the ring!"

I gasp. "Ayesha!"

The parents all come back inside and take a seat.

"So, what do you two think? Should we move forward with this?" Abbu asks us.

Omar looks at me and winks.

I quickly look away in embarrassment.

"I think Noor and I are up for it, right?" Omar asks for my approval.

I don't look up and only nod, making everyone burst into cheers.

"Alhumdulillah! What a blessed evening!" His mother smiles widely. "We'll be so lucky to have you in our lives, Noor."

Oh my God... did I just agree to marriage?

• • •

I stare at the small, but super sparkly ring sitting on my ring finger of my left hand.

The engagement happened two weeks after our initial meet. The ring has been on my finger for a week and a half and I don't know... marriage is such a big commitment.

There's nothing wrong with Omar. In fact, he's a great guy. I've spent some time with him, with my sister tagging along, of course. He's funny, charming and caring.

Our Nikkah is in a few days... just a few days...

I'm probably just nervous. It's a life time, you know?

Yasir hasn't noticed anything. He still continues to bully me. Nadira has started to drop by a lot less frequently than before. At first, I start to think there's a strain in their not-so-moral relationship, but every time he sees her, he looks like a child at a candy store.

So, no. Unfortunately, they seem fine..

My parents asked to give Yasir an invitation to the nikkah. I don't understand why. It's supposed to be only close friends and family. But I guess just to be respectable.

The second 12:30 PM hits, I decide to suck it up and give him the invite.

I knock on his door lightly.

"Come in." He answers.

"Good afternoon, Sir. I'd like to give you something." I say nervously.

Why am I nervous? It's just an invite.

I slowly slide the invite across the desk towards him and was about to bolt.

"Wait, what is this?" He asks.

"An invite for you and your family." I say discreetly.

"To?" He raises a brow.

"I guess you'll have to open it and find it. It's nothing important." I say so I get to leave before he opens it.

He would never open it if it isn't anything important to him—

He grabs the envelope, cutting off my thoughts.

"Wedding invitation?" He seems like he's talking to himself.

Suddenly, his head jolts up to meet my eyes. "Your wedding invitation?"

"Uh... yes... my nikkah is in a few days. You don't have to attend, I understand you're busy. My parents thought it would be nice to invite y—"

He grabs my left hand and pulls it towards him. I freeze because of the suddenness of his actions.

"So, this is what you were distracted by for the last two weeks..." He examines the ring by tilting my hand, which I still don't have control over yet. "It's nothing to be distracted by. It's so small."

"Excuse me?" I snatch my hand away.

"The stone. It's so small. Is it even a real diamond?" There's a hint of bitterness in his tone.

What's his problem?

"Does that matter?" I'm this close to roasting his rude a—

"Of course. That's not what I would get Nadira, when we marry. She would get something no one would be able to get their eyes off of." He says casually.

Has he ever heard of not being able to afford to buy the most precious stones? Does he realize not everyone is as wealthy as him?

He's so rude!

"Oh? I'm sure she's content with the ring that's already on her finger." I roll my eyes. "Besides, you're talking about small stone? I'm sure Nadira would've chosen you if you had a bigger—Never mind." I snatch the invitation back.

Before I could even take one more step, Yasir manages to stand up and push me against his desk.

He's gripping onto my waist, his fingers digging too deep into my skin. "A bigger what, Noor?"

"N-nothing. I said nothing." I'm losing my calm.

He inches his face closer to mine, his eyes have gone completely dark. "Say it. I want you to fucking say it to my face."

The more I struggle in his grasp, the more painful his grip on me gets. "Yasir! You're hurting me!" 

It's almost as if my yelling switched off whatever was about to explode within him. He quickly lets go of me and takes back the invitation.

"Hey! Give it back!" I try to reach for it but he hovers it higher so I won't be able to grab it.

"I'll think about it." And he goes back to his desk as if he didn't just try to murder me.

It was technically my fault for not keeping my mouth shut and setting him off but he was being so mean.

I'm sure he won't show up, though. Weddings are probably not his thing. Maybe he'll give it to his parents as an act of politeness.

- - -

- A/N -

• Just to explain, in many cultures, couples do end up engaged within months of meeting [just in case some of y'all were shocked at how quickly they agreed to a nikkah].

• Yasir do be a little petty. 👀

Next Update: Every Friday and Saturday, Insha'Allah!

Please vote and comment and let me know how y'all feel!!