Staying at his house always felt like, like I'm staying at my own house. We had came here yesterday but mom made us stayed the night because today we are having a dinner party in our house. All his relatives were invited.

But to say that we are preparing for the dinner would be the ultimate lie. We are all sitting on the couch, just teasing each other. Adeel is very much enjoying himself with his grand pa. Me, Zarine and Mom are in a heated conversation regarding what are we gonna wear tonight. I wanted to wear simple, but Mom is saying that almost every family member will be here, so don't think of it like just a dinner with the family, think of it like a family party.

And like always he was busy with his paper work....deep sigh!!

"So you all want me to dress up as if it's my reception??" I asked

"Yes" they both replied

"Why??"

"Because you're newly wed!!" Mom said.

"Yeah, ten months...and newly wed!!" I said.

"Ten months or twenty four months...you'll be dressing up properly, that's it!!" Both Mom and Zarine said and stood up.

"You guys are impossible" I said and huffed

"That's why you love us!!" Zarine said and smirked.

"Fine, I'll try to wear something nice." I surrendered. They both laughed.

"Helloo..what's happening?" He asked coming down.

"Well, what can you expect from three ladies, whose very much excited for the party!!" Dad mocked.

"Ooh...means dressing up and "I don't have any clothes to wear"!!!" He said and they both did a high five and laughed!!

"Zarine, don't you think that there's still a lot of work had to be done!!" Mom glared at them.

"Yes, Mom"

"Good." Mom gave an evil smile while me and Zarine chuckled.

"Nisha...." Dad was cut off!!

"You do the dusting and you" she pointed at him "are going to do all the chopping as well as make the salad!!" Mom ordered.

"That's not fair, Mom!!" He said standing up from the couch. Mom just raised her eyebrows.

"I want everything to be ready by five in the evening." Mom said looking at them. "C'mon girls, let's go and get some rest since we don't have anything to do!!" She said to us giving them a dirty look.

It was now six in the evening and I've finished ironing our clothes. After checking twice that every thing is ready, I went to freshen up. I quickly took a bath, blow dried, wore my pink fluffy bathrobe and got out of the washroom.

I gasped as soon as I got out. There was a delicious moment where his face washed blank with confusion, like his brain cogs couldn't turn fast enough to take in the information from his wide eyes. Every muscle of my body just froze before a grin crept onto his face.

"I didn't wanted to scare you" he said picking up his towel.

"It's okay" I said looking down, clutching my bathrobe tightly.

"Wear this tonight!!" He pointed towards the gift wrapped box which was lying peacefully on the bed. "I hope you'll like it" he said and left.

I stood there frozen, he bought a gift for me?? A freaking gift that to for me!!! Unbelievable...wait, when did he got? He didn't even went outside today...might be somebody else has gotten for him?? I sat down on the bed and took the box in my hand, which was nicely covered in a shining golden colored gift wrap.

In my life, I have got numerous gifts and presents and among them, this will be my best gift till date. It was nothing fancy, simple and elegant. It's a dress. The kurti was white in color with an embroidery of red and pink roses done at the side. It also had off white cigarette pant and white stole with it. I loved it....it was so pretty and eye catching, without anything fancy in it. It was just perfect. I couldn't wait to see myself in this dress.

Today I decided to dress up. I applied some foundation all over to give my face a more even look. Then I applied a nude color glittering eye shadow and a black eyeliner. After that I layered on some mascara, peach color blush and finished it off with a lipstick.

I didn't wanted to add on any more things so I just put on my rings. I decided to skip wearing anything in ear as it is it'll get hidden under my hijab. After looking myself for thousandth time, I finally decided to go down. Just as I turned, I again gasped.

He was standing right behind me. His eyes were trained on me as he kept on looking at me from top to bottom, bottom to top, his eyelids a fraction too slow to blink. It was as if his brain was suffering a massive short circuit and was struggling to compute.

He moved into my line of sight, touching my cheek with the side of his thumb, his lips forming a pensive grin. And making my heartbeat racing!!!

"How did you do that? You look awesome. The color, dress looks perfect on you. You look gorgeous today." He said pulling me more closer towards him, I was shivering from inside, his touch was making me feel all those things...which I had never imagined to experience.

"I can hardly take my eyes off you, believe me you have beautiful eyes." He said. My head tilted upward to his face, my eyes focusing with his. His eyes rested with mine, not unblinking but slowed.

I guess it was his lips that give away his intention, not quite smiling but tilting as if they mean to.....

Right then there was a knock on the door.

"Somebody's there" I quickly moved away from him but he caught my wrist.

"Let it be" he said pulling me towards him which made me bumped into his chest.

"Zain, please" I spoke softly.

"Repeat" he said quickly.

"What??"

"Repeat my name" he said and I blushed.

"Hani, Bhai....what are you both doing?? Open the door, everyone has come!!" Zarine yelled

"This girl" he groaned making me laugh. I went to opened the door and found her leaning on the door.

"What were you doing??" She asked coming inside but as soon as she saw him, she started wiggling her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes.

"We are coming" he said and she left but not before winking at me.

The huge mahogany table took up most of the vast space in the garden. Two tall, silver candelabras commanded attention from the center of the table, holding smooth white candles whose wax never dripped.

"Assalamualaikum" I said and greeted everyone.

"Walekumasalam" they all replied.

"How are you?" Aunty asked.

"Allahamdulilah, I'm good and you?" I asked.

"Allahamdulilah, Masha Allah, you're looking so pretty" Aunty said and I just smiled. From the corner of my eyes I saw him looking at my direction.

After chit chatting for a while we all sat down for dinner. Dad has four siblings including him and all of them are now separated between two cities in two states, so Mom and Dad have arranged a family dinner, since they all are in town. According to them, over the years many new entries have taken place in the family, so a dinner is the best idea for a get together.

Dad at the head of the table was generally a serious man, but became the jovial story teller for the evening. With every juicy steak he served up there was a cheesy joke at its side. He would recount stories from his younger years, or sometimes those of grandparents'. No matter what the story, there was always a punch line, which would generally draw an exasperated sigh from everyone, signaling that perhaps this story was somewhat exaggerated for comedic effect.

In perfect balance to his meaty steaks and cheery chatter, Mom didn't forget to be the best host as she served up her potatoes and salad along with a verbal newsletter of the comings and goings of family and friends. Birthdays, upcoming celebrations for new babies or marriages and recent accomplishments at jobs were all shared across the table.

Sitting between Mom, Dad and Zarine at either end of the table, he never missed a chance to glance at me or accidentally drop his spoon every time. For the first time after our marriage he took the initiative to talk to me of our own conversation. I cannot even remember our specific conversations, whether it was music or sports, but I know that we actually talked to each other, about something!

And little by little, we both shut off others and soon were lost in our own world, we became more free with each other, I guess this was the major step that we had took uptil now in our marriage and I'm happy with this but moreover he was also happy and Adeel was having his time of his life by going from one person to another.

On request, Dad started grilling up some fish and chicken. Dad repeats some of his stories from years ago and my Mom finds herself forgetting which set of children she has already shared certain family updates with. But like I said little by little, we continue to share our lives around a long table filled with simple good foods and relatives.

After bidding everyone goodbye but not before promising to spend the Sunday with them on the beach. We decided to stay the night at Moms' place. Adeel was so tired that he slept straightaway, he didn't even waited to get changed. While he was sleeping, I changed him into his night clothes.

After freshening up, I got out of the washroom to see him relaxing on the bed, hand behind his head. He was looking up to the ceiling.

"Hanya?" He called

"Hmm?"

"Before going to the office, I'll drop you both home"

"Okay"

"Okay then, I'm going" he said and stood up.

"Where??" I asked quickly standing up.

"To sleep?? Going to the other room" he said and I nodded.

After he left, I brought the cot near to the bed so that I can easily pick Adeel up if he needs something. Since he was sleeping in the other room, I decided to take off my tshirt because I was already wearing a camisole with my favorite little Tweety pajama.

Just as I started taking off my tshirt a voice came from behind.

"Oh Shit!! Sorry...I'm so sorry, I promise, I didn't saw anything!!" He kept on saying as he turned. I pulled down my tshirt and stood up hurriedly.

"Yo-you??"

"Yeah, all the spare rooms are locked" he said still not turning back.

"What?? And what's with showing your back??" I was confused. He quickly turned.

"All the spare rooms are locked, even the hall room is locked!!"

"How come?? You slept yesterday, didn't you??" I asked

"Yeah, I did"

"Then why all the room is locked today??"

"I don't know...it might me Moms' mind!!" He sighed

"It's okay, you can sleep here"

"But how?? The couch is not big enough to sleep"

"We can sleep on the bed!!" I blurted and then slapped my forehead.

"Together??" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Do you have any other option in your mind??" I asked folding my hands.

He looked down at the cold floor then at the bed, he kept on doing this many times and then finally he nodded his head. I took the left side, he took the right side. We didn't made any pillow wall just kept the long pillow in the middle.

My heart was hammering in my chest, just by thinking that he was sleeping right next to me. After calming myself down and taking deep breaths, I finally switched off the lights.