PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THE PARTS IN ITALIC FONT ARE MEMORIES.

2 1/2 years later:

Aaaahhhh......the smell of buttery popcorn and that too for breakfast.

I plop my huge body on the couch and switch on the tv.
Nothing good is playing as usual so I get up and look through some old CD's I have.

Maybe I'll find a good one in here.

My hands suddenly stop and I laugh, looking at the CD in my hand.
I look towards our bedroom door and my grin turns into a frown.

I shake my head. It's all my fault. Damn these stupid mood swings!

Anyway, I can't do anything right now, I should probably just play the CD and reminisce.
The familiar tune fills my ears and I smile yet again.

10 minutes into the video, I hear heavy footsteps.
My stomach does a little cartwheel.

Oh man, I hate this! I have always been scared of one thing in my life: fights.

I once vowed to myself that I would never fight with my husband, and even if we did fight, I would be the one to solve it.

All of that went to the dumpster the day before yesterday when I started getting angry at little things , little things that didn't even bother me.

You better be worth it, little monster!

He sits on the opposite corner of the couch and I see him smile a little as he looks at what's playing.

Taking a deep breathe, I drag my huge body towards him and rest my head on his shoulder with my hand on his chest so I can feel his heartbeat under my soft fingertips.

It sends chills down my spine.

His body tenses a little before he also sighs and rests his head on mine and I smile.

"I'm so freaking sorry. I don't know why I've been so mad at everyone and everything these past days. I was so rude to the mailman the other day too and I love that old man" and with that I start crying, again.

"I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong with me" I sniff and he hugs me and sniffs my hair before placing a kiss on my head.

Just like he always does.

"It's okay, honey" he says and I sniff once more

"No it's not. I've been nothing but rude to you and you don't deserve this. I mean, you always take care of me and handle me at my worst and..." I stop abruptly as he bring his lips down to meet mine.

His hands cup my cheeks and his thumb caresses my cheekbone.

A million butterflies go haywire in my stomach and my body tingles.

Somethings never change.

Every time we kiss I am reminded of my funny first kiss......

"This is it. Our very first apartment" he says and drops our bag with me carrying my very heavy wedding dress.

"I wish you could carry this too." I kick forward so I can walk easily.

"You look very cute kicking your dress" he laughs and I glare at him.

"It's funny for you isn't it?" I say and he nods while laughing.

After I've changed I come out of the bathroom.
Confused to say the least and also very shy in my rather.....revealing outfit.
He is desperately trying to get the speaker to work and I walk up to him

"What are you doing?" I ask

"Trying to get this damn thing to work!" he sighs in frustration and looks at me.

All of his frustration vanishes like a cloud of smoke from his face and shock takes its place instead.

He stands up and I wrap my arms around myself, feeling more self concious.
He removes my arms from in front of me and takes the sight of me in before cupping my face and placing a kiss on my forehead

"Mashallah Amna. I've never seen someone more beautiful" he says and I blush deep red.

Not having any idea how to respond I kiss his cheek and draw my lips to his ear

"What were you doing with the speaker?" I whisper and he chuckles, his whole body vibrating with laughter beneath my hands which are placed on his chest.

It's a soothing rhythm.

The speaker starts functioning of its own accord and the sound of "I'm The One" by Dj Khaled fills my ears.

I start laughing loudly and so does he before we both begin dancing crazy, jumping around and ending with jazz hands.
Then comes "Bad Liar" by Selena Gomez and we carry on our funny dance routine.

But then.
Then "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran starts playing and he grabs my arm, pulling me close.

We both smile at each other while we slow dance.
Again, the speaker stops of its own accord and I whimper but he just laughs and sings the song himself.

This is a million times better!

He spins me and I just follow, not because I am forced to but because I want to

And also because I have no bloody idea how to do this

He does this one more time before I am face to face with him again.

Many times I have thought
"What if I was not here? What if I didn't exist?"
but staring into his eyes right now, with all the respect and love that they have for me, there's no other place I'd rather be.

He rests his forehead on mine and I move closer, if that's even possible.
There are no silly remarks from my subconscious, which is a relief.

He tilts his head so our lips are more closer

His eyes bear into mine, not the one which make you shiver but the one which feel like a thousand blankets on a very cold night.

Both our gazes are fixed on our lips.

He lifts his gaze, his eyes clearly asking for permission which robs me of my breathe, my thoughts seem scattered.
My throat dry.
My insanity, missing.

I mean, look at his lips, they're so pink and I have purple lips. I don't even know how to kiss and I'm sure he's great at it.
This is going to be a disaster!

While I'm in my thought process, he backs away. His eyes widening.
"Oh my god you weren't ready to get married? Dammit you should've told me , Amna! I wouldn't have forced you, you know that" he says and rubs his temples while I'm standing there, utterly confused as to how he came to this conclusion.

"No..babe that's not it" I stutter but he just won't listen. He is rambling on and on about how wrong it was for us to get married if I wasn't ready.

Oh this man won't listen just like this!

I travel the distance between us like the flash.
I grab his face and smash my lips into his.

His eyes fly open as well as mine. Both of us equally surprised at my sudden reaction.

We stand there, staring at each other, our lips still conjoined.

After a moment we pull apart and we still stare at each other before bursting into laughter.

We sit on the floor, clutching our stomachs, laughing our hearts out before he stands up and offers me his hand.
I take it and stand up.
He pulls me up with force so that I stand an inch away from him again.

I stare at him. He stares at me.

His stare makes me feel like I'm melting, color rises in my cheeks and I bite my lip.

His eyes flicker to my lips.

"Okay, that's it" he says and quickly, he attaches his lips to mine and oh my....... I can see sparks flying everywhere.

My stomach has decided to bring in butterflies from all around the world while all my body has tingles and tingles.

It's all a movie .
You know that one..the one with the sleeping princesses and the prince charmings......what was it?Disney!
Yeah that's it.
It was Disney.
I seem to have lost my train of thought.
Oh and when I said that he might be a good kisser....It was an understatement.
Definitely an understatement.

His lips are warm on mine and it's much less awkward than I expected it to be.
His lips, gentle on mine yet there is something so much more powerful happening.

Something that makes my knees buckle and my eyes water.
No, I am not kidding, I am quite literally crying.

It's like he's channeling all the emotions he's held for so long in this one kiss and to be honest, so am I.

Why exactly are my hands just sitting on his biceps?
I'd like the rest of my body to do it's part in showing him what he means to me and not only my lips, thank you very much!

I wrap my arms around his neck and my hand entangles in his soft hair while his hands are at the small of my back, pulling me closer......

We break apart and I smile at him while he brushes away the remaining of my tears and I brush away the strand of hair that always falls into his forehead.

"I'm sorry. I'm just overly emotional" I laugh.

"I can see that" he also laughs before we go back to watching our wedding highlights.

I was so happy that day. It was the best day of my life.

And when I entered, God! just talking about that moment...it gives me goosebumps.

The whole of the crowd stared at me but I only had eyes for him and he only had eyes for me.

I still have no idea how he fell for me.

A tear formed in my eye and I looked at him to find him in the same situation and maybe no one in that room understood what he felt, what I felt, what we felt but I did. We did.

While my eyes are glued to the tv my thoughts are wandering elsewhere.
I'm thinking about how it all happened.

When Mason converted, Brie and Kevin didn't mind but his paternal grandmother was very hesitant towards us. That saddened him because he is very close to her.

She is better now, I think me bearing her great grandchild has something to do with it.

I finished my studies, graduated and got a great job and am on maternity leave for now.

Mason didn't get over all his grief very quickly. It took some time but we worked on it together.

Just like we have been doing all these years.

Kim is single or as I like to say, she's married to her job and Rose is dating a guy named Jack (ironic, I know!) and has an amazing job.

Fatima is all grown up as well.
Brie and Kevin are also doing better than before.

After a year of waiting, me and Mason decided that we should get married although it wasn't said. Just kind of understood.

And obviously kind of because if that one time when me, Kim and Rose were shopping and he decided to join us and single ladies started playing in the shop we were in and just when Beyoncé said

'Cause if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it'

I started doing the single ladies dance while facing him and everybody laughed expect him, he turned crimson and rubbed his neck.

While Kim and Rose laughed, everything in my vision went slow like a snail and I smiled at him.

I think it was somewhere around that time that we realized we couldn't wait any longer.

I can never forget the night he proposed.....

As per our usual routine, we sit by the lake at the carnival with some popcorn but as I enter our favorite view, I find something very different.
Everything is decorated with fairy lights and there is a wooden table with a lot of food on it.
There's spaghetti, cheese burgers, pints of ice cream, tacos etc.

"Mason what is all this?" I ask in confusion.

"You'll see" he smiles and sets up a projector and in a minute I see mama, papa, Fatima and my grandparents on the screen.

"Hey you guys!" I say, surprised and confused at the same time.

Just then Kim and Rose also arrive.
Okay, something is definitely up!

It's not my birthday.
It's not Mason's birthday.
God knows what it could be.

He also puts a speaker on the table.
What in the world?

I decide to forego all this and talk to my family.
"So, you guys what's up?" I ask, all cheerful  

"Nothing much" Fatima quickly replies.

"Okay something is definitely up" I say and nervously laugh.
"Is he going to propose or something?" I joke and laugh at myself before I hear Mason say

"Bingo!"

My vision becomes a blur as I turn around.
All the entities in the world seem to vanish in a jiffy, and I feel like me and him are the only people alive.

My ears pick up on the song that seems so far away and I realize that it's All Of Me By John Legend and I smile to myself.

I see him, down on one knee, a beautiful,beautiful ring in his hand and an even beautiful expression on his face.

"Amna Ahmed, you are one of the most beautiful and precious people I have ever met. You were there with me through my hardest and best times and you were there to pick me up every time I fell. You are one of the most strongest women I know. I have been so deeply in love with you for such a long time and I love you with all my heart and soul. Every time I am near you it feels like I'm alive and my heart is on fire. So please, please do me the honor of accepting my proposal and I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how much I love you and deserve you. Taha and Fahad, do I have your permissions to marry your daughter?" He says and they both instantly respond with a yes.

I wipe my tears with the back of my hand and laugh......

After about a year of our marriage, we got the amazing news that both of us are going to be parents soon.

Mason cried that day and couldn't stop thanking me over and over again.

6 months into the news, we're doing great!

He doesn't make videos as regularly as he used to because he got a great job offer and accepted it and he is very happy with his job.

Although I do know he loves singing because he talks to the baby every night and one night I fell asleep with his head on my stomach and woke up to the sound of him singing Small Bump by Ed Sheeran.

One day, I asked him how he felt about me when he fist saw me and his answer was simply breathtaking.....

"One fortunate day, I was sitting by my window, re- reading Wuthering Heights and I saw this beautiful girl get out of the car.

She was clearly so irritated with everything that she didn't even care when she tripped over her own suitcase.

Then when you started shouting in me to turn down the music, it left a pretty.....bad impression, if I may say.

The first time both of us went out, the jerk bar was lowered a bit but not to zero until that day at the carnival.

That moment when we were completely honest with each other. The moment where you told me who you were and I felt like I could tell you anything and everything about me.

I didn't fall in love with you at that moment but I did know that you were different and you had that weird effect on me.

My grandmother said that my eyes lit up when I talked about you the same way my dad's did when he talked about mom.

That day I knew I was in for a long ride and somehow, I was okay with it because I knew you were going to be with me.

When I proposed, I said that I love you with all my heart and soul and Amna, today I promise that I will keep on loving you with all my heart and soul until you're knitting ugly sweaters for our grandchildren."

According to him, that's the hardest I've ever kissed him.
Hah...good times!

"Hey do you wanna watch the video we made for our first anniversary?" He asks, turning his head to look at me.

"Oh my god, yes!" I jump a little and he laughs before getting up and playing the video.

So basically, Mason and I made a video for our first anniversary that included our favorite moments of us, some of our craziest adventures.
We made it so we could show it to our children.

You hear that, little one?

The video had clips from our honeymoon too.

Which is another trip I'll never forget, specially that one evening.....

We are sitting in the balcony of our very large hotel bedroom with sodas in our hands and pizzas on the table.

"You know, I've heard all those things about how beautiful moonlight is but for some very stupid reason, it always depresses the hell out of me" I say, looking at the moonlight falling on the leaves of the trees and making them shine like they've been ignited by the moon dust

"Really?" He faces me and I nod.

"I don't know why it's that way though, I've just hated it since my childhood. I think it has something to do with the night my father died. Although I don't remember it" I shrug and he listen to me quietly.

"To me it has always been a reminder of my family, because every time there was a full moon like this we would go outside and play board games. Mom and dad always cheated yet me and Brie always won." He laughs a little.

"Can I say something? It will ruin the mood though" I take in a deep breathe.

"You never have to ask that" he says and I smile before closing my eyes.

"I love papa. He's one of the most amazing people I know. Yet, I don't know why, I still hope that I could know my own dad. I mean, I can't help but thinking that what if my father hadn't died. My parents would still be together, I wouldn't have a bunch of insecurities. My mom... her life would be different too" I brush off a stray tear.

Mason grabs my hand from across the table and runs circles on the inside of my palm with his thumb.

"I know you hope your father was here and if I were you, I would hope for the same thing. I would settle for nothing less or more but you know what? If your father hadn't died all of this wouldn't have turned out this way. Maybe we wouldn't even be married. You wouldn't be the person you are right now. One thing I've learnt in life is that you can't keep on blaming your situation, all you can do is pray to Allah" he kisses the back of my hand I smile.

What did I do to make me so lucky?

I won't say that it completely lifted my hatred for it.

But from that night onwards, moonlight wasn't so bad after all.

Growing up, I wanted to be the girl who didn't have issues with her married life.
I wanted to be genuinely happy.
And happy, I am.

Sure, it wasn't always smooth sailing but now I can proudly say that I'm happy with my life and I would not trade the 2 am rooftop talks, the delicious pancakes in bed, eating pizza three times a day with my best friend, me bringing him flowers on random days and him doing the same, for anything. (Tulips are his favorite by the way)

Rose often quotes The Great Gatsby when she looks at us.
She says that he looks at me the way all women want to be looked at.

When the video ends, he smiles and pecks my lips and I smile against his lips.

"My love, I want you to know that you make me very very happy"

Before I can see his expression, I kiss him again, harder this time, not wanting this pure and beautiful moment to end.

Catherine Earnshaw once said "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same" and I would like to disagree.

We are two people who's souls are different and we are not together because some invisible strength pushed us together, we are together because we tried.

I have seen my mom live her life and I realized that the best thing you could do was accept your past and make peace with life and I was really scared of that, because I wanted to challenge life itself.

And we did, we challenged life because we wanted to be together, as two different people, with two different souls and two different hearts but one feeling of unwavering love.

Whatever we went through doesn't matter to me anymore because it has all narrowed down to this point where we are happy and together.

And I'm not happy because life is perfect or because I expect it to be perfect, I'm happy because I have finally learned to accept and appreciate life's imperfection.

I have learned that life is unfair, you just have to learn to be fair with yourself.

THE END