"Uth! Taratari uth!" (Up! Get up quickly!) Saria pulls me up.

"Agh! Let me sleep in peace na? Ke jane biyer por shanti te ghumate parbo kina!" I say and quickly lie back down while hugging my pillow. (Who knows if I'll be able to sleep in peace after marriage!)

She chuckles.

"Ohhoooo! Ekhoni oi shober plan?" (Already planning all this?) she teases when my eyes widen as I realise how double-meaning my sentence was.

"NO! Not that! Ami boltesilam je-" (I meant-)

"Ar bola lagbe na. Ami bujhe gesi." (No need to explain. I got it.) she cuts me off.

"Ki bucchis eh?" (What did you get huh?) I say and throw my pillow at her.

"That I'm going to become an aunt soon. Omg I'm literally gonna be the coolest aunt! I need to start listing names for your child. Let's see-"

"Toke ami-" I say and take the hanger that usually hangs on my curtain rod. (I will-)

She quickly runs outside the room and closes the door as I glare at her.

"Now come down!" she says while opening the door only a bit so her voice can be heard. "It's your haldi! You need to get ready!" she closes the door.

This girl!

--

"Look how pretty she is!" some random aunty commented after applying haldi on my face. Who knows where they brought these aunties from! Never seen them in my entire life. Even on my engagement. They came up so suddenly and started taking photos. Without asking as well!

And now, I've been sitting here for hours while these random people whom I don't know came and applied turmeric on me! Where do they even come from? Do they have like a place where you can rent extra aunties who just come to invade your wedding?

-

"How's your haldi going?" Saria comes up to me in her glowing clean skin and clean yellow dress. While both my skin and dress were basically draped in turmeric. Agh!

"I look like a minion!" I state the obvious.

"Yes! A very cute minion!" she chuckles and then dumps a whole bucket of turmeric at me.

"AGHHHH! SARIA FREAKING SYED!" I shout out as I get some looks from those unknown aunties.

"Dara tui! Tor gaye holuder din toke holud diye gosol korabo! Tui shudhu dekh!" I shout out as she runs away. (Just wait. In your haldi, I'll make you shower in turmeric. You just watch!)

I hear some of our younger second and third cousins snicker as if they were watching a comedy drama.

Finally, after what felt like a century (or maybe even more) the guests start going inside one by one.

OH YES! It's over! They're going inside, which means food! They planned a feast after the ceremony which will take place inside.

I tried to get up but failed. It felt like I was inside a frozen ice block at this point. I couldn't move an inch.

"Keo amake help koro! Ami uthbo kemne?" I ask helplessly (Someone help me! How will I get up?)

Right then, Saria -my saviour (yes I'm not ashamed to admit it cause right now I'm really helpless)- appeared.

"Saru your knight to the rescue! Chol uth." (Get up) she helps me up and helps me walk inside the building.

"Knight? In what shining cotton?" I try to laugh but then my cheek start hurting because of the turmeric.

"Agh! I can't even laugh properly!" I say as we enter indoors.

She starts walking me towards the dining area when I stop her. "Dara, ami gosol korbo na?" (Wait, won't I shower?)

"No. Chachi said you'll do it after the guests leave," she answered while chuckling.

"Kihhhhh????" (Whaattttt????) I stare at her with wide eyes. "You're joking.... RIGHT?"

Before she could respond, "Areh Fariha! Bosh bosh." choto chachi urges me and sits me down at the middle. In front of all eyes. 

How will I eat in this situation?

"Ki? Khaoai dibo?" (What? Do you want me to feed you?) Saria teases. But honestly, yes! I can't eat with these hands! I don't even know if I'll be able to even bite into my food properly.

"Hmm! Ei hath diye kemne khabo?" (Hmm! How will I eat in these hands?)

She starts feeding me as everyone resumes eating.

A few auntys start whispering, "Aww look, such a nice sister bond these two have. Saria is so kind."

"Yes, Mashallah!" Another one said.

Yes, Mashallah for sure. But Saria and 'so kind'? Not even I agree with it and she is probably the most kind to me out of everyone in the world.

"Saria! Where is Fariha?" some random lady tugs my dupatta and asks. I hate when these people don't know what personal space is! Does she think of herself as some fictional man?

Plus, I don't get why these Auntys are so obsessed with me! Like I don't go up to kids who are 20 years younger than me and ask about their life do I?

"She has gone to shower. She will be out soon." I inform as politely as possible and start leaving, when she pulls on my dupatta again. Agh! Does she want to rip it out or what?

"Areh! Come sit. Talk to us." she offers with a smile that couldn't be more fake.

No thank you aunty, I have no idea who you are. And that perfume of yours. I'm already starting to choke.

Calm down Saria. You're supposed to be the nice sister of the bride. Be NICE. "Sure." I force a smile and sit down.

How I wish I didn't say yes cause I instantly regret it.

"Areh, look how much you've grown! Do you remember me? I held you when you were one month old." she beams as she pulls my cheek.

"Uhh. Not really. I was very young at that time." I state the obvious uncomfortably.

Isn't it very obvious that I won't remember you? What other answer did you expect?

"Areh! It's Masoom Aunty! Remember? I also came by and gave you chocolates when you were 1 year old. And then you threw them back at me because you didn't like chocolates." she said like she was proud of me.

Me? Not likely chocolates? I don't have even the slightest memory of the incident but if I did do it, then I probably threw them at you because I didn't like you, not the chocolates.

"It was a long time ago aunty." I put on another polite mask.

"Areh no try to remember," she insisted. That's when my patience finally snapped.

"Aunty you are not Mother Teresa right? Then I have no reason to remember you. As I said, it was a long time ago. I don't remember. I'll get going now. Enjoy your sweets. This is your 7th box right? Should I bring you your 8th?" I say in a fake politeness, that was too obvious.

"It's fine. Just sit." Another aunty said. This one was glaring at me from the start.

"So Saria, how are your studies going?" the glaring aunty asks.

"Uhh, I finished my studies."

"Ohhh, so are you a doctor or lawyer?" Masoom aunty I think her name was? replied.

"Um, none."

"Oh so engineer? Girls have started choosing engineering a lot these days. I guess it's alright." Masoom aunty tugged my dupatta again.

"Art." I reply as all of them stared at me with a look that basically said, 'Why the hell did your parents not disown you yet?'

"Right that's... that's good, good." One of them says. "So what do you do? Just paint?"

"I'm a mehendi artist." I say proudly.

"That's just a hobby isn't it?" One of them asked.

"It's just a phase, you'll get out of it." Another one commented.

"No, it's an actual job that I worked hard for. I'll get going. Oh and also, you seem to be very interested in my dupatta since you kept pulling it, do you want me to buy you one like this? I definitely have the money that I earned from my mehendi applying hobby." I say annoyed.

"N-no need." Masoon aunty stuttered. I left without bothering to hear anything else.

I'll probably have to hear a handful from Ma later for this. But she needed to hear it.

I start walking away when I bump into some dude.

"Hello? Do you not have eyes or wha-" I forget my sentence when I see the person.

No freaking way.

"Wait. Mahir Anwar? What are you doing here?" My annoyed expression turn into anger.

"Saria. Hi. How are you?" he asks after a nervous chuckle. Ignoring my question. The freaking audacity of this creep.

"I asked. WHAT are YOU doing HERE?" I repeat and emphasise on the words.

"I... I was invited," he said quietly.

"Invited? Who invited you? I handled the invitations!" There is no way I would've invited him even by mistake.

"Y-yes. I asked Rayan, he gave me an invite." he said nonchalantly like it was completely normal.

"And you just came? Wow. Talk about shameless people." I wish I could spit at him. I would've, if there weren't thousands of people here.
And I already made quite a bad impression on those weird auntys if something more happens, My mother will kill me.

"Listen, I'm just here to see Fariha. I haven't seen her in a decade." he pleaded.

Pathetic!

"You are married. And you have a child! Don't you have any shame?" I say in disgust as I glare at an aunty who tried to eavesdrop in our conversation.

"Yes I know I am. But I just want to see her. I won't even talk to her. Just let me see her please!" he pleaded again. I feel bad for his wife and child.

"No! You are going anywhere near her! And don't you dare lay your filthy eyes on her! Get out! Now!" I order.

"You really think just because I'm being nice, I won't do anything? The only reason I'm being nice is because you mean a lot to Fariha. Or else you would've died by now." he spat out. His true colours finally showing.

I couldn't help but scoff. "I'm sorry? Just because I mean a lot to her? Forget that fact. I'd like to see you try and lay your hands on me."

"I'm serious Saria." He threatens as he takes a step closer to me. "Let me see Fariha or I'll-" he freezes.

"Continue your statement Mr Mahir Anwar. You'll?" I hear Ehaan Reza's voice behind me.

Where the hell did he come from? And how does he know Mahir?

"Si-sir?" Mahir's face turned from shock to fear.

I'm sorry. Sir? Huh?

"Finish. Your. Sentence. You'll?" Ehaan repeated. He looked damn scary.

But I wasn't scared of him.

"I'll leave! Yes, if you don't let me see her, I'll leave. As there's no point," he let out another nervous chuckle and turned out and then left. Though I heard him mutter something, I couldn't completely make out what he said.

"And that's how you shoo, unwanted people." he did a small bow like he just performed a magic show.

 "Thank you for your amazing show." I say in sarcasm. "How do you know him?" I ask right after.

"He was my employee." he said nonchalantly.

"Was?"

"Sorry, is." he took out his phone and started talking to someone. Soon he hung up and looked at me. "Now, was."

"You just fired him?" I ask confused.

"Yeah. I am the CEO, I can fire anyone at any time." he says.

"What are you doing here? It's the haldi today. You're supposed to be with your brother."

"I came to deliver a file." 

Suddenly, a scream was heard from Fariha's room. I run up to see her sitting on the floor, staring at the window.

"Fapu! What happened? Are you okay?" I ask worried as I sit beside her.

"H-he was here. He tr-tried to climb up the window." she said in a shaky voice. I didn't need a name to realise it was Mahir. That guy was like hell to us.

Mahir Anwar was 11 years older than Fariha. He was her private tutor from when she was 12 to when she turned 14. She didn't want him to tutor her so chachi found another tutor for her. After a year, he messaged me and said he wants to tutor her again. I didn't think much of it and thought he just needed money. He said Fariha hated him so I gave him some tips to get on her good side. What she liked and what she disliked. I thought he'd used them to chat with her and make her feel more welcome. What I didn't know is that he started using them against her. Then he started threatening her. He hacked her phone and got a non-modest photo of her. Which he threatens to release if we went to the police. 

Thankfully, he left us alone for sometime after his wedding. But then he started texting us again. Saying he missed Fariha. Saying he wanted to see her. I took a screanshot of the texts and threatened to tell his family which kept him away for a bit. But he's back again. We didn't tell anyone else in our family. Fariha keeps telling me not to. I told her so many times that it's better to tell them. But she won't budge. She doesn't want to make them worry. 

"It's okay. It's fine. Don't worry. I'm here with you. He won't be able to do anything." I hug her as she started sobbing.

"This is all my fault! If I hadn't been so nice to him, he wouldn't have gotten these thoughts! If I hadn't taken that photo that day, then we could've reported him to the police! This is all my fault!" she started sobbing.

"Fapu! It's not anyone's fault but his! No one in their right mind would do these kinds of things! Don't blame yourself for his faults!" I say while hugging her. It was mostly directed to myself. But I can't stop but think, if I didn't give him those informations about her, maybe this wouldn't have happened. It's not like those are very sacred information. Just her likes and dislikes. But if I ignored him instead, maybe he would've taken the hint.

Suddenly, I remember how Ehaan just fired him. No. He'll blame me and Fariha for it. That can't happen. He'll start stalking her like before again. He'll threaten her again.

"Fapu, stay here. Okay? And if someone tries to climb up the window, hit them with this." I hand her an old curtain rod that was in the corner of her room.

I run out to look for Ehaan to see him leaving the building.

"Ehaan! Ehaan! Wait! Oi!" I finally stop beside him as he turns around.

"What happened?" he asks confused.

"Can you not take his job away?" I pleaded.

"What?" he asks confused.

"Mahir Anwar. Please don't take his job away." 

"Why?" he was even more confused now.

"Just don't. Atleast don't do it now. For this. Do it for some other reason. Poor maintenance, bad at job, poor behaviour with other employees, anything! Anyday! But not today. Not for this." I asked again.

"Hmm...." he trailed off as if he was thinking. "Saria Syed is asking me for a favour huh? After all, how can I decline it?" he smirked and texted someone. "Done"

This guy! After Mahir, he is the one I hate the most in the world!

--

Thank you for reading<3