She Is My Hayaat

Chapter 2: Strawberries and Half-Baked Proposals

"Nouran Bayaan Hameed, get your lazy ass up!" exclaimed my ever gentle brother tugging my blanket off. 

"Bhaiya, please just 10 more minutes. Please," I said.

"10 minutes ki bachchi, it's been 20 minutes since I came to wake you up for the third time!" 

Honestly, I really love my brother but at times like this, I wanted to punch his headlights out. I grumbled loudly and opened my eyes slightly. He was looking at me longingly as if he wanted to say something. Before I could ask him what he was staring at he laughed out loud and said, "Get up! Your hair looks like it was electrocuted." And then he walked out of the room and closed the door before my pillow could hit him. 

I looked to the right side of my bed and saw the beautiful snow falling delicately framing my big windows. No matter how harsh the weather, Boston was beautiful. It was half past 10 and I had gotten in bed at four in the morning after praying Fajr and taking a hot shower. Hence, my haystack of a sorry hair. I climbed out of my comfy bed and made my way towards the bathroom. 

After brushing and combing my hen's nest, I skipped down the stairs. "Mama, can you please make your chicken biryani today?" Bhaiya asked. 

Bhaiya was the eldest out of all three siblings, and I fell in the middle, and the youngest was Sabr, the baby of the family and 18 years old. Bhaiya, or Adeel, was 28 years old and married to the sweetest girl alive. 

Him and Bhabi got married two years ago after Bhaiya spotted Zarhawar at the Boston Harbor. She was passing out balloons on the boardwalk to all the little kids, and like an idiot he walked up to her and asked her, "Can I have a balloon?" 

Bhabi, looked at Bhaiya with an amusing smile and said, "Don't you look too old to want a balloon?" 

He just started at her like a dumbstruck fool as Bhabi handed him a balloon laughing and walked away without a second glance. Lo and behold, he wouldn't stop thinking about her and was always in a daze and I knew he was in love, being the closest to him. After searching for Zarhawar, and countless failures, I finally found her at BU. 

She had come to pick up immunizations for her Graduate Program and I ran up to her saying, "You're the girl with the balloons at the arcade that my brother is hopelessly in love with." 

They got married in the next three months because Adeel couldn't wait, and of course Mama didn't have any problems because Zarhawar was beautiful Masha'Allah, a pious girl, independent, from a good family, and a smart young women. To this day, even after two years, they both still looked like a newly married couple, happy, smiling, always caught staring at each other, and blushing from both ends. It was kinda cute, but I didn't believe in my fairytale and that kind of love existing for me. My prince was not coming on a white horse to steal me away. He was either riding a turtle somewhere or sleeping under a rock.

Sabr, on the other hand was the most calmest out of all three. She wasn't a typical 18 year old with typical teen problems. She always acted as if nothing was bothering her and faced reality like the independent young lady she had become. After dad, she knew things were going to change. At the time she was only 10 and completely conscious of what had happened. Sabr was the prettiest, average height, with big doe hazel eyes, long thick and curly lashes, and naturally highlighted brown hair. She wore thick black-framed glasses on bad days and pj's with bunnies on days like this-no school days. She had snow white skin tinged with rosy cheeks and strawberry colored lips. Yeah, I was totally jealous of her looks, but not a moment passed when she said the same about me and got half the relatives in the family to back her up. It was all an effort to make me feel better, I was plain. A plain Jane. 

Bhaiya was one of the top and youngest physicians in the state. He was the core of the family, being there for each and every one of us. Oh, and he was,"Mama ki Jaan." Mama always loved all three of us infinitely, but Sabr and I both knew he was her favorite. Yet, we didn't have a problem with that, because he was like our father, protecting us and believing in us. He deserved so much more, but Bhabi filled in the gaps. Bhaiya was tall, towering above all of us at 6"4'. His eyes were like Sabr's, and he was blessed with handsomeness. He had facial hair but a minimal short beard.