Awkwardness Ensues

When I awoke the next morning, it was to the sunlight streaming in through the translucent curtains. Someone had cracked open the window slightly, as the curtains fluttered in the light breeze circulating around the room. I raised my head in confusion, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and trying to gain sense of my surroundings. The events of the past few weeks rolled into my memory and I fell back against my pillows with a groan. I cracked open an eye to find the space next to me empty, when I had been painfully aware of another person's warmth for the majority of the night. It was empty. In fact, the entire room was empty. Yusuf must have gotten up before me. I checked the time: 8 in the morning.

Well, might as well wake up.

I had just gotten out of the bathroom that I had stocked with my toiletries and belongings last night when I realized I should probably change what with being a "new bride" and all that. I nodded my head to no one but myself in agreement and made my way to the suitcase that I hadn't bothered to unpack last night. The rest of my stuff was going to come later but Mama had helped put together one bag full of the things that I was most likely to use. I chose a simple white kameez with colorful embroidered flowers scattered throughout with matching trousers that had the same style along the borders near the ankles. The dupatta was white to match and I decided to keep my makeup minimal, just some gloss, tinted moisturizer, and cream blush. With a few strokes of mascara, I was ready to head downstairs.

"Finally, you're up. I thought I'd find a dead body when I came back up here."

I turned around to face my ex-bestfriend, now husband and new friend, casually leaning against the door with his arms crossed. I don't know how it happened, but he and I had subconsciously matched what with his white shalwar kameez.

"Haha, real funny." I made a face as I arranged the dupatta over one shoulder, the silver bangles lightly twinkling in the otherwise quiet room.

Yusuf just smirked. "I know. I'm a real pleaser with the crowd."

I turned back towards him and made a shocked face. "What crowd? The one at the insane asylum?"

Yusuf rolled his eyes, beckoning me to follow after turning around to head downstairs. I followed in pursuit, the gravity of the situation hitting me with full force now that I was in his home, as his wife.

I stopped dead in my tracks and made a face. "Khana kharaab." I whispered.

Yusuf stopped halfway down the steps and turned around, an incredulous expression on his face. "What?"

My eyes had gone wide. "I'm your wife."

"No kidding!" He whisper-yelled.

"You're my husband."

"I'd like to think so."

"We weren't even friends yesterday."

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Now we have to be a couple."

"Glad you understood the assignment, Ahlam."

"What the hell?" It was my turn to whisper-yell. "I had lost my mind, but what were you thinking?"

His mouth fell open. "Me? I was thinking of my mom, Ahlam! Why is this kicking in just now?"

I cracked my knuckles anxiously, descending the stairs rapidly so I could reach Yusuf. "I don't know! Holy shit, I slept with you!" At this point I was shaking his shoulders.

Yusuf's eyes went wide with shock as he put a finger to my lips to shush me. "We slept in the same bed Ahlam, not together!" His voice was laced with exasperation.

"Still! I slept with a man!"

Yusuf grabbed both of my wrists and pried my hands away from his shoulders. "A man who you are married to."

"I'M MARRIED!"

"Good God, Ahlam you're hell bent on giving me a heart attack."

I took a deep breath, re-evaluated my thought process which led to me accepting Yusuf's proposal, and then felt a bit calmer. "You can let go now."

"What?"

"My wrists."

"Oh, OH! Sorry."

Yusuf and I awkwardly walked to the kitchen for breakfast. My face was burning and it only took one look at my new mother in law's smirk to realize what she was thinking.

I made panicky eyes at Yusuf who glared back at me, as if to insinuate that it was my fault she was having, needless to say, dirty thoughts.

The day passed by in a blur and I could've slept through the reception had it not been for the bright lights steering onto my face every five minutes as we went through photoshoots, to speeches, to the afterparty.

It was only as I laid down to sleep besides Yusuf, a good three feet of space between us, his back facing me as he slept soundly, that I realized I had just spent an entire day being married.

It wasn't temporary. It was permanent. But it just felt like a scam.