"What?" Chammi whispered.
"Please come out of the room. And come with us. Now." Jameel said.
"But wherr? You just said we cannot marry and now you are telling me to go with you?! I am just not getting anything!" Chammi exclaimed tearfully as she moved away from the window and sat on her bed holding her head between her hands.
A few seconds passed before she felt a hand on her knee.
Chammi raised her head and found Jameel kneeling in front of her.
"If being together is written in our fates then we will be. Undoubtedly. And if it's not.. then there probably must be a reason behind it. But we won't be left with nothing.. you know. We will have our good memories with us.. of all the time we got to spend with each other. We should be grateful about that. So what we didn't get the chance to spend our lives together? Our family's respect matter more in front of our wishes. We have our other loved ones to think about." Jameel paused for a while before speaking up again, "We cannot be selfish here, Chammi. We will tell everything about us to uncle. And then everything will -"
"Depend on his decision? It means that we-" Chammi whispered hoarsely as she slowly blinked at him.
Chammi's breath hitched as she slowly realized that this is it..
How badly she wanted to deny this.. to say he was wrong. Only their love mattered over everything.
But then she had her family to think of.
Sacrifice
It's all they can do. If Allah wills their wish may be granted. And if not.. they will be left with nothing but memories.
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They stood quietly in front of her parents. Her father looked gravely towards her and Jameel, who stood a couple of feet away from her while her mother hovered over her father scared of his reaction.
"You want to marry Chammi? Why do you think I'll break off Chammi's marriage with that boy and give her hand to you in marriage? What is more special about you that I'll change my decision?" Khalu asked Jameel, who had his head bent down.
"Uncle, I know that I'm not anything more than an average person... but I love Chammi- "
"My son, 'love' is not everything in life. To spend a life you need earning. Will you be able to keep my daughter satisfied? Will you able to give her every particular thing that a girl desires?" Chammi's father asked him back.
"I've got a new job just a few days back. I forgot to mention it to you.. I apologize for that. I won't get much salary at the start of the job but I'm sure I'll recieve more slowly. Uncle, I promise to you that I won't disappoint you and I'll try to take good care of Chammi, in sha allah." Jameel said softly as he looked up at his uncle.
Chammi looked nervously from her father to Jameel.
Her father stared expressionlessly at Jameel for about a minute making her feel nauseous.
She started breathing heavily as she felt it difficult to breathe in air. Shaking on her feet she suddenly started to feel faint. Reaching out a hand toward Jameel, maybe to grab his arm, she felt herself falling down.
Chammi closed her eyes, expecting to feel the collision with the hard ground but instead felt a set of arms wrap around her.
"Chammi!" Jameel softly exclaimed as he caught her in his arms. He had just tried to take a peek at her when he saw her slowing falling towards the ground.
"Jameel..." Chammi whispered, as she looked back at him with half-lidded eyes.
He quickly led her towards the cot that was close to them and made her sit. As he turned back, about to get a glass if water he found his uncle standing behind him holding a glass, looking over at him and Chammi worriedly.
"Thank you." Jameel softly said, as he took the glass from her and turned back to Chammi.
After Chammi was back to her senses and was feeling fairly better, Jameel shifted his attention to his uncle.
Chammi's father who still peered at them with a grave expression finally heaved out a sigh and looked down.
"Jameel. I love both of my daughters very much. I will never want that due to any decision of mine they lead their lives unhappily in the future. I have known you from your childhood days and I know that you will be a good husband and a good father one day." He stopped speaking as he stood up from his seat and walked towards his daughter.
Taking a seat next to Chammi, he took her hand in his.
"Chammi. Will you be happy with Jameel?" He asked her.
Chammi, not knowing what to say, as she felt shy discussing about this topic in front of her father looked down and slowly nodded her head.
"Jameel, please take good care of my Chammi." Chammi's father said gravely, as he slowly stood up from the cot.
"Huh?" Jameel whispered as he looked up at his khalu. He felt his heart skip a beat as he wondered..
"I am accepting your request for Chammi's hand in marriage. I don't think any other man will be able to make her happy." Chammi's father said to him.
Jameel stayed quiet as his uncle walked up to him and rested his right hand on his shoulder.
"You have grown right in front of my eyes. I would have been proud if I had a son like you. But you are nothing less than my son. Giving you Chammi's responsibility, I can be at peace now." Chammi's father then rested his hand on Chammi's head before walking out of the room, followed by Chammi's mother leaving the two of them alone.
Jameel feeling all the adrenaline rush out of his body, sat down on the cot heavily beside Chammi.
It was a few minutes before Jameel turned towards Chammi and asked, "Are you okay?"
To which Chammi only nodded and softly whispered, "Thank you. You took the right decision - "
"We. Now we are together in this." Jameel interrupted her, making her smile shyly and look away from him.
Jameel raised her head, holding her chin up with his fore-finger. "Are you ready to marry me now?"
"I've been ready since forever." Chammi whispered back to him with a small smile.
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The End.
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