Her Unwanted Husband

I5I

EMAD

When grandpa is admitted to the hospital room after a day, we are finally allowed to see him.

Our entire family consisting of eight people gathers around the room and looks at grandpa.

I watch as Maria's face crumples and the tears that she's clearly been holding for a day come gushing out of her eyes.

Everybody's fine except from her. Is she being a drama queen?

Grandpa ushers her to come closer to him and holds out his hand which she grabs almost immediately.

"Emad, you come closer too." He says, his voice croaky.

Startled, I step closer and hold his other hand.

"Although the doctors are saying I'm fine, I know I have very little time left." As the words leave his mouth Maria starts shaking her head and continues to sob.

Even I feel like someone's ripped my heart out. We've always been close to grandpa. He's the sweetest person ever.

"It's alright, Maria. We all have to die one day. Listen to me carefully now. Before I leave this world, I want to see you married. It's not an easy thing to find a guy. Especially for someone as nice as you."

Maria shakes her head,

"I don't want to get married, pa."

"I want to get you married because your parents don't understand you." He pulls his hand out of mine and does the same with Maria and places her hand in mine.

The dawning realisation of what he wants makes me drop Maria’s hand immediately.

Maria looks horrified, as if someone has just told her that she's not human. "Pa, no. Not Emad." she says, shaking her head vigorously.

I scoff,

"I don't want to get married to you either."

Grandpa looks from Maria to me.

"It's done then. You're getting married.”

"WHAT!?" We shout in unison.

"You both used to be best friends. What's better than getting the two of you married?"

"That's absolutely ridiculous. I used to be her best friend when she wasn't wearing these hideous clothes." I say with a glance to said clothes.

Maria grimaces,

"And I used to be his best friend because he always respected my opinions and stood up for me. Now, it's like I don't even know him. It will never work out, pa."

Grandpa shakes his head,

"I know you two. You've secretly always loved each other."

Oh Lord! Are old people crazy!?

"What? Yes, I loved him. As a brother!" Maria says, emphasizing dramatically with hand gestures.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Grandpa says in that strict voice of his.

I think Maria realises that there no point in arguing because there's simply no way out of it. For she says, sighing, "Fine. But I have a condition."

I look at her in shock. Is this a plot against me? Has she been planning this all along?

Grandpa nods, encouraging her to go on.

"I don't want to have anything that's more than necessary. Meaning no functions. Just nikkah (a marriage ceremony) and walima (a dinner hosted in celebration of marriage)."

I speak up too now.

"Fine then! I have a condition too! I will only get married to her if we have all the functions. I have to get married just once in my life, functions are necessary!"

I think I see a hint of a smile on Maria's face. Probably thinking that now that we've both given opposite conditions there is no way we're going to get married.

But I know better.

They'll find some sort of way out of this. I can tell by seeing everyone's joyous faces. Indicating that they're planning my demise.

I have ‘a’ girlfriend in London, for God's sake!

What the hell am I supposed to do, now!?