New Life : A Second Chance

Ali was in his bedroom, hardly caring about the festivities going on outside. He was reading a book, casually flipping the pages as he finished one page after another.

Once in a while, his sister - or his mother - would come in and ask his opinion about something. He would look up, take a glance, give an answer and get back to reading his book.

After the tenth time his sister came in, she finally lost it and said through gritted teeth, "Are you even looking properly?!"

With a sigh, Ali closed the book and clasping his hand together, he said, "Yes, I am, Baihyah. Is there something wrong with my choices?"

"No, but …" 

"Did I not look at the stuff you brought?" Ali asked.

"Yes, you did, but …"

"Did I not give an opinion of which one I would prefer?" he asked again.

"Well, yes, you did, but …"

"Did I not follow the theme when making my choice?" Ali asked again.

She fidgeted.

"Then, there is nothing wrong," Ali replied, going back to his book.

In exasperation, his sister nearly screamed, "Can't you at least show some semblance of excitement?"

With dead eyes, Ali turned to her and said, "I have agreed to the wedding. I have promised that I will be a good husband. Feeling 'excitement' was not part of the deal."

Sighing, Ali said, before turning back to his book, "Look, I truly do appreciate all that you're doing to prepare for the wedding. I know it is a lot of work, but you can't expect me to be excited about marrying someone I do not know."

'Or love,' he added silently in his heart.

His sister stood there for a while, observing the rather forlorn figure of her brother.

"You know Abba and Ummi honestly feel this is the best course for you," she finally said softly, "When the girl was chosen, it wasn't due to her background but by her personality. You know that, right?"

Without looking up from his book, Ali answered, "I know."

She waited, but Ali didn't say anything else and with a sigh, she left. 

Outside his bedroom, she bumped into their second youngest sister, Fadilah.

"His attitude is to be expected, Big Sister," Fadilah said, upon seeing her second eldest sister frown, "After all, men, in general, aren't that concerned about the wedding preparations anyway. Just think of it that way and let him be."

She walked away, then stopped upon thinking of something. She turned and looked at her elder sister and added, "Maybe you find it hard to understand, because you're happy with your husband. But remember, you never loved and lost like Big Brother did. So leave him alone and stop expecting perfection."

Bahiyah watched as Fadilah walked away, then looked at the garment in her hands.

She sighed again, thinking that her brother had a lot to live up to. She trusted him, in the sense that he wouldn't treat his wife badly. 

But shouldn't he, at least, be interested in knowing who she was?

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The whole wedding preparations took nearly a year to do. Although they did have professional help, Ali's mother, Raika, loved to do some of the things herself. 

The personal touch, so to speak.

After all, it was the wedding of her only son and it had to be perfect.

The entire theme was 'fairytale', thus there would be lots and lots of flowers decorated all over the house and outside. The wedding would be held at the mansion, of course, so the few weeks before the actual day had the entire mansion bustling with people.

The colour scheme was pastel, which had been Ali's choice. He wanted something soothing for the wedding at least … though deep down, it was also because it had been Sophia's favourite colours.

Though he may not be marrying her, and though it may seem like he was betraying their love by having the colours on his own wedding day … he wanted, at least, to pretend that he was marrying her.

That was the reason why he didn't want to look at the file.

It wasn't that he was not curious, but rather, he did not want to know yet and break the illusion he put himself under. He found that this was the only way he could gather some sort of interest in the whole situation.

Each time his sister or mother came to ask his opinion, he would ask himself, 'Would Sophia like this?'.

It made the whole thing bearable, and that he would not pull a long face and make everyone unhappy. 

All of them truly believed he would be happy, even though it was an arranged marriage. Their parents were happy. The eldest sister was happy.

So, in time, he would be as well.

The pastel colours he chose was a combination shades of lavender, peach and pink. Peach, being his favourite and lavender being Sophia's favourite. The pink was to added by the wedding planner to create more variety.

As Ali walked through the halls and seeing part of the decorations up, his heart clenched a bit. 

He admitted, his family did a beautiful job.

If this had been his wedding with Sophia, it would have been a truly magical and wonderful wedding indeed.

Ali forced himself to walk through the entire mansion, to look at all the decorations and preparations going on. Even though he was indifferent, he should not belittle and disrespect the efforts his entire family was going through.

He entered the main hall, where the wedding would take place. The place where he would say his solemnization vows and become a husband. 

Next to the hall, was the waiting room, where the bride would be at.

Where she would wait while the wedding ceremony was on.

Where he would enter to greet his new wife after the ceremony was over.

He sat on the bed, silently crying.