Chapter 5 - The Wedding Card
1387 Words
The Wedding Card
Some distances are not created by kilometers.
They are created slowly…
through hesitation, fear, silence, and timing.
That was what quietly happened between Burhan and Sakina.
After their conversation about borders and complications, both of them became more careful with each other. The warmth remained… but caution slowly entered between every message.
Replies became shorter.
Calls became fewer.
Silences became longer.
Not because feelings disappeared.
But because reality had finally entered the room.
At first, Burhan convinced himself this was the correct decision.
Attachment without certainty only creates pain later.
That was what he kept telling himself repeatedly.
And honestly, one truth still remained inside his heart:
He still did not feel completely sure about Sakina.
She was respectful.
Gentle.
Understanding.
But whenever he imagined marriage seriously, something inside him paused.
Not rejection.
Not dislike.
Just… uncertainty.
And Burhan feared giving hope to someone when his own heart still stood confused at the doorway.
So slowly, very slowly, he began creating emotional distance.
Some nights he intentionally replied late.
Some days he stayed busy with work and avoided conversations entirely.
Sometimes he opened her messages, smiled softly… and closed the phone without replying immediately.
Yet despite all this, Sakina never behaved bitterly.
That hurt him even more somehow.
Because sincere people make distancing difficult.
One Thursday evening after work, Burhan returned exhausted to Lasalas Club. The apartment carried its usual life — someone watching cricket, someone frying onions in kitchen, someone arguing over internet speed.
But Burhan remained quieter than usual.
He sat near the balcony window holding tea while staring absentmindedly at Abu Dhabi’s glowing skyline.
Inside his pocket, his phone vibrated once.
Sakina.
He looked at the screen for several seconds before finally opening the message.
“Hope work was not too stressful today.”
Such a small sentence.
Such ordinary care.
Burhan smiled faintly.
Then guilt entered immediately afterward.
Because somewhere deep inside, he already knew he was slowly walking away emotionally while she still stood honestly in the same place.
That night he replied politely.
But carefully.
And slowly, over the following months, their conversations faded into occasional greetings instead of daily attachment.
Sometimes weeks passed without talking.
Yet strangely, neither blocked the other.
Neither ended things clearly.
Their connection simply remained suspended somewhere between friendship, unfinished possibility, and emotional caution.
Life moved on.
Work targets continued.
Lasalas Club remained alive with noise and laughter.
Cricket matches happened.
Weekend BBQs happened.
Road trips happened.
Outwardly, Burhan looked exactly the same.
But inwardly, something had quietly changed.
Sometimes late at night, he found himself opening old chats with Sakina for no reason. Reading random conversations. Smiling at forgotten jokes. Then locking the phone again without understanding why.
Maybe human hearts do not miss people only after love.
Sometimes they miss comfort too.
Months passed.
Then one ordinary afternoon, everything changed unexpectedly.
The day itself had started normally.
Burhan spent the morning visiting clients across Mussafah under exhausting summer heat. By evening, he returned tired, dusty, and mentally drained. After dinner, he lay down on his mattress inside Lasalas Club while random conversations echoed around the apartment.
Someone argued about cricket rankings.
Someone searched for missing charger.
Someone laughed loudly watching reels on phone.
Burhan scrolled lazily through w******p without interest.
And then suddenly…
his thumb froze.
A new message notification appeared.
Sakina Mustafa
His heartbeat shifted slightly without reason.
After so many days?
Curious, he opened the chat.
For a few seconds, he simply stared silently at the screen.
A wedding card.
Beautifully designed. Elegant golden borders. Family names written formally beneath floral patterns.
And in the center—
Sakina’s name.
Alongside another name.
An Indian boy.
Burhan’s chest tightened unexpectedly.
Not dramatically.
Not violently.
Just quietly.
Like someone gently closing a door somewhere deep inside him.
For several moments, he continued staring at the screen while noise from Lasalas Club faded completely around him.
Strangely, the first emotion was not sadness.
It was shock.
Because somewhere inside himself, Burhan had unconsciously believed she would remain emotionally available forever.
Not intentionally.
Not selfishly.
Just emotionally.
And now suddenly reality stood in front of him clearly.
She had moved forward.
Life had moved forward.
He placed the phone beside him and leaned back silently against the wall.
Around him, the apartment still laughed loudly without knowing anything. Yusuf shouted from kitchen. Rizwan called about tomorrow’s meeting. Someone increased television volume unnecessarily.
But Burhan sat quietly inside a silence nobody else could hear.
That night he barely slept properly.
Again and again, thoughts returned to the same question:
What if I had accepted her?
What if he had ignored fear?
What if he had trusted possibility?
What if he had allowed himself to feel fully instead of analyzing every complication logically?
For the first time, regret entered softly into his heart.
Not overwhelming regret.
But the painful kind that whispers quietly at midnight:
“Maybe you let something good leave too easily.”
The following days became emotionally strange for him.
At office, he still smiled normally.
Still achieved targets.
Still joked with Rajesh and Rizwan.
But somewhere inside him, Sakina’s wedding card remained stuck like unfinished thought.
One evening while driving back from work beneath Abu Dhabi’s orange sunset, Burhan finally spoke honestly to himself inside the empty car.
“No…” he whispered softly.
The road lights reflected across the windshield while silence filled the car.
“I still didn’t have that feeling.”
And that was the truth too.
He respected Sakina deeply.
He cared for her sincerely.
He admired her simplicity.
But love?
At least at that time…
he still had not fully reached that emotion.
And marriage without certainty would have been unfair to both of them.
That realization brought him peace.
But not complete peace.
Because sometimes people are not lost due to lack of goodness.
Sometimes timing itself becomes the problem.
Nearly two weeks passed before Burhan finally gathered courage to reply to her message.
He typed. Deleted. Typed again. Deleted again.
What does one even say to someone who once stood at the edge of becoming part of your life?
Finally, late one night, he sent a simple message:
“MashaAllah. Mubarak.”
Several minutes later, her reply came.
“Thank you.”
The conversation could have ended there forever.
But somehow…
Burhan did not want it to end coldly.
Not after everything.
So he smiled slightly and typed jokingly:
“Oh ho… now again I need to remain bachelor forever in this Abu Dhabi life.”
After few seconds another message followed.
“Looks like everyone finding partners except me.”
For the first time in many months, Sakina laughed properly while reading his messages.
He could almost imagine it through the screen.
Then her reply came:
“Drama king.”
Burhan smiled unconsciously.
And strangely, the heaviness between them softened slightly.
Not into romance again.
But into mature friendship.
The kind born after unfinished emotions survive respectfully instead of breaking bitterly.
That night, their conversation continued longer than expected.
Not emotionally intense.
Not awkward.
Just comfortable.
Sakina spoke about wedding preparations, relatives arriving from different cities, family stress, clothes, jewelry shopping, endless house guests. Burhan listened quietly, occasionally teasing her naturally like old friends.
Then suddenly, in the middle of conversation, Sakina sent another message:
“Waise…”
“My brother’s wife’s sister is still single.”
Burhan laughed instantly.
“Unbelievable,” he typed.
“You’re getting married and still doing matchmaking?”
Her reply came immediately.
“Good girls should not be wasted.”
He shook his head smiling.
Then another message appeared.
“Seriously though. She’s nice.”
Burhan replied casually:
“Accha?”
“Hmm.”
Then after few seconds—
“Her name is Zehra.”
Burhan stared silently at the screen.
A strange feeling moved quietly inside him.
Not excitement exactly.
Not curiosity fully.
Just… stillness.
As if life had unexpectedly opened another door before him without warning.
He leaned back against the pillow slowly while Lasalas Club slept around him beneath dim lights and humming air conditioning.
Outside, Abu Dhabi’s towers stood silently beneath midnight skies.
Inside his phone screen remained one unfamiliar name:
Zehra.
And without realizing it yet…
Burhan’s real love story was finally about to begin.
- Writer
