WEDDING DAY
Part 1
Syed looked at his reflection in the mirror. He felt like he was in a living nightmare and couldn't actually believe that this day had arrived, his and Amira's wedding day. He had hardly slept last night and didn't know how he was going to get through this day not to mention the wedding night. He put that thought out of his mind. He had enough to get through today without worrying about that right now.
The day passed in a blur and Syed was vaguely aware of people talking to him, hugging him, congratulating him and Amira and of going through the motions of the wedding ceremony. Christian was there with Roxy and as he had had a lot to do with the planning of the wedding, he had to be there. Syed could hardly meet his eyes, it would just be too painful.
They had had to split up a month earlier when Zainab lost the baby. Up to then things had been going really well and they had admitted they loved each other but then when that awful disaster struck Syed's family, he knew he had to go ahead with the wedding to Amira for his mum's sake and he and Christian split up. Things had been really difficult since then and Christian wouldn't really speak to him unless he had to. Syed felt that what had happened to his mum was possibly payback for having been with Christian and he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that it was all his fault.
When he first saw Syed that day, Christian couldn't believe how handsome he looked. He really did look just like a Prince to Amira his Princess of course. Christian's heart felt as if it would actually break watching the two of them. He could see though that Syed didn't look particularly happy and looked quite troubled. He knew that Syed blamed himself for what had happened to his mum feeling it was some kind of payback for what had happened between them. Syed had tried to explain it to him when they had broken up but Christian hadn't wanted to listen and had walked out of the room and out of Syed's life. He regretted that now but he knew Syed's mind was made up and there was no going back.
It was time to go to the hotel for the night and everyone came out to wave them off in the horse & carriage. As it drove off, Amira rested her head on Syed's shoulder and he suddenly felt sick to the stomach at what lay ahead.
The next morning when Syed awoke, the bed was empty. Amira was in the shower singing away. His mind wandered back over the previous night. He had wanted it to be special for Amira as he knew it was her first time and took things really slowly. He found after a while he had to imagine he was with Christian and that really helped him through it. He hoped she didn't want a repeat again this morning but at the same time knew she probably would.