“Pfft,” my mother sneered. “Be honest, Leila—you are not trying at all! You are just wasting all of our time!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your patience. We are now going to begin boarding rows sixteen to twenty-eight. I repeat, rows sixteen to twenty-eight.”

As groups of people pushed past us, my mother and I remained still, glowering at each other. How could she be so inconsiderate? If only she knew how much I had wanted things to work out with Hisham, and even Zain, but they just hadn’t. It was beyond my control.

“How can you say that?” I fumed back. “You don’t even know what I’ve had to go through these past few months!”

“What have you had to go through, Leila? A few bad dates and your life is ending? You don’t realize how difficult it is for me to see everyone’s children getting married, and you are still here. Think of what I have to go through!” she retorted.

“This isn’t about you!”

“Thank you again for your patience. We are now going to board the remaining passengers. All remaining passengers can now come forward.”

“Just because I’m not doing things your way, Ammi, doesn’t mean that I’m doing them wrong!”

“Bas! I am done talking about this.” My mother held up her hand. “I have given you three whole months, and you have done nothing in that time. Enough is enough, Leila. Either you find someone like you keep saying, or it is time for us to take over again.” She grabbed her purse and stormed off, leaving me in the empty gate alone.

Revelations

“You fell for the groom’s twin brother?!” my friends cried, stupefied by this admission.

It was Tuesday night—a week since I had returned from India—and I had accidentally made the mistake of telling my friends about Hisham as we pored over pictures from Meena’s wedding.

The past seven days had been more or less a blur. My mother and I had managed to cool off from our argument on the twenty-hour flight back home, but the harshness of her words still left behind a bruise, even though I tried my best to forget them. Instead, I busied myself with preparations for my parents’ thirtieth anniversary party, which was set for the following weekend. My mother had coercively transferred everything event-related over to me, so in between negotiating venue prices, picking floral arrangements, and taste-testing cake options—the only silver lining—I had barely any time to mull over my fallout with Hisham. But now that my friends knew, they of course wanted all the details.

“How did that . . . how did you . . . ?”

“It just kind of happened,” I muttered, my face burning with humiliation.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know he was engaged!” Hannah exclaimed. “That’s the first question you should’ve asked!”

“What, you mean like, ‘Hi, how are you? Are you engaged?’”

“Not like that! But you know what I mean.”

“What about him?” Tania asked, shaking her head. “Why would he not tell you about his engagement? I can’t believe he led you on like that.”