25 September 2021

Hey, guys! I hope you're all well! Yes, yes, I know it's been forever. I've been so busy lately, I'm so sorry for the latest update but here it is! It's a funny one! I hope you guys love reading this chapter, and I hope it makes you laugh! ;)

"Something inside me came alive the very first time I looked into your eyes, and suddenly eternity was not nearly enough time to spend with you." - Twilight

Zayan's POV

I walk out of the operation theatre, sighing with relief. The surgery was successful, we managed to remove the tumour without leaving any traces behind. It was a long, five-hour surgery, but we removed the whole of the cancer. Thankfully, it hadn't metastasized to other parts of the body.

It's 6pm, the end of my long shift at the hospital. I started at 8am this morning, so it's been ten hours. I only got a short, fifteen-minute break during the day, so I'm exhausted.

I change out of my scrubs and head home. It feels like it's been so long since I last saw Alayna. I miss her like crazy.

She's now twenty-two weeks' pregnant, and she's doing better than ever. Her nausea has lessened a lot, her tiredness is less too, and she's feeling energetic. So is our baby girl. Our baby's very active, kicking all day and night. I smile. I can't wait to see my baby girl. I feel like I've been waiting an eternity to meet her. I want her to be just like Alayna.

When I get home, I find her sitting in the living room with Mum and Dad. They're watching a game show on TV. Hanna walks in with Adnan propped up onto her hip. I greet everyone, and I grin at my nephew.

He grins back at me and holds out his arms for me to pick him up. 'Hi, Adnan!' I say, kissing him gently on his forehead as I pick him up. He stares at me with his wide, innocent eyes, a small, naughty smile on his lips.

Holding Adnan, I head over to the sofa and take a seat next to Alayna. She's in a cheerful mood, grinning at me and Adnan.

'He really does look like you,' she says, chuckling.

Mum agrees. "He so does, Zayan. He's getting cuter and cuter everyday."

'He is, and I'm his favourite,' I say, kissing Adnan on the cheek.

Alayna laughs, shaking her head. "You mean I'm his favourite!"

Alayna's POV

Zayan looks towards me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. 'You're not.'

"I am!"

'Not!'

"Am!"

Everyone laughs at us, shaking their heads. 'You guys will be fighting even when you're grandparents,' Hanna says, chuckling.

I look over at Zayan, who's eyes are sparkling with mischief.

"Yeah, definitely," I say, nodding.

I spend some quality time with my family, and I feel really, really good. I feel happy, I feel whole.

An hour later, I'm sitting in bed beside Zayan, and we're watching one of our favourite shows. I turn to him, grinning.

'Zayan, you know how Uncle and Zaid's dad were business rivals? How we're trying to bring the childhood friends close again? I have an idea!' I say, grabbing both of his hands.

He turns to me, his eyes sparkling. "Tell me."

I explain the idea to him, and he smiles, nodding. 'I think it's a great idea, Alayna. It'll be a lot of fun, too. I'll go and ask Dad.'

I grin widely, kissing him softly on the cheek. He returns the kiss and goes downstairs to run the idea with Uncle.

********

That weekend, on Saturday evening, Uncle and Aunty hold a 'cooking competition' at home. We will be split into two teams; girls vs boys. The adults will give us three dishes to make, both teams will have to make the same dishes, and at the end, our parents will taste what we've made and give us a mark for each of our dishes.

Zaid and Zara are here too, with their parents. I'm so glad to see that Zaid's father and Uncle are getting along a lot better than they were until a few months ago.

I'm so excited, and I'm feeling so good today. I don't have any sickness, any cramping, or any tiredness. I'm too excited to feel tired right now.

I told Zara and Aliya that they don't have to take part if they don't want to, but they both want to take part and help the girls win the competition.

The girls' team includes me, Hanna, Aliya, Zara, Laiba and Sara.

The guys' team includes Zayan, Zaid, Yusuf Bhai, Kabir Bhai, Armaan and Usman Bhai.

I grin over at my husband, and he smirks back at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief and excitement. I'm so confident that we will win. Laiba and Aliya especially are great at cooking, and the rest of us are fine too.

However, I don't think we should underestimate the men. Zara's told me that Zaid cooks well, and I know that there are some foods that Zayan cooks very well, too. Yusuf Bhai isn't very good at cooking, but Armaan's alright. It's gonna be tough, but we'll win.

Mum tells us what we will be cooking today. 'Both teams will be given two hours to make the starter, main and dessert. For the starter, both teams will be making fish and chips. For the main, a vegetable pizza. And for the dessert, you will be making a cake of your choice. Any flavour you like. Everything must be ready and presented in two hours.' 

I look over at Zayan and smirk. I'm so ready for this. 

Our kitchen is very big, so we will all be working in the same kitchen, on different sides of it. The adults have set it up for us, so that we don't have to keep going into the other side of the kitchen to grab ingredients. 

'The two hours will start as soon as you're all in the kitchen. Zayan, Alayna, Hanna, please no fighting. I know it'll be difficult,' Aunty says, laughing. 

I look towards Zayan and grin. "Do we ever, Aunty?" I say, innocently. 

Everyone laughs at us, shaking their heads with amusement. 

We go into the kitchen, onto our side. As Laiba's the best at cooking from our team, she gives us all our duties. The timer starts. 

'Hey, guys. We need to win this, and we will. It's gonna be funny, watching Usman cooking. Anyway, for the starter, I think.. Zara and Aliya. I don't want you girls to make pizza and have to knead the dough, as that requires more effort and you girls are pregnant. Me and Sara will make the pizza, and Hanna and Alayna can make the dessert. Hanna, please do most of the work for the dessert. We don't want Alayna working too hard. Is that okay with everyone?' She asks us. 

We all nod. I look at Hanna and give her a high five. 'That's perfect, Laiba. Thanks! Han, what cake shall we make?' I ask my best friend. 

She grins. "I would usually say chocolate fudge, but I made that two days ago. Shall we make a carrot cake with cream cheese icing?" She asks me. 

I nod. 'Yes, we can do that. I love carrot cake!' 

We all get started with cooking, and I look over to the other side of the kitchen after every few seconds. Zayan and the rest of the guys are huddled together in a circle, and he's talking to them. He just has to take charge in everything, right?

********

Zayan's POV

'I'm not going to assign anyone to any duties like Laiba's doing, I think we should all help each other with everything. I'll get started with the pizza dough, what does everyone else want to do?' I ask the guys, casually. 

Armaan and Zaid say they'll make the starter, while Yusuf and Kabir say they'll get started on the cake. They've chosen to make a Victoria sponge cake. Usman's started chopping up some vegetables for the pizza. 

I find the ingredients for the dough and get started. I look over to the other side of the kitchen, Hanna and Alayna are busy talking and measuring ingredients for the cake. They're definitely making a carrot cake. Hanna's started peeling and grating the carrots, and Alayna's measuring the flour. She's concentrating so hard on getting the measurements perfect, it makes me smile. Alayna's too cute for her own good. She looks perfect today in her loose white thick kurta and black leggings. Her baby bump's showing a lot now, it makes her look even cuter. She's perfect. 

Usman coughs loudly, distracting me. I look over at him and roll my eyes. He's smirking. 

"Don't say anything," I mutter, before I look towards Alayna again. She's beautiful. 

'I'm not, I'm not,' he replies, amusedly. 'Laiba looks lovely too, she's working so hard but these girls don't know that we're going to win.' 

I chuckle. "Yes. We're going to win."

I hear the sound of glass shattering behind me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I turn to look behind myself. Armaan's dropped a glass on the floor, and it's broken. I roll my eyes. 

"Clean that up, Armaan. We need to hurry, we only have two hours," I mutter, annoyed, before turning back to my counter and getting started with the dough. 

********

Alayna's POV

'Yes, yes. Hanna, I've measured the flour. Have you finished grating the carrots? We're short of time!' I ask my best friend, looking at what she's doing. She's grating the final carrot, and she nods. 

"Yep, I'm done. We need... flour, sugar, eggs, carrots and- yes, Laiba, we're okay! Hey, Zara! Are you missing us?" Hanna calls to Zara. 

Zara laughs, nodding. 'Of course I am, Hanna. I miss you girls.' 

"We miss you too, Zara!" I call, blowing her a kiss. Everyone laughs at me. Me and Hanna continue working, and five minutes later, I gather all the girls around me, calling for an emergency meeting. 

'What's the matter, Alayna? Is everything okay?' Laiba asks me, worried. 

I nod, smirking. "I have an idea. I know how we can win." 

Aliya's eyes widen. 'You're not... no. I know that look in your eyes too well, babe. What are you thinking?' 

I grin. "We're going to ruin their dishes. But not yet. After half an hour, Zara, would you mind going to Zaid to give him a hug? Then you'll accidentally drop lots of salt into their fish batter. It'll really enhance the flavour of their fish when it's tasted." 

Zara's eyes widen, and she chuckles. 'I can do that, Alayna, don't worry. I'll do that for you.'

"Okay guys, Zayan's looking this way. Everyone continue cooking!" I mutter, before we disperse and continue cooking. 

Me and Hanna stand at the counter right opposite Zayan who's on the other side of the kitchen. 

'Han, where's the electric whisk? Can you grab that for me, please?' I ask Hanna. She grabs the whisk for me and hands it to me. 

"Do you want to do the whisking? I'll get started on the cream cheese frosting then, and chop up some walnuts coarsely," she says. 

I nod. 'Perfect.' 

I grab a mixing bowl and add the eggs. I'm looking for the sugar, when my gaze falls on Zayan. My entire body heats up and turns scarlet red. Fuck. 

I groan internally at the sight of him, I can feel my cheeks burning bright red at the sight of him. He looks so damn hot, so sexy. His hair is tousled, and his face is sweating slightly because of how hard he's working. He's kneading the pizza dough on the counter opposite me, his arms flexing. His biceps look so damn hard and huge, his hands are working the dough so well. Those hands... 

Right now, I honestly feel like the sight of Zayan kneading the dough is the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I feel my legs turn weak. His arms.. his biceps.. damn.

'Fuck,' I mutter, groaning loudly. Hanna hears me, and she turns to me in worry. 

"Alayna, are you okay? Have you hurt yourself?" She asks me hurriedly. The other girls hear her too, and they look at me worriedly. 

'Look at him, Han. Just look at him. His arms, his hands... look at those muscles,' I mumble, bright red. He looks so damn sexy, I want him right now. I wouldn't even mind that kitchen counter. 

Zara, Aliya, Sara and Laiba laugh, while Hanna groans even louder than I did a few seconds ago. 

"Oh, no. No, no, no. He's my Bhai! He's my brother!" She mutters. 

'He's so fucking hot,' I mutter, grabbing the sugar. I measure it quickly and add it to the bowl. 'He's damn fine.' 

"He's... okay. He's my brother!" Hanna says, groaning while at the same time trying not to laugh.

Zayan doesn't notice me checking him out, thankfully. I can't take my eyes off him, though. His arms are flexing in the most delicious way, he's concentrating so hard. The way he's using his hands... oh god. I want to feel those hands on me, on every inch of my body. I feel the strongest pull of desire in the pit of my stomach. 

'You're crazy, Alayna,' Sara says to me, laughing and shaking her head.

"Shh, let me concentrate," I mutter, continuing to stare at Zayan while I start the electric whisk. 

Without looking, I start the whisk on the first speed and the ingredients splatter on the front of my shirt. Oh crap. That's what happens if you don't concentrate, I guess. 

Groaning, I force myself to look into the mixing bowl. I turn off the whisk and go and clean up. 

Hanna's laughing crazily beside me, shaking her head, tears in her eyes. 'Serves you right,' she says, chuckling. 

I roll my eyes. The guys look towards us. I feel Zayan's eyes on me, and I look his way. He's smirking at me, his eyebrow raised. I glare at him and continue to work. 

********

'Zara, go,' I whisper, winking at her. 

She giggles, nodding. She walks over to the other side of the kitchen where the guys are working. She goes to Zaid, giving him a side hug. She looks so cute today, her bump's huge now and she's tiny. She looks so, so adorable while pregnant. 

Zaid grins at her, hugging her back. Zara whispers something into his ear, before she manages to pour salt into the bowl of fish batter from under her sleeve. I don't know how she does it, but she does. None of the guys notice, although they're all making fun of Zaid. They're all engrossed in their work, working as hard and fast as they can. We have less than an hour left. 

Zaid doesn't even notice when he adds more salt into the batter, along with the spices. He gives it a good mix, and Zara whispers something else to him and walks back to us. Hanna's almost on the floor, laughing silently, wiping the tears away from her eyes. 

I smirk at Zara, and she smirks back. I give her a high five, before we continue cooking. 

We've popped the cake into the oven, and Hanna's made the cream cheese frosting which is so delicious. I'm just sitting, chilling. I asked Laiba if she wants any help with the pizza, but the pizza, too, has almost gone into the oven. 

Aliya and Zara are talking about their pregnancies, and they're both laughing and having a great time. Aliya's telling Zara how she made Kabir Bhai buy her pizza in the middle of the night the other day, and Zara's telling Zaid how she was sick on Zaid a week ago. I start laughing at this. 

'Poor Zaid,' Laiba says, chuckling as she pops the pizza into the oven. 

"At least that's something you haven't done, Alayna. Miracle," Hanna teases me. 

I roll my eyes. 'Yeah, yeah. Hey, Yusuf Bhai, Zayan! How are you guys getting along? We're almost done now!' I say, grinning at them. 

The guys are still busy, they've just put their cake into the oven, and they're adding the toppings to the pizza. 

"Ready to lose, Alayna?" Zayan asks me, smirking. 

'In your dreams, doctor. Only in your dreams,' I answer, challenging him. I'm so certain that we've got this. That we're gonna win. Especially after what Zara did. I'm so proud of her. 

"We're so gonna win, girls," Yusuf Bhai teases us. 

'Only time will tell, bro!' Sara laughs, confident too. 

********

We finish just on time. We have less than one minute left until we're done, but thankfully we're able to complete our presentation just on time. 

After the two hours are over, our parents come into the kitchen. They look surprised and pleased with what we've done, both teams. 

I smirk, crossing my arms over my chest when Aunty and Uncle, along with Zaid's parents, look at the cake me and Hanna have baked. Everything looks good, but our cake looks amazing. It really does. I'm so proud of us. 

Five minutes later, it's time for the taste test. We place our starters on the empty kitchen counter in front of our parents, and we step back. I have to admit, the guys have done a good job on it. Well, on the presentation, anyway. They've even prepared a tartare sauce with the fish and chips, while we haven't. I can't wait for everyone to taste their fish, though. 

Zaid looks smug as our parents taste the fish and chips. There's silence for a few seconds, and then, Dad nods. 

Uncle smiles briefly, nodding too. 

Huh? What's going on? 

'The chips taste great, soft and fluffy from the inside and crispy from the outside. The tartare sauce goes perfectly with the fish and chips. But my favourite part of this dish has got to be the fish. It's so crispy, and so flavourful. You guys did a great job,' Uncle gives his final verdict a few minutes later. 

My eyes widen in shock, and I look over at Zara who looks equally confused. What's going on? I saw her pour that salt into the batter. It was far too much salt than was needed, so what's going on? 

"You like it, Uncle? Thank you! We were running out of time as the first batter we prepared, we accidentally added too much chilli powder. So I had to quickly make it again," Zaid explains. 

Oh, no. No, no, no. 

I stand beside Zara, and she discreetly grabs my hand, and I look towards her. We're both trying to contain our laughter and annoyance. I burst out laughing, but cover it up quickly with a cough. 

It's not fair! I can't believe this. 

Just then, Zaid looks over at me and Zara, and he coughs, trying to stop himself from laughing. He knows. He so knows. 

I bite my lip, and burst out laughing two seconds later. Zara's laughing next, and so are the rest of the girls. Zaid shakes his head at us, laughing along with us. 

Zayan asks Zaid what happened, but Zaid shakes his head, saying he was laughing at something Zara whispered to him. What a good guy he is. I so know he's gonna tell the rest of the guys later, though. 

Our fish and chips are tasted next, and our parents love it too. Zara and Aliya did a great job. 

They taste the pizza next, and again, both teams did a good job. I can't tell who's pizza everyone prefers. 

Finally, it's time for our parents to taste the cakes. I'm so excited. I look proudly at the cake me and Hanna have made, and Hanna comes to my other side, grabbing my other hand. Zara's still holding my right hand excitedly. 

'I have to say, the girls did a better job with presentation,' Dad says, grinning. 'And I love carrot cake.'

I grin. 

Uncle agrees with him. 'Yes, the carrot cake does look better, but let's see which cake tastes better.' 

They cut out a slice of each cake, and they all taste both. Less than five seconds later, I hear Mum coughing loudly, spitting out into a tissue. What? Which cake was this? It couldn't have been ours!

Hanna looks at me in confusion. Aunty, Zaid's parents, Uncle, Mum, Dad, they all look so confused right now. The rest of them manage to swallow with a sip of water. What's going on?

'Girls, who made the carrot cake?' Aunty finally asks, trying to smile at us. 

Me and Hanna raise our hands. On the other side of the kitchen, Yusuf Bhai and Usman Bhai are shaking with laughter. I glare at them. 

"Alayna- no, not you. Hanna, come here for a second and taste this cake," Aunty replies, trying not to laugh now. 

Hanna frowns, before doing as she's told. She takes a forkful of the cake, before coughing violently and spitting it out into a tissue. 'Alayna!' She says, laughing and coughing at the same time. 

"What happened? What is it?" I ask, confused as hell. 

'You added salt instead of sugar!' Hanna replies, coughing again. 

"No. What?!" I ask, shocked. "That can't be possible! Wait... no." 

I remember that I added the 'sugar' when I was busy checking out Zayan. I was so busy, that I didn't realise I added salt instead of sugar. The containers were right next to each other. Oh, my god. 

I can't believe what I did, because I was so busy staring at Zayan with the dirtiest thoughts in my mind. 

'Our plan backfired!' Aliya laughs, shaking her head. 

"What plan?" Mum asks us, and finally, we spill. 

At the end of me telling everyone how we tried our best to ruin the fish batter the guys made, everyone in the kitchen is laughing like crazy, shaking their heads at us. 

Zayan looks so amused right now. He was trying not to laugh first, but he couldn't help it. Zaid tells him how he saw Zara pour the salt into the batter, and everyone starts laughing again. 

'Next time we'll win!' I say, glaring at Zayan. 

"You wish," he replies, smirking. 

After another five minutes, our parents tell us that the guys won fair and square. Their fish and chips were better, both teams made delicious pizza, but their cake was far, far better than ours. 

Not fair!

All evening, everyone can't stop teasing us, especially me, Hanna and Zara. Whenever I look at any of the guys, especially Zayan, Yusuf Bhai and Zaid who are teasing us the most, I burst out laughing. Damn them. 

********

An hour later, we're sitting in the living room. By 'we', I mean all of us girls, Zayan, Usman Bhai and Zaid. They're still teasing us, and I'm just rolling my eyes. 

'Alayna, how did you add salt instead of sugar though?' Zaid asks me for the tenth time. 

"Zara, I'm gonna smack your husband. Do you mind?" I say to Zara, while glaring at Zaid who looks super amused, just like my dear, dear husband. 

'I don't mind at all, Alayna. Please, go ahead,' Zara says, laughing. 

"I want to know too, how did you get mixed up?" Usman Bhai asks. 

My cheeks turn bright red. Hanna smirks at me. 'Go on, Alayna. Tell them.' 

The girls are laughing like idiots, and my cheeks are as hot as a raging fire. I shake my head. "Even the best of us make mistakes sometimes," I mutter. 

'I'll tell you guys about the mistake, listen up,' Hanna starts. 'Alayna made a mistake and got mixed up, because she was too busy checking out Zayan Bhai when he was kneading the pizza dough. I think that's all I should say because-' 

I smack her on her knee and she jumps. 'Okay, okay. I'll stop talking.' 

I groan loudly as everyone laughs. Zayan speaks next. "Really, Alayna?" He teases me. 

I give him the dirtiest glare I can muster. 'No, she's lying,' I mutter, but no one hears me as they're too busy making fun of me. 

I hate everyone. 

********

So, guys! How was the chapter? I laughed quite a bit while writing it! Did you think the guys would win the cooking competition?

What was your favourite part of the chapter? And what do you think will happen next? 

Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked the chapter guys! It means so much to me! And please, correct any mistakes you see in the chapter because I'm sure there'll be plenty! The chapter is unedited.

Question: Which two characters do you want to read more scenes of? Don't say Zayan-Alayna, Zaid-Zara or anything like this! Two.. different characters please. E.g. Hanna and Usman, Aliya and Zayan, etc etc. Something completely random haha!

I love you all, thanks for your patience! Bye guys!