Faith (Islamic Fic)

Chapter 65

~Youssef's P.O.V~

  It's been a week since my visit to the Sheikh. Since then I had a mission of telling Holly the truth but two things were stopping me.

  One; her dad was in the hospital in a critical case after getting in an accident and she wasn't the Holly I had always known. She wasn't always happy go lucky, no. She was broken and crying all the time. I couldn't add anything to sadden her more.

  And two; because I was a coward. I was too scared of losing her. But at the same time, ever since I started praying regularly again, I'm scared of Allah's judgement as well.

  All week long I had been spending all my spare time with her in the hospital and I have dreaded every moment. Her father went in and out of consciousness so much in those short few days. I swear one time we thought that was it, but al hamdulillah the doctors saved him.

  Turns out I knew nothing about Holly as she knew nothing about me. We spent all our time with her dad. When he was conscious he asked me loads of questions about my life and my hobbies. I told him about my family and my parents and I learnt Holly lost her mom to cancer just a few years back.

  He was such a nice guy. Always laughing ad making jokes. I could see where Holly got her aura from.

  "Do you want a latte?" I asked Holly after the doctor gave her father the medications. He usually sleeps for a few hours after taking them so we decided to call it a day and go to the café place just around the corner.

  "Yeah, that would be amazing." She smiled tiredly.

  She went to save us a seat as I paid for the Latte and my coffee. We sat there for silence for a few moments and I was contemplating on whether or not this was a good time for me to tell her.

  "Jo," She suddenly spoke and I felt my heart drop. Did she hear my thoughts? Would she break up with me first?

  "Yeah?" I answered her hesitantly. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest.

  "Thank you for everything." She smiled at me and hesitantly placed her hands on top of mine. I would be stupid to say that she hadn't noticed my resistance to her these past few days. I was on a no touching rule with her.

  "You don't need to thank me." I smiled feeling the need to pull my hand from under hers without hurting her feelings at the same time.

  "Yes I do. I don't know what I would have done without you. Being here with me this past week really meant the world to me. Even though I tried to push you away, you stuck by me and for that I'm grateful." She smiled widely at me making my heart skip a beat. She still has that effect on me no matter how hard I try to resist it.

  "Of course babe. I'm always here for you." I didn't know what to say and I knew saying the word 'babe' made her smile. And my theory was proven corrected when I saw that timidly shy smile on her face.

  There was a moment of silence between us. My mind started racing with thoughts of how I would tell her the inevitable. I can't right now. She was too vulnerable.

  "Your dad seems like a lovely guy. In Sha' Allah he will recover soon." I filled the void between us.

  "He really is," She said not really looking at me but rather looking ahead in a world of her own, "You know. Ever since my mom was diagnosed, it's always been me and him. We fought a lot back in the days because I was in denial. He wanted me to be strong and to understand what was going on. I preferred running away to my friend's house and not talking about it until one day she was gone."

  "My world turned upside down after she was gone. I felt lonely, lost and depressed. My dad was even worse. He lost his drive to even get up of bed and I suddenly felt like an orphan with my mom gone and a ghost of a father like that. It was the worst feeling in the world. He was the only family I had and I felt like I was losing him to." I listened as Holly opened up to me for the first time ever.