Tawakkul

Chapter 4

Aaliyah scanned through the morning paper before passing it to her father. She gave him his chai, and he kissed her forehead softly.

"Good morning, abu," She sang, and he replied. On the front page was a prize drawer entry. Her father read it out, and Aaliyah listened with her ears peeled.

"Should I apply?"

She spoke jokingly.

"I don't see the harm in it, even if you don't win anything."

Aaliyah nodded. This was always her father's philosophy, one she'd adopt when she grew older.

'You should always try because if you don't, it'll be a no by default'.

Aaliyah took out her phone. It was an old brick , and she dialled the number signing up by her name. She did not think much of it and forgot about it entirely in a few hours.

Aaliyah's phone rang, and she picked it up. She was cleaning the attic whilst her sister was preparing popcorn for their weekly episode of the drama that was currently on air. By the time they'd sit down, they'd have either spent the entire episode getting ready or the electricity would go out, one way or another they'd miss the episode especially if it were the finale.

"Assalamu alaikum?"

She continued rummaging through her old books.

"Wa alaykum asalam, is this Aaliyah Malik?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, who's speaking?"

"Miss Malik, congratulations, you have won the prize in our lucky draw."

Aaliyah looked dumbfounded at the phone.

"Prize draw?"

It must be a scammer she thought hanging up, whilst making her way downstairs,her phone rang again. She answered,.

"Miss Malik, you won the prize draw. Will you not be accepting it?"

The lady from the other side spoke, Aaliyah bit the inside of her lip trying to remember, her eyes landed on the newspaper, and it clicked

"Is this from the draw which was in the newspaper a few weeks ago?"

"Yes, it is, we have your prize at the centre for you to pick up."

The lady gave Aaliyah the address, and she wrote it down her body barely containing her excitement. She hung up the phone and ran to her father.

"Abu, we won! We won!"

She jumped up and down whilst everyone else looked in confusion.

"Won what?

"The raffle from the paper, this is the address"

Aaliyah wafted the paper, and Malik Hussain took it into his hand, inspecting it. He smiled and stood up.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get your prize." Malik Hussain gave his daughter a soft look and walked with her watching her pure joy.

"What about the series?"

Gulnaz walked in with the popcorn.

"It can wait," Hamza's voice called from behind.

The prize was a beautiful gold set with Ruby pearls, which spoke of elegance and radiated confidence. It was a piece that Aaliyah would cherish deeply. Her father watched her proudly as she held it in her hands.

***********

Sultan sat on the rooftop with his brothers. They laughed and told stories to one another, a cigarette in each of their hands. All of Sultan's brothers smoked regularly. However, it was not something Sultan was particularly interested in. When they sat together on evenings like this, he would also take one to join in , the smoke rose from his mouth and Sultan leaned on the rocky wall of the rooftop. He heard a familiar voice from outside and stood up to see who it was.