A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 15.

Safia's POV

They wouldn't even wait till my holidays in April. Maybe that wasn't too bad because I had exams not so long after the April holidays. They wanted me to get married in the week I have off during the term. They wanted to get me married in one little week. Yusuf said we could have our honeymoon during my April holidays which were for 3 weeks. But this was still all too soon. In the past week, everything was confirmed. I was definitely going to marry Yusuf. Yusuf's mum had come around our house again with Maryam and they gave me a ring. I doubted whether I was ready and every time I really thought about being married, I felt panicky. Maybe I brought this all on myself; well not maybe, I certainly brought this all on myself. I was so going to fail my exams and if I didn't fail, I wasn't going to get good grades. 

  Safia: Don't expect me to pass my exams with good grades. That's if I pass.

I wrote to Yusuf and Hamza. Everything was going so fast and it seemed like reality had only just started hitting me. They asked if I wanted the Nikah this soon and I stupidly nodded without thinking. My mum even asked me if I wanted to wait till summer but Maryam looked sad so I shook my head. Why didn’t I think? Oh yes, because I was still in shock. I didn’t really expect Aunt Jerry, whose name I found out was Juweria, to accept me. The families agreed I could stay at home whenever I wanted but my mum spoke to me in private explaining that I shouldn’t be at home all the time just because they said I could be. And then she talked about being a wife, she even gave me some advice which I really thought I would never hear from my mum.

Although they had kindly agreed on letting me spend a lot of time at home for studies, I understood I was going to be a wife and I was going to have to work on my marriage. More work. I was going to have to balance university, marriage and a social life. Well, maybe not a social life, never really had one of those.

   Yusuf: Why wouldn’t you pass your exams? You're a smart girl

   Safia: Too much pressure.

It probably wasn’t fair to be saying this to Yusuf. It wasn’this fault. Actually it was a little, he suggested the date. I had gotten even more confident in our little group chat. If I was going to be his wife, he should have known what he was going to have to be dealing with.

   Hamza: Ignore Safia. She likes to complain when she's stressed.

"Hamza! That's enough." I shouted at him. "Why are you trying your absolute best to embarrass me in front of man that could be my future husband?"

"Correction. A man that will be your future husband. In'sha'allah." It still felt weird admitting that. Even though we had a mini party, which I guess you could call an ‘engagement,’ my mind was elsewhere. Nothing felt real and I still didn't believe that I was getting married. How could I be getting married so quickly? I had only known of Yusuf's existence for a month! We had only another month before the Nikah. Unbelievable.

"We can't be completely sure, especially with the things you say to him." I grabbed a cushion and hugged it sighing. "How am I going to concentrate and get good grades while fulfilling my wife duties?" I asked.

"I think you may have gotten your answer." Hamza said holding up his phone to me. 

   Yusuf: I don't know how much I can help but I can definitely try. I know Arabic and I have some knowledge on Islam