A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 63.

Safia’s POV

What on earth was wrong with that woman? And why on earth was my mother her friend? Did she not know of our struggles? And knowing them, she let Maryam leave home and live with us?

I loved Maryam like a sister, almost as much as I loved my actual sister, Zayna. But I really didn’t think it was okay for her to be living with us. I thought Yusuf was being a bit too kind. He even moved out of our bedroom and was sleeping on the sofa, letting Maryam sleep next to me. It was sort of weird at first, but I got used to it. It was like the times when I used to share a room with Zayna.

Nonetheless, I remained quiet. There wasn’t much anyone could do. I went along with keeping Maryam with us. I just prayed that she’d go home soon. I didn’t mean it in a bad way, but we just didn’t have the means to keep her.

Javed and his dad had come around a couple of times to take Maryam home. She said she refused to go until her mum came herself. I thought many times about telling Yusuf to convince Maryam but I didn’t want to stress him out more. He’d tried but he failed. Maryam just didn’t understand the situation properly.

I didn’t try to do any convincing, it made me feel bad. She had been trying so hard to make it up to us for staying here. She was always asking me if I needed or wanted anything. Maryam even stayed through Hamza and Amy’s Walima which was a month after her arrival.

Of course Amy let Maryam come to the Walima too. It was similar to the Nikah, except a hall was hired for people to eat because the mosque didn’t have space. It had a partitioning in the middle and everyone just had a feast. As expected, Amy looked absolutely stunning. Hamza’s face when he saw her was priceless. It was like he was so happy that he didn’t know how to express himself so he just stood there trying to stop himself from grinning like a fool.

A day after the Walima, I was still around my parents’ house. I hadn’t stayed nights there in a long time. Maryam and I stayed the night but Yusuf was at home which had me worry about him. I wondered if he was feeling lonely so late at night, I couldn’t help but call him. I woke him up from his sleep to ask if he was okay. He mumbled a reply and then hung up. At least I knew he was fine.

During the day, Maryam went out with some of the girls in my family. They asked me to come along too but I declined. I had to speak to mum about something very important. As soon as I got the chance, I took mum aside.

“What is it you need to talk about?” Mum asked.

“Aunty Juweria.” Mum’s face changed and I immediately knew that she felt guilty. “Don’t blame this on yourself.”

“Know this Safia, I didn’t accept you marrying Yusuf right away.”

“What? You didn’t?”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know.” I knew there was something I was missing!

“Like?”

“Lots of things.”

“Tell me!” I pleaded.

“Why?”

“It might actually help with the situation I’m in.”

“It won’t.” Mum tried to walk away but I held onto her.

“How was Aunty Juweria’s childhood?” I asked. Maybe there was something major that happened to make her like the way she was.

“Where do I begin?”

“The beginning.”

“Well,” Mum said. “I remember that life was always hard for Juweria. I knew her as a child. You probably know from Yusuf how Juweria’s father wasn’t the best of fathers. He was always away and when he’d come home, he would ruin the atmosphere with his strict rules and orders.”