Sparks of Love ☑

Thirty-Six/Second Last

"What did my husband do?"

"He left in a hurry," her brother explained. "I was thinking of calling you once I reached home, to check if something was wrong. All okay there?"

"Everything's fine," Rafa replied slowly, her brain cells trying to figure out why Abdur Rehman would leave the mosque early. All was well at home, he had no work to do, he was in fact bored.

In between her thoughts, she heard her brother say, "You know, in his hurry, he forgot to give me the cookies and cakes you sent."

"Oh!" Now her lips turned into a frown. "No one was expecting him to come back early. What could have gone wrong?" She questioned herself, "And just now, he left for a run as soon as he came back."

"That's strange, Rafa," Yahya was standing on their front lawn now. Rafa could see the house door behind him but without going inside, Yahya plopped on one of the stairs in the threshold.

"Did you tease him too much?" she asked her brother, half serious.

"Why would I tease him? The conversation we were having was about your pregnancy after all-" Hearing his words, Rafa's heart fell to her stomach. "Teasing him about it would be immodest."

Rafa would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't rattled by his earlier confession. "What about my pregnancy?"

"I was telling him about the day when you first told me."

Rafa could now see her heart shattering into the floor with a loud thud. "Why would you tell him that?" She exclaimed, trying to swallow the bile that was rising in her throat. Getting up, she moved towards the balcony. Maybe inhaling some fresh air would calm her down. Panic was making her palpitate in worry.

"You both confuse me!" Yahya announced, grabbing her attention back to the phone screen. "You sound like everyone learned about your pregnancy, except for him. The way his face changed colors and how he rushed out, tells me the same–"

Rafa forgot to breathe. Ya Allah! Things had finally been taking a good turn between them. Each moment felt like falling in love and living that love. Now, everything seemed to have disintegrated just as the sky in that moment; when it had been in vibrant colors earlier, it had now changed into a dark mist of nothingness. Thunder and storms were on the way, and not only in the sky. It hurt her more and worried her to no extent. She didn't want him to get wet in this storm, yet it broke her heart knowing that he was already wet with the storm she had caused.

"Rafa!" Yahya called, "Your silence is scaring me."

She stared back at him, not knowing how to articulate her profound feelings. "Did you...did you not tell him?" He asked when her first tear drop fell. "What in heaven were you thinking?"

The harshness in her brother's voice was new and it caused her to rip open her mouth and tell him the truth of what all had happened. She told him about how overjoyed she had been the minute she had learned, how there was no one she wanted to know before he did, but how tense things had been at home. She sobbed and related her misery, telling him how every time she wanted to say something, her heart feared more turmoil. And how keeping him unaware had just been easier to protect her heart.

Listening to her rant about the trauma of her life, Yahya stood up, moving a little bit towards their lawn, "You shouldn't have kept the news hidden from him, regardless of whatever was happening between you. No issue triumphs sharing the news of something that will, literally change yours and his life." Rafa stifled her tears, thinking how Yahya didn't understand the way Shabna or any other woman would. "When he comes back, sort it out, please," he finally said, his voice soft and firm at the same time.