Under the Olive Tree

21. Wahid Wa'Ishrun

That was why he was so protective of Fayza.

The women ate dinner together on the dinner table and the men sat on the straw carpet they'd laid on the living room floor. Amani sat with Fayza, Um Muhsin, Farouq's mother, and his youngest sister. She found her gaze unintentionally wandering toward the men sitting in the area beside them every time she heard Muhsin laugh.

She'd heard him laugh before but never as carelessly as he did when he reached across the food and shoved his cousin's shoulder. His eyes twinkled without a thought of responsibility or stress regarding his family and his voice filled with amusement. She could not hear his words but his voice carried to her ears, swelling with humor and a youthfulness she rarely got to see him embody.

There was no other way to describe it except that it was beautiful. Muhsin was beautiful, enamoring, captivating when he allowed himself moments away from his assigned role and became so fully himself and nobody else.

On his lap, Muhammed waited for each small piece of bread Muhsin tore for him while speaking with the others. He clumsily gripped Muhsin's hand every time he brought a bite to his mouth.

"He's good with kids," his aunt whispered to Amani after she'd caught her staring at the boy.

She tried to play it off. "I'm sorry?"

The older woman motioned over to her nephew. "He's always been good with them ever since he was young. Children know a good soul when they see one and I have not seen a soul better than Muhsin's. You chose well. He'll be a good husband to you and a wonderful father to your kids, inshallah," she smiled.

"Inshallah," Amani repeated.

It still felt unreal.

Even as the night came to an end and Muhsin called on her because it was time he take her home, it felt almost like she'd created her present reality in her mind. She bid everybody a farewell they made bittersweet even though she lived in the same street at Farouq's family and would soon marry into Muhsin's.

When they stepped into the street, it was darker than she'd expected and the night was quiet. The town was not normally empty at such an early hour but she didn't mind it. It allowed Muhsin to speak to her in his natural tone. "How was your evening?"

She nodded as the cool gusts of wind blew the base of her dress around her legs. "It was fun. I was nervous at first but it was nice. Your family's nice."

The edges of his eyes crinkled at the compliment but he tried to keep his lips from reacting. "I'm sure your family is the same." Amani had gotten used to the way he always clasped his hands behind his back when they walked together to keep them from touching.

Amani shrugged. "Oh, they'll love you. They might even love you more than they love me."

"I doubt that."

"You shouldn't," she chuckled.

Muhsin slowed to a stop and, after taking three steps past him, Amani realized she'd left him behind her. He was watching her intently when she turned back. "I've realized something about, Amani," he announced.

She waited in her place as he closed the space between them to stand in front of her. For a second, his announcement tugged her heart from her chest. "What did you realize?"

"You do not see yourself as you should."

Amani raised an eyebrow. "How should I see myself, Muhsin?"

His colored eyes shifted softly between hers and, for the first time, Amani noticed that she did not get the urge to turn away. "As more," he replied. "More deserving of respect. Of love. I do not know who made you see yourself as less than you are but they were wrong. When I look at you, I see such noor within you, it's impossible to look away."

Silence fell over them when he paused. Amani's breath was lodged in throat at the integrity in his tone. She'd received many compliments in her life, but none had entered into her and embraced her heart in the way this one did.

"You think you are the one unworthy of me? I spent my nights praying qadar would bring us together ever since you first spoke to me. How can you be anything less than deserving if you so easily claimed a place in the prayers I prayed while everybody else slept?"

"You should stop," Amani announced.

Muhsin's eyebrows lifted. "Hm?"

She turned away the moment he noticed her eyes sparkle with the tears she blinked back. His smile was soft and wholesome in the corners of her gaze. "You shouldn't say stuff like that," she huffed. The warmth was quickly spreading throughout her cheeks.

"What has happened to you, Amani?" He teased.

"Oh, you're joking with me, now?" She turned to him with a deep scowl that only made Muhsin's grin widen. "I'm the one who does the teasing in this engagement-ship, not you."

"Every relationship should be balanced."

"How smart of you," she frowned.

His eyes roamed her features. "You're flustered."

She did her best to hold his gaze. "I'm not."

"It was not a question."

Amani narrowed her eyes at him, her lips curled into an unhappy pout while his remained curved with an amused smile that illuminated all of his features the same way it had at dinner. Their gazes remained locked onto one another for as long as Amani could suppress her natural reflexes to turn away. Surprisingly, it was quite long.

"You're getting more confident, Muhsin," she announced.

He shrugged, keeping his attention on her.

"I do what I must."

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I hope you guys had a good weekend and inshAllah a good coming week! I'll make dual that each and every one of you get good news this week guys. Why? Because I love youuuuuu ♥️♥️.

See you later pretty people !!!!