Shasmeen is lovely. Mubashir is handsome. Both have been recipients of a string of rejections. When the possibility of them marrying each other suddenly becomes attractive, questions of a union between fire and fire rise. Can love bloom between two...
A tranquil smile slowly emerged on her mother's face. "I think so too."
They stood in contentment, smiling and marveling in silence over the decree of Allah; of how He blesses us with the best through ways we cannot even imagine. After numerous proposals that would raise her hopes and dash them in minutes, leaving her wondering if she deserved a happy end and a break from the constant anxiety of tomorrow, Abdullah had appeared suddenly. Not only had he won her heart, but also her parents'.
Just then they heard her father call out to her.
"Coming, Baba!"
She sent her mother another grin before heading to the living room. All eyes turned towards her briefly, sending a current down her spine at a particular pair.
"Abdullah would like to speak to you," her father told her gently. "You can go into the backyard."
Jee. She couldn't find her voice suddenly, so she nodded her head.
Her heart hammered in her heart as she led Abdullah outside. The night was lightened with the half moon, but it grew brighter when Talha flicked on the fairy lights that stretched from the first floor roof to the fence that separated their house from Zakariya bhai's.
The living room curtains were pushed to the side so that both of them were in clear view, but the door was closed so that they could talk without fearing that anyone would hear them.
"You cook really well," Abdullah announced, standing a few away from her.
"Thank you, you eat really well."
He let out a laugh, surprised at her for noting how much he had eaten. "Well, I won't deny that I have an appetite for good food."
Shasmeen felt her cheeks grow warm. "So...what did you want to talk about?" She stared hard at his shoes, suddenly too shy to look at him.
"I, um..." He grew closer just by an inch, but his register fell a few octaves. "My sister has the family ring, and I...I can't offer it without her being there with me."
Shasmeen's eyes grew wide, and on instinct she lifted her face to look at his. Did he just...
"Soon," was all he said.
Soon. Soon. Soon.
She could wait for soon, she decided. Soon sounded good enough.
"Okay," she whispered, nodding her head.
"Thank you."
With nothing left to say, they returned inside, and very soon Abdullah departed from their home, and then the country, taking with him a piece of Shasmeen which she would never have again.
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"Dr. Patel here is really nice. He's going to help you and Sammy take a short little nap, so that when you wake up, you're going to be all better," Shasmeen explained, caressing the doll her five year old patient was holding.
