The Separation [ON HOLD]

Chapter Three

Fidha cleared her throat. "Let's all eat in peace before deedi blows up."

"Hey, my wife's not an explosive!" Junaid exclaimed.

Afeefa rolled her eyes. "You're still sleeping on the couch, Junaid."

Everybody laughed and Afeefa felt her eyes moisten as she thought of the silence that their absence will bring about.

***

"Deedi," Fidha called again and when Afeefa didn't respond, she turned her head to her side to find Afeefa sleeping.

Fidha fumbled her phone from the bedside table and looked at the time.

3:00 a.m.

Her sister had not changed at all. She always falls asleep in the middle of their conversations, often a few hours before fajr. But it had been such a long time since they had had a chance to talk themselves to sleep that Fidha felt like the times she, Afeefa and their cousin Habeeba talked till Fajr were all a dream.

Ever since Afeefa's wedding, Fidha had been feeling overwhelmingly lonely. Unlike most girls, she was not excited for her sister's wedding. On the contrary, she was very depressed when Afeefa got engaged. It may have been selfish of her, but she couldn't bring herself to think of all the good that would come out of the wedding - knowing quite well how excellent a man Junaid was - and could only think about how her sister was going to become distant from her very soon. She had tried her best to hide her feelings from Afeefa, but being the observant sister she was, Afeefa had caught on and reassured her that nothing would change between them because of her marriage.

Although unintentional, Afeefa's reassurance had turned out to be a lie. Fidha was deprived of the company of her best friend and confidant. Afeefa and Fidha were very similar in character and temperament, so it was only natural that Fidha went to Afeefa with all her problems. Besides there are somethings only a sister can understand. But you could not expect a married woman to be always available for her sister.

Fidha looked over at her sister's sleeping face and wondered how long it'll be before they had another night like this. From tomorrow, she would be alone again.

***

Afeefa's family had left in the morning after breakfast and the house was silent again except for the soft recitation of Qur'an heard from the master bedroom. Junaid was sitting on the couch listening to Afeefa's recitation of Surah Maryam while scrolling through his phone. He stopped to glance at her from time to time, taking in her beautiful face.

He loved watching her recite, she would be emotionally involved in the recitation and it was beautiful to watch her face shifting emotions from love to longing, fear, pain and happiness. He loved the way she would wipe her face clear of all the tears before kissing the Qur'an.

He waited until she had finished reciting and closed the Mus-haf to ask, "How much have you memorized?"

"Whole of Surah Yusuf and 50 Ayaat of Surah Maryam. Alhamdulillah." Afeefa was almost jumping with joy.

"Ma sha Allah, Surah Yusuf has over 100 verses, right? You memorize very quickly!" Junaid exclaimed.

"Alhamdulillah."

Junaid smiled and patted the space next to him. Afeefa went over to sit next to him after placing her Qur'an in the shelf.

"I've been waiting to show this to you," Junaid tapped his phone and showed it to her.

Afeefa took the phone from his hand and started reading the Facebook post by Omar Suleiman that was displayed.

"Am I childless because I'm a sinner and Allah is punishing me?