Unlikely To Happen

Part 8 -Eloping

Part 8 –Eloping

"Abu Huraira {R.A} said that when the Prophet {S.A.W} congratulated a man on his marriage, he said: 'Allah bless you, and may He send blessings upon you, and may He unite you both in good.'"

~Tirmidhi

Maleeha was pacing up and down, up and down their penthouse lounge. The tiles were gleaming, almost mocking her as she waited for Hector to arrive. Finally, the doorbell rang and she rushed to it, opening it with a wide grin on her face. "Hector!" she said excitedly as she invited him in, ignoring Zaakir's presence completely.

Although Zaakir wouldn't mention it, he didn't like the way Maleeha was excited to see this man. She was a married woman, she should be behaving as such, which was why Zaakir stood up from the couch and walked over to them with the most intimidating look he could muster. "Zaakir Ahmed," he said gruffly as he stretched out his hand towards Hector.

"Hector Orion," Hector said with a stiff smile. "A friend of Maleeha's."

Zaakir raised a skeptic eyebrow. "It would seem that way since she told you about the ...trip," he said as he struggled to find the word.

"Are you done, caveman?" Maleeha asked him venomously as she steered Hector away from Zaakir and into the nearest room. Zaakir found that he was frowning once again, at the fact that she went all Haraam police on him earlier, but now she was not worried about taking Hector alone into a bedroom.

Maleeha sighed as she sat on the bed and Hector stood at the open doorway, leaning against the frame. "What's wrong, Leah?" he questioned gently and passed to her an ice cream, a caramel sundae to be exact. A reminder of their trips to the fast food place near their campus, between classes to eat ice cream or grab their favourite burger and ravish it in class.

"I'm scared, H," she admitted. "To go alone on the trip with him. I barely know him; so many things can go wrong."

Hector studied her face. Within the years he knew her, he could read her quite well. He could sense she was not telling him something. "What is the real reason?"

"What if I find out that he is the biggest mistake of my life? What if I am married to a guy who I absolutely hate? I will have to spend the rest of my life with him."

Hector chuckled. "You're being dramatic. Firstly, you're acting as if we are living in the dark ages. Women in the 21st century have rights, you know? You're no longer treated as property. You can divorce him if you want, okay?" When she nodded, he continued speaking. "Secondly, you are being a little chicken. You are scared to fall for him. You don't want to think that he might not be the jerk you think he is."

He still leaned against the door frame, staring at her face. He could see her nervousness, but he saw it as a great adventure, because Hector saw something that neither of them saw...yet. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the brown envelop and handed it to her. "Sorry, Maleeha, this is all I could get. It's R25 000."

Her eyes bulged. "Hect," her voice was choking up, she was getting emotional as her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, thank you so much! It is a lot! And I swear, I will pay you back when I return."

He clicked his tongue and waved away her promises and worries. "Don't stress. You're my friend, Leah, it is the least I could do for you. I know that you would have gone to the ends of the earth of anyone of us. Besides, the entire thing is a secret between you and I. No one else knows about this. I didn't want to get anyone involved because they would point fingers at me and your parents would know that I know something."