The difference she made!

Family atmosphere (1)

!خذني إلى بلد ما في شوارعها مطر .. دام المطر كله حنين .. خذني لأماكن مزعجة

Take me to a country, where there is no rain... As rain is full of longings. Take me to places that are full of noise!

Fajr took a shower and changed into comfortable clothes, she said her prayers joining Maghrib and Isha together as she couldn't perform them on time due to her travel trip. Afterwards, she let her pale brown hair down and combed it with easiness. A lot of past wishes crossed her mind. Aw how much she had wished to come back and see her own home and relatives. By being here, one of her dreams came true. She smiled at that thought and fastened her hair tightly in a bun then put on her hijab and abaya, so that her adornment would not be exposed to Fahd and Khalid as they were non-Mehram for her.

(Mehram =unmarriageable person in Islam).

There was a long table laden with the choicest dishes of food, some of what Fajr had never seen before. She was so hungry and she really had a very enjoyable meal with all of them except the absent Khalid. It was a lovely relaxing atmosphere, being with family usually creates an outstanding feeling. Hassan kept offering her this dish and that, while Fatima kept urging Huda to add more food into Fajr's plate.

"If you keep doing this along all my stay here, I'm sure I'll gain more weight and by the end of this holiday I'll be really fat." Fajr tried to halt Huda.

They laughed and assured her not to worry about that.

While Fahd started teasing Huda; "Don't worry, Huda can provide you with some diet plans... she is an expert on that."

He laughed and Huda sent him a warning look, seemed unamused; "what do you mean?"

"Although you never stuck to your diet plans, but see I still advice Fajr to ask your support if she needs to." He winked.

Huda stuck her tongue out  and stared at him with a look that clearly said "Haha, very funny."

Fajr smiled at them, at past whenever her friends talked about their brothers and how annoying they sometimes became, she tried to imagine how it felt to have a brother. Now seeing Fahd and Huda made her realize how sweet it would be if she had a brother or a sister.

At the end of the meal, Fajr requested "you should teach me how to cook those Saudi dishes, aunty. you are really a great cook." Since Fatima didn't know English, Fajr had to try to talk in Arabic more regularly. Although they told her that her Arabic was good, but she insisted on talking with them in English to avoid any embarrassments. 

Fatima's face lit up with pleasure as she welcomed that happily; "Sure!"

"Be happy, Mom. Finally there is someone shares your interests, unlike other people." Fahd said with a double eyebrow-raise.

Huda knew that he was referring to her by "other people", she retorted; "at least those other people spare her the time of coming around and check on them every single minute to see if they are studying or doing otherwise."

"see who is trying to be funny here." Fahd said to Huda sarcastically.

"I am not trying to be funny, I am stating facts."

"stop it you two." Hassan commanded using the look he used to give his misbehaving students.

That silenced both siblings at once, they looked at Fajr who was about to burst into laughter then smiled. The expressions on their faces made them look cute.

After dinner they sat together, chatted, joked and laughed. Shortly afterwards Hassan and Fatima went to sleep while Fajr stayed with Huda and Fahd drinking the coffee Huda had just made.

As Huda handed the mug to Fajr, she spat a question; "Tell me Fajr, where did you learn Arabic? You speak Arabic well enough."

"Dad used to talk with me in Arabic since my early years, and I have Arabian friends who helped me too." She went further; "after graduation I joined an Islamic center in London, where I became so interested in Arabic and Islamic studies as well."

Huda sat at the opposite sofa; "what did you study there?"

Fajr took a sip of the coffee and replied; "basic subjects of Islam besides memorizing the Holy Quran"

Huda opened her eyes in surprise; "you memorized the whole 30 chapters of Quran?"

Fajr smiled; "no, just 10 chapters so far."

"that's really interesting!" Huda remarked with a smile and shameful she added; "I just memorized 2 chapters."

" you should keep going, it is not that hard!" Fajr encouraged her.

After another sip, she commented; "this coffee tastes lovely."

Huda smiled; "Thanks."

"by the way, I'm really impressed by your English accent, how about you teach me yours and I teach you the Saudi Arabic accent perfectly?" suggested Fahd playfully.

Fajr turned to face him smiling; "Agreed. So when shall we start our first lesson?"

He laughed raising his hands; "hang on, hang on, you western people are too quick."

Huda rolled her eyes; "He could hardly study for his exams, so don't expect him to study for something else."

Fajr smiled at him when he made unpleased face and commented; "Huda, please don't start spreading rumors." Then he looked at Fajr sighing dramatically; "she can't let one build up a reputation, can she?"

Fajr laughed; "never mind. Learning an accent doesn't require much effort, all what we need to do is to talk and listen and we are already doing it."

Chatting with Huda and Fahd was so interesting that Fajr didn't realize how time passed so fast and all the exhausted feeling she had flew away.

Fahd was telling her how he usually spent his time when Huda suddenly called out; "Hey Khalid."

They both looked behind to see him, he didn't look at their direction though and kept scanning the papers he was carrying, but he responded any way; "yes?"

The time he got in, he could immediately hear their voices and laughs, the three were sitting in the seating area and they all seemed amused. The way Huda and Fahd felt so free with Fajr in such short time as if they had already known her before, was rather strange for him. However, he felt a sense of relief when he saw that Fajr was still on her full Hijab.

Huda raised the mug in front of her face saying; "coffee or dinner?"

He shook his head and waved the papers he carried saying; "No thanks. I am sleepy." Then he said good night and walked away.

It was different for him, he didn't understand why he felt the atmosphere got tenser when he saw Fajr around. On the other hand, Fajr didn't know why the atmosphere got colder by his presence!

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