Finding Islam

26: Dad - Abu Bakr as Siddeeq RA

I tried weighing the pros and cons in my head and after some thought, I decided that a public dinner would be better. In this situation though, if bad was terrible, better would be horrible. But it would have to do.

I left the room after telling him to make reservations for seven people, mentioning her brother would be joining us and he nodded, commenting a sarcastic 'as you wish, my boy' as I left the room right after.

I didn't waste any time as I walked straight to my room and called Ayman, needing to tell him about the update and what he thought about my dad's idea. He answered fairly quickly with salam and I reciprocated it asking if he was alone. I began explaining the situation once he replied with 'yeah, what's up' telling him my thoughts and making sure not to leave out the actions my dad could execute.

"Oh, man." He muttered. I could hear the deep tone of stress in his voice as he groaned loudly, making me wait nervously for the rest of his response. I had just finished explaining my five minute long thought process to him, there was no way he was only replying with 'oh, man'.

"See, this is what I was trying to get at when I said the both of you come from different worlds at the start of all of this." He spoke making my jaw clench in frustration. Everything was going perfectly well with me and A'ishah. This was perhaps the only department where things would clash.

"I'm not saying anything bad, by the way. I want you to marry my sister. I'm just thinking of how it's gonna effect her." He said, making my body relax slightly. Alhamdulillah. I knew Ayman was completely on board with the idea of me marrying A'ishah. He had been pretty early in actually.

"Does this mean I have to show up in a suit?" He muttered. I thought over it. No doubt every woman dining there would wear the most elegant and formal designer gowns and the men clad in dapper suits. My mind shifted to how uncomfortable A'ishah would be in that environment, dressed in niqab. I knew she wasn't embarrassed or ashamed of her modesty and Islamic dress code, but she hated attention, and no doubt, she'd be getting loads of it at that restaurant.

"No." I answered him. "Show up in joggers, runners and a T-Shirt, alright?" I told him, a new idea coming to mind. "I'm gonna do the same and maybe that way it'll be less attention on A'ishah." I said and after some moments in silence, he agreed, telling me it was a good idea. We would be dressed so casually that maybe people won't even look at A'ishah.

"Make sure you prepare her, Ayman. Please. Don't sugarcoat anything. Everything I told you, tell her." I mumbled, wanting her to expect the worst, just incase it did happen. He told me he would.

"King?" He said. "No matter what happens Sunday night, I don't want you raising your voice to your dad, do you understand?"

"Aym..."

"No, I'm serious about this, bro. No matter what. Keep your cool. Even if A'ishah starts crying, neither of us will raise our voice to him."

"How?" I muttered deflated. How were we supposed to be silent if he was making A'ishah cry.

"One, you don't have a right to yell at him regardless. He's your father. Two, we won't always be there to stop him if you both marry. Three, I'll tell her that if she can't take it any more then she can ask me to leave and we will."

I paused, silently trying to imagine whether or not I would be able to control my anger in that situation. "I'll try." I muttered simply and I hung up before he spoke again to warn me.