A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 65.

Safia’s POV

Not much happened through Ramadan. I was upset I couldn’t fast throughout the entire month. I wanted to but Yusuf said I shouldn’t. I would have if it wasn’t so hot and the fasts weren’t so long. A friend of mine from my first year of university, who was married to a doctor, also advised me against it. I had to put my children’s health first. I had to make up for the fasts I missed when I was able to. But for that month of Ramadan, I tried to pray extra to make up for missing fasts.

I’d been waiting three years for graduation, but when it came, I wasn’t happy. I was happy I had a degree but the graduation wasn’t how I dreamt of it. I had passed with average grades but I didn’t expect any better. Maybe getting married and getting pregnant while at university wasn’t the best way forward. But if I had the chance to go back and not get married, I would never have taken it. The reason for that was Yusuf.

If I didn’t have Yusuf already, I would have traded my degree for him. At times, he could be so annoying and a big kid. But at the end of the day, he was always there. And he always provided support when I needed it. Around the time he finished his training when I had my graduation. He was with me, holding my hand, asking if I was tired.

“Just because I’m pregnant, doesn’t mean I’m incapable of walking,’ I said to him a few times. Although by the end of the day, my back was hurting. I also looked so huge in the picture with me holding my degree in my hand. Yusuf said I looked cute. I accepted the compliment and shrugged it off even though Hamza laughed at me when he saw it.

I had to stop my whole family from attending the graduation so I limited the number to three and made Uncle Yahya drive me and Yusuf there. Mum came along and after a lot of pleading, I let Hafsa come too. Hamza wasn’t happy about that; he wanted to come as well. Hafsa also laughed at my graduation picture but she also said I looked cute. Although I didn’t like the picture yet, I was sure years down the line, I would laugh at the picture and it would bring back memories of graduating while heavily pregnant.

I was nearing 9 months when my mum sent Hamza to get me and Yusuf. For some reason, we had to go to my parents’ house. It was nice for Hamza to pick us up. I hadn’t been there since Eid when Ramadan ended a month ago. They’d been coming to visit though. But I told them they all had to visit separately because there wasn’t enough space for all of them to come together.

I was waddling when I walked now. But I didn’t even care about that or how huge the bump had gone. I just wanted the babies out! I wanted to hold them and not go to bed with them in my stomach. It was all so uncomfortable. I thought I knew a lot about pregnancies but no one prepared me for this. Why was it so uncomfortable? Well because I had two growing babies inside of me obviously.

When I got to my parents’ house, Yusuf took my hand as soon as I got out of the car. The nearer I was getting to labour, the sweeter he was becoming. He wouldn’t even let me wake up for suhoor at night during Ramadan. I wanted to though, not for him exactly but because I wanted to gain reward for it. A reward for any deed is multiplied in Ramadan so even something as small as making someone a meal would help someone gain so many rewards.

“Asalamu’alaykum!” My mum said greeting me with a really awkward hug. My stomach was in the way. I wished I could just move it to the side and hug my mum. Not long to go, I reminded myself. My due date was in only a week.

I was led inside by Hafsa and sat down on the sofa, feeling grateful for its comfort. It was so much better than the car. My nephew, Zidan, came running to me.

“Careful Zidan!” Aisha shouted with gritted teeth.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. I stared at Zidan for a while, he’d grown so much. He was now two years old. Time flew by a little too quick for my liking.