The Three Muslimahs ✔

Chapter Thirty Nine

"Nida," Mr. Ahmed said, smiling as he turned and saw his daughter. "Come in."

"Abba," Nida said as she stepped in, "are you working already? We just landed only hours ago."

"Work waits for no one, beta," Mr. Ahmed said with a sigh. "I need to find an assistant soon; the workload becomes too much for your old father. Perhaps once Husayn finishes his program for debt rehabilitation, I can recruit him for the job."

Nida ignored her heart stuttering as she stared straight ahead into her father's eyes and said, "do you think he would want to stay here? Wouldn't that be a huge move?"

"That is up to him, of course," Mr. Ahmed said with a sigh. "But I hope he'll agree; I need someone I can trust. From what I saw of him while we were in NYC, he is a very trustworthy young man. If he chooses not to, I will have to let the company know and the departments can bring in their best candidates for the position."

"Right," Nida nodded. "I came to talk about something else, Baba, not work." She laughs lightly.

"Of course," Mr. Ahmed nodded. "What is it?"

"Do you know much about the maids that work for us?" she asked point blank.

"The maids?" Mr. Ahmed blinked. "What do you want to know?"

"Just who they are, what they are into, what makes them happy," Nida trailed off, a little embarrassed.

Mr. Ahmed smiled, seeing how his daughter has truly changed. But coming to him is not how this should be done. "Why don't you ask them?"

Nida stared at her father. "Ask them myself?"

Her father nodded. "How else can you get to know people?"

Nida swallowed, afraid of the prospect of facing the maids by herself. "Okay, I'll . . .try." She left her father's study, unsure of how to go about with this new plan she didn't anticipate.

~* ~* ~* ~* ~

The weeks passed by so quickly, Imaan could have sworn she blinked, and it was all gone. In the time since Nida had left, the three girls had formed a group chat and spoke to each other daily. Nida has begun her final year of high school and though she has faced criticism from her so-called friends, she reassured Jenna and Imaan that she can handle it. Her bigger concern, she says, is to show how much she regrets her attitude towards her maids. She is doing her best to make up for it. Just the thought of Nida going out of her way for someone she would have scoffed at only months ago made her beam with pride. Jenna, too, expressed how surprised she is by the new Nida and what she had to offer to the world. The cousins marveled at her level of goodness in such a short time.

"I wish she could have made it for the wedding, honestly," Jenna said as she put up a lily on the wreath of flowers hanging at the center of Imaan's living room wall. The two were decorating the room for Imaan's henna party the next day. They've put up a shimmering, champagne-colored backdrop and pearl strings on the border of the backdrop. They draped some fabric on the edges and transformed the wall into a faux stage.

"I wish she was here, too," Imaan said, a sad smile on her face. "It would have been so nice."

Jenna nodded, as she refocused on finishing up the decorations. "Okay, let's move on to the front hall downstairs." Imaan gathered the tools and materials while Jenna grabbed some fairy lights and the duo made their way to the hall. In an hour, the front hall was decorated with fairy lights twinkling from the ceiling and flowers artfully posted around. The space looked simple and elegant, just as Imaan liked.

"Ready for tomorrow?" Jenna grinned.

"As one could possibly ever be," Imaan said, exhaling sharply.