Chapter Thirteen
Was it a surprise that my hands trembled as I unlocked the front door, peeking in slightly in an attempt to listen in on the happenings of the house? Luckily, I heard nothing from the same floor.
I turned around and placed my index finger on my lips and whispered, "Come on, let's try getting you into the room quickly."
She gave me an uneasy look as we tiptoed into the house, gently closed the door and made our way up the stairs. The door to Mum's room was closed but I could hear her voice coming through the room.
"...thinks this is the end of it, then she has another thing coming. I am not going to back down." I heard her speak.
There was no other voice I could hear so my assumption was that she was on the phone. We continued to tip toe across to the spare bedroom.
"Quick, get in. I'll come back in a bit," I whispered, quickly opening the door, throwing the bags I had on my hands in and shoving her inside.
My heart was racing and I slowly shut the door behind me, making my way into the bathroom to compose myself. I rested against the door of the bathroom and truly started to contemplate my actions. What was I thinking? Should I have spoken to Eijaz about this first? I didn't want to imagine his reaction let alone Mums'. What was I going to do? How do I explain this?
I inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times and once I felt calm enough, I made my way over to the mirror, only to realise I hadn't pulled my niqab off yet. I pulled it over my face, resting it over my head and stared at myself in the mirror. I turned on the tap and splashed water on my face and when I turned it off again, that's when I heard her.
"Hafeezah, is that you?" Mum called out from outside the bathroom.
My heart rate increased again. "Yes, Mum, it's me. I'm coming!" I called back.
I squeezed my eyes, took a few more deep breaths and exited the bathroom.
"Where have you been all this time?" She began, even before I could shut the bathroom door behind me.
"I ––" I was interrupted.
"Do you think you can just do whatever you like?" She narrowed her eyes at me, taking a step towards me.
"Your son is aware that I went to help Khadra out," I spurted out before she could take another step.
"Oh, well, you should also tell me next time," she settled on.
I wanted to point out that my husband is the only person that really needs to know but I didn't have that courage.
"Okay, where is he?" I asked.
"In his room," she answered, venom in her voice. When I didn't respond and headed up the stairs towards my room, she added, "after the hard work he's been doing, trying to fix the oven and a few other things, you should have been home to give him a massage."
I bit my tongue in fear that I'd end up saying something back to her that would be inappropriate. It probably wasn't a good idea to point out that she was the only reason he was doing the handy work in the house on his day off. When I entered my room, Eijaz was laying on the bed, on his phone. He glanced my way and smiled.
"How did it go?" He sat up as I undid my niqab and hijab.
"If you get a call or a marriage CV from a number you don't recognise, it's the proposal for Khadra," I replied, smiling back cheekily. "Can you speak to Khalu for me please? Thanks, you're the best."
His mouth was agape, unsure of how to reply.
"Why didn't you give him Khalu's number?" He eventually voiced.
"I did. He has yours and Khalu's number but someone needs to go to Khalu and tell him about it. I can't exactly do that, can I?" I asked, slipping out of my abaya.
"Do you even know what this guy is like?"
"Nope, that's your job to find out." I bounced around the room, putting all the clothes I took off in their designated places.
"You are something else," he muttered, although I managed to hear it.
"Hey! I heard that!"
He just chuckled in response.
I finally turned back to him, making my way to the bed. It was now or never; I had to tell him I brought someone home before Mum found out and made a fuss. I sat beside him and fiddled with my hands.
"I need to tell you something," I gulped nervously.
"What's up? Is everything okay?" Concern was laced in his voice.
"Er... so you know that girl we saw on the way back from my parents' and we tried to follow her?" I began, waiting for him to react.
He nodded his head slowly, raising an eyebrow, wondering where the conversation was going.
"Well, I found her today and she's downst ––" I wasn't able to finish my sentence when we heard shouts coming from downstairs.
Eijaz immediately stood up and ran out of the room and I followed pursuit. We came face to face with Mum holding the spare room door open, shouting while the girl in the room (I just realised I still didn't know her name) was shaking on the spot, biting her bottom lip.
"Mum, what's going on?" Eijaz asked as we came to a stop outside the room.
"What do you mean what is going on here? Why is there a stranger in the house with all her things here as if she's moving in?" Mum directed her anger towards him.
Eijaz turned towards me with an eyebrow raised.
"That's what I was trying to tell you. She's been kicked out and I couldn't leave her on the streets so I brought her here," I babbled, worried about their reaction.
"I told you to be careful of this one! She does whatever she wants whenever she wants. You need someone who listens to you and gets your permission before she does anything. This is your house. How have you allowed her to get on top of your head?" Mum shouted at Eijaz.
"Mum, please, can we just discuss this somewhere else and not in front of the guest," I suggested, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Guest? Ptsh, it looks like she's moved in and without letting anyone know."
"Mum, let's just go into your room and talk about this calmly." Eijaz grabbed his Mum by the shoulder and directed her out of the spare room. "She's had a rough time, let her settle for a bit. Hafeezah, let's go."
Mum didn't argue and I followed the two, but not before I flashed an apologetic look over to our 'guest'.
"I'll sort this out, don't worry," I mouthed to her just before the room's door closed.
I closed Mum's bedroom door behind me to muffle out our voices to stop it from escaping the room. That's only if no one shouts. Mum and Eijaz both looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to explain.
"She needs a place to stay and we had a spare room, just until she is able to sort something out." I leaned against the door of the room and played with my fingers behind my back.
"And whose permission did you get?" Mum questioned, narrowing her eyes at me.
"I didn't think to ask, she needs our help," I turned to Eijaz, begging him to understand because I knew Mum wasn't. "Please! She doesn't have anything right now. We can't leave her on the streets. She literally stayed in the café from the minute it opened this morning until I dragged her here. Believe me, she didn't ask for the help but she needs it. I couldn't just leave her there."
Eijaz sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Look Mum, it's okay. It's not like she'll be here forever."
"You let her do this now, Allah knows what she will bring next time," Mum snorted back.
My face dropped; Was she insinuating what I thought she was? I couldn't hold back my disgust.
"Mum, what are you saying?" Eijaz spoke up, coming to my defence.
"Don't tell me I didn't warn you! Now there is another person to clean up after as if I'm not in enough hardship being here," Mum raised her voice.
"Okay, Mum, we'll make sure that doesn't happen. She'll just be here for a few days and I already spoke to Hafeezah about the cleaning and stuff. She said she will make sure she doesn't cause any problems for you," he answered, making his way towards me, hoping to calm the situation.
"Before long this place is going to become a homeless shelter." She just needed the last words. "If you think this is the end of it, then there is another thing coming!"
Her last words were definitely aimed at me and knowing Mum, there is no way she would let this go.
Eijaz placed one hand on my shoulder, moving me out of the way to open the door and then directed me out without saying another word to Mum. He wanted to take me out of the room before anything further erupted. He continued passed the guest room and began to lead me up the stairs until I shrugged him off before we got to the first step. We halted and I turned to face him as he gave me a questioning look.
"Let me just check on..." I trailed off, using my chin to point towards the guest room. The trailing off as I was still unsure of her name.
"Okay, but quick, come to the room straight after. We have some talking to do," he replied with a stern voice. He shuffled around me and made his way up the stairs alone.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the guest room. When I heard a mousy response of an invitation, I opened the door to find our guest sat on the edge of the bed with her belongings still untouched on the floor besides her. Her eyes were glassy with tears as she looked up to face me. I shut the door behind me and leaned on the floor, placing my hands on her knees.
"Hey, you alright?" I whispered.
I have no clue why I whispered but it felt natural to do so in the circumstance.
She wiped her snot with her sleeve and nodded without saying anything.
"You aren't. Please tell me what's wrong? I'm here to help."
My heart went out for her; just watching her made me want to cry too.
She took a few strained breaths, wiped away her tears again and gave me a weak smile.
"Did I get you in trouble?" She asked with a raspy voice.
Seemed as though the topic has officially changed.
"Course not! They're happy for you to be here; they just needed a little bit of understanding, that's all," I smiled at her.
Her piercing blue eyes gazed at me with gratitude. It was the first time I noticed the colour of her eyes.
"Uhm, this is embarrassing but I still don't know your name," she muttered, suddenly shy.
"Thank God you asked because I didn't know how to ask for your name," I laughed. "Mine's Hefeezah."
"Aaliyah, although some still call me Alice," she answered.
"Are you...?" I trailed off, unsure of how to voice my thoughts.
"A revert?" and when I nodded, she responded, "Yeah."
I felt the excitement erupt from my stomach; I had never met a revert before and I always wanted to but the conversation had to wait for another time because I heard the grumbles of her stomach, begging for food.
"Okay, so why don't you settle in. Maybe wash up, change your clothes while I go make something for you to eat," I said, standing up.
Just as I was turning towards the door, she held onto my wrist. When I faced her again, she smiled, "Thank you for all your help. JazakAllah khairan."
"Wa Antum Fa JazakAllakhu Khairan."
~~~
A/N
Assalamu alaikum! The chapter is finally out! Please let me know of your honest opinion because I feel like though I haven't written in so long that I've forgotten how to.
Also a big thank you to Fadingscar231, Ambersarah27 and jimink101 for the encouragement. Not sure if I would have continued it if you guys hadn't been waiting for more :D.