Comment you reaction as you read. Pwease :P
Salma's P.O.V
"What?!" Salma cried, shell shocked. "How can she do this? How can mum decide something like that without even telling me?!"
Anne bit her lip, refilling Salma's glass with more juice. The two were seated around the kitchen table while William was out with Asim. Earlier, before she answered her questions, Anne insisted that Salma drinks a full glass of O.J. Salma now understood why.
"She was going to tell you," Anne defended Alley.
"When? Before or after the wedding ceremony?" Salma raised her voice.
"Honey, there are complications, it's not as simple as you think."
"Like what?" Salma spat angrily, "What is so complicated about telling me I've already been traded like cattle."
Anne gasped.
"Don't talk like that!" she scolded.
"What else am I to think, Anne," Salma cried. "This is how I feel right now. How can she not tell me?"
"Oh honey!" Anne hugged her.
Salma welcomed the the embrace. She was feeling exposed and insecure. She wanted someone to hold her together. It was just hard to wrap her head around the fact that her mother was making one of the most important decisions of her life without even consulting her.
"Does she think I'm that stupid?" Salma asked, feeling hurt and betrayed. "I'm not a kid. "
"I know." Anne consoled her, rubbing her back. "I know, love."
"Then why?"
Anne heaved a sigh.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you," she whispered, "but your mum really doesn't have a choice."
Salma snorted.
"Salma, don't think wrong of your mother," Anne said firmly. "She has really been through a lot, and the only reason she didn't tell you is that she's been trying her best to stop this marriage from happening."
Salma turned to Anne in surprise. Was she making this up to defend her mother?
"She has," Anne insisted, seeing the distrust in her eyes. "That is why she didn't tell you. She did not want you to get upset and fret over it while she thought it could be avoided."
"Thought?"
Anne looked away. Salma understood what that meant. Alley thought she could deflect the proposal but Anne's silence made it clear that she has failed to do so. Salma bit her lip feeling guilty. She felt ashamed of judging her mother so quickly when she was only trying to protect her. No wonder her mother was acting so uncharacteristically edgy these days.
"Did she tell Will?" Salma frowned. finding it upsetting that her mother would tell William about the proposal and not her daughter.
"She didn't," Anne replied. "I'm the only one she confided in. Your brother found out somehow. Will got suspicious after Ghamey taunted him the other day. When I refused to answer his questions, he drilled Asim till he caved in, but I don't think Asim told him the full account. Otherwise, he'd know you were still clueless and that your mum was not to blame."
Salma rested her head in her hands. She felt frustrated. She could not comprehend the reason behind Alley's attempt to deal with the proposal alone, or her helplessness to reject it downright. Why was she giving in to them if she knew Salma would never accept it? Why did she attempt to hide it from all of them, even her father? And why in the world did Anne think she had no choice? What was going on with her mother?
Salma felt a reassuring hand squeezing her shoulder. She sniffed, wiping her nose and eyes.
"Do you believe Allah knows what's best for you, love?"
Salma swallowed, slowly raising her eyes to meet Anne's kind green ones.
"Then trust him," Anne continued. "Don't fret over it. Do whatever you can to solve your problems and put your trust in Allah."
And Salma did just that. She decided to do whatever she could to stop Fahad and his family from imposing an unwanted marriage on her, and to trust Allah with whatever He had decided for her. As soon as she left the kitchen, she prayed maghrib and sat in waiting for Asim to come home.
The moment she heard the boys' voices enter through the door, Salma called Asim to her room.
"If you have more errands to run," he rambled, "find yourself a servant, because I . . .
Asim's voice trailed off when he saw his sister's expressions.
"What happened?" he asked cautiously.
"You're going to tell me that, bro."
Niall's P.O.V.
Reading comments on his Facebook page, Niall tried his best to tune out his best friend singing at the top of his lungs upstairs. It was mildly disturbing, but having Zayn act calm and happy was a nice change. The environment in the house was exceptionally cheerful and peaceful ever since Zayn and Salma worked out a truce.
Niall raised a brow when Zayn hit a screechingly high note.
"I think he will have a successful career, should he explore this avenue?" Claire giggled, as she tried to reach for her books on one of the top shelves.
"You have a horrible taste in music," Niall grumbled.
Claire turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, making his heart skip a beat. It took all the self restraint in him to focus on his phone, and not on how irresistible she was with her twinkling blue eyes and dimpled smile. However, Niall failed at his objective when he found his eyes straying back towards her.
Zayn came downstairs, still singing. Niall was not surprised to see a football running between his feet and earplugs blasting music in his ears. Just as he passed Claire on his way to the kitchen, he picked up her books.
"Aren't you like the best brother -" Claire cooed, reaching for the books.
Zayn place them on a higher shelf and left.
"What the hell, you beast! Put them back where they were! Zayn!"
Niall chuckled as she yelled while Zayn paid no attention. Walking back out of the kitchen, he headed towards the front door.
"I'm Damned if he's happy, damned if he's not!" she continued.
Niall was amused to notice a small smile playing on her lips. Although Zayn annoyed her, she looked like she had missed the silly banter between them.
Still grumbling, Claire dragged a chair towards the shelves. Niall was busy watching her over his phone when he was suddenly smacked on the head, hard!
"What're you looking at?"
"Your sister's cute struggles to retrieve her books," he replied without thinking.
"Excuse me!" Zayn snarled, snapping Niall back to his senses.
"Zayn!" Niall gasped, turning around to face him. "I thought you left."
His jaws ticked.
"I forgot something," he said tersely.
Niall shot to his feet quickly.
"I'll get it for you, what do you want?"
"I forgot a pervert,"
With that Zayn grabbed his collar and started dragging him backwards.
"Whoa! Wait, Zayn!" Niall protested.
"Shut up!"
Shoving him into the car seat unceremoniously, Zayn slammed the door shut.
"I don't have a class today!"
Zayn slid behind the wheel, ignoring his protests.
"You're not staying home alone with my baby sister!"
"Oh, so now you suddenly remember you have a sister to look after?" Niall shot at him.
"Yes," he replied calmly, "Now I remember I have a sister to look after."
"You're a moron!"
"Good to know." Zayn smirked.
Crossing his arms indignantly, Niall slumped back in the seat as Zayn turned to the street. Niall could easily have gotten out of the car but he decided to let Zayn have his way. The idiot was very protective of his sister and Niall did not want him getting suspicious of his feelings for her. Besides, once he was certain this calm spell of his was permanent, Niall planned on kicking his ass for the all hell he had been giving him, anyway. Might as well add this resentment to the list and give him the beating of his life in one go.
Zayn found an empty space close to the Biological Sciences building.
"What the hell am I supposed to be doing here now?!" Niall complained, annoyed.
"You, son, are going to –"
Zayn cut off abruptly. His expressions suddenly turned sour, his eyes fixed on someone across the ground in front of the building. The sunny grounds were littered with students from the dormitories. Niall followed Zayn's gaze to find Charlayne and Lena seated near one of the benches.
"What in the world are they doing here?" Niall spoke his thoughts aloud.
Grumbling, Zayn snatched his bag from the back and got out of the car. Apart from the fact that Lena might have wanted to catch Zayn on his way to the labs, Niall could not think of any other explanations as to why those two were seated outside the Biological Sciences block. His suspicions were confirmed by Lena's expressions when she looked up.
"Zayn!" She waved at him the moment she saw him.
Niall stifled a laugh when Zayn cursed. Plastering a fake smile on his face, he waved back.
"Aww! Looks like someone's been waiting for you," Niall teased him. To his horror, Zayn smile mysteriously.
"Looks like we finally found out how you'd be spending your morning today," he returned.
"What do you mean?" Niall asked, bewildered.
He just smirked.
"Zayn?"
Snapping open his seatbelt, Niall tried to get out of the car quickly but Zayn got a hold of him before he could make a run for it.
"What the –" Niall cursed when Zayn started dragging him along again. His eyes popped out realizing Zayn was walking towards the two girls.
"Are you planning on –"
"Yes."
"No! Zayn, Come on, bro! Let's talk it out, shall we?"
"No."
"I'll –"
With one swift shove, Niall was made to fall, face down on the ground between the two girls. They screamed and jumped out of the way.
"Oh God," Niall groaned in pain. "One of you, Please claw his face for me!"
Zayn dumped his bag on Niall's back.
"Douche!" Niall shouted
"Hi ladies," he heard Zayn's cheerful voice.
"Get lost," Charlayne grumbled, glaring at him while Lena giggled like a teenage girl.
"Hi Zaynie!"
Zaynie? That sounds horrible.
Niall cringed. No wonder Zayn hated that nickname.
"Take care of Brownie for me, will you?" Zayn said. "I got things to do."
Lena looked disappointed when Zayn started walking away. Still cursing under breath, Niall pulled himself off of the ground.
"What the hell was that?" asked Charlayne, who was staring at Zayn's retreating back in surprise. "And why are you here? I thought you said you didn't have classes today?"
"I don't! That scumbag dragged me out because he didn't want me to stay home alone with his baby sister," Niall mimicked Zayn, dusting his clothes angrily.
"Why?" Lena asked, confused.
"Because he's a jealous ass, that's why!"
"Jealous over you or jealous over her?" Lena raised a brow.
The two girls giggled, making him want to yell at the skies.
"I liked you better when you were whining over Zayn!" Niall snapped. Just then he caught a glimpse of Salma walking by. He bit his tongue.
Yikes!
"Hey, every girl is a Ziall shipper," Lena kept blabbering loudly. "I'm willing to sacrifice my love for the most popular ship in the soccer world to sail successfully."
Niall glared at her pointedly to shut her up.
"What? It's not like anyone here knows who Zayn actually is –"
"Lee!" Charlayne warned, pointing towards Salma's approaching figure.
A dark scowl shadowed Lena's face when she saw Salma. Feeling their eyes on her, Salma looked up. Charlayne and Niall waved at her while Lena expressed her distaste aloud. Giving them a small nod of acknowledgement, Salma kept walking. Niall frowned. Something was off about her. She looked rather glum. Charlayne seemed to have noticed too. The two of them exchanged confused glances.
"So, deary beloved is still in the dark?" Lena cackled.
"Who's in the dark and about what?" Zayn asked from behind them, making the three jump.
"Z-Zayn?"
"No, it's only my ghost!" Zayn remarked sarcastically.
While they were scared out of our skins for how much of Lena's crap he might have heard, Zayn was calmly standing there, eating a donut.
"If you're done gawking at me, will you finally answer the question?" Zayn turned his attention to Lena, "What were you talking about?"
"I – I was only . . ." Lena paled.
"What are you doing here?" Charlayne interrupted a stuttering Lena.
"I forgot my bag," Zayn said, jerking his head at the bag lying next to Niall.
"Here," Niall quickly handed it to him, while the two girls tried to act normal.
Reaching for the bag, Zayn eyed them suspiciously.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing, really," Lena replied quickly, while stupidly looking over her shoulder to the retreating robed figure.
Zayn followed her gaze. His eyes lit up when he saw Salma.
"Warn him," Charlayne mouthed at Niall, but before he could say anything, Zayn beat him to it.
"Bee's here. I got to dash!" Zayn said, shouldering his bag and turning to leave.
However, like a pea brain that Lena is, she chose to insult Salma just then.
"B?" She scoffed. "Quite a befitting short form for a bih-"
The three gasped when a half eaten donut was suddenly slapped onto her face, smearing her nose and chin with chocolate before sliding down to ruin her dress. It took Lena a while to realize what had happened and when she did, she shrieked like a mad woman and leapt to her feet. The students in the near vicinity turned their attention to them.
"Oops! Looks like I missed the mouth!" Zayn grinned,
Niall and the girls turned to him, dumbstruck.
"I'm better with my legs. Should I try again?" Zayn continued.
There was a sudden uproar as the students erupted with laughter. Charlayne and Niall were already rolling on the ground. Lena forgot all about impressing Zayn and unleashed a curse attack before storming away, humiliated, her ears ringing with everyone's laughter.
Salma's P.O.V.
Salma set the microscope with a heavy heart. She had had more crying sessions in the past couple of hours then she could count. The moment she was reminded of her situation, her heart clenched with misery and her mind exploded with frustration. Since she could not relieve any of it, she ended up tearing. And that was the problem. She hated the fact that she was being weak; that she was being cornered.
"Easy there, you're going to break it."
Salma jumped slightly when Zayn arrived in the lab. It took her a while to realize he was talking about the knob she had been holding in a death grip. Her fingers had gone white and numb. Biting her lip, she relaxed her fingers around it.
She threw Zayn a cautious side glance. His mood was in direct contrast to hers. He seemed rather pleased about something. Salma busied herself with the microscope and avoided eye contact. She was certain her eyes were still raw and puffy and she did not want him asking questions.
"How're you doing?" Zayn asked, as he unloaded his bag.
"Good," Salma replied shortly. It was ironic that she chose to say 'Good' when she was anything but.
"So what's the plan today?" Zayn asked again.
Not taking her eyes away from the lens, Salma handed him her drawings of the mouth parts of the bees.
"Animate the mouth parts," she replied.
"The mouth parts?"
"The drawings are self explanatory."
While she was bent over the microscope, she hoped Zayn would take her short replies for distraction by the bee she was observing. Though quite frankly, she was barely paying any attention to the insect as she fought her thoughts and fears.
When Zayn did not reach for the drawings, Salma made the mistake of looking up. Zayn's eyes widened. His lips parted in surprise. Salma's heart sank at his reaction.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, looking concerned. "What happened?"
Salma knew she had to play smart. She let out a dry awkward laugh, trying to mask her misery. She felt her chest stab. Feigning cheerfulness is excruciating when the heart is threatening to break into pieces.
"That horrible, huh?" she questioned as she rubbed her eyes, faking exhaustion. "I slept late last night."
Confusion crossed Zayn features, but overall, he still appeared skeptic of her answer.
"No, it's just . . ." Zayn trailed off. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just sleep deprived," Salma attempted to sound normal.
It wasn't entirely a lie, but that was not the only reason why her eyes were probably half closed and swollen. After knowing of proposal's threat looming over her head, Salma had barely been able to eat or sleep. Asim and Anne were worried sick, while Will threw up yet another fit after he found out Salma had been kept in the dark. Anne forbade him to do anything stupid, including discussing the matter with Uncle Dawood. Salma was scared by how secret the proposal was being kept. Even her father and Uncle Dawood were kept in the dark.
Seeing no other way out of this mess, Salma planned on telling her father upon his return from work. However, even the thought made her gut clench with anxiety. Salma had no idea how she was actually going to do it.
Zayn eyed her shrewdly. Salma felt uncomfortable. She could not be sure if she had managed to deceive him with her half truths. Zayn was sometimes so freakishly accurate at reading her, it was scary.
"Just that?" he asked, sensing she was hiding something.
Stumping her suddenly unruly emotions, Salma rolled her eyes and turned back to the microscope, mocking impatience.
"If you're done interrogating me," she muttered, dodging his question, "we've got work to do."
Zayn eyed her for while. Salma feared he might press the subject further but fortunately enough, he decided to let go.
"Right . . . let's get back to work," Zayn agreed halfheartedly.
Salma heaved a sigh of relief.
"And that means you explain this stuff to me," Zayn continued. "These drawing aren't self explanatory."
Resisting the urge to hurl something at him, Salma got up form her seat and left to join him on the opposite counter. However, when she noticed a small smug smirk playing on his lips, Salma failed to keep her mouth shut.
"Wipe that smirk off!"
She ended up getting laughed in the face.
***
Salma could not, for the life of her, say it out aloud, but helping Zayn somehow provided her the distraction she desperately needed. It was ironic that in his company she found refuge from the dread that was haunting her to insanity. His obnoxious behavior, for once was calming her down - by riling her up. She realized she would prefer dealing with Zayn any day over dealing with Ghamey's family.
With Zayn, everything was on the table, it was an outright. Salma did not feel like she had to hold anything back; her resentment, her anger, her complains or concerns. She felt strong. She felt being on an equal footing to him. With Ghamey's family, she dealt with nothing and everything at the same time. The problem was hers, but the players were many. And she was not one of them. They made her feel small and overpowered. They made her feel weak.
"Wakey wakey!" Zayn struck against the table sharply, snapping Salma out of her thoughts.
"Sorry, what?"
"Really?" Zayn laughed incredulously.
Salma scolded herself for zoning out. On her silence, Zayn's expressions turned more serious.
"If you're not feeling up to it, we can take a break?" Zayn said, eyeing her with concern. "We can go, grab a quick coffee or something?"
"No, no I'm fine. Thank you," Salma replied quickly. Zayn gave her another look, not taking her word for it. "I'm cool."
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely." Salma forced a smile.
Shrugging in a if-you-say-so manner, he pushed his iPad towards her. "Take a look at this."
While Salma was going through the various layers of the animation Zayn has been working on, he stretched his arms in exhaustion.
"Seriously though, we've been working for hours. You really don't fancy a break?"
"Nope." Salma popped the 'p', making small correction notes on a separate page for each of the layers. Zayn sighed.
Salma may have imagined it, but she thought she heard him say 'Stubborn girl'. Resting his face in his palm, Zayn resorted to being a creep. Salma dug her teeth into her tongue to hold back a retort when his continued staring made her a bit too uncomfortable.
"Bee, have you ever questioned your faith?" Zayn asked out of blue.
Salma's fingers paused mid swipe as she turned to him, caught off guard. She raised an incredulous brow. What in the world was going on in his head?
Sitting back in his seat, he relaxed and shrugged.
"Just wondering."
"Of course you are," Salma muttered, turning back to the gadget on the table.
"So . . . have you?"
Salma was the one to shrug this time.
"Of course."
"Really?" he asked, sounding somewhat skeptic.
"Why not?" Salma let out a dry laugh at the incredulity in his tone. "How can you have strong faith in something without questioning it?"
"And?"
"And what?"
"Did it have answers?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Salma raised a brow.
"Of course." He laughed, shaking his head.
Salma narrowed her eyes at him, getting offended by his ridiculing response. However, she knew better than to dwell upon him or anyone mocking her faith. Dismissing his reaction as 'weird' rather than 'degrading', Salma turned back to her work.
"Have you ever considered not doing what was Islamically required?" Zayn asked after a brief pause.
"Are you for real?!"
"What? It just doesn't look like it could happen." Zayn defended, feeling her incredulous stare on him.
"Happens all the time." Salma chuckled, as images of force-feeding Ghamey cockroaches flashed across her mind.
"I wasn't expecting you to say that."
I wasn't expecting you to say that, either," Salma countered.
"What d'you mean?"
"I don't know how to break it to you, but I'm a human being. You should expect me to not enjoy observing my duties all the time."
Zayn rolled his eyes.
"I didn't mean it that way."
"Neither did I." Salma shrugged
"What I mean by that," Zayn continued, ignoring her interference, "is that I didn't expect you to be so honest about it."
"Why?" Salma's brows furrowed.
Zayn shrugged again.
"I dunno," he said. "Probably because religious people never say anything bad about their religion. I guess they fear people will question the truth about it if they ever said their religion or belief system was problematic. And, you know, people want their religion to spread and all."
Salma held a bit of stare down contest as she tried to assess if he was being honest with his query. Realizing it was not her place to judge the motives behind his questions, she decided to answer him.
"Firstly, I believe truth better be told, because it'll make its way out anyway. Secondly, I never said anything is wrong with Islam. I said I questioned it, and it survived my questions. And that sometimes I laxed in my duties, but that doesn't mean the duties aren't doable," she explained.
"Both of these things happen because I'm a human. Islam acknowledges that as a human, I'll have questions that will need answering, and that I won't always be top of my game. Islam provides answers as long as I'm sincere in my quest. And it provides me with second chances and boost me up every time I'm down. Allah doesn't demand perfection, He just asks for a sincere effort. I don't see why I should be ashamed of any of this and hide it."
"Fair enough." Zayn shrugged. "But what if you being straight about it all, pushes people away from Islam?" he asked. "Lifestyle today is different from all those centuries ago. One is bound to not feel like following Islam."
"Is it though?" Salma raised a brow, placing the iPad on the table. "I disagree.
"Lifestyle today is not very different from the life of the 'Arabs before Islam." she countered. "They normally drank, danced, had illicit relations, had pubs, brothels, wore improper clothing, bad mouthed others, abused women, kids and the poor, were greedy, wanted fame, wealth, beauty and the list goes on. And yet, people still accepted the faith that challenged most of what they were used to. They changed their lifestyles completely and they flourished. Regardless, if people like it, they like it, if they don't, they don't. It's their loss. Islam doesn't need people. People need Islam."
Zayn frowned. He chewed on his lips as he contemplated her words.
"What if it makes things unnecessarily complex?"
"For example?" Salma asked.
"For example," Zayn said, sitting up and leaning his elbows on the counter. "For quite a while now I've wanted to ask you --" He cut off abruptly, looking unsure. "Erm, this could be a offensive to you."
Salma eyed his sheepish expression with amused curiosity.
"Go on." She raised a skeptic brow. "What bugs the barely there brain? Give me the example."
Zayn rolled his eyes at her dig.
"For example, I could just ask you on a da - I mean . . . say I want something, right?" Zayn struggled with his words for bit, "And the person I want it from could possibly want the same thing, yeah? but Islam complexes it unnecessarily by adding 'do's and 'don'ts for one party, when at least you giving me - I mean it - a chance would really not harm anyone."
Salma blink at Zayn as her headed started spinning.
"I doubt Islam can make anything as complex as you just did with your example," Salma said, trying to stifle a laughter.
"It's simple really," he said quietly.
Salma looked at him, confused. A voice at the back of her head told her she was missing a very clear message in his words.
"Nothing is complicated. Everything is for a reason," Salma replied quietly, still slightly occupied by his words. "The strength to face is already there. You just have to find it in yourself and deal with it."
Somehow, her own words hit her like a ton bricks. The moment Salma uttered them, she realized just how much they related to her situation. How much she needed to hear them out aloud. And how much she needed to follow her own advice.
She turned back to her work but she was barely able to concentrate. The words reverberated in her mind. She realized she was neither strong around Zayn, nor weak around Ghamey's family. She was the same. With him and with them. Nothing changed. Nothing of her strengths that Allah had blessed her with, was taken away, nor was anything added. It was only how she was looking at each situation that changed.
"Everything is for a reason . . . you just have to find it in yourself to deal with it."
An involuntary gasp escaped her mouth. Zayn, who still seemed to be processing her words, turned to her in surprise.
"Is everything ok -"
Salma shot out of her seat, cutting him off.
"I just remembered I got to take care of something," Salma said in a rushed tone, "Do you mind if we call it a day?"
Zayn was caught off guard by her sudden haste to leave.
"Yeah . . . " he replied, looking at her bewildered as she grabbed her books. "No problem."
Stuffing her things inside her bag, Salma ran towards the exit.
"Thanks a lot, by the way," she shouted over her shoulder, "you've helped!"
Author's Note:
Did Zayn just - yes he did :P Too bad Salma didn't catch up to it. Anyway, although she didn't get what Zayn implied, but some other knot in her head was undone. What was it? Thoughts?
What is wrong with her Mum?
Anyways, vote comment and share ^^
Lots of Love,
J.