A/N: Unedited
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Though Sami was irritated, he was kind of relieved as well. What had Radia done to him? When had Sami ever felt relieved at Arsenal losing a match?
They were in Abu Dhabi and Sami had decided to spend two hours in the lobby of the hotel to use the WiFi and continuously refresh a page for updates on the football match. Liverpool were playing against Arsenal and the match was intense.
However, Radia was annoyed at him. She wanted to go out and enjoy the evening. They were already into their fourth day of the week and there was so much more Radia wanted to do.
When Sami got up to their room with a frown on his face, he was met by Radia who was also frowning with her arms crossed.
"Liverpool won," Sami said and he saw Radia's frown transform.
"Shame on you. You deserve it," she said, smiling.
"One match doesn't prove anything. Arsenal's still better," Sami said defensively as lay down on the bed.
"It proves everything. Liverpool's the best."
"Your only flaw is that you're a Scouser, Radia," Sami commented and Radia grinned. Her anger seemed to have disappeared.
"Walk on..." She began to sing the Liverpool anthem.
"Shut up."
"Walk on!"
"You walk on, away from me."
"With hope!"
"You suck."
"In your heart!"
"I hate you," Sami said, covering his ears. Radia moved close to Sami.
"AND YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!" She screamed into his ear.
"Shut up!" He said, getting up, stopping himself from laughing as he rubbed his ear. Radia stood on the bed with her hands in the air.
"YOU'LL NEEEVER WALK... Alone."
"I'd rather walk alone with you screaming that into my ear." Though Sami was teasing Radia, he was glad she wasn't mad at him. Radia jumped off the bed.
"I feel a lot better after that."
"Good. I'm hungry now. Let's go get some food."
"Finally! But you're paying since Liverpool won."
"When have I ever let you pay?" Sami asked and Radia shrugged, putting her abaya and hijab on.
They left and went to a restaurant they'd been to before as at least they could guarantee the food was going to be nice. As they sat down, Sami asked Radia what she would like to do on their last full day which was going to be tomorrow.
"Visit the Sheikh Zayed Mosque again. I want to see and analyse more!" Radia said.
"Again?"
"Yes, again! And don't judge me after spending two hours on your phone reading updates of a football match."
"Okay, I'm sorry."
"You better be sorry!" Radia said, flicking through the menu the waiter gave them.
"How can I make it up to you?" Sami asked.
"Shower me with compliments," Radia said, not meeting his gaze as she suppressed a giggle at her own silliness.
"Oh dear wife, the noor on your face is blinding me," Sami said, taking Radia's hand.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Your beauty is incomparable. You... your eyes are hypnotising. Even if a day comes when dark clouds fill the sky, the light in your eyes will bring me back to life," Sami commented and Radia burst into laughter.
"I didn't say tell me the translation of my favourite nasheed."
"But it's true!" Sami said, grinning. "It's actually true." Sami's tone turned more serious. "Even if I have a terrible day, when you look at me while you're happy, it makes everything alright. And I can tell when you're happy because you get this shine in your eyes, bit like a light, and it just makes me feel better."
"That's like the nicest cheesy thing anyone has ever said to me," Radia replied and Sami shook his head. "But Sami, I know exactly what you mean. You get that happy light in your eyes too and sometimes I feel like I'd give up everything to see it. It suits you," she said.
"It suits you too," He said, tightening his hold on her hand. She squeezed his hands back.
Soon, the waiter returned and they placed their orders. It was a lovely magical night.
In fact, the whole time in Abu Dhabi seemed magical. They didn't fight once. Instead, there was a lot of joy and contentment. To Sami, he felt this time was even better than when they newly married. Though that time was fun in itself, he remembered how new and awkward everything was. Now it was like all the fun without the awkwardness.
Sami never really had anyone in life he could say or do anything he wanted in front of. He felt like Radia was probably the first ever person he was so comfortable with. After thanking Allah for this, he decided to test out what Radia would do if he said the first thing that came to mind.
"What if starfish took over the world?"
"Sponges would be more likely to take over the world than starfish," Radia replied without even an odd look. That only made Sami love her more.
After getting into a whole debate about whether the plural of starfishes was starfish or starfishes, then about freaky conspiracies, Radia and Sami had finished their dinners and were ready to head back to their hotel.
While in the elevator, Sami began muttering to himself under his breath.
"Ya khayra zawjati."
"Aww you're singing the nasheed to me again?" Radia asked.
"Don't be flattered, it's just stuck in my head."
"You had to ruin it, didn't you?"
"Indeed I did," he responded with a cheeky smile.
***
This trip was an amazing idea. They really needed it. One stress free week. Originally, they had wanted to go for Hajj but it wasn't possible for Sami to take more than a week off for his work yet. But they were saving money to make Hajj the following year.
Nonetheless, Radia couldn't remember a time when she had felt so careless and happy. She was even feeling happy on the day they were returning though she knew she was going to miss Abu Dhabi very much.
Something new Radia had learnt about Sami was that he didn't like plane journeys so she was worried for him as they sat on the plane. They held each other's hands as the plane started.
Unfortunately, there was some turbulence on the plane and Sami kept holding his breath and reciting all that came into his head. At one point, Radia awkwardly held Sami when the turbulence got a little bad. Some people gave her a weird look but she didn't care.
When they were landing back in the UK, Sami held his ears and complained like a child. Radia told him to block his nose, close his mouth and try to push air out of his ears. Though she thought that was a terrible explanation as to what she wanted him to do, Sami seemed to understand.
"It's not working," he complained and Radia tried to comfort him and distract him until they had landed.
Finally they had reached the airport and Sami's ears felt better.
"Look, you made them all red by rubbing them so much," Radia said, pinching the tip of his ear as they stood, waiting for their luggage.
"I just want to go home and lie in bed now." Sami ran a hand through his already messy hair. Radia had gotten used to how it grew out in every way and even began to like it. Radia took out a hairbrush from her bag and Sami looked at her questioningly. "You wear a hijab, why do you have a hairbrush taking up space in your bag?"
"In case my hair falls apart and I needed to brush it through before tying it up in the bathroom," Radia explained, holding Sami's face with one hand while brushing his hair with the other.
"What are you doing? People are watching!" Sami exclaimed but Radia simply ignored him. "You're not my mum, stop acting like it," Sami said, glaring at Radia.
"I don't care, you have messy hair and I need to fix it." She proceeded to brush Sami's beard too.
"My beard's not tangled, stop it," Sami warned.
"Fine, look like you just came fresh of the jungle, I don't care."
"I'm offended."
"Who said a guy from the jungle isn't hot?" Radia said, covering up her offence.
"Then why are you trying to take that rugged look away?"
"Because you're dressed too smart to have the jungle hair." Radia pinched Sami's cheek and he rolled his eyes at her.
It wasn't long before they had gotten all their luggage. When they reached arrivals, Radia saw that her dad and Nadia were there, waiting for her.
"Radia!" Nadia said, climbing under the barrier and running towards Radia at full speed.
"Woah, slow down!" Radia said as Nadia crashed into her with a hug.
"We missed you!"
"You go a week without seeing me anyway, why did you miss me so much this time?"
"Because this time you went far away and you could have had a plane crash and died on the way," Nadia replied. Radia pulled her along to where their dad was.
"Oh great, now that you've said that, Sami will probably never sit on a plane again. We're going to have to walk to Makkah for Hajj next year."
"Isn't one more likely to die in a car crash than in a plane?"
"Stop talking about ways of dying," Radia scolded Sami as she reached her dad and said Salaam. They hugged each other before Radia's dad insisted taking her suitcase.
Radia and Sami went to Radia's parents house first to eat dinner. After they were done with dinner, they prayed their salaah and finally, Radia and Sami went home. Both took turns to shower before they collapsed into their beds.
Sami fell asleep instantly. As Radia couldn't sleep as quickly or deeply as Sami, she decided to mess around with him instead. She took out her phone from her bag and recorded Sami sleeping while she poked and prodded him. When she got bored, she put her phone away, took Sami's arm and draped it over herself, ready to sleep.
The next day, Sami was already back at work whereas Radia had taken one more day off work. As she cleaned in a slow and lazy manner, the ringing of the doorbell caught her off guard. She threw on an abaya and hijab as she answered the door.
"Asalamu'alaykum," Radia said, surprised at who was on her doorstep.
"Wa'alaykumusalaam!" Manahil chirped cheerily.
"Come in," Radia said, snapping out of her daze and moving to the side to let Manahil in.
Once Manahil was inside and seated, Radia was about to leave to get some juice and snacks for her when Manahil stopped her. Radia hoped she wasn't in trouble with Manahil again.
Ya Allah, please make this a positive and cheerful visit.
"Sit here, I want to talk to you," Manahil insisted.
"Okay," Radia replied, taking a seat near Manahil.
"I just thought you'd like to know what's going on in my life. I think this is it. I'm finally getting married. He's a couple of years younger than me but that's not an issue for us. He's very successful but also divorced. His previous wife wasn't Muslim but he'd started practicing when he was with her and decided he needed someone more religious as a life partner," Manahil began.
Radia barely said anything as Manahil went on to sing this man's praises. Radia could clearly see that Manahil was desperate to let out all her thoughts and feelings so Radia let her. She felt happy seeing Manahil so happy. This excitement helped Radia understand why Manahil may have been in such a foul mood recently. It was because she was lacking in life the very thing Sami and Radia had.
"He hinted he was wowed by me which was so cute!" Manahil gushed.
"Mash'Allah," Radia replied.
When Manahil was finally about done, which took a long time, she finally spoke up about what she came for.
"I need some help from you and Sami. I have so much to do for the wedding."
"Wedding? Have you spoken to your dad and Sami? Has Sami spoken to him yet? I thought he was meant to do that this week," Radia asked in concern.
"It doesn't matter now. I know him well enough to know that he's perfect marriage material. I'm sure Sami will agree, don't worry. As for my dad? He doesn't care," Manahil reminded Radia.
"Okay, as long as your fella knows we're planning the wedding and he's going to be the groom, I'm okay to help. But I do think that maybe you should let Sami speak to this brother first," Radia admitted.
"Sami will get to talk to Faisal but it still won't change my mind even if Sami disagreed that he's the right guy for me. I know he is and that's all that matters," Manahil argued and Radia gave in.
Though Radia was concerned for Manahil, she was grateful that she was okay with her and Sami now. And Radia didn't even have to have the heart to heart conversation with her like she did with Sami's mum.
That was almost another issue knocked off and another step in the direction of facing ease after times of hardship.