A/N: Nothing to say, but I am excited for what you are all going to be reading in the next couple of chapters hehe ;) enjoy!
"just because she told me no, doesn't mean I will allow her to finish her deed" Lord King roared across the castle in the midst of the nights.
the lord king was so frustrated that he knew what he ought to do to save the kingdom, queen aria sensed his stubborness, and freaked out. "don't you dare think" she said, walking up to him, he heels clattering across the wooden floor of the castle.
"she's a witch! and every witch must die!"
"no! no, she isn't!" The queen whimpered yelling at him with all her might, "she is not how could... aiyla... aiyla!"
My name sounded so real that I was confused as to whether it was real life or my dream. My eyes had snapped open to pages of books covering my face. I didn't even realize that I ended up sleeping here for the longest time. At this point, I was afraid i didn't sleep over night...quickly sitting up from my bed i rubbed my tiresome eyes and realized I only really slept for an hour.
I groaned groggy gulping my mouth dry... legit hoped that no one came in to see me this way.
I was so sleepy, that getting up made me tumble across the floor awkwardly. Rubbing my eyes I tried to find if there was any sort of washroom or bathroom whatever people say nowadays in this library. Thankfully, just around the corner, there was a bathroom that I could use and actually clean my ugly self up!
After washing myself and fixing up my hijab because clearly, I looked utterly horrifying, my phone started to ring and I knew it with my mother because I have a specific ringtone for her. So, I quickly picked it up and answered my phone...
"AssalamuAlaikum Mama" I cleared my throat.
"Beta, I called you so many times! I got so worried I thought you were done early" she clearly sounded disappointed. I mean it kind of made sense because we had people over, and she would've expected me to be there and be mindful of that but obviously, I didn't think of it at the time.
With a small giggle, I told my mom I found out that I had an oral exam coming up so I went to the library to study and I completely forgot about the time and I closed my phone off.
This was such a big lie I didn't so any sort of studying whatsoever, I was so into this book that I was reading that I ended up having a huge dream about what might happen next.
"Okay please come home"
"Yes, yes mama I'm coming" and with that, I said my salams and closed the phone.
I was about to close my phone and walk out of the library until I saw other notifications on my messages. So, because I have an iPhone and I already opened it up I don't know who it's by all I see is a red dot on my iMessage app that says about four notifications.
Assuming that it might be one of my friends I was actually very excited to answer and tell them what I found, yes, I love that the doctor said that he trusts me to not tell anyone but I don't know I had to tell my friends at the time and it was an exciting experience you know. However, I wasn't about to tell my friends about my father... again I don't really talk about him.
I open my iMessage app only to see the messages that I hadn't seen in such a long time.
You really trust that Hamza can save you...
Your family...
Think
Again
My heart started to palpitate against my rib cage, I was actually getting really scared to the point where I started scanning around the library hoping no one was stalking me. Of course, someone was, and this just made me realize that maybe marrying him will actually protect me. Because honestly.. whoever wants to attack me for, no apparent reason, Hamza is the one that can actually protect me.
I rolled my eyes at the thought of this whole cliché A man protects a girl from this dangerous human being and then I don't know what happens.
This was such a typical story... ugh...
It was just after Maghrib and it was definitely time for me to go home.
As I left for home, the feeling that somebody was over, grew inside me as I got close and closer... And I was right, he was over and I knew exactly why they were. I guess I knew what he was trying to do.
So at the end of the day, I hypothesized that he was also being threatened and that this was his only way to find some sort of conclusion... of saving us?
"AssalamuAlaikum," I said as I entered my home.
My mom rushed towards me and told me to clean myself up and get ready since they're in the living room.
As I got ready in my room, I had finally made a mature decision to speak to Hamza about this. I didn't want this to be a typical pretty little liar show where they never go the police and what not... I had to be realistic, clearly, something was wrong. So my intentions were to speak to him today about it.
"assalamualaikum" I smiled as I walked in. I could see Hamza from the corner of my eyes a little bit shocked from my calm reaction.
I am assuming he's just seen me so irritated and annoyed by this that he had lost hope.
"Walaikumassalam, I have to apologize aiyla we came in without telling you, we didn't know you were busy studying," she said.
"oh no, please don't it's totally okay" I chuckled.
"I want to apply to medical school, but I am so nervous" One of his sisters, I believe her name was Aisha, she said as I get down beside them.
"in sha allah you will! what year are you in?"
"I am going to my third, but I don't know my GPA isn't that great... but I am so passionate about it" she sighed.
"It's okay everyone is intelligent in their own way, and to be honest, it's all upon allah swt if he wills for someone to go down that path, then only will they. You can be that best a+ student and still not get in, so you try as hard as you can, you pray, and you work and work but in the back of your head keep in mind that if it doesn't work that doesn't define your worth because allah swt has something better planned for you" and this statement is what I live by, always remember that allah swt has better plans in sha allah for you, but at the same time working hard and dua is a must.
as I ended my saying, i didn't know that the room fell quiet. I looked around to see aunty impressed and Hamza having a small smile placed upon him.
"damn girl, you should be a spokesperson" his other sister said.
I shook my head laughing.. "yeah right".
"so Aiyla, do you have any plans of when you would like the nikkah?" his mom spoke.
my eyes batted in shock. 'did she really just ask me?!'
"um...." I had no idea when.
so after with some discussions and idea my mom started to pitch in and gave us a perfect idea.
They thought the sooner the better you know since the engagement already happened, Hamza and I already know each other so there was literally no reason to extend it for such a long period of time. Based upon all of our schedules, it was the summer anyways, August... which is literally every wedding month ever... we settled on August 25 which was 2 weeks from now.
2 weeks from now I was going to be going from a fiance to a wife.
---
the girls and I decided to go shopping the following day. I have never had sisters so the adventure was quite interesting. Let's there was alooooot of gossip.
"oh my god, so there was this boy he is soooo cute! and so like halal you know, but he's white... ugh why are all the white boys cute" Aisha sighed.
"grow up aisha" the eldest one shook her head, her name was samiya.
and then there was alot of arguments.
"oh my god, no I told you, you were supposed to be my slave today!" Samiya argued at the youngest one whose name was maheen i believe.
"i cleaned your room! you should be mine"
and then there was alot of love too.
"oh my god get this maheen, it'd look cute on you" Aisha squeals. "you should tooo aiylah it'd look so good on you"
and then there was also alot of silence
...
so let's say I never really had any of this experience in my life, okay well maybe I did... with my friends ofcourse, but you know what I noticed sisters fight so much. Like, literally ALOT!
You might be wondering what happened to me wanting to talk to Hamza about the whole situation.
Well trust me I really wanted to, but there was no way I was able to get to actually speaking with him! I was too busy talking to his mom and his sisters, and the brothers were all talking to each-other and him.
"Aiyla! you should talk to hamza more often" Maheen giggled.
"No guys you have to keep things halal!" Samiya shook her head, which caused maheen to roll her eyes at her.
I chuckled softly didn't really know how to respond to the situation. Then it hit me, I will just meet up with him at the hospital tonight and apologize for my immature behavior and discuss this like a mature adult.
"Aiylaaaa!" Maryam's voice which I was hoping to hear since like an hour ago, uproared down the hall.
All of us girls turned towards the direction of the voice, I saw maryam, hana, and zayna running towards me embracing me into a hug. "oh my god guyyysss!" I squealed. "you actually made it" i whispered hoping the sisters didn't here me. Yup, I called them when the sisters were arguing and I was awkwardly walking beside them.
I am actually shocked all three of them came!
"Aisha, Samiya, Maheen these are my best friends in the world, Maryam, Zayna and Hana... they're all medical student, we met during med school and grew tight ever since then"
"oh my god, salaaam" The girls squealed, "oh my god let's all plan Aiylah's nikkah!" Samiya screamed.
"yes omg guys theme?!"
"RED AND WHITE" Zayna and Aisha said at the same time.
"i don't know...." Hana thought.
"Why don't we all find a place to sit down and discuss it, by the way, I like the white idea, but not like white whit you know..." I finally broke into their conversation, calming the girls down.
We all planned to go to the nearest cafe to discuss this, and guys in that moment I realized that you know what maybe this is fate? Hamza is amazing, he is so kind, and caring, and why am I running away from a guy like that. I clearly liked him in the first place for a reason right? he is so respectful to his mom, the way he communicates to others, and the way he smiles and looks at others (his brothers), and the way he keeps his distance from the opposite gender really made me realize that he is definitely the one who I want to marry.
In that moment guys... I finally accepted it, although I hated everything from the start and how it happened, because it could've been done much more better, in a more mature fashion, I forgave him, because I realized sometimes a person in the situation cannot see the logic until after later on.
I was so sure he felt that way too, and I was actually really excited to plan out my nikkah.
---
"Hamza... can I speak with you" I run up to him, hoped that he would listen to me.
his expression showed that he was shocked that I wanted to talk to him.
"y-yeah" he said softly, rubbing his neck in confusion.
and so we sat down in the cafeteria, he looked really tensed.
"Hamza, I just wanted to apologize for how I reacted, i don't know what you heard, who's making you do this, why you are doing this but I want this to be a mature decision and done well. I am not some kid that you can hide things from me, I am well enough of an Adult just as much as you are, and frankly, I have been getting some odd threats too" after finishing that sentence his eyes shifted up to mines, he looked extremely tensed, "can we please... do this right, we can go to the police or anything"
"shh" he said looking around, "of course I want to tell you what is going on, I didn't think of you as some immature person at all, you're smart, and it's just that by telling you I am unfortunately falling into risking my family too" he whispered. "w-when did this start happening to you"
"on the night of our baat pakki"
"and why didn't you come to me sooner?"
"because i assumed it was a joke or a prank... I really think we should go to the police"
"no Aiylah.. we cannot, don't you think I already thought of that, I have tried... but whenever I do my evidence keeps disappearing, and it got to the point where my own family members were at risk"
"But why are you trying to protect me... like why is that you have to marry me... why couldn't you tell me"
"I overheard somethings when I was overseas at the camp, I don't know exactly what I heard but it went along the lines with your name, and horrible things, your family and your...
"Dr. Hamza" One of the nurses called out. We both startled as we got caught off guard. "sorry I didn't mean to scare you" she felt a little nervous after our reactions.
"yes?" he inquired.
"Dr. Brooke is calling in for a meeting, for some reason your pager wasn't going through so he made me find you, he wants you up there asap, some hospital things..." and with that she left away.
"and my what?" I said, I wanted to know what else happened... and who these people were.
"I have to go" Hamza got up, and walked away swiftly not giving me the change to utter another word.
This got me really thinking, I tried to trace back to any relatives, extended people that we may know that would have some sort of beef with us. But, I really couldn't think of anything.
my immediate response was to go pray, it was maghrib time anyways, so I decided to add another 2 nafl for that and prayed for the protection of my family. I prayed so hard that day out of fear, I was so scared and so confused, why were people against my family.. we did nothing.
after my prayer, a source of relief washed over me and I went back out to see if anything else needed to be done.
I was asked by the cardiologist team to do some paperwork, basically, there was a rare case of this disease going on, so I was asked to do as much as research as I could to get to know. I had an amazing idea... I could go down to the library and do work there!
That place actually ended up being my getaway, I felt wrong at first since I used it ever so often but Dr. Brooke reassured that I was able to use it. And guys, this day was quite something that I never would've expected to experience in my life.
The door creaked open behind me causing me to jump, but it was just Dr. Brooke that walked inside the library. I got up from my awkward lying down position and sat up appropriately. I didn't want him to realize that I clearly turned his place into my safe haven.
"Dr, I was hoping if I could have a word with you"
"yes, yes, of course, you may"
"I have observed my fellow Muslim colleagues, and it has left me in utter fascination, I am in greatly aw of this religion and would like to learn more, is there any way I can" he muttered, with his old thickening voice.
my mind blew up in shock, I couldn't believe i was hearing this before my eyes. "Dr. I can't express to you how amazing this is, I would like to help you, in fact, I can get my fiance Hamza to help you out"
"you guys are engaged?!"
"y-yes... we... yes?" I questioned, assuming hamza would've told everyone
"well he didn't tell me"
"oh, yeah, well I mean i told him to wait so he probably listened to me" I giggled trying the avoid the seeping awkwardness that just came through. "l-let me page him!"
"not here please in my office"
"yes sir"
and so that is what I did, it didn't take him so long he appeared in Dr. Brookes office in merely a second.
Dr. expressed his relation to his purpose of life, and how he felt that him being a doctor proved that there had to be something, he explored many religions and found Islam beautiful, we encouraged him to continue learning, and Hamza would be taking care of the rest.
I couldn't believe what I was witnessing!
Alhamdulilah, Allah swt guides who he truly wished to guide. We decided to take him to the amazing imam that we know, and attend Fridays at the masjid and we encouraged him to start reading the Quran with Tafseer.
He was worried that he was of old age, but Allah swt chose to guide him, and it's never too late. None can judge but Allah.