#Chapter Thirty Six#

{Unedited}

"I'M BACK BABY!"

Ahmad barely had time to open our front door before Mira came tumbling through with an excited grin plastered across her face. A half joyful, half exasperated Salem emerged behind her and with a heavy sigh, he hoisted her handbag further up his shoulder and used his free hand to greet Ahmad and some of the other guards who were milling around.

When our eyes zeroed in on each other, we squealed at the same time and within seconds, Mira and I were in a tight embrace.

"I missed you!"

"Well, I only missed you a little bit, I was too busy having fun in Spain!"

"Don't listen to her Sameena. Every time we saw anything even remotely interesting, she'd snap a picture and say 'I wish Sameena was here to see this!' and exhale sadly as if she was missing something from her life," Salem said as he came to stand next to us.

At his comment, I threw my head back and laughed, knowing Mira all too well. "I sense a hint of jealousy..." I trailed off with a knowing smile and Salem grinned boyishly, making him look a few years younger. In fact, both of them looked like they were glowing; either from the nice tan they had both accumulated over their holiday or the effect of their visible and very obvious happiness with one another.

"Well it does get annoying when I don't have her full attention," Salem joked and Mira just rolled her eyes in response. "At one point I thought of calling you up and telling you to come," he continued, much to Mira's chagrin.

"OK, now you're just exaggerating! I love Sameena, but not to the extent that I'd want her with me on my honeymoon!"

Mira gave me apologetic smile.

I simply chuckled. "Well had you called me, I probably wouldn't have come anyway. It's been two of the busiest weeks of my life." I sighed and shook my head. "I have a lot to tell you!" Before they could respond, I ushered them into the living room knowing the last thing anyone wanted to do after travelling was to stand on their feet.

Mira squirmed in her seat once we had sat down. "Ehem...so about that. We kind of know," Mira admitted.

I frowned in confusion. "What exactly do you know?"

"Well, we know about Isaac and how he's still on the loose. We also know about what happened after..." I felt them both analysing my face. "You know, the secret and the fight..."

I was surprised yet pleasantly relieved I didn't have to fill them in on everything myself. "Baba told me that he personally made sure you guys were kept out of the loop so that your honeymoon wasn't spoiled." I glanced at Salem.

"I knew your father would do exactly that so I um, had someone else keep me updated whilst I was gone." He didn't look the least bit guilty at that.

"I'm shocked you didn't come back when you found out."

"We were very close to when we did...that day was ruined for both of us because we were too worried about everyone and we ended up just staying in our apartment contemplating whether we should return or not..." He leaned back against the couch and disheveled his hair. "But then two things stopped me. Firstly, my team back here were working exceptionally well and were managing the situation exactly how I would have. Even if I came back earlier there would be nothing particular for me to do except stand around and wait for our intelligence team to pinpoint his exact location." I nodded my head in agreement. There really would have been no point for them to leave a few days early but not only that, it was Salem's first proper holiday in a long time. I would have hated for this special time in his life to be ruined because of an imbecile like Isaac.

"Secondly, I knew that if I came back your father would confide in me about what to do and I didn't want to risk that. After all, he's got you."

A smile shaped their faces at my expression.

I cleared my throat. "Wow, I'm touched Salem, I really am." It was always like Salem to put everyone before himself. I gave him an appreciate smile and he nodded in return. "You'll be happy to know then that baba definitely has asked for my help and together we've been trying to fix the mess that Isaac has created."

"I have no doubt that you guys will do it. I have a feeling something very good will come out of this," Salem said with a twinkle in his eye and I wondered whether he knew something I didn't.

"Anyway, I want to know all about your honeymoon! What did you see and do there?!"

Mira instantly perked up.

"Oh it was amazing masha'Allah! The culture, language, nature, landmarks, history..." she trailed off with a happy sigh. I raised one eyebrow, genuinely surprised at the fact that she didn't mention shopping as the number one activity she enjoyed overseas. "And the shopping, oh, the clothes Sameena!"

There we go.

She continued to ramble excitedly for a good half hour, with Salem pitching in whenever Mira decided to let him talk.

Lia brought them some water and food to munch on, mumbling something about plane food being horrible and that they needed to eat. As soon as Mira lifted the cup of water to her mouth, Salem saw the opportunity and began to speak.

"Guess what Sameena, we went to the mosque of Cordoba! I took some amazing photos I have to show you them." He pulled out his phone and began to swipe through it, oblivious to the fact that I was practically salivating in jealousy.

"Argh, I am so jealous!" I whined like a five year old.

I wasn't a big History fan but I did appreciate beautiful and ancient landmarks, especially ones that were tied to religion. I also had a fascination with intricately designed mosques and admiring their flawless architecture was something I think everyone should appreciate.

"We visited palaces, fortresses, churches and castles and we offered a prayer in each place we went to," Salem continued, handing me his phone every time he came across a picture worthy of me drooling over.

"Oh and I learnt how to speak Spanish!"

I smirked. "Really now? Say something then."

"Quiero pollo!" she spoke effortlessly.

"Cool, what does it mean?"

She giggled. "I want chicken."

I burst out laughing. "Out of all the things that you could have learnt, 'I want chicken' was your priority?!"

"She loved their spicy chicken so much she asked a tour guide how to say it in Spanish and whenever we sat down at a restaurant and the waiter came to take our order, it was the first thing she'd say." Salem vibrated with a chuckle. He was staring at Mira as if she was the light of his eyes and glancing between them both right now, I could tell that something had definitely shifted in their relationship.

They were so relaxed with one another now and they balanced each other out perfectly. Although only slight and not that noticeable to anyone else, Mira was slowing calming down in her eccentric personality and loud comments. On the other hand, Salem was much more talkative, open and altogether smiley.

There was no doubt that they were having a very positive effect on one another and as I sat there and watched two of my favourite loved ones tell me about their experiences, laughing, joking, flirting and all together falling deeper for each other, an unexplainable feeling of happiness and tranquility settled over my heart.

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Although I was extremely happy for my best friend and her progressing love life, I believed it was time to invest and work on my own. After Tariq's confession of love and my subtle reciprocation - I was blushing and too embarrassed to properly reply - I realised that it was time to move forward.

And not just because he had verbally expressed it or I thought, 'oh better get moving' but because after the rough test we had both endured with one another, we both emerged stronger not only individually but together. Tariq had been coming over every day since I had visited him to make amends and to say that things were blossoming between us was an understatement. We wanted to be together, now more than ever and we knew that Allah had thrown that test our way to allow us to grow in love and companionship. He tested our strength as a couple and if we got through it in the fragile beginnings of our relationship then we had no doubt that whatever else would be thrown our way, we would overcome it together with patience and mutual support.

My fears and insecurities were still there - these things don't disappear overnight of course - but I knew that with time and care, I would overcome them.

Tonight, Tariq was coming over with his family to discuss the date to set our nikah. I was both nervous and excited, even though we had spoken about it between ourselves and had an idea of when we wanted to do it. There was just something about speaking to the parents, the ultimate authority, that made things seems scary and official.

I looked over myself once more in the full length mirror and after a satisfactory nod, I moved to pull my phone off the charger. Checking the time, I realised that they should be here any minute. To occupy myself in the meantime, I tidied up my room and the clutter that was spread all over my bed.

Just as I finished fixing my bedsheets, the loud ring of the bell sounded throughout the house. Involuntarily, a grin shaped my face and my heart began pumping just a little faster. I walked out of my room and turned the light off as I went, clambering down the steps two at a time.

By the time I reached the bottom level, baba had already greeted and welcomed them inside.

"Look, she's practically running down those stairs," baba exaggerated as he gestured towards me and Tariq's parents laughed whilst he and his sister smiled at my blushing face.

Ignoring my father's comment, I walked up to his parents first to greet them. "Asalamu alaikum!" After I kissed khalto three times as per the norm, she pulled back and just stared at me contentedly. It was a bit weird but I think that she was relieved things worked out between me and her son after the incident with Isaac.

I remembered how she had pulled me away privately just before I left their house that day; she had praised me on my ability to forgive and thanked me profusely for giving her son another chance. She repeatedly mentioned how other girls wouldn't have spared the man a second thought after hiding information like that but that I was stronger for trying to overlook it and maintain the relationship.

I didn't think I deserved such praise and gratitude but I was just glad that she was happy, not only with me but with her son. She was worried that he hadn't been treating me as well as I should be but after convincing her he was gentlemanlike and nothing short of sweet to me, she relaxed. I could already tell that I was going to have an awesome mother-in-law, one who I could see would love me as a daughter but who would also treat me right. None of the whole 'my son is an angel and could never hurt you' fiasco.

When they started walking ahead to the living room, I trailed behind and so did Tariq. We smiled sneakily at each other, as if it was the most promiscuous thing to speak two words to each other without anyone hearing.

"You really did miss me that much, huh?" he jeered with a playful smile. I simply rolled my eyes. "What, you were running down those stairs."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night Tariq."

"Oh, I sleep very well at night thank you. Especially after I read your cheesy goodnight messages."

"Cheesy!" I sputtered. He grinned, knowing very well he had annoyed me. "Literally all I say is 'sweet dreams and don't forget to make dua'....not that I can say anything else what with both Ziad and Samir in the group conversation," I grumbled. He chuckled wholeheartedly at my comment, knowing how much I hated the fact that my brother's were in the conversation with us. Maybe if they didn't latch onto and tease every word we uttered to each other, I wouldn't have minded so much but they were beyond exhausting.

"Well your reminder to make dua is a beautiful thing, you know why?" he said, stopping by the foot of the entrance. His grey eyes bore into mine and a soft smile graced his lips.

"Why?"


"Because I make dua for you every night before I go to sleep. I used to do it for you when we were friends because mama always taught me that if you love someone, you should pray for them because that's the highest level of affection you can show. However, when your father forced me to stop seeing you all those years ago, the dua's stopped because I was angry at the world...well at your father but you know what I mean. But now, I not only make dua for you alone, I make it for the both of us, as one."

I was rendered speechless.

I mean really, what could you possibly say after someone tells you that they love you so much they pray for you every night?

I cleared my throat. "You know this is one of those moments where I can't express what I'm feeling with words and wish that I could hug you instead."

He crossed his arms over his chest as his smile grew in length. "Soon," he said, before gesturing with his head for me to follow him in.

After a few minutes, my brothers, Sarah and Lia joined our little gathering and it wasn't long before the topic of my marriage came up. I think we were all to eager to speak about it and there was a good sort of tension in the air. The anticipation was eating up at me and I felt like it took years before Tariq's father finally brought it up.

"OK so alhamdulillah, it has been five months now since our son and your daughter read the fatiha and I have been informed that they wish to take it to the next level," 'amu started and I instantly felt my palms become clammy. "They've had their moments," he continued, obviously referring to our fight, "but I think that overall things have been proceeding smoothly. They are happy with one another and that is the most important thing here."

Baba nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, yes, I agree." Tariq sent me a thumbs up from his place across from me and we all laughed. "Both of them are mature, respectful and I think quite ready for marriage. However before we discuss anything to be set in stone, I would like to ask you both a question." Tariq and I shared a look but nodded for baba to go on. "I guess there's no point beating around the bush. We all know that you both just came out of a particular rough period in your relationship and yes, that is completely normal. Nothing is all sunshine and rainbows. But I want to know, I guess as a father, to have closure and a relaxed heart, if you're both one hundred percent sure you want to do this."

He stared at us intensely for a few seconds, giving us some time to think before continuing. "I'm not saying this to make you doubt yourselves, it's a very natural question to ask. Your feelings for each other need to be pure and real and there should be no grudges held between you after what happened. The last thing we want is a few months or years down the track, two heartbroken souls. Marriage is one of the best things that will happen to you but I want you both to know what you're getting into."

Baba's words did put a lot in perspective and indeed it was a valid question to ask. After everything that's happened with me and all the conceited men that walked into my life, I didn't blame baba for taking every precaution he should. At the beginning of our relationship he had warned us that he wanted things to go slow and nothing was to be rushed and had not so subtly told Tariq that if he wasn't happy with that, then the door was open.

However, his questions didn't make me uneasy. Because I held no grudge; I could proudly say that I had forgiven Tariq with a full heart and he, me.

"I am a hundred percent sure that I want to be with your daughter 'amu," Tariq spoke up, breaking the silence in the room. "Nothing would make me happier, I assure you."

Baba searched his face and analysed him intensely for a few seconds before nodding in satisfaction and turning to me.

"Alhamdulillah, I am also sure of this baba. We both have forgiven each other and are ready to move on in our relationship."

"Good, good. I'm very proud of you both."

Ziad cleared his throat loudly and all the heads turned to him. Since he was sitting next to me, I could only see his side profile which was a disadvantage as I could usually tell what my twin was thinking just by looking at his facial expression.

What I didn't expect was for him to turn to Tariq and say, "now that that's been cleared, I also want to ask something from you." With all the courage and grace he could muster, Tariq smiled and nodded for him to speak. I could tell he was a little on edge though, especially with all eyes on him. "I want your word that you are going to treat my sister right and to the very best of your ability. She's very precious to our family and she has a special place in my heart. I want your word that you will try to never intentionally hurt or neglect her in anyway, that you'll always remain god-fearing and act like a true man. I guess these days a promise isn't much because it's very easy to fall back on them but I'll remind you that in Islam, only hypocrites break their promises. Oh, and also, I don't take well to people upsetting my baby sis," Ziad ended in style, putting one arm around me and pulling me to his side.

Usually I would've shoved him off and exclaimed that I'm in fact older then him by ten minutes but I was too touched by his words. I leaned into his one-armed embrace and faced Tariq expectantly, as we all were.

"By Allah, I will try to the make your sister the happiest women on Earth, even if it means exhausting every atom in my body. She is already first in my eyes." Tariq directed his words to Ziad but his eyes were on me.

I had never felt more alive in his presence than at that moment.

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