CHAPTER | NINETEEN | UMAYMAH | POV

"Laila come back here!" I shouted behind the little toddler who only carried on to run away from me with my phone in her hands and half dressed before she was supposed to be going home with her aunt.

I definitely wanted the little girl but this morning I'm beginning to realise just how much of a responsibility I'm taking on. It didn't make things any better to hear Shoaib laughing at the entire scene while miserably trying to eat an apple. The least he could right now was help me.

After a few more seconds of these childish antics, I decided to give up. Falling back on the bed where Shoaib was I watched Laila finally stopping from her marathon, only to look back and give me a smile which made me forget why I was frustrated in the first place.

"Come here baby. We need to get you dressed." This time Shoaib spoke up and my eyes went wide at the sight of Laila happily skipping over to him. There was no denying how close they had both become within one day.

"You're going to listen to him, but not me?" I questioned but was clearly too tired from still running around.

"Yes." She simply said and turned all her attention back to a smirking Shoaib.

Silently I watched the two chatting away while he got her dressed in her clothes from yesterday which was now washed and suitable for her to wear. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous by how the two got on so well, but I pushed those feelings aside anyway and smiled at a joke they just shared.

As soon as Laila was fully clothed she turned and faced me. "Mommy I don't want to leave you." I didn't expect her to say that, or to leave Shoaib's side and come to me with tears threatening to spill out.

I had no idea what to do and I desperately tried looking at my husband for some kind of help. Unfortunately he was just as much as a lost cause as I was. Hopeless really.

"Shh. Listen, we'll be seeing each other a lot more, okay? Don't ever think we're leaving you." I somehow managed to find the soothing words and have a kiss to her forehead after she released herself from my side.

She seemed content enough with my answer and motioned for me to pick her up just as the door bell went off. I sighed and did what I was being begged to do while Shoaib went to answer the door. All of a sudden I wished that she didn't have to leave - even if she spent all her time with Shoaib, laughed and played with him, at least she was here with her parents.

Truth is, I'm still getting used to the idea of being a parent but Laila made me want to take the chance. Also, after seeing the kind of change she had on my husband, it felt as if it was never me who was supposed to make him a better person; it's like Laila is the one to bring the best out of him.

Just then I remembered that her aunt was waiting down stairs and I reluctantly led us both down the stairs and to the front room. Immediately her aunt stood up and walked over to us both.

"I hope she hasn't been too much trouble." She says with a genuine smile.

"Not at all. We can't wait till she's officially ours." I say and watch how a glint of sadness passes through her features - unable to comprehend that her niece was going to be having parents again.

I couldn't blame her. She probably spent most of her time caring for Laila ever since the incident and out of the blue we came into the picture, wanting Laila in our family.

"You better treat my niece well." She chuckled and even though she teased me, the sincerity was no doubt there.

All I could do now was give her a nod and me and Shoaib lead them both to the front door. Laila now had her head on her aunts shoulder with a thumb in her mouth and watching us intently.

"Take care baby girl, we'll see you soon." Shoaib and I gave her a kiss on the forehead and watched from the door, her and her aunt going into their car and driving off home.

In a matter of days, months even, my life has completely changed to the only exciting part of my life was finishing school, to now raising a family. The thought was scary but I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think I could.

Pushing my thoughts aside I decided to grab my bag and do some homework we had gotten over break. At least for a while I could feel like a teenager again and even though I didn't enjoy homework, it needed to be done.

Inside my bag was bits of paper sprawled everywhere with a few pencils littering around the bottom. There was no denying the mess that formed in my bag and even though I would like to say it had become like this over the past three months of school, it actually became like this on the first week.

Just as I was about to sit down a puff of smoke came my way, making me splutter and cough. Turning around I saw the garden door open and Shoaib standing there with a lit cigarette in his mouth. I fought off the glare I wanted to give the boy - we were making progress but I knew old habits die hard.

"Do you really have to have that?" I asked, trying not to let the disappointment in my voice show.

"Sorry." He said but his gaze carried on to linger ahead of him. Looking like he was in deep thought, he carried on to take puffs from his cigarette.

Should I go up and talk to him? The thought of doing my homework wasn't exactly pleasant, but his mood seemed off right now and he could just snap at any little thing. I had learnt that leaving him alone when he was angry but was something that he was used to people doing. I was going to be there for him though.

Silently I pushed back the chair I was sitting on and walked outside in the chilly winter air. It was amazing to think how the skies became dark so quickly during these times and it was only about four in the afternoon. I only had on a light sweater with sweatpants and the cold was getting to me.

"Something wrong?" I asked out to him once I got the fact that I was to be getting a cold tomorrow morning from the cold out here.

He turned around to face me, cigarette now on the floor, and the look of disturbance on his face was long gone, now replaced with a full blown smile.

"I have a surprise for you." He stayed with the smile not leaving his face once. After raising my eyebrow in question, he beckoned me to stay still.

It was more than suspicious with his changing mood swing, but I decided to leave it for now. He seemed to be happy for now and what we was occupying his thoughts, he wasn't ready to share yet. So silently I stood out in the cold, mentally cursing the oversized boy for making me stand here.

Not a minute later when I was about to go back inside did he return, and much to my happiness as well. This meant that I could go back in the warm now.

"You know, we still haven't gone on our honeymoon yet." Another statement came from him and I wondered where exactly he was going with this. In his hand he held a small white envelope and I began thinking about the possibilities of what was inside. It would take a fool to not understand that what he was saying and what he was holding linked; he had airplane tickets.

"And where exactly are we going?" My brow once again rose in question. My tone held curiosity as well as excitement - I loved travelling.

"Open it for yourself and see." I didn't need to be told twice as I took the envelope from his hands and pulled it open without much force.

Once opened and the contents out, my mind was puzzled by the amount of tickets in here. Not only were there two, but there were four tickets in here, to two destinations. Looking at the tickets further, a squeal left my mouth after realising what they said.

There were two tickets for me and him to go to Medinah for a week while the other two were for another destination to the Maldives. My arms accordingly found themselves around his waits pulling him in for a hug and continuously thanking him for the trip that he seemed to have planned. Mentally I had already picked out all the abaya's I could wear in Medinah and dresses for the Maldives. Never underestimate a girl when it comes to clothes, I would say.

"I take it that you approve then." A chuckle left his mouth but I carried on to state at the tickets, as if they weren't real at all.

"I can't believe we're going to two places!" Once again I squealed in excitement. I seemed to have been doing that a lot these past few minutes.

"Do you know why we're going to two? Well the first on in particular." I looked at him and the curiosity that I had when opening the envelope came back. This boy had something planned.

"Nope, but you're going to be the best husband ever and tell me. Right?" I gave him the puppy eyes and watched him look at me in amusement.

"Well I'm only gonna tell you because I'm the best husband ever." Cue eye roll from me and smirk from him. "We're going Medinah because we're going to do Umrah first and then take a holiday." As soon as he said that my squealing started again.

I couldn't believe that we were going to have a chance to go do Umrah. I've always wanted to go and now that I'm being told we are going, it seemed unbelievable. I wanted to scream out loud how happy I was and seeing this was our own house, screaming out loud is exactly what I did. What seemed like a good idea to me, didn't to Shoaib.

I had screamed way too loud and way too close to his ear for his liking. Seeing him moan in pain, I shuffled in the laugh and carried on thinking about the trips that was about to happen. The dates to go were after tomorrow which meant that I would be impatient and got me thinking just how long Shoaib had been planning this.

"Hey, when did you decide to go all of this? I mean I'm excited and everything but I'm just wondering how you had the time to plan all of this."

"It was actually a few weeks ago. I was just waiting for break to come so I could tell you. But now that I think about it, I want Laila to go somewhere too." Realising what he was saying, I instantly felt bad for forgetting that we could potentially have a daughter soon and that I completely forget to think of her for our holiday.

"You know what? We should just stay. It's not fair on her." The tickets that I had pulled out were now being put back in its envelope as I spoke.

For a minute he stood there quietly, contemplating on what I was saying. In reality it now did seem almost pointless to go without Laila. We were trying to show we were worthy of doing this and now taking a holiday didn't seem the most suitable of ideas after just a day of finding Laila.

"No. We're going." I turned around to face him, almost shocked that he was actually saying this. "She's too young to travel anyway and beside we'll still have plenty of time to spend with her when we get back."

I was still skeptical though. "I don't know Shoaib."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We can always plan something for her when get back." He suggested and that seemed like a pretty good idea. If it meant that all of us could have a chance to go somewhere, then why not?

Suddenly the guilt lessened and I couldn't wait to start the packing and just thinking about what the spiritual and fun journey that was about to happen, made me restless. It wasn't everyday to hear that performing Umrah is part of a honeymoon, or that we still had more to come.

"Okay, so maybe we can go after all." I concluded with a smile returning onto my face. Somehow, although I had been distracted for a while about the news of this trip, I couldn't help but wonder back to Shoaib's little moment outside when he wasn't looking like the same happy person he was now. Or maybe, he still wasn't happy. Maybe he was trying to distract me from something.

"As if you had any doubts in the first place." Rolling my eyes I smacked his arm before strolling past and glancing at the homework laid out on the table. Debating whether or not I should do it, I decided I had plenty of time to attempt the history questions on the piece of paper.

Right now I wanted to go upstairs and send a message to Assia about where I was to be heading off to in a few days. My 'reply to people' game was weak and being abroad meant that there was no chance I would be talking to anyone unless it was important. Granted I have my phone in my hands all the time, but I couldn't seem to hold a decent conversation for long without being bored, unless of course it was Shoaib I was texting.

Up the stairs and into our room where my phone lay charging, I unplugged it and sat cross legged on the floor, with my back leaning not so comfortably on the hard wall. The first person I had to inform were my parents and in laws. I wasn't sure whether they knew, but I wanted to tell them anyway.

'Me and Shoaib are going for our honeymoon the day after tomorrow :)' I hit send on the message which I sent to my mom and mother in law. Next I had to send one to my best friend.

'Hey lazy ass; me and Shoaib are going on our honeymoon in two days. So no disturbing my fine self please.' After laughing at my own sense of humour I hit send on that message too and patiently waited for a reply. After waiting for a bit and seeing there was no reply from any of them, I realised that it was Maghrib and they must be praying.

Getting up from my position from the floor, I discarded my phone on the bed and went to the bathroom to do wudhu. it felt great to pray in the prayer that we had because it somehow felt a lot calmer in there with a peaceful aura surrounding it.

I still remembered how Shoaib told me it was beneficial to pray while still being wet from ones ablution, and so without reaching for a towel I slipped on my abaya and hijab, wrapping it securely around my head. A prayer mat was already laid out from the earlier prayer when me and Shoaib brought Laila in here with us.

A smile played on my lips remembering how excited she was seeing all the Arabic writing in the books and Quran. Like me, she was also amazed at Shoaib's tajweed when reciting.

Now focusing back to the prayer mat in front of me, I raised my hands and began my fourth compulsory prayer of the day. My excitement slowly began to come back by just thinking that in a few days I'd be able to pray by the house of Allah amongst other people, and more importantly my husband. So, I made dua - dua that Shoaib's change is permanent, that new happiness bestows upon us and of course I made dua for the Ummah hoping that we are guided on the right path.

In a matter of minutes I was done with my prayers and stood up, taking off my hijab and abaya along with me. As I did, in came Shoaib wet from his wudhu. I offered him a smile and gave him way so that he could offer his prayers.

Leaving the room I went back into our own to see my phone was now buzzing with texts from excited family members and my crazy best friend. I opened the first one from Assia which left me in a state of shock and wanting to burst out in laughter.

'I better hear you coming back pregnant.' I had no reply to give back and so I left it all together. Getting pregnant now wasn't an option considering Laila was about to come into our lives and the only reason my mother in law was letting that happen was because she was already a toddler.

I turned my phone on silent, not wanting to hear any more of my notifications go off. There was plenty of time to reply, now I had to go downstairs and fulfil my wife duties and cook dinner. It was the least I could do, seeing that Shoaib was going through all these difficulties for the trip. Trouble was, I had no idea what to cook that was good enough.

I groaned and entered the kitchen while I looked around at what we had. Finally I settled on some with fish and got to work - I may not be as good as Shoaib, but I had some skills.

***

Just a thought: but would you guys be interested in me making an Instagram account based on my Wattapd? Like you'd get to see snippets of what I'm writing and new things I'm working on :D Let me know what you think ❤️