Yaaseen

Yaaseen wondered if Raees knew that the wall between his lounge and Yaaseen's kitchen were exceptionally thin. He could hear every thing.

His brother and his wife loved their couch and they clearly loved doing things on their couch. He'd always emd up taking his food into his bedroom because he most certainly did not need to listen to that.

But he didn't particularly want to listen in on their fights either.

He had just about abandoned his kitchen over the past few weeks because he couldn't handle their shouting. It was always loud and neither wanted to actually listen to the other. They just yelled louder and louder over the other and Yaaseen was beginning to feel just a little frustrated with them.

How the hell is that my fault?

Because I told you three weeks ago to fix my damned shelf, but you don't listen.

You didn't tell me to fix it. You said it was wobbly. Not that it was broken.

Well if the bloody shelf with all my glass plates was wobbly, didn't you think for yourself that you needed to fix it. Yours and Ahmed's crap are irritating me.

Jurre, I'll buy you new plates tomorrow. Keep your bloody panties on.

Get lost, Raees.

Yaaseen's eyes widened.

His brother was in so much of shit. If the massive bang that reverberated through his entire flat was anything to go by, Raees was definitely in shit.

It interested him though. In all that time, he didn't hear Raees swear once. He knew his brother had a filthy mouth and he knew he could let fly when he was pissed but he didn't hear a single word throughout their entire argument.

That made him feel like shit.

Layla had told him so many times that she hated when he swore at her but he hadn't really listened. He still went on, swearing even more because he knew it irritated her.

They had really fucked up their marriage.

Maybe they were too young. They had to grow up.

Maybe they finally did.

Layla

"I don't know what to do."

Ruwaidah turned around, surprised to hear Layla's voice at her door.

"What do you mean?" Ruwaidah removed her glasses, using them as a bookmark between her pages.

"I was so sure I was going to say no." Layla said, sitting on the pedestal beside her mother. "I wanted to say no because I wanted to always be with Ameer but now I don't know."

"I can't make this decision for you. You need to think for yourself. Will you be happy with Yaaseen?"

Layla shrugged, knocking her head back against the wall. "He's not a bad person, Mum. I thought he was bad but..."

"We made you think that he was a bad kid." Ruwaidah said, unashamedly admittedly to her faults.

"Yeah..." Layla smiled, laughing as her mother smacked her leg. "But I wasn't the best either, was I?"

"No." Ruwaidah shook her head, "But you were also yourself."

"I was, wasn't I?" she smiled, remembering all the times she had jumped onto Yaaseen's back, ordering him to carry her around the house because she was too lazy to move. "I don't remember being her. What if he wants me to be that Layla but I'm just not."

"That Layla was a child. You're not a child anymore. You're a woman." Ruwaidah patted her daughter's knee, tickling her softly as she spoke. "He's not a child either, is he?"

"No." Yaaseen was definitely not a child. He was different. He looked older and more confident with himself. His body was remarkably different too.

But he also looked sad. He thought he hid it, but it was too deeply embedded within him to be kept hidden.

"Then why would he ever want to marry that Layla?"

Layla covered her face with her hands, breathing out her frustration. "Why is this so difficult?"

"Because life is difficult?" Ruwaidah asked, shaking her head at her child. "Whatever you choose, we'll be happy with it. Okay?"

"Okay." Layla smiled, kissing her mother on her cheek before she walked out.

Perhaps it was time to ask Allah for help.

She went to the bathroom to make her wudhu before she walked into her room. She closed her door softly behind her, before she spread her prayer mat on the floor and began to pray.

She didn't want to think about the last time she had prayed Istikhaara Salaah. She had prayed it with a smile on her face, knowing that Ameer was the one.

But this time...

This was something else entirely and she didn't know how to deal with it.

Muneer

"Sir, we'll be landing soon. Peter will be by to help you with your wheelchair." The stewardess said, tapping Muneer on the shoulder.

"Thank you," He took a quick glance to her name tag, "Natalya. I appreciate it."

"It's a pleasure, Sir." She smiled once more before she moved to the front of the cabin. The only perk of his job was he got to travel First Class whenever he had to go down to Malaysia. That was about it, though. The rest was shit.

He was gone for too long.

Far too long to be away from his boy.

Yumna had left things in such a mess. He had tried everything from there to locate her but there was only so much he could do from a hospital room. Not that he was any better...

He had to travel with his doctor and as soon as he landed, he would probably be taken straight to Olivedale. But he couldn't stay there anymore.

He needed to be home.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying with Malaysia Air. We'll be landing soon at O.R Tambo International airport. It is 9:15 and the weather outside the plane is currently sitting at 21 degrees with a slight drizzle as you leave. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your flight.

He was home.

Finally.