MARRIED TO AN EXTREMIST

|The Façade 2|

Fayadth's point of view.

I enter the house, taking off my shoes and putting on my slides. I take off my white cap, rubbing my eyes.

"Fayadth?!" Anya (mother) called from afar. "Na'am (yes)." I walk through the hall before taking a left to the sitting room.

My mother sat watching. "How is Qahhar?" I sit beside her. "He's fine, Alhamdulillah. Good afternoon, anya."

She brushes my head with her hand. "I have news for you." I look at her. "The girl I told you about, she agreed. You should call her."

I nod. "Thank you, what's her name?"

"Afeeya, she's so pretty. Here's her picture." I shake my head. "Looks doesn't matter to me, you know that." She glares at me. "Still, I want to show you."

I nod in agreement if it would make her feel better. "Look at her." She shows me a video of a girl wearing a dress, sitting down.

"Afeeya." A girl from the video calls her. She turns, smiling. She wore a dress that didn't show even her shape and a big veil that covered her hair.

"What are you doing?! Please not a video." Afeeya says shaking her head before the video ended.

"How is she?" I nod. "Perfect." I give anya an assuring smile. "Good, because even if she wasn't you would've married her." I stand up, laughing.

"Please, where's anya Sham?" I ask for my step mom. "She's in her room. I left the room now, she kept on asking whether her niece could marry you. I got irritated."

"Okay, thank you." I leave the sitting room, exiting the building. There's a walk path with grass between the concrete walks.

I look at the cloudy sky, taking a deep breath before entering the house. The first person I met is nafisa.

"Ya Fayadth." She calls me. "Nafisa, how are you? You've grown taller." I compliment, she laughs, twirling.

"Where anya sham?"

"She's in her room." I lick my lips. "Could you tell her I'm here to greet her?" She nods then runs to call her.

I lean on the wall when I saw Hassana, walking towards me. She wore a hijab, her face downwards immediately I saw her.

"Hassana." I call her. "Ya Fayadth, good afternoon. How was your day?" She still hangs her head.

"I'm fine, you look good." I compliment her, trying to gain the slightest smile from her so the situation would be better.

"Thank you." She covers her smile with her hand. "Fayadth, my in law."

Anya Sham says walking towards us. I stand straight while she adjusts her veil. "Anya sham, good afternoon."

She looks at Hassana then back at me. "Oh, you've met her already. When are you going to take her away?"

I look downwards, forcing a smile. "I am here to greet you, I'll be travelling tomorrow."

"Really? Why?" I look at her,she tucks her veil behind her ear. "Baba sent me there to represent him."

She nods slowly. "Okay, if you are about to leave call me."

"Insha Allah." I glance at Hassana before turning. "Wait, you should continue talking with her. I'll leave you."

I turn back. "I need to run some errands, good bye."

"May Allah bring you back home safely." Hassana says hesitantly.

"Amen, thank you. Have a good day." I walk away, heading to my car. I push the button, opening the car then got in.

I shake my head before driving out.

*******

I laid on the bed, dialling Afeeya's number. "Hello?" The same voice I heard in the video as Afeeya answered.

"Hello, my name is Fayadth Ghafrar. Am I speaking to Afeeya?" It fell silent for a few seconds.

"Yes, you're speaking to Afeeya Adam."

"It's a pleasure, I heard a lot about you."

"Really? What did you hear about me?"

"Well for starters, I heard you're an independent woman. Empowering."

"Wow, that's true. I can't deny it." She laughs. "I want to know more about you if you may."

"Depends."

"Depends?"

"I don't know why I said that to be honest, it just came out." I smile, sitting up. "I have to warn you that I'm goofy. You should know what you're expecting."

"You're funny." I place my elbows on my knee. She's interesting.

******

"Afeeya, you there?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm listening." She slurs obviously sleeping. "Okay, you should go to sleep."

"I'm not sleepy."

I scoff. "Of course, I know but you seem tired so take a break."  I pace to and fro. "Okay, I shall heed your advice. Good night."

"Goodnight." She hangs up while I stand, my eyes wide awake. I don't think I'll sleep anytime now.

I laid down, taking a deep breath. I glance at the watch. 1:43am. I should just pray.

I stand back up, heading to the bathroom. "Ya Fayadth?" Harith call me. "Yeah."

He peeped his head in, the door slightly open. "I wanted to ask whether you're still travelling. I want to join, baba sent me there too."

"Sure." I turn to the bathroom, he shuts the door. 

*Vote

*Follow

*Comment