Accepting You

Chapter Four

"Yusuf's home!"

Yusuf had barely finished kicking through the usual runway of his neighbour's litter that lined the entryway of his home. His fingers were still gripping his key, stuck in the door when his aunt Hina tugged it open.

"Asalamu alaykum beta! How was your first day? Did they give you loads to do? Are you far behind?" his aunt Hina interrogated him as she pulled his backpack off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor.

"Let me look at you," aunt Hina demanded before she dug her claw-like nails into his cheeks and squeezed them.

With a pinched face, Yusuf allowed his aunt to complete her inspection. He was too tired to question what she was looking for or fight against her intrusive behaviour.

"Hina! Relax. Let him get through the door!" Yusuf's mum said from behind his aunt.

"Alright." His aunt dropped her hands from his face. "Didn't know it was a crime to welcome my favourite nephew home from school."

"I'm your only nephew," Yusuf said as he removed his shoes and placed them on the nearby rack.

"He's so smart, isn't he Hannah? No wonder he got into that grammar school," aunt Hina said as she looked at Yusuf's mum with an untrustworthy smile. One that wasn't quite wide enough to signal playfulness but wasn't small enough to be considered false.

Yusuf watched his mum respond to her older sister with a sluggish shrug before she walked through the alcove that separated their living room and kitchen.

Yusuf had observed enough interactions between his mother and aunt to know that his mother preferred to keep quiet around her instead of batting responses back.

His aunt was unreliable when it came to her speech and feelings. She liked to tease people and joke around, but she could flip between moods like a light switch, so it was wise to never take her jokes at face value.

"Something smells good," Yusuf noted.

"That would be because of your mum and I," aunt Hina beamed. "Go and get changed, and we'll serve everything up."

Yusuf mock saluted his aunt, picked up his bag and moved to change.

"Wait!" his aunt sharply instructed as she grabbed the back of Yusuf's hoodie and dragged him backwards. "What the hell is this?" she hissed.

Yusuf craned his neck, trying to see what his aunt was talking about. "What's what?"

"This!" his aunt cried. She stretched the fabric of Yusuf's hoodie apart and pressed her fingers against his back. "Hannah! Hannah! Come quick!"

"What?" Yusuf's brows pulled together as he jerked his head backwards. "What is it?" he asked with a slight panic.

His mum scurried out of the kitchen urgently and joined his aunt.

The women murmured between themselves while his mum tugged on his hoodie. Yusuf stumbled backwards and to the side with a discrete eyeroll.

If his mum had caught his side eyes, there would have been much less tugging and more slapping.

"It looks like makeup," his mum finally concluded before releasing Yusuf's hoodie from her grip.

Yusuf let go of a breath before his eyes narrowed and lips flattened. His family members were half losing their minds and almost tore apart his shirt like he was a Prophet (as) because of some makeup?

How could that have even gotten on my–Oh.

"Have you been with a girl?" his aunt questioned him loudly. She pulled at Yusuf's hoodie with such force that he nearly toppled backwards onto the floor.