iman | hakim ziyech

.1

please pray if you haven't already done so.

—

the day before manal and achraf's wedding.

—

'that hakim is good looking.' one of iman's other friends from the village nudged her shoulder. it was the night before the wedding, and for some reason her friends had decided to hold a small party on the grooms end in the late hours of the night.

'really? you should go and announce it to the world!' iman pretended to be excited by this information. she couldn't care less about this annoying guest they had to take care of on top of all the other preparations. how much tea could someone possibly want?

her friend was feeling flirty, and flipped her hair over her shoulder. iman was feeling bored at the stitch she had to add into her dress for tomorrow. 'i would not mind, though he is quite a bit older no?' iman didn't need to look at her friend to know that she was looking at the balcony to catch a glimpse of the man that had come for achraf's wedding.

'does it look like i did a research paper on him?' iman deadpanned, pointing the needle that she was stitching with at her with a serious expression on her face.

'iman you're no fun.' her friend complained with a pout on her face, before she was pulled into the makeshift dance floor some of the girls had set up in the courtyard.

'alhamdulillah.' iman muttered as the girl was gone. some of these girls were far too forward even for her liking. she wished manal was here, and then snorted at the thought. how nice it would look for the bride to come sauntering in to what is basically her in laws house the day before the wedding. the village would go wild and manal would go down as the most impatient girl in history. well, at least in their eyes.

her mind wandered, thinking about how much she wanted what they had. manal in fact was the most patient girl she knew for waiting for a guy as stupid as her brother, a full 6 years at that.

speak of him, achraf made an entrance on the stairs and called out iman's name.

she didn't even need to listen to the rest of his sentence because her mind zeroed in on the one word. 'tea!'

'yeah yeah the word 'please' does not exist in his head does it?' she said, while she dropped her dress on the stool next to her. she was going to make her mother do this because her head was throbbing.

she quickly made the tea, thanking the maid that they had hired for heating up the water beforehand.

'i can take it upstairs for you.' iman's friend raised her eyebrow at her, no doubt stupid plan, of trying to catch a glimpse of the man that they were discussing earlier.

'sit back down. none of that is going on in my house.' iman finally said, not appreciating the way the girl was behaving. 'this is my house amira, stop treating it as a dating website!'

'iman first you gatekeeped your brother from us saving him for manal, now at let us have a chance with his friend!'

'girls, what is going on?' amina asked as she saw the increasingly agitated look on her nieces face. she didn't know what they were saying, but the way their mouths were moving said everything. they were arguing and it wasn't the fun kind.

'nothing. i'm going to take this tea upstairs.' iman said, her eyes averting to focus on the steps instead. amira hmphed and turned around, her long hair swiping at iman to which she made a face, making a statement.

'i'm so glad achraf fell for manal and not these other cows.' she thought, wondering about the comment her friend had made. was that really what they cared about? and thought of her?

'saving for manal' my foot, i know for a fact he was the one praying and crying for her. i have better things to do than to reserve people for each other.' iman scrunched her face before knocking on the door, not bothering to wait for the door to open. she left the metal tray on the floor, and turned when she winced at the sudden sensation of twisting her ankle in an uncomfortable position.

'i'm going through so much for this tea! this stupid guest i hope he chokes on his tea-' her rant was cut mid sentence when the door to the room opened and revealed the guest that had become a topic of discussion in her home.

'i'm sorry if i'm being a bother.' he was amused, and clearly not used to the village life because of how frank he was being. that, or he just liked watching her suffer.

'oh, uh.' iman just stuttered, realising that stupid cow amira was right. he was good looking. she averted her eyes.

astaghfirullah iman. she felt her conscious scold her. she needed to be better than that.

'has iman brought the tea yet- oh.' her brother added, looking at the state of her. 'did you trip over nothing again?' achraf unhelpful as ever, added standing next to his friend. iman didn't bother responding, only scurrying back down the stairs. her brother could be so annoying sometimes.

'i'm imposing, aren't i?' hakim looked at achraf and asked, somewhat seriously. he didn't want to be a bother, much less get cursed to choke on tea.

'nah, she's just tired.' achraf waved it off. iman was just nervous.

—

'i'll get the money ready by tomorrow.' iman semi paced across the balcony that overlooked the courtyard of their house. the lights the girls had adorned the place with surprisingly hid her silhouette in the dark instead of highlighting it.

'no no you don't need to come and make a scene at the wedding. i told you, i'll give it you myself.' iman said through gritted teeth into the phone. it felt so wrong, sneaking on to the balcony, whispering into a phone. she knew what the implications of such meetings were, and while she knew the assumptions were totally wrong, she knew if people found out it would be impossible to dig herself out.

she was upstairs purely because if her mother found out then she can expect to have a classic slipper beating for hiding all this from them. she regretted not telling anyone when manal had asked her to share the problem instead of hiding it and waiting for it to snowball into a bigger problem. which it then went on to become.

she was biting her nails when she cut the call and flipped the phone in her hand out of anxiety, and the sound of it was loud enough to drown out the footsteps behind her.

once the light thudding reached her ears though, her eyes widened in realisation. achraf was probably on the phone to manal, so this could only be one other person.

and she wasn't wearing a hijab.

so she made up her mind quickly, and ran as quietly down the stairs before this guest can catch up to her and ask her questions. or make any more demands.

yeah, she'll deal with it all tomorrow.

—

hello everyone. how was the first chapter? should i include the outro from manal here too? so that it's all in one place?

i'm sorry there's not much action, but it'll get to it. trying to have this finished before ramadan starts or maybe before eid 😭

please comment and vote, it means the entire world to me!

lots of love,

lei.