Accepting You

Chapter Twenty Three

"Hi, Kulthum." 

Yusuf gave Kulthum the most charming smile he could muster as she peeled the door open. "Your parents said it was okay to come over today."

Kulthum attacked Yusuf with her gaze. She scrolled her eyes up and down his body and scowled before attacking him with her mouth. "I know. I don't know why they did, though."

Yusuf maintained his smile.

"Well? You coming in or what?" Kulthum jerked her head backwards. "You don't need to wait for an invite; you've already made yourself comfortable here," she spat.

Each one of Kulthum's words had a punch she seemed to want to deliver with her fist.

"Oh dear," Yusuf's mum muttered from behind him as Kulthum skipped into the kitchen.

"That's just Kulthum," Yusuf explained quietly as he pushed off his shoes. He had expected nothing less.

His mum shut the front door and looked at him. "Ready?" she mouthed.

Yusuf shrugged, and his mum drew a circle in the air and then pointed at the closest door, silently instructing him to enter the living room.

"Uh, asalamu alaykum," Yusuf greeted shyly.

Yusuf's eyes darted around the room as he stepped into it. Asiya's parents were sitting on a sofa. They replied to his greeting but didn't direct Yusuf to sit.

"I thought Asiya was going to be home this weekend?" His mum said to Asiya's parents.

"I am." Asiya floated into the living room. The sight of her kneecapped Yusuf and nearly sent him tumbling.

Yusuf pressed the gift basket he was holding tighter against his chest.

Maybe distance did make the heart grow fonder because, at that moment, it felt like his heart was being crushed under a flood of feelings he couldn't control or make sense of.

He had missed Asiya.

I love you, was the first thing Yusuf wanted to say to her because he did.

He loved her. He had missed her, he loved her, and he was furious with her.

He was angry at Asiya for doing this to him. For not replying to him or answering him. For torturing him. For making him nearly lose his mind worrying about her and how she was doing. 

He hated Asiya for being so stubborn, and refusing to work through this obstacle together. But he admired Asiya for respecting herself enough to not let his or his aunt's behaviour slide.

"Yusuf, aren't you going to sit down?" Asiya's dad asked.

Yusuf shuffled into a space beside his mum, trying to hide his reluctance. He felt like a vampire. 

He had missed Asiya so much that the sight of her wasn't enough to satisfy him and fill in the time they had lost together.

"What's all this?" Asiya nodded towards the basket in Yusuf's hand.

"Apologies," his mum answered as she placed the flower arrangement she was holding on the coffee table.

"Your sister isn't here, though," Asiya's mum pointed out.

Yusuf held his breath like he was picking up and turning over his phone after it had smashed onto the floor, face down.

"No. She's not," his mum choked out. "But we are."

"I'm sorry," Yusuf said as he met Asiya's gaze before she quickly moved it.

It felt like all their conversations had been replaced with apologies, and he desperately wanted to reshape them into something different —something better, something like before.