Accepting You

Chapter Thirty Three

Yusuf hadn't been told, but he knew that his relationship was the topic of conversation back home.

They had returned to London, and Asiya wasn't moving in with Yusuf's family or him. He was the one untraditionally moving in with her.

They had made this decision because it was convenient. It meant they could instantly live together and didn't have to spend time, effort, and money looking for a new place in London, where securing a viewing, let alone a property, was hard. Plus, Asiya loved her flat and wasn't ready to leave it.

"Miss Asiya! Welcome back!" A short, curly-haired man greeted her as Yusuf followed Asiya into her building.

"Thank you, David. It's nice to be home, and I'm a Mrs now." Asiya lifted her hand, and Yusuf watched proudly as Asiya wiggled her fingers and flashed her rings.

"Oh, congratulations!" David's eyes swept over Yusuf before he nodded approvingly. "This is your husband?"

"Yes, this is Yusuf," Asiya chirped, curling her hands around Yusuf's arm.

"Well done. A great choice," David winked.

"I'm assuming then he's the owner of all of these. Shall I send them up?" David asked as he pushed open a blue door behind him.

Yusuf and Asiya tilted their heads to view the room's contents.

The storeroom was overflowing with large cardboard boxes and cheap, plastic suitcases.

"Some men dropped these off about two weeks ago. They said they belonged to Mr Hassan, but your name and flat were listed as the address."

"Yeah, they're mine," Yusuf confirmed.

"I'll radio my guys to take them up," David said before he picked up a walkie-talkie.

Asiya pulled on Yusuf's arm as they walked towards the lifts. "Yusuf, you told me you lived in a house share. That you only had a room."

"Yeah, I did. All of that fit in it," Yusuf said.

"How big was your room?"

Yusuf looked at Asiya's startled face and chuckled. "Did you expect me to live in a shoebox or something?"

Asiya pressed a button in the lift. "I mean, it is London! I imagined you barely being able to move around your bed without crashing into the wall!"

"It wasn't that small," Yusuf said.

"Clearly," Asiya muttered.

They got off on the 17th floor, and Yusuf followed Asiya down a few corridors.

Asiya gripped the handle of a light brown door even though it was already open.

"This is mine," she said while swaying slightly. "I mean ours, now."

Yusuf entered the flat. David's men were already moving through it, craftily placing Yusuf's load in every spare spot of space.

Yusuf kept his hands in his pocket as he toured Asiya's place.

She had kitted it out. Every corner of the property seemed decorated with a piece of her personality. Reflective cobalt tiles were pasted in the open-plan kitchen, colour was thrown over her sofa in different-shaped cushions and blankets, and small pins were punctured into almost every piece of soft furniture.

"Your place is nice," Yusuf complimented.

"It's our place," Asiya reminded.

Yusuf sucked on his lower lip. "It's smaller than I thought it would be."