Mrs Mahmud, Mrs Mas'ood

22

It was the last Saturday of the month. Normally, they'd return to bed after Fajr so they could catch up on the sleep they missed or cut short because of work. This particular Saturday was different. A serious conversation hung above their heads.

Linda and Yusuf sat side by side on the loveseat, her hand held tightly in his. Hauwa sat on the opposite single seater – right in front of the long living room window, toying with her fingers and her head lowered.

The sun was rising when Hauwa exhaled and finally raised her head. "Sorry, I just needed a minute."

Yusuf smiled warmly at her. "Take your time, sweetheart. We're not going anywhere."

Hauwa tried to smile back but it was hard. She swallowed the small lump in her throat, pushed her fear back and opened her mouth. "I met a lot of people during Hanan's wedding. I'm sure you both were aware of the number of men I had to push away because I wasn't interested in their advances."

Both Linda and Yusuf nodded. Hauwa continued.

"I spent most of my time with Mas'ood and Mahmud. I started liking Mahmud but by the time we left Abuja, my feelings were not reciprocated. I thought he liked someone else but he didn't and I only found about that recently. It doesn't change anything though. I'm ninety-eight per cent sure I'm over him at this point."

Linda and Yusuf listened to her every word. Hauwa had been so sure she had her emotions under control when she asked them to talk earlier. The opposite proved to be the case in that moment when her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them back, hating the hurt on her parents' faces.

She blew out a small breath. "Mas'ood told me he liked me before I left Abuja. I told him I needed time because it was something I never saw coming. I saw him as just a brother-in-law because Hanan is married to Zayd and that was it. Normally I would have turned him down but I couldn't bring myself to. At the end of the day, there was a part of me that liked him and how happy I could be when I was around him."

Linda smiled at her daughter. "If you like him too, there's nothing wrong with it. It won't be the first time sisters marry into one family. That's not a haram thing to do."

Hauwa's response was silence. Yusuf squeezed his wife's hand for his own benefit. His heart was heavy and he needed the comfort. "Hauwa," He spoke so gently. "Did something happen?"

Hauwa sniffled and used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. "It took me a while to reorient my mindset so I could see him as Mas'ood Dantata and not as Hanan's husband's younger brother. Since then, we've been getting to know each other better. I started liking him. Until Thursday night, everything was fine."

Linda's smile was gone. "What happened on Thursday night? Before this, I thought you cried because you were scared we would be against you two being together. It's not something Islam prohibits so –"

"Mas'ood and I are both AS. That's what was revealed on Thursday night and that was why I cried. That's why I have been crying."

Just like the time Hanan revealed she was in love in Zayd who was married to Amal, the silence that reached Hauwa's ears was extremely loud. Her parents sat like statues on the sofa, their hands still held together and their faces unusually pale.

Hauwa barely kept her sobs at bay. "Everything else so far has been clear. We got to the genotype and it messed everything up." She buried her face in her hands. "I don't even know what to do or where we'll go from here and I feel so guilty because this will hurt him too and..."

She broke down then. Yusuf let go of his wife's hand, stood, walked over to where Hauwa was and sat on the armrest of the sofa so he could hug her and have her cry against his chest.