Mrs Ahmed Shehu

30

AHMED

Suraiya and I spend the first five days in the resort sleeping. As crazy as it sounds, while we were catching up on lost sleep and getting rid of the tiredness that came with everything, Asma and our female friends caught up, news about mine and Suraiya's wedding leaked, and then Hassan and Summayya pulled a secret wedding which they spoke about on the group after it was done and dusted.

The stunt they pulled off caused a ruckus on the group and it made Amal and the others come back from Swansea, leaving the kids with Asma. Suraiya and I? We wished them well, put our phones back on DND, and continued sleeping. We couldn't be bothered and honestly we're not going to be bothered until there's a life and death situation that actually requires our attention back home. Until then, we're going to keep living in this place that's a literal slice of paradise.

On the morning of the sixth day, we decide to be productive and we start by catching sunrise on our private part of the beach that's right behind the villa which has two sun loungers that have been there even before we came. Suraiya's in my hoodie and loose trousers but she's still so beautiful. Her hair's in a black cap and while her attention is on the camera she's holding, my attention is on her. My attention is always going to be on her as long as we're in the same space. I have a feeling that she'll still hold my attention captive when we're not physically together. I'm that into her.

In the past days, in moments when we were awake to do one thing or the other, I lived through little moments I now hold dear to my heart. It's one thing to watch Suraiya sleep and it's a whole other thing to wake up to her smiling at me. It's another different story to have her get comfortable with me little by little. And then there's the fact that she's been "quietly" stealing my shirts and putting them on, acting like she has no idea how it got into her box. They look good on her and yes, I have placed an order for more.

Then there are the little glimpses I get of her in the bathroom; in a robe, usually with a towel around her head, and a smile on her face as she works on a really simple skin care routine. I've gotten those moments about thrice now and I will have anyone know that I am very, very, very greedy for more.

"Ahmed, the sun!"

I turn away from her and turn to the horizon across the ocean where the sun starts to peek out. The view is beautiful, magnificent even, but what really has my attention captive is my wife. I turn away from the rising sun and look at her, taking her in leisurely. She's genuinely happy and she looks at every shot she takes before she proceeds to take another one. Ya Allah, I'm really the luckiest person; simply because I have her.

"Ahmed, it's beautiful. C'est vraiment tres beau (It's really beautiful)."

"Yes," I rest my chin in my hand, knowing we're talking about two different things right now. "It's really beautiful."

She turns to me with a small frown. "Are we talking about the same thing right now?"

I smile easily. "Maybe..."

With an amused smile, she turns back to the view. "Ahmed."

"Suraiya."

Her smile widens. "I'm so not doing this with you right now."

My smile widens too. "I love you too."

We stay there until the sun rises fully and when I ask what we should do for the rest of the day, Suraiya puts her camera aside and faces me fully. She's still smiling. "Right now we're going to go in and have our baths and then head for breakfast. After that, we can nap until Zuhr or read something."

"Basically leisure."

"Yep. We'll call Akilah too and tell her that we'll be taking her offer on that resort tour this afternoon."