My glimpse of Paradise

Chapter two: qalbi and rouhi

Weeks passed and I forgot about the encounter with that man. As I was sitting in class, the professor mentioned a groups work. I always preferred to work with girls to avoid any fitnah with male students, but this time it was the professor who made the groups. He began mentioning names. 'Group 7: Rahma, Jannah, Amine and Salmaan'. To say that I was in denial was an understatement. I looked over at Rahma and saw the same expression on her face. 'Rahma, do you know them? I never heard of them.' Rahma looked at me and said 'I only heard of Salmaan because your brother talked about him some time, but I never heard of any Amine.' I uttered a sigh. 'I'll ask my brother who they are and if he wants to join our work sessions with them because no way we'll be alone with them.' Rahma agreed to this and we started to pack as our lesson finished. 'At least he put us together Alhamdoulillah. I wouldn't know what to do without you.' Rahma said. I chuckled. 

Rahma had always the impression that she can't do any groups work without me but she's always the one who puts way more effort and creativity in them than me. We both study interior architecture so we need the creativity. The professor mentioned however that this was a project with students of architecture so I'm guessing that Amine and Salmaan major in architecture. 'Ladies and gentleman, do not forget that next session is mandatory as you will have to brainstorm with your partners that I just mentioned for your assignment. Our approval is needed to start working on your project. Have a nice day.' There is no way that I heard this correctly. 'Did he just say what I think he said?' Rahma nodded. 'Next session is tomorrow.' Rahma added. 'This can't be true. I hope that they are decent guys In Shaa Allah.' 'In Shaa Allah.'

We headed towards our cafeteria to get some coffee and tea. I was absolutely a tea person. Rahma loved coffee which I couldn't understand. I held tightly on my tea cup as it warmed my fingers. 'Jannah come, we'll sit there.' I followed Rahma as I didn't mind where we'll sit as long as we had a chair to sit on. As soon as we sat down, Rahma started talking about her sister's wedding which is next weekend. I had always been the quiet girl, but once Rahma started talking, I couldn't stay quiet either. I think that's why we became such good friends. She was able to break down my walls and make me talk. We shared everything with each other. Rahma was like the sister that I didn't have. Besides Deen as my older brother, I have a younger brother, Abdelnour or as I like to call him, Nour. 'Jannah do you have a dress for the wedding?' We are both Moroccan so choosing the right dress was a big deal. 'Well about that...' Rahma's eyes were about to fall. 'Are you serious? Tomorrow we'll go look for one because you are way to late. Almost all the dresses are rented.' We live in a small city where there are only three stores who rent traditional Moroccan dresses. Almost nobody buys takshita's as there are always new designs each year. 'Rahma, calm down. If I don't find a takshita then I'll wear my blue caftan.' 'What? No Way!' You can guess who the dramatic friend is. I laughed at my sister as I felt eyes burning on me. My eyes flickered through the cafeteria until I met some dark eyes who were already looking at me. Once he realized I caught him, he let his gaze fall down on the ground. I, on the other hand was mesmerized by those eyes. Let alone his facial features. 'Astagfirullah.' My gaze fell back on Rahma who looked at me with a frown. 'What is it?' I responded with a nothing as I waved it away.

Tuesday 1 PM 55

Rahma and I were heading towards the classroom in which we would have to work on the project with Amine and Salmaan. As we walked in, we saw that they put our group numbers on the tables. We walked towards table 7 which was still free. I hope that they won't be late as I hate that. 'Do you think that they will be late?' I asked Rahma. 'I have no idea, they still have 5 more minutes.' I nodded and we sat down with our backs towards the door. 

We started to talk about different things as the topic changed towards marriage and nicknames. 'You know, I would like my husband to call me Rahmati.' I left an 'awhh' and smiled at Rahma who explained why that specific nickname. 'I would love qalbi and rouhi to be my nickname. It has a different twist to it. Maybe very cliché but it does sound cute. Qalbi and rouhi.' At that very moment, two men came into our sight. I panicked and looked at Rahma who had the same expression on her face. 'Assalamu Alaikum.' they both said in union. I felt my cheeks burn of embarrassment hoping they did not hear any of my sayings. We whispered our salam back.

Silence fell as everybody lowered their gaze. After some minutes the professor began explaining the project. The idea was that we had to present an ideal hotel to our professors which were the jury for this project. The interior has to be functional with the design of the hotel. This would be a big project as we had to have minimum 6 floors. 'Do not forget that this project marks 5 points of your final grade for this subject. Discuss with your partners and present us your idea by the end of the lesson which is in two hours. Best of luck.' One of the men cleared his throat and started talking. 'I am Salmaan and this is Amine.' I looked at Rahma who was already looking at me. 'I am Rahma and she is Jannah.' Salmaan looked up and met my gaze. 'You're Deen's sister right?' I nodded. 'That's correct. Euhm for the project. I think we should go for something natural and with that I mean something good for the climate so sustainable. Maybe we could add solar panels and a big yard with trees and flowers. It should be a place where someone could rest and catch his breath. The rooms could be decorated with for example sustainable materials. It is a rough draft of course.' I looked up to see their reactions and I was let's say "too stunned to speak" when I saw the same dark eyes as yesterday looking up at me.