My glimpse of Paradise

chapter six: black suits you

Then our eyes met.

My breath got caught in my throat and I froze. It was dark outside, but I could still see his dark eyes looking up at me. Neither of us looked away. My mind was screaming to lower my gaze. I really wanted to lower my gaze, but I couldn't. What is this? I felt my cheeks burn as he was still looking at me. I don't even know how he knew that I was here as my lights weren't on and I was wearing a black hoodie. The chance that he could actually see me was very low, but he still was looking up at my window. He still saw me.

Then his eyes darted to our front door. It seems that my brother finally found his way towards the front door. I saw him smiling at my brother and sharing a hug. Were they this close? Both men started to laugh. Will he accept the invitation and come in to eat? If so, I will probably skip a meal today. I felt my stomach drop as he locked his car and walked towards our front door with my brother. You're kidding me, right? 'Jannah, come downstairs to eat. Everything is ready.' 'Thank you mom, but I am not hungry. I will go to sleep.' 'Benti that's not possible. If you don't want to eat then at least have some atay with us after dinner. I didn't see you the whole day.' My mom was right, I didn't see her the whole day. I felt guilty and agreed to a cup of tea. Amine will probably be gone by then. 

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Benti = daughter in Moroccan dialect (Darija) 

Atay = Moroccan tea

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I heard my mom calling me to have tea after about an hour. My feet dragged me towards my window to check if his car was gone. Luck wasn't on my side as I saw the very same car parked across the street. I took a dark blue khimaar and abaya out of my closet and wore it over my hoodie and sweatpants. This will be a long cup of tea. I promised myself that I'll have only one cup and then disappear in my room. This would be very difficult as I loved Moroccan mint tea. I can easily have 5 cups a day.

As my feet were dragging me down to the living room, I was planning on how to avoid his gaze and a conversation about what happened. My mom was the first one to notice my presence in the room. 'Jannah benti can you please pour another glass of tea for our guest?' I nodded as I walked towards the table where the teapot was and took it in my hands. What if I accidentally burn him? He would never come back here. That actually sounds like a good idea to me. He placed his cup on the table before him as I began to pour the tea. 'A black hoodie suits you.' What? Did I actually hear that? No way that I heard it correctly. My eyes shot up to look at him.

 Amine Bensaid

I had actually planned to stay this evening at home and rest a little bit as I had an important meeting tomorrow but God had other plans for me. It was my agenda who leaded me to the house of the Ziani's at such an hour. As I had said earlier, I knew Deen since we were children but weren't that close because we lived in different neighborhoods. He is a really nice man who makes you laugh a lot. He sees the positive in everything and would advice you even though you don't like the answer. I wouldn't say that he's my best friend, but I do really appreciate him being around. His parents are lovely people. I could see why he turned out to be such a good person. His little sister seemed also pretty decent to me. Her modesty was something to look up to and her manners made you respect her. 

My thoughts rushed back to an hour ago when I had arrived here. I was waiting for Deen to come out with my agenda as I sensed some eyes on me. It wasn't rare for me to sense eyes on me as you have to be alert in Morocco so I just developed the ability to feel someone's gaze on me. My eyes flickered through the front of the house until I found a shadow standing near a window. It was a woman wearing a black hoodie. If it was someone else, they wouldn't even made out the difference between the shadow and the darkness of the room. But I did and I knew who was standing there. Jannah Ziani was looking down at me wearing a black hoodie. Alarms went off in my mind trying to make me lower my gaze. This is bad, really bad. Why is it that I can't lower me gaze that easily around her?

Suddenly the front door swung open and Deen walked towards me with a big smile. And now I'm here, having tea with the Ziani's. 'Jannah benti can you please pour another glass of tea for our guest?'. My eyes fell on the girl wearing a blue khimaar. She made her way towards the tea pot and turned around coming towards me. Everyone was lost in a conversation and nobody paid attention to us. I put my cup on the little table before me and she began to pour tea in it. 'A black hoodie suits you.' Her eyes shot up to look at me. Did I say that out loud? It slipped out of my mouth before I could think it over.

'Jannah, can you pour me a cup of tea while you're at it?' A young boy entered the living room and was now standing beside Jannah. He reached his hand towards me. 'Assalamu Alaikum, I am Abdelnour.' 'Wa3alaikum Salam, Amine.' He sat beside me and began to talk and soon enough we were laughing together. My eyes would occasionally fall on the girl who was now silently sitting besides Deen and her mom. After some time I got up. 'I think it's time to go. Thank you very much for the food and tea galti. It was delicious.' 'Are you already leaving? It's still early.' Deen's mom asked. 'Yes galti, I have a meeting tomorrow at 10 am. Otherwise I would have loved to spend more time with you.' 'You can stop by whenever you want a weldi. You're always welcome.' I smiled broadly at Deen's mother. 'Shokran.' Deen's dad stood up and greeted me. 'I really like you son. You should visit us more.'

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Weldi = son 

Shokran = thank you

Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatu.

First of all Eid Mubarak! I hope you all enjoyed it yesterday with the people that you love! Taqabala Allahu minna wa minkum. May Allah swt allow us to witness another Ramadan, may our fasts, dua's and qiyaam be accepted, Ameen. May we hold onto the good qualities that we have developed during the beautiful month of Ramadan, Ameen. 

I know that my chapters aren't the longest chapters, but I really try to make them as long as possible. Also, it seems that everyone likes Amine. Even Jannah's father is a fan?! Maybe this is good for in the future? Who knows? I am already loving their story though I say it myself! It won't be easy, but we will get there!