Once Upon A Lifetime

Chapter Eighteen ~ Carry Me In Your Arms

AN: SALAAM! This is the link where I found the story mentioned in this chapter:
http://www.qul.org.au/library/marriage-a-morals-in-islam/1140-muslim-marriage-stories-carry-me-in-your-arms
Now, let's proceed to the chapter!

Taalia's POV~

I made my way up the stairs and entered the Masjid library. After greeting a few of the others in the library, I looked through the shelves, aimlessly. I was too bored to spend another day at home so I decided to spend most of it at the Masjid, reading Quran and reading some of the books. Did I ever mention that I absolutely love books? Well, I do. I skimmed through the titles, stories about Prophet Muhammad SAW, Hadiths, and many other books on various topics. I wasn't in the mood to read any of those. Suddenly, I bumped into someone and I looked up to see Aasim. Astaghfirullah.

"Oh, I... Sorry." I said quietly, not being able to take my eyes off of him.

"It's okay." He said, looking at me in the eyes. I didn't know how long we stood there staring at each other until one of the other Islamic teachers came by with a 'salaam'. We both looked away, replying and then going back to looking at the books.

"I know this is probably the worst way to start a conversation but I need to know. How are you feeling?" Aasim asked. I smiled a bit, my heart beat increasing at the thought that he cared so much.

"Thanks to you, I felt a lot better afterwards. Heh, no wonder you're becoming a doctor so young." I grinned. He chuckled.

"JazakAllah." He smiled. I turned back to the books again.

"You know any good books to read?" I asked.

"You could read this one." He handed me the book he was holding and I gasped when I read the cover.

"Oh my Allah, you still have this?!" I asked, surprised.

"Haha, of course." The cover read, "Carry Me In Your Arms". I had read this story many times as a child and had made copies for me, Misha, Aasim, and Saqib and made them all read it. It had been about fourteen years since I've made it. Misha and Saqib, the two buffoons lost their's but I still kept mine. My mother would tell me many stories and I would write them all down and make copies of my favourite ones. This was one of them. I still had all of my stories.

"This was from so long ago, I can't believe you still have it." I said, softly, gently flipping through the pages.

"This was one of my favorite stories as a kid in case you don't remember. Today, I plan on reading it to the few kids who come during Salaat, In Sha Allah." He explained.

"Aw really?" He nodded and grinned.
"Oh, I have an idea! Why don't you bring the kids up to our classroom and we can both read stories to them. Oh! I can bring some other ones from home too!" I explained excitedly. He nodded again.

"Sounds good. Then around Asr, In Sha Allah?" He asked.

"Yes, In Sha Allah." I said, handing the book back to him.
"I'll go home now and come back then." He nodded.

"Okay, Salaam." He smiled. I smiled back.

"Wa Alaikum Asalam." I replied and left the library.

• ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ •

"Aasim, you start reading our first story." I said. All the kids and teenagers were in our classroom. I noticed one teenage girl who looked a bit bored. I hoped the story would get her interested and maybe learn something new.

"Okay, listen carefully, everyone. The story carries an important lesson that will help all of us in the future In Sha Allah." Aasim said, smiling at everyone. With a "Bimillahi Rahmani Rahim" he started reading one of my most favourite stories of all time.