Until Heaven Unites Us

Chapter Six

A month had passed by in the blink of an eye. Haya and Faisal had spent their married life happily. Since Haya was still under the prescribed rest time from the doctor, they were unable to go for Umrah immediately. So instead of just sulking at home, she used that time to engage even more frequently in the orphanage and developed a new friendship with a little boy who had come in recently. He had suffered a trauma.

The little one, named Hamza, was kidnapped from his mother by his abusive father and forced to do child labor. The child though having been rescued was traumatized by the ordeal. He was only 6 years old. His mother was no where to be found as the police had no name nor records and the child couldn't remember due to being kidnapped from her at the tender age of 4. How they found him was when his drunken father crashed his car into a tree and died. Hamza had been in in the car but was rescued unharmed.

Since he was brought to the orphanage, he was scared and always shied away from socializing saying his father wouldn't like it. He suffered from nightmares and would pick fights when he felt his space was threatened. Haya, who was assigned to him had patiently gotten him to trust her over the span of three weeks after her one week honeymoon break with Faisal. They painted together and shared meals in the most mundane way. She always got him a fruit juice he seemed to love and looked forward to everyday.

So when she and Faisal were preparing for Umrah, she felt bad because he would be reassigned to someone else and it might take him some time getting used to.

"What's on your mind babe?" Faisal asked wrapping his arms around her torso and kissing her forehead tenderly.

"I was thinking of Hamza. The kid's barely opening up and now I feel like I'm going to abandon him"

"He'll be fine inshAllah. You're not abandoning him"

"But he is going to feel like I did"

"But you're gonna return and meet him and that would be another type of assurance that even if you leave you'd always come back". Faisal told her. She smiled and put her hands around his neck.

"You're right. In the meantime, I can FaceTime Yasmin and communicate with the little guy. He's really troubled" Haya said sadly.

"He's lucky you know" Faisal said staring at her. She looked up at him and smiled.

"How so?"

"He has you as a guardian. You're always so gentle with kids no matter how rough they seem to be and they also always calm down with you"

"Alhamdulillah. It's the way it's supposed to be. As adults we need to be gentle with the innocent children so they'd be able to trust us and find friendship in us. If we're too rough, it will cause a rift and that's why we have so many troubled people these days. Their childhoods were not so smooth I'm sure" she said with a sigh.

Faisal looked at her for a while and she giggled.

"What?"

"It's nothing.... Just that you're such a humanitarian. Always thinking about others and not yourself" he said.

"I'm not. I just want to gain Allah's pleasure" she said.

"Alhamdulillah for such a wife"

"Alhamdulillah for such a husband" she said and let go of him after kissing his cheek. The meal was ready so she grabbed plates and served them both dinner.

The next day, at the airport, Malik, Haya's father and Faisal's siblings were at the airport to bid them farewell. After the prayers, hugs and 'I'll miss you's, they boarded their flight and flew to their destination.

During the flight, Faisal, who sat by the aisle, watched Haya's excitement for the trip. She had always wanted to go on an Umrah trip with her spouse when she had one and now, it was with the best person ever. They talked about family, home, touring, traveling and so much more before Haya slept off. Faisal dozed off as well but woke up a while later. He then began to make Adhkar. When Haya woke up, they decided to eat and make Adhkar as well.