Until Heaven Unites Us

Chapter Seven

     Haya and Faisal were over the moon with one another as they discovered how much they had in common. The only thing they seemed not to were their professions which kept them apart for the working hours of the day. While Faisal went to work, Haya stayed home painting in the extra room which was reserved as a studio for her. It had a full view of the park a few streets away. The scenery made her feel calm and kept her inspired to paint different ideas.

     It had been a week since they returned from their Umrah trip and Haya had severe jet lag. She had been weak all the while but didn't mind as she didn't want to bother Faisal with her stress ridden body. The weekend rolled over smoothly for her though. She got enough rest and with Faisal keeping her company, she didn't have time to feel what was wrong or not with her body.

"Babe?" Faisal poked his head into her studio and found her sketching a hyper realism art of Mount Arafat. He smiled at her happy face and asked,

"What would you like to have for dinner?"

     Haya put forward her free hand and he walked forward to hold it.

"Anything you want, my love"

     Faisal thought for a while and said,

"Why don't we have pasta? And chicken strips?"

"What happened to meatballs?"

"You still have that queasy stomach ache don't you? It's best not to eat stuff like that for now" he said, placing a gentle peck on her knuckles.

     She pouted but nodded.

"You're right. I haven't had one this bad so it'll be best to just follow the doctor's orders" she said.

     Faisal left to go cook dinner for them while Haya continued painting. She and Faisal had agreed on her cooking on weekdays and him cooking on weekends. She wanted to do it but Faisal wouldn't hear of it.

     She heard him bringing out the pot to put the pasta on fire and then when he got the ingredients out of the fridge to cut them up on the chopping board. Haya smiled and made dua for her husband.

     She was finishing up the sketch for the day to join him in making dinner when a sharp cramp knocked the air out of her. Haya, startled at the familiar pain, took in breaths to stable herself. It stopped after a few seconds so she decided to stand up when another, sharper and more painful that the last got her on the floor.

"Faisal!" she screamed when it became unbearable. Faisal came running and found her on the floor.

"Hayati! What's wrong? What's happening to you?" He asked when got to her and tried to get her to stand up.

"My stomach hurts" she groaned in pain. Without a word, he swiftly picked her up from the floor and got her scarf from the bedroom for her to wear it before getting his keys from the hallway table and driving them to the hospital in his car.

     A while later, he was able to see her. She looked tired and pale. His heart broke at how weak she looked. The doctor led him to see her. Haya who was breathing fine now, saw Faisal and smiled at him.

"Mr Uthman, the doctor began. Your wife seems to have a bad case of gastritis. Coupled with the stress from traveling and skipping meals, it was inevitable. I advise you to eat your meals on time, drink water often and take your meds Ma'am. Sir, see to it that she does so please" the doctor said and gave him a piece of paper. Written in it was the prescription for her drugs.

     When he left, Faisal walked closer to her and sat on the side.

"Hey" she squeaked.

"Babe, I'm so glad you're alright. Why have you been skipping meals?"