Veiled Against All Odds

01.

"And?", asked Nuha impatiently, "What do your parents think?"

Looking at her beautiful brown eyes, I smile. How can such an amazing soul be worried about my tedious life?

I sigh, "They want me to wait until I am ready."

"But Maryam, you are ready! Can't they see that?!"

Scanning the entire library, I plopped myself down on the beanbag and open my satchel.

"I know Nuha. I've tried telling them that, but they believe that waiting is the best option."

My mother has never understood why I have always had an obsession with the veil. I've always played around and said random things about how it suits a woman so much better than putting her beauty on display. I would even attend class wearing a veil when I was younger, but according to her, it was all just a phase.

Meeting Nuha made me rethink my interest, since she wears the veil and is the same age as I am. She changed my entire perspective of the veil and I found myself falling in love with it all over again.

Taking out the veil that I have bought, last week, from my satchel, I feel a sense of ease.

"Nuha, it's not their choice, right? I mean like, no one can stop me, right?"

Nuha's eyes meet the veil and she immediatly comes to sit next to me. She strokes the sequence affectionately and says, " No, no one can stop you. You'll be doing it purely for the sake of God. They can't come between you and your Lord. Always remember that."

I smile, "It's nice, isn't it?"

Nuha shifts her gaze to me, adjusts her veil and says, " It's the most beautiful veil I've ever seen."

Suddenly, while in the midst of our little moment, Nuha gets a phonecall. She lifts her cellphone from her bag and answers it immediatly.

"Really!? YES! Okay...dawn In Shaa Allah." She turns to me and gives me a quick thumbs-up and then, gets back to her call. I smile and quickly shove my newly bought veil into my rugged old satchel.

When her call ends, she gets up from the beanbag and says, "My grandmother and cousins from the Middle East are visiting! They should be arriving at dawn tomorrow morning. You should visit! It'll be fun."

I quickly shuffle to my feet and agree to Nuha's request. She grabs my wrists and I can see her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"You are going to LOVE my grandmother!"

I wriggle myself loose from her hands and laugh.

Nuha hooks her arm in with mine and we both head for the library exit.