ROUHI

ten

At first Hafsa didn't respond but as soon as she broke out of the spell, she kissed back. It was an affectionate kiss, as if the two were trying to make up for all the time they couldn't get back. One peck, a second, a third... Hafsa would have collapsed if Saaqib hadn't held her close by the waist.

The night would have gone on like that if Hafsa hadn't accidentally touched Saaqib's wound, making him groan into the kiss. "I'm so sorry!" Hafsa gasped, cupping her mouth with her hands. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt- I mean, I didn't even see-"

"It's okay," Saaqib assured her, though his pain was excruciating. Both were still shy of the kiss, as if newly weds.

"I-I'll heat up dinner." Hafsa made an escape.

Putting a fresh tshirt on, Saaqib sat on the floor with Hafsa for supper. There was only white rice and fried fish, but somehow Hafsa's love made the food much tastier and two dishes enough for a great meal. He didn't know how to implement that through a well-worded sentence. So he just went with impressed head gestures and throaty moans and he could swear that he'd seen a suppressed smile on Hafsa through his periphery vision.

He was most definitely overdoing it.

He cleared his throat and put the attention on something else. "I've never seen this dress before."

"Well, I made it just a few days ago."

"Yourself? Wow." He added, "That's amazing."

"You l-like it?"

"Hmm... Sudden desire to make clothes?" Hafsa hesitated. Something hit him. Was she trying to save money by sewing her own clothes? "Hafsa-"

"Do you know the date today?"

"28th, yeah?" Saaqib thought. "Not your birthday."

"No, not my birthday. It is... our third anniversary." Saaqib stopped eating. "I felt like wearing something prettier. My other clothes have become old... and-and I don't like anything in the market nowadays. Boring clothes." Saaqib saw through her lie; he was right. Hafsa was serving some halwa Maryam Khala had specially made for their anniversary. Saaqib caught her wrist.

"I'm sorry," Saaqib apologised sincerely.

"Ya," Hafsa scolded him light-heartedly, letting out a little laugh. "It's not a big deal. We're not celebrating, remember? It's not Eid." She raised a spoonful to his mouth, smiling genuinely. "I'm just so glad we have been together for three years. Insha'Allah we'll go to Jannah together too, hmm?" Her smile melted his heart. Did she really believe that? "Now, will you invest some of your precious time to tell me how my beloved husband got stabbed today?"

Later that night when they went to bed, Hafsa had felt happy for the first time in a long, long while. She fell asleep on her right side but closer to the middle of the cot, closer to Saaqib lying on his back. He wanted to touch her but he sensed an invisible rope holding him. He just stared up at the ceiling in the dark after Hafsa had read a dua and blowed on him, and replayed today's events.

How ignorant did he have to be to overlook the most precious blessing of his life?

I'm so glad we have been together for three years.

Saaqib couldn't control his smile.

Insha'Allah we'll go to Jannah together too.

Hafsa had put up with him for three years. He didn't deserve Hafsa at all. But he was going to work on himself, he would make himself deserving of her. She was going to be his role model now.