The Perfect Storm (A Muslim Story)

Chapter Nine: The proposal

Rawah bint Abdullah
After helping mum wash the dishes I was about to go read Harry Potter when dad asked me to come to his room. I walk up the stairs with mum in tow and sat down on the blue sofa. Unlike my room mum and dads room was quite colorful. With furniture and other things in rainbow colors it looked spectacular.

None of them said anything but a sober expression was etched on their face.

Getting more frightened with their expressions I finally broke the ice,"What's wrong?"

Dad said," A proposal has come for you.. "

Mum continued," A marriage proposal.. it's from a really good person and your dad and I would be really happy if you would say yes to it."

I was struck speechless. This proposal must have been quite important for them if they had asked me this seriously.

Dad took my hand and asked," Do you remember a hadith saying that if a man with good manners and deen comes and asks for your hand in marriage you should say yes?"

I nodded. It was one of the hadiths which had always struck to my mind.

" The man we are talking about is good mannered and his deen is also on point, we know him personally to vouch for him.. he is very handsome too.." ,Mum added.

I looked at both my parents and realised that there was no backing out now. I promised them that I would pray isthikhara and let them know.

As I stood up to leave the room mum asked," Do you want to know who he is? "

I forced a smile as I said," yes, who?"

Mum smiled as she said," Ahsan.."

I felt as if time had stopped but I nodded and ran to the sanctuary of my room. Locking the door I fell on my bed no longer being able to stand. Ahsan Farooq asked for my hand in marriage? Which of my unfriendliness did he take as a sign for me to be in love with him? I don't want to marry him!
Walking over to the dressing table I sat on the chair as I remove my niqab and hijab, still a bit dazed.

After all he had done, wasn't he still done hurting me? What did he want to do with me? What had I done to him ?

The anxiety and my heartbeat still seemed to increase making me quite baffled. I stood up to go back to the bed and felt darkness surround me. Taking precaution I sat down as fast as I could but it wasn't long before I was again pulled in to utter darkness.

Opening my eyes I felt like all my energy had drained with my heart beat still increasing but the anxiety a little better. I closed my eyes and lay there for a while blocking each and every thought which was no walk in the park.

Minutes later I slowly stood up and drank some water. Why had I fainted? That was unusual. Maybe it was due to the heat. Probably nothing big.  After pondering about it for sometime I decided that my anxiety was going to get worse if I kept on thinking about it. Making a note mentally to visit a doc I closed my eyes.

My mind was back to worrying about why Ahsan wanted to marry me. Had he forgotten our history?

After hours of thinking I needed some fresh air. So I decided to take a drive. Ahsan had taken Nuh with him on his way to school but Nuh had asked me to come to collect him.
I still had time to kill before it was time so I took mums permission and went to get ready.

40 mins later I was ready to go. I gave mum a hug and walked in to the garage. Choosing to give Nuh  a suprise I took the black Ferrari. I started the car and started driving towards my destination, the countryside.

I parked the car on the road and walked in to the trees. The river clearly visible to me as I sat a bit far from the bank. The birds chirping and the leaves swaying to the wind I laid on the grass and stared at the sky. So clear and blue. Not a single mistake. It was only Allah who could make things perfect. Subhanallah.

My thoughts again drifted back to Ahsan. Unconsciously  I stood up and started walking deeper in to the trees. I knew where I was going. After 20 or more minutes of stumbling upon rocks and barks I was at my destination.

Our secret place. This was the place where it had started and ended. The place where I had my heart broken.. The place where I had been betrayed by the people I trusted most... The place where a person had almost died..

Ah salaam alaikum warah mathuhllahi wa barakaatuh.  Please comment what you think of the story.  Criticism is very much welcome as long as it's phrased nicely.
Have a lovely day and dont forget to vote.
Wa salaam