A Match Made In Jannah

Chapter 12

ZAID'S POV

I didn't want this. I really didn't. I had experienced so many issues with proposals and at that precise moment there was nothing I wanted less than to experience another samoosa run. Sure, I wanted my happily ever after (I was also aware that no such thing existed) and I, like any other guy, loved samoosas and all the other delicacies that accompanied them in this day and age. But this still didn't mean that I was ready for another samoosa run, one that would possibly be a failure. This however, was not my choice. I slipped on a clean thobe, after 3 days, and left the house with my family to go see yet another girl, one whose name I didn't catch and whose physique and personality I could not imagine. Approaching the house, I was aware that the surma that usually lined my eyes was replaced by dark circles that signified my sleepless nights and my usual itr was now the smell of toothpaste and shampoo, ordinary smells that plagued everybody.

And the samoosa run was nothing like I had imagined it, but not in a bad way. In fact, I'd say, it went really well considering the circumstances.

.................................. ....................................
Her name was Hafsa.
As soon as I walked in to the room, quite distracted, if I have to say, she greeted me cheerfully and told me to sit down. Any normal human being would have been nervous, but not Hafsa. Her eyes, which at a quick glance appeared an ordinary shade of brown, began to dance in hues of hazel and chocolate as we continued to speak. She seemed like quite an upbeat person, though I figured out during our conversation that this wasn't totally true - she said plainly that this was her first samoosa run and she wasn't sure how to act so she was trying her best to show the likeable sides of her - and put her to ease by telling her to be herself. After that I began to see the hints of shyness and mousey nature that she told me she was generally like. Still, it was a beautiful kind of shy, the kind of shy that makes you want to smile and plant a kiss on both her cheeks. I told her that, more subtly by saying that I found her shyness likeable, and those same kissable cheeks turned the most rosy shade of pink and I laughed a little, much to her amusement.

At the end of our prolonged conversation, both Hafsa and I had found out things about each other that we had never expected to, like our favourite colours, our most embarrassing situations and all the mundane aspects of our life. Yet the longing in my heart for someone else was still there. Someone I knew who was just as shy and upbeat as Hafsa, but the only person I wanted to share my best and worst moments with.

Still Hafsa was a lovely girl, and when my father asked me what I thought of her, I said the honest truth. I liked her. I said yes. The feeling was mutual. Everything was confirmed. Just like that, I left behind the fire of my life and with it, a girl smouldering in the ashes.