Loving You

chapter twelve

It was a hot lazy afternoon and the apartment was quiet as they did their own independent things. The last day of their week together.

"Hey, Duri?" Durdanah looked up from her book distractedly, "Yes, Yusuf?"

"It's hot."

"It is." Durdanah responded.

"Do you want me to turn on the AC?" She looked up confused. Arham had never asked her what she wanted.

"I'm fine actually. When the sun beats down, and I know this will sound weird but it's like a hug. A warm embrace from the heat." She rambled much to Yusuf's amusement.

If there's one thing Yusuf had learnt about her in this week, it was that she was scared of him so long as she thought of him as a husband. But in the past week, the two had sworn to be friends and Durdanah had opened up a little. 

She rambled a lot and when she did, she forgot her surroundings. She was often deep in thought and even though when she spoke, the words were anything but articulate, there was something about her words that made him think and wonder. 

Her words tended to linger in the air a lot longer than they had intended to. He had also learnt that for them to bond, it would be him that would have to ask her questions so she'd answer and initiate the conversation. It would have to be him that would have to force her to become closer with him and open up more.

She went back to reading her book, she mouthed the words as she read and she read slowly, devouring each letter, each word, each page.

Yusuf watched her read intently, his eyes fixated on her as she focused on the story at hand.

He got up and sat next to her on the sofa. She didn't notice as she ran her finger across the letters as she read.

When she finally felt Yusuf reading along with her, she looked up at him and flinched. He was too close but she feared that he would get angry should she object.

Friends. She reminded herself. This was normal for friends. Still, she move a little more to the right, quietly.

"Um, Yusuf would you like to read this?" She asked noting that he was eager to read what she was.

Yusuf looked up at her sheepishly and smiled, "Ah, no it's okay." When she went back to reading he tried to peer under to see the title of the book so he could read it later.

A few minutes later, Durdanah stared at him awkwardly, feeling confused, "Um, Yusuf, what are you doing?"

He quickly got up, "Oh nothing. I just - my neck, it's kind of crampy, I'm just trying to stretch it out." He tried to laugh off his embarrassment.

"Oh." She closed the book and placed her hands neatly onto it. "Come over here, please." She gestured closer to her.

Yusuf obliged, wondering where this little white lie of his was going to take him.

Durdanah stretched her arm and just barely reached Yusuf's head. She was ridiculously short which made Yusuf laugh. 

"Ah, I can't reach." She sighed. "Okay, if you wouldn't mind, sit down on the carpet please, I'll sit up here. There's no other way I can do this."

Yusuf was intrigued. What was she doing?

"Yeah, I don't mind." He sat down on the carpet underneath the sofa.

She adjusted herself and pulled her hair back tighter. "One second, please."

"Sure." He waited for her for a few minutes before she came running back with a heating rub.

"This helps to relieve muscle pain and calms your body." She explained as she sat down and poured a glob onto her hands.

"It might hurt a little but it's a sweet kind of pain. I brought this with me because I get cramps and it calms me down a bit." Durdanah told him, preparing him should it burn.

She rubbed it onto his neck and massaged his sore neck muscles. Yusuf felt flattered she'd do this for him and slightly guilty at the same time because his neck didn't actually hurt.

But she massaged so well that he couldn't stop her just yet. He bit his lip smiling.

"You have such short hair." She spoke, her breath lingering on his neck, sending a shiver throughout his body.

"Ya, it's easy to manage like this. I actually went bald when Rania left. I shaved my head because my hair was a struggle to manage with Hamsa around."

She nodded unaware that he couldn't see her. "Yeah, I get you. It's easier to manage."

"Your hair. It's short now, it used to be so long."

"Ah, do you not like it? I've kept it short for a while now." She gently massaged his shoulders. 

"I love it. It looks very retro and vintage. 60s." He smiled, his teeth sparkling. "It suits you."

Durdanah flushed, it'd been a while since she'd heard such kind words. She pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Thank you."

"So, do you like my short hair?" Yusuf asked.

"You used to say how you'd keep it long once you got old enough and Auntie Tasneem can't force you to get a haircut every month." She smiled at the memory as she drew shapes on his neck and shoulders.

"You make it seem like my dream was to be Rapunzel." Yusuf muttered, making Durdanah laugh. 

It was the first time he'd heard her laugh in years. It still sounded the same. Like maple syrup. She laughed from her stomach and the laugh made its way out of her mouth in little waves. It'd start with a chuckle, then a ripple until her stomach shook and the laugh burst out of her, full-fledged and ready to attack anyone within its vicinity.

Yusuf watched as she struggled to breathe. "Rapunzel." She chuckled. "You were very much like Rapunzel, and I was super hot like Flynn!"

It was his turn to laugh, "You certainly were like Flynn; loud and bratty." 

"Hey!" He rolled his eyes, "Come on, you would steal Rania and my lunches and then you'd steal our papers and pencils and you were like a school thief."

Durdanah shook her head, "I asked you if I could use them and just forgot to return them!" 

"Correction: pretended to forget to return them."

Durdanah gasped. "How could you, Yusuf?! I thought we were friends!" She shouted as she took a glob of the rub and smeared it on his hair before she could even comprehend what she was doing. But as soon as she did, Durdanah wanted to cry. If this was Arham, she would have been murdered by now, and it was no exaggeration on her part. She braced herself to get hit. "I'm I-I-I'm so sor-"

"DURDANAH KHAN, WALLAH YOU'LL REGRET THAT! KASAM SE!" He ran a hand through his brown hair. He loved his hair. 

Durdanah shrieked as she ran around the apartment, trying to escape being mauled by Yusuf which proved to be a challenge at first but when she saw that he planned to attack her with more rub, her fear diminished as she ran away laughing forgetting her fear. Yusuf had a way of making her forget Arham.