Choosing The Right Path

24)✨Arabic Words✨

Rubina was forced to visit Mr. Ali the entire week. Everytime she came back home after her visits, she would seem more and more depressed. Raeesa tried asking Rubina what her problem was but she didn't answer. In the end, she and I gave up and decided to focus on other things.

Like Azlan.

"I can't believe it... So he was one of those people sending you prank messages?" Raeesa's eyes widened as she stared at Azlan's WhatsApp profile picture on my phone. It was a picture of him and an older woman. Azlan looked a lot like her but his features were sharper.

"Yeah I guess so. Funny, right?"

"But which one is he? I mean, is he the one that kept flirting with you or the one that said thank you for the lunch?"

"I don't know, Raeesa. Besides, I don't think I want to know. I want to keep the good image of Azlan that I have in my head, just the way it is."

Raeesa scoffed, "You're just too scared to face the fact that Azlan might be into you. Aren't you Aamirah?"

I took that as an opportunity to change the subject.

"Of course I'm Aamirah. Do you have amnesia or something?"

Raeesa slapped my arm.

"C'mon, man. Suppose he did like you, what would you do?"

I stared up at the sky as if I was really pondering Raeesa's question.

"Let me see... I would..." I watched as my best friend's eyes glinted with excitment in anticipation of my answer. "I don't know."

"Aamirah," She whined. "Just tell me, please."

"I'm being honest, Raeesa. I don't know. I really don't know. I just see Azlan as a friend."

✴ A Z L A N ✴

I had two stops to make today. The first one was to Marion Park. Ever since Raeesa and Aamirah were attacked there, I began to hate the thought of the place. But alas, I had to make a trip there every once in a while to make sure that Zak was okay. Now that he had gotten a halal certificate, his business was getting much better. We had really become good friends and I was looking forward to seeing him.

"Hey, Azlan. How are you, mate?"

"Hi. I'm well and yourself, Zak?"

"I'm fine thank you," Zak motioned to his hotdogs. "They're great, right? Thanks for telling me about that halal supplier. What's his name again? Mehmet or something?"

"Yes. He's Turkish." I smiled at the memory of me trying to convince Zak to change his supplier.

"Oh... Is he true that all Muslims know each other? I mean, I was going through some myths about Muslims and that happened to come up. I just thought I should ask you, only to make sure." Zak winked at me.

"Not all Muslims know each other," I tried to get my words out in between laughs. "We're just a very close knit community. Our Muslim community is called the Ummah."

Zak's reaction was priceless, to say the least.

"And to think that I had learnt everything there was to learn about Muslims."

I just shook my head. As a Muslim, I was pretty sure that there was a whole lot of knowledge about Islam that I, myself hadn't yet even stumbled upon.

"Anyway, how's business?"

"Oh it's great. I have good news by the way. Mr. Giorvani from the supermarket up the road said he wants me to sell my 'dogs from his store."

"Oh... But won't you have to pay for using the space in the store?" Zak didn't have enough money to live let alone pay someone else.

"Nah. Mr. Giorvani is such a kind man. One of his employees went on maternity leave and said that she wasn't coming back to work so he wanted me to take over for her because he was struggling to find another employee. He said that I would get a proper salary like everybody else and because of my situation, I would keep fifty percent of my profits from the hotdogs and he would receive fifty percent as 'rent'. Great, right?"

I was no businessman of the year but that sounded like one, sweet deal. I slapped Zak on the back. "Well done, son." That was one of our inside jokes. I always called Zak son, despite him being older than me. This was because Zak found it funny how some boys called each other 'son' when they were so young themselves.

"Haha, good one, Azlan. All this, all my success, it would never have been if you didn't have the heart to help me out. I don't know how to thank you. How can I make this up to you?"

Zak didn't need to make anything up to me. However, there was one thing that I wanted him to do for himself and for all Muslims.

"Remember when we first met and you said that you'd take some time to learn about my religion if I helped you get a halal certificate?" Zak nodded. "Now is the time. I think it will make you a better person if you learn about Islam, Zak. You don't have to do it. I think it would just do you and the entire Ummah a bit of good."

"Ah, there goes that word again; Ummah. There's so many Muslim words-"

"Arabic words," I corrected him.

"Arabic words, to learn, sorry. See, what I mean?" We laughed. "Don't worry, Azlan. I'm a man of my word. I will keep my promise. Maybe not immediately because of my limited time with all these jobs I've got to take, but I will keep it, even if it's the last thing I do."

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Okay I know this is like a really short chapter but I needed to catch up on Zak's life so yeah.

He's a big part of Azlan's life atm as you can see.

Anyway hope ya'll enjoying the book so far.

😹💎