Choosing The Right Path

28) 🐦What Is Home?🐦

I couldn't remember when last I had a genuinely good meal. The food that I prepared wasn't too bad, according to Azlan...

But I missed Aunt Husna's food like crazy.

So when my aunt and uncle returned from Everson, you could not even imagine exactly how relieved I was. It had been a long three weeks without them and all I knew was that I never wanted my guardians to leave us alone ever again, even if I was technically an adult.

"Assalamu Alaikum children!" Aunty and Uncle called as they entered the house.

Rubina was the first one to greet them as she ran into their arms, squeezing them both into a tight hug. The sight bought tears to my eyes. Rubina usually didn't get along well with her parents.

I went to greet them next, followed by Hamid and Shaarif, Sakeenah and Safina and lastly, Azlan and his friend, Zak. 

Zak was actually a nice guy who took a great interest in learning about Islam. Rubina had said that as being a Muslim since birth, Zak had put her to shame. It was a serious conversation but we managed to find some humor in it when Sakeenah announced that when her parents got back, she was going to ask for a little female Yorkie, just so that she could make it wear a mini hijab.

Aunty Husna threw me a surprised look when she saw Rubina dressed modestly and her eyes nearly popped right out of her skull when she saw her other two daughters dressed in an identical fashion. Uncle Ismail's expression was priceless when he saw Azlan and Zak emerge from the shadows but he softened up to them eventually.

Aunty and Uncle bought us Chinese takeouts on the way home and we devoured that within a short hour. After lunch and a lot of catching up, it was Asr time. The men left for the masjid down the road and us, ladies went to make wudu.

Aunty Husna lead us in prayer. Her recitation was filled with so much emotion that we were brought to tears by her mere words. Giving thanks to Allah for showing the Omar kids the right path was the best thing to do at the moment. 

After Asr, it was back to learning about Islam. Azlan, Hamid and I taught different things through games, mostly. It took a lot of explaining to get Zak to understand many Islamic concepts, such as why we fast during Ramadan and how exactly that works. Rubina surprisingly knew more than we all expected. Apparently the internet was a better teacher than we were. As long as Rubina was learning, that was all that mattered.

》》》

The next day was a Tuesday. Aunty Husna and I were baking just for the fun of it when she spoke to me in a hushed voice.

"Aamirah, I didn't get to ask you much but you two seem really close... Who is this Azlan? How do you know him?"

I explained everything that I knew about Azlan to Aunty Husna. Since we had grown closer over the past few weeks, we shared our life stories. I couldn't believe it when Azlan told me about how he had to leave his town due to the danger that many Islamophobes had threatened him with.

Aunt Husna gasped at this news and a grim expression overtook her face. "This is not new, habibti. Our family used to live there too. Then we moved due to the violence. Your parents tried their hardest to teach others but the public refused to listen. They turned a blind eye to the truth. We're living a better life here, anyway."

And so, Azlan and I found another thing in common.

"Aamirah... Do you like Azlan?"

I blushed furiously and let out a nervous laugh. "Of course not. We're mere friends. That's all there is to it."

Aunty Husna nodded in reply but a smirk played on her lips.

Once we finished baking, we got down to preparing supper. Uncle Ismail, Zak and Azlan spent a lot of time bonding over sports,  among other things so it was no big surprise when Uncle Ismail invited the pair over for dinner.