Her Accepting Heart by Ayesha Ally ( A.M.I )

5

5

Basheer looked at his phone again and repeated his salaam to his wife but realised that she had cut the call on him.
   "What happened?" Nazmira asked with a frown.
   "I think it's the reception. I should get going." He made salaam and was out the door.
All Basheer knew was that he needed to go home. His wife was probably packing her bags and ready to leave him...
   As soon as he parked the car, he ran into the house to find his mother standing in the kitchen doorway.
   "Is this the time to come home? Where were you?" She got straight to the point.
   "Ma, I went to drop off Nazmira, at your bidding. If I didn't need to do that, life would've been easy and I would've been home much earlier. Now tell me, where's Samiha?" He looked ready to lose his mind.
   His mother stepped aside and his wife appeared from the kitchen and her face was filled with fury.
   "Love..." he began, but she lifted her hand to stop him.
   "Stop right there. How dare you walk in here and dare to call me by that sentiment, when it's so easy for you to use on 'anyone'?" She bit her lip to keep from crying.
   Basheer frowned at her in confusion.
   "What are you talking about? Who do I use that sentiment on? Only you!" He ran his fingers through his hair.
   "What was she doing with your phone Basheer?" Samiha choked out.
Basheer took a step towards her to explain, but she stepped back.
   "Love...I went to drop her off, her mother called me in. I couldn't just leave, it would've been rude. The call of nature...you didn't expect me to ignore that too... As for the phone, I left it on the table as I rushed for the loo. She must've answered when she saw the caller... and this is the truth, I  promise." He looked soul stricken when her tears fell...
   "What about the 'As-salaamu-alaikum love...?" She questioned on a sob.
   "I was talking to you, Nazmira held the phone out to me and I saw your name on the screen. I..." he swore under his breath.
   "How can I make you believe me?"
Samiha avoided looking at him when she turned around and stepped back into the kitchen.
   Basheer looked at his mother for help, but she too looked angrily at him.
   "I think it would be better if you don't pick and drop Nazmira from next month...I will speak to her mother about it. I'm sorry I even got you involved." His mother also turned away from him, leaving him feeling frustrated.
   And the frustration still didn't leave him the next morning when he was driving towards Nazmira, who was waiting patiently outside her house, clueless as to what happened when he had gotten home the night before.
   "As-salaamu-alaikum Basheer." She greeted chirpily.
   "Wa-alaikum-salaam..." he mumbled.
   It so happened that they were stuck in traffic due to an accident and Basheer's anger erupted.
   After cursing the cars that were moving slow and the traffic cops who were busy talking amongst each other, Nazmira asked him if he was okay...
   "Damn no, I'm not okay..." and he found himself explaining to her that he was frustrated.
   And in the half an hour or so, he told her more than he should have, but when she spoke quietly from the backseat, trying to calm him down...he automatically looked at her through his rear view mirror and found that her understanding voice actually relaxed him.
   When he dropped her off outside her office building, she leaned at his window and told him to take it easy and she would check on him after work when he picked her up.
   Basheer had no idea that he sat for a full ten minutes staring in the direction of where Nazmira has disappeared, until somebody blasted their horn behind him... and only then did he start moving in the direction of his own office....

Ayesha Ally