True Purpose

c h a p t e r 30

Zaynab hastily wiped the unstoppable tears. She went and quickly performed ablution in order to pray 'Asr and washed her face clean of all tear stains.

Once she was done with her salaah, she tactfully avoided Hassan for the reason that he would ask her what's wrong and she didn't want to tell him that she had read the love letters Ilham had sent him. She went and knocked on Rumaysah's bedroom door.

"Come on in," came Rumaysah's voice.

Zaynab opened the door to see Rumaysah with a diary. Rumaysah looked up from it.

"I was just looking for the caterer's phone number. Do you need anything, Zaynab?" Rumaysah asked.

"Yeah, mum. Actually, I was wondering if it's alright for me to go spend these three days with Ava - I mean, Arwa? Thing is, non of her family members are Muslims and no one would be there to help in giving her advice on what to do and all. I mean, she'll need moral support," Zaynab said.

"Oh, of course. It's fine by me, but you need to ask Hassan first," Rumaysah said.

Zaynab groaned inwardly. It was ultimately because of Hassan that she wanted to go away to Arwa's because she wanted to avoid him. At least if she spent the last three nights before the wedding away, she could get some time to clear her head.

"Okay," Zaynab said, and left.

She went downstairs to see Hassan still sitting there with the guest list.

"Hassan?" She called softly.

Hassan immediately looked up, an extremely concerned expression on his face. Zaynab melted just by seeing him. Oh, how much she loved him! How could she not when he was so perfect? In every way. From his heart to his character to his personality to his mind to his looks.

"Yeah? Is everything alr-" Hassan began to say when Zaynab interrupted him.

"Can I go spend these three nights before the wedding at Arwa's? She needs me seeing as she's a new Muslim and she's already getting married and she'll probably need moral support," Zaynab asked, looking at the ground.

"Yeah, you can," Hassan said, but his voice sounded very uncertain.

"Thanks," she said, and before Hassan could say anything else, Zaynab rushed away from there and went upstairs to pack her stuff for the following three nights.

♡♤♡

Hassan was exhausted once he was done with the guest list. But he still had other tasks to do. Like starting to call the people on the guest list in order to invite them. And he got to work straight away. Only three days were left and people never liked short-notice invitations. But the whole wedding itself was planned at short-notice. And there was no engagement period, just a straight marriage!

By the time he had finished, Hassan's back hurt from sitting on the chair for so long. He stood up and stretched, wishing that Zaynab was there in front of him. She would usually look at him and when he would catch her looking, she would blush and look away. He found it all so adorable. He missed her so much, even though it had just been a couple of hours since she had left.

Thinking of Zaynab made his mind wander back to her peculiar behaviour. Why was she upset? Without a doubt, he knew that she had left because she was avoiding him. But what had he done to her? He just couldn't understand what he had done to upset her when he was always so careful around her.

He loved her! He was head over heels in love with her and even though he didn't know whether she reciprocated or not, he didn't fear telling her how he felt. It was just that everytime he was about to tell her that he loved her, he was always interrupted. And now, she went away for three whole days!