Him & His Muslimah

11

Zoya

She met Zaib again. When their eyes met, she was caught off guard and inwardly panicked. Her eyes went wide and she quickly looked away, unsure of how to react. Normally, Zoya was very professional, talking to the men nonchalantly without hesitation but Zaib was different.

When he awkwardly called her Mushu, she wanted to burst into laughter but instead bit her lower lip, smiling wide. Zaib was someone at the back of her head the entire time after she came back from the sleepover at Naimat's house.

The entire ride back, she carried a shy smile on her lips. Zaib had this weird aura to him; she didn't know how to explain. It was also such a coincidence how Zoya encountered him again very randomly; it was also again very coincidental how the ice cream flavor was actually her favorite one.

It dawned upon her that Zaib also visited the masjid and took care of the children. She had heard chatters about a man paying for the electricity and better water supply in the masjid; that being Zaib, made her happy.

Sighing, she parked her barely living scooter at the entrance to her house and entered her home.

Ever since she had declined the proposal of Idrees, her mother had been looking for other rich guys on the internet; Bilal decided to check out guys in the Masjid and her dad was just doing his best to get better proposals preferably from outside the country.

She rolled her eyes at her busy family and walked towards the couch, settling down with the television remote in her hand. She sighed, switching channels every second, nothing interesting aired on Saturdays.

"Zoya, how about a pilot? You can travel to a bunch of places for free!"

Zoya's eyes screwed shut in frustration. "I don't really care. I literally asked baba for some time. Not that you guys look for different proposals!" She yelled uninterestedly, her face masking irritation.

Her mother smacked her head and Zoya wined in pain. "I'm doing this for your better future. You asked for more time which means that you in fact, do want to get married, so it's the same thing just differently worded."

Zoya inwardly face palmed. The only reason why Zoya didn't outright decline was because of the emptiness in her father's words. She could feel the desperation through his eyes and wanted to somehow make things better. At the moment, marriage was probably the best option. It would help bring her father happiness and a sense of relief. 

Zoya shook off those uneasy thoughts and refocused on the silly cartoon playing.

"Zoe, I'm making cheesecake, you want some?" Her mother asked as she pulled out the huge mixing bowl from inside the cabinet.

Zoya mimicked her mother's tone, "Well, since I do want to marry now, I should just hop on a strict diet and eat less than five hundred calories." She expected her mother to retract her words.

"Good idea."

Ouch.

Zoya grumbled and stood up, stumbling to her bedroom while mumbling, "a piece for me."

Inside her room, she sighed, throwing herself onto the armchair as she gazed outside the window. The air was windy at the moment, but she could smell the rain soon about to pour.

She walked towards her bookshelf and stared at the numerous books aligned to her preference. Books were refreshments for her.

As she picked out her favorite fantastical novel, her phone began to buzz without catching a breath. She immediately pulled her phone from the pocket. The screen lit with 'Naim' written in bold.