Fortuitous Tenderness

SEVEN.

"No! Mamaa, Yasmeen can't be dead! No! She can't leave me now! She's still alive. Yasmeen please say something. Talk to me. Prove them wrong." Her hands were cold. She was laying there lifeless.

He placed both his hands on her shoulder and shook her body, "Yasmeen please open your eyes." He couldn't hold back the tears. A lump tied up in his throat. "Bashir, she's gone." Mamaa pulled him away from her body.

"Innalillahi wa'inna ilaihir rajiun." He exclaimed looking around the four walls. His shirt was wet with sweat. What a nightmare. He recited some duas and got off the bed.

He sashayed into the bathroom and washed his face. He looked at his self in the mirror. 'What will I do if I lose her?' He mused to himself. He sighed and shook the thought of losing Yasmeen away before he performed wudhu and sauntered out.

He spread his praying mat and faced the Qiblah. He prayed two raka'ats and prayed for Yasmeen's health. He went back to his bed and picked up his phone to check the time.

"1:34am" he sighed and kept the phone. He badly wanted to know the situation Yasmeen was in that moment. But he knew she must be sleeping that time.

The thought of losing her, it really frightened him. He prayed for the best and tried to go back to sleep.

**

"But Maa, why can't I go check on her before heading to work?" He sighed. "Bashir just do as I say; go to work now and you can go check on her later when you're back." Maama said sternly. He sluggishly stood up from the stool keeping his cup of coffee and grabbing his briefcase.

"Kaci gaba da tafiya kaman ba jini ah jikin ka (keep walking like you don't have blood in your body)" she hissed. "I love you Maa," he grinned before engulfing his mother in a hug.

He rushed out of the house already late for a meeting. He drove fast to his company and headed straight to his office where some people are waiting for him.

"I'm truly sorry for keeping you waiting." He apologized. "No problem sir. We can start with the meeting now."

**

"How? He won't... he will... how would we start telling him this? Yasmeen? She's dead! Subahanallah" Maama broke down in a heart touching tears. "I'm sorry Bashir." She wailed.

Hajiya Salamatu couldn't utter a word ever since the news of her daughter's death. "Please, enough with the tears. Kullu nafsin zaa ikatul maut. Just pray for her. In shaa Allah she's in a better place." Yasmeen's father consoled.

"Salamu alaykum." Bashir walked into the room. His mother looked at him and burst into new sets of tears. She stood up and hugged him. "Bashir kayi hakuri." She stated. "Maama." He raised her head up. "Where's Yasmeen?" He questioned, his heart beating at a high rate.

"I'm sorry Bashir." She kept repeating. "She's dead." Maama broke the bad news to him. "No!" He shifted back. "Where is she?" He asked again. "You're all joking right?"

"Bashir how can we play with such thing. Hakuri zakayi, But Yasmeen is no more." Her father said.

He looked at his mother for brief seconds then averted his gaze to Yasmeen's mother, "is this true?" He asked her. She nodded wiping away her tears.

"Innalillahi wa'inna ilaihir raji'un!" He murmured feeling a sharp pain in his chest. He felt light headed. The four walls were closing in. His eyes felt heavy.