Through The Dark (Al-Ameen Family #1)- An Islamic Love Story

Another Poet

Dedication to KittySlave, she's such an inspiration and the sweetest girl! Thanks for all the love :D xx Oh and Safiyana's mehndi dress is on the side.

We head back to the base camp after Ali, Aamir and Zaid invited the scorpion clan. Dinner was set so everyone attacked the buffet in hunger from our long day of adventure.

I sat down with my oldest brother and sister-in-law and watched the belly dancers grace the stage. A couple hoots were heard from the boys beside us but Bhabhi silenced them all with one menacing look.

The desert safari came with a dinner under the stars. Large padded cushions surrounded the square set in the middle with small tables to dine in between. My family covered an entire side of the stage, the best side since we had the best view.

I wasn’t too enthralled in the performance, having seen it a couple times before, so once I finished dinner, I told Bhabhi where I was going.

Further away from the initial dining and stage area were tents with different activities for the tourists. One had henna, another had dates and coffee and another with shisha.

I walked into the shisha tent and sat down in the empty tent since everyone was still watching the dance.

My thoughts, as usual go to Abu. What he said this morning has been chewing me alive all day. If he’s saying it out loud now, it means he’s done more than think about it. I would be naïve to think he didn’t already have a guy or two in mind.

Ya Allah, what am I to do. I can’t say no to him but I can’t say yes either. And to top it all off, I have this witness protection shit to deal with too once we got back. My brain will explode without me even meeting Ed Sheeran. Not fair.

Ali walked in then saying he got bored. Great. Leave me to my heartbroken thoughts alone will you!

“Light this one too” Ali pushes his water pipe towards me. I light his up too and we sit in silence, taking a few scented puffs. Ali blows a couple perfect rings in the air and I can’t help but laugh at his completely astounded expression.

“I’m tired” he groans, closing his eyes and leaning his head on the round pillows. The interior of the tent was so intricately Arab. Long gold drapes, big maroon pillows and plentiful shimmering hookah pipes.

“There you two are” Omar opens the curtains of the entrance and in walk him, Zinat and Ayaan. “Getting high?”

“Don’t you know it” I mumble.

“Hey Ali, why don’t you convince your brother to let us ride the camels” Omar tells him. Ali looks like he’s about to argue but then understands that Omar Bhai is telling him to leave and so he does.

“I heard mum talking to Nani today” Omar starts, lighting a shisha pipe himself. Zinat takes a puff first like a pro. “Nani isn’t very happy with Alia”

“Where is she?” I ask him.

“Buying souvenirs with Navsheen” he says indifferently, making Zinat look sorry for the poor girl. “Nani told amee that there were so many girls to choose from and choosing Alia seemed like an odd choice. Mum didn’t say anything, w-“

“Which means she agrees” I finish off. He nods. “Well, phase one of our plan is complete.”

“Now what?”

“Now we have to convince them to change their mind. It’s more than obvious that they like Zinat. We just have to make them say it out loud now.”

“They’re brown parents Safiyana. It’d be easier to steal the queen” Omar huffs in annoyance.

“Do you want me to try that too?” I snap. “I’m doing the best I can Omar. If you weren’t such a pussy and talked to Mamu, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation” I stand up and kick the pillow in front of me out of the way to leave.