Jannah. [SEQUEL TO DAWUD]

Chapter 24 - Ghost Pepper Salad

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

If the time of prayer has been called and you haven't prayed before reading this, please do so.

***

Jannah's P.O.V

Dawud's raspy voice pulled me from my sleep as he gently shook my arm. 'Habibti, let's pray Fajr.' He encouraged. I lifted my head from my pillow and sat up, rubbing my eyes. After performing wudhu, I retreated to the bedroom where Dawud stood. He had my phone in his hand and motioned for me to take it.

'You've kept it off for days, Jannah. I think you should open it.' He suggested thoughtfully. I studied him, taking note of the way his plaid pajama pants went perfectly with his dark green fitted shirt. His curly hair framed the beautiful face that I loved so much. The freckles that sat at the bridge of his nose and fanned out over his cheeks brought me back to the first day I met him. Those green eyes outlined with thick and dark lashes stared back at me, amused.

'Sorry, I guess I forgot how beautiful you are.' I explained, feeling hot in the face. I took my phone from his hand and set it on the bed. 'Let's pray.'

After we prayed sunnah separately, Dawud led our salah, reciting beautifully. When we were finished, we sat in silence, doing our athkaar by counting with our fingers. The two of us got up and folded our praying clothes. He then pointed at my phone once more, causing me to feel anxious. Why was he so keen on me checking it?

I started it for the first time in three days. It took a moment restarting, and even more time to enter the WiFi password and verify that I was in a new timezone.

And then my phone buzzed non-stop for the next five minutes. Even when I muted the notifications, the device still vibrated like crazy, provoking a laugh to escape Dawud's lips. 'Someone is in trouble.' He teased from his side of the bed. I sighed and began to read the notifications out loud.

'Thirty missed calls from Muna. Two from Warsan. Twenty-seven from Mariam and six from Abdallah.'

'Imagine what my phone must've been like.' Dawud added.

I texted everyone back, assuring that I was okay and that I was just on vacation. I shut my phone and turned on my side, facing my husband's back. 'David?' I said goofily.

He laughed. 'Yes, Garden?'

'Tomorrow, we're going to go skiing, skating and fishing, okay?' I whispered excitedly.

Dawud turned his whole body in order to face me. 'I'm down for anything, so long as it keeps you happy.'

I took a deep breath and sighed. My soul felt complete at last.

*

The next night, we stumbled into the cabin with sore legs. 'I'm never going to listen to you again. You're crazy.' Dawud said, catching his breath.

'I like scary things. Didn't it feel nice being in the air and not knowing if you'd land on your skis?' I asked excitedly, slipping off my boots.

Dawud shot me a glare. His cheeks were a deep pink from the freezing weather outdoors. Those curly and dark locks were plastered to the sides of his handsome face with sweat. 'No! Are you joking?' He asked, laughing in disbelief. He hung his coat and reached for mine. I handed it to him.

'I'm so glad you came back, Dawud. I'm so happy.' I admitted, rubbing my cold hands together. He walked over to me and fanned his hot breath over my purple fingers.

'Me too, psychopath.' He said between exhales. I pushed him away, only to have him pull me back. 'Me too.' He repeated.

Mariam's P.O.V

I stretched my arms outward and laid with my back against the floor. Immediately, relief washed over my body upon feeling the knots in my spine loosen. Abdallah appeared by my side, in the same position, grinning. He put his hands on his flat stomach and laughed. 'I can now understand why mothers are so protective.' He said quietly. I turned to face him. 'I've been thinking about how hard your mother made it for me to marry you. I can now see that we were in love, but we were also so young, you know?'

I thought about it for a moment. This baby, my baby, swimming joyously in my belly meant the world to me and I didn't even know it yet. I hadn't even seen it yet! All I knew is that I would do anything and be anything for it. 'Half of the things my mom did were straight up cruel, but I can see the reasoning behind her actions now.' I said quietly. After some time, Abdallah and I began to laugh. 'Remember when my mom invited you over for dinner? We were all so happy that things were going in the right direction. And then dinner came.'

My husband took a deep breath. 'I've never had such spicy food in my life.' He confessed, fanning his mouth. 'Mariam, she chopped a whole ghost pepper and put it in my salad!'

I clutched my swollen belly with one hand and covered my mouth with the other as I laughed till tears formed in my eyes. 'Well, you were the one keen on marrying me! I never proposed to you.' I said in defence with a smile.

'I'm so thankful Allah made things that way. If you proposed to me I would've said no.' He replied. The two of us laughed the night away.

Warsan's P.O.V

I felt a sense of relief wash over me as I read Jannah's text message. She was okay, Alhamdullilah. I returned my focus back on the dim light emanating from my laptop. I had to get this paper done. Normally, if Jannah and Muna weren't there to distract me, I got my assignments done quickly and on time. However, this time things seemed to be different. I'd been working on this assignment for the last 6 hours! Pulling an all-nighter was nothing new to me. I always worked 12-hour shifts at the hospital overnight and so this was light-work. But what bothered me was the fact that I wouldn't get this assignment done because I couldn't stop thinking about Uthman. This was so unlike me! Boys came after school. Always. So what was wrong with me? I shook my head and continued typing, not sure of what I paragraph I was on or what I was even going on about. This was becoming a problem.