Him & His Muslimah

25

Zaib

Flicking a ball-point pen uninterestedly, Zaib sat in his car in Zoya's driveway, waiting for her to leave her home with Bilal. Zaib thought of yesterday and wanted to laugh. After Zoya texted him about not being able to go shopping, he couldn't just sit around. Late at night he went to his mother begging her to give excuses to Zoya's mom. Thankfully it had worked.

His phone screen lit up and his lips stretched into a soft smile, hope rose within him that it was Zoya as he hurriedly unlocked his phone. His hope was extinguished seeing it was just Ehsan sending him another dumb meme. Just within a day of texting, his heart longed to see her again, to make her laugh in person and to hear more from her.

It was a long, hectic day at work yesterday, organizing the new deal with an investor for a new apartment complex he had been yearning to build for a couple of years now. However, every time he got a break, his thoughts would deviate to Zoya. He wanted to marry her fast so he could avoid letting his feelings for her get the best of him. She had him whipped. As soon as he got home he had messaged Zoya, the thoughts of her getting the best of him.

When she had showed annoyance in him texting in slang, he couldn't help but burst out in peals of laughter; they weren't even married yet and she was already putting him in his place. Not that he minded, he always strived to better himself and had hoped for a partner to help him with that; Zoya was the perfect person.

After minutes of waiting, the front door finally opened. Bilal came out grinning from ear to ear with his hands carelessly shoved in his side pockets. He opened the door to the front passenger seat and slid in.

"As salamu alaykum," both voices echoed. "Where's Zoya?" Zaib asked trying to act nonchalant about it. "Of course that's the first thing you ask about," Bilal said rolling his eyes.

"Well if you must know, my dear sister has been up from the morning excited to go shopping with you and is currently despairing looking for her favourite pair of shoes to match her outfit with. You didn't hear this from me though." Bilal winked at Zaib.

Zaib's heart swelled with joy, considering he had spent an hour grooming himself to meet her. Maybe she cared about him as much as he did her. He thought of her frantically searching for a pair of shoes and stifled a laugh.

"Zaib." Bilal's fingers snapped in front of Zaib's eyes, attempting to free him from the trance of thought he was in.

"Huh?" Zaib looked completely lost as he was snapped back to reality. "Allahuakbar, Zaib are you also doing that hypnotized by love thing? You and Zoya both keep zoning off these days at the most random times, if you guys are getting married and keep doing this lovey thing, what does that make me?"

"Sorry," Zaib sheepishly grinned, his face heating up at Bilal's words. Were his feelings that obvious?

Their attention was diverted when the front door opened.

Zoya stood there meekly, her hands fidgeting in front of her denim maxi skirt paired with a plain white blouse. She adjusted her dark blue headscarf and walked to the car with a lowered gaze, one hand clutching a cream and denim over the shoulder purse.

She slipped into the backseat, another round of Salams being passed. Zaib and Zoya's eyes met in the front mirror, giving them a sense of deja vu as that had happened before.

Zaib caught a slight difference in Zoya's eyes; they were lined with soft brown liner- barely noticable- but Zaib could tell the difference. It made her eyes seem more gentle and deer-like. The corners of his mouth slightly lifted as she quickly looked away.

After a few seconds of silence, Zaib cleared his throat. "So... which mall are we going to?"

:-):-):-):-)