YASMIN

Chapter Twenty-Three

Yasmin groaned as she reached for her phone to switch off the buzzing alarm.Goosebumbs rose on her arm from the cold as she grasped her phone and tapped the circle at the back.Yayy for Huawei.She read her dua when waking up and glanced at the phone screen to see the time when her eyes fell on the date.

She froze.Her heart begun to beat faster.She sat up slowly and swallowed back the lump that had begun to form in her throat.She put her phone on the bedside table as she made her way to the bathroom,her body cold.Not just from the cold though.She went to the sink and turned the nob on the side of the tap.She cupped water in her hands and splashed it on her face.Once.Then twice.Then thrice. Before gazing into the mirror.

13 July.Tomorrow would be the 14 of July.

Yasmin took a deep breath before splashing water on her face one more time as her thought finally came through.

The day Muhammed passed away.The day she watched him die and she became a widow.The day her world came crashing down,the day her mother-in-law and father-in-law’s worlds came crashing down.

Did she have a right to mourn a man she had lost now that she was married to Huzaifa?She had no damn clue but her heart still contracted in pain at the thought of the horrible nightmare she had lived through and how it affected her life.

Yasmin stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower.She felt the water cascade around her as she slumped onto the floor,back against the glass doors and knees cradled to her chest,her head resting on her knees.She sobbed and sobbed until her throat ached.

A knock sounded on the door and when she did not respon Huzaifa called out,“Yasmin,are you okay in there?You’ve been in the bathroom for over an hour,are you okay?”

Yasmin swallowed away the lump in her throat from her silent sobbing and she called out in the strongest voice she could muster,“Jee,I’m fine.I’ll be out now now.”

There was a pause,“Are you sure?”

“Jee.”

“Okay.Please make fast I need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure.” Yasmin stood up and took a deep breath,willing away her tears.She closed her eyes as she pictured her happy place.Her happy place,where she went when she felt her emotions pulling her in,wrapping around her like a band that left her with no oxygen.That happy place happened to be books.She thought of the latest book she had been reading and she thought of the countless endings.Some making her smile,other’s making her laugh.Even if the smiles and laughs were fake,they still took her mind off her miserable life.

She showered with no interest,leaving her washcloth on the floor and not bothering to use her hair conditioner.She wiped her body dry almost flimsily and slipped on her bath robe.Stepping out of the bathroom she gave Huzaifa what she thought would pass for a happy morning smile.

“As salaam mu alaykum.Sorry I was busy with some TLC.”

Huzaifa’s hand wrapped around her waist and he kissed the top of her head as he entered the bathroom,“No problem.I just thought you fell or something happened.”

Yasmin looked at her clothes as she shook her head,“I’m just fine.”

Huzaifa closed the bathroom door with no words and Yasmin sniffled,before reaching for a tissue and blowing her nose.No crying.No crying.She repeated to herself as she reached for black sweatpants and a black hoodie.She slipped on undergarments and wore her clothes.She threw her hair into a messy bun and slipped her feet into comfortable slippers.

Yasmin walked into the kitchen and she begun to make breakfast.A simple eggs with toast breakfast that she knew Huzaifa would not mind eating.She did not happen to be in the best states to make anything else,which got it’s proof from the couple of even times she touched the hot pans or the fact that the oil got so hot there actually happened to be smoke in the air.