Falling Innocently

Chapter 9 -Discovery

Chapter 9 –Discovery

"And We created you in pairs."

-Surah 78, verse 8

 

Ever since Waliya had accepted the proposal, Aahil's house was in a permanent state of pandemonium. One would think that Aahil was used to it since not too long ago his very own brother was married and they had been through exactly the same routine. The sad part this time though, was that Aahil could not escape it by going to the masjid to sit and revise his Quraan, or make salaah and ask Allah for guidance.

This time, Aahil was forced to face the torture, because all of this effort was for Aahil himself. He hated this fanfare. He truly wished it wouldn't happen. He wished it could just be the Nikkah, and then the Walimah, but this was the one and only requirement Waliya's father placed. Aahil had to honour that wish. Yet, after much consideration, he supposed he could see where her father was coming from. She was his baby girl. Those last two words summarised everything.

Waliya was the apple of their eyes. Their little girl. One would not understand the importance of a daughter in the home, unless they did not have one. It meant that the home often lacked the warmth of a daughter, the love of a sister. It meant that in a house full of boys, there would be less compassion, less bubbling laughter and less chatter. There would be no annoying little –or older –sister to bother you. There would be no comfort in a bad situation, nor there any one to cover for you and side with you in a fight. Having no girls in the house meant growing up in a house with a lot more strict rules.

Aahil had always wished for a younger sister. A sister to dote upon and spoil, a younger sister where she would go out of her way to make sure that he was happy and loved and filled. He often wished that he could have a sister who would spoil him once in a while with his favourite foods, or wake him up on a Sunday morning with a plate full of French toast and pancakes.

He sighed and was forced back into the present moment, where he was being prodded by one too many over excited, chubby aunties who were far more enthusiastic about his own engagement party that was going to happen in less than two weeks.

"You absolutely must get her family some gifts when you go there for the engagement!" one aunty said in an eager voice.

"Yes, yes, definitely! Did you see those new and improved –" another one spoke over him and started describing some or other object that would be a good gift to give. In all honesty, Aahil was not truly bothered by it all. He had some money saved up. A lot, in fact.

He began saving even before he met her, granted at that time it may not have been a lot. But he started saving for his married life the day he began working in a madressah part-time, and over the years it had just accumulated.

Just last year, he bought a small flat in Sandton City, which was a lot closer to his work than Lenasia, but he hoped it would be enough for her. He didn't do much furnishing, but since then he has been paying it off. He has enough money saved for their honeymoon, which would unfairly have to be postponed until he was down with his work.

And with that, he felt guilty. He waited years for her, and now he was abandoning her so soon after the Nikkah. No normal man would do that willingly and yet, he had to. Of course, there was the other option of taking her along with him, but that would be even more selfish than leaving her at home. Should he take her with him, it would be forcing her to give up on her career, it would be forcing her to change homes at least three times in one year, and more than that, it meant that she would be forced to stay in an unknown place for long periods of times while he was at work. He would not even ask her to come with him, it would be as if he was compelling her to come along with him.