The Perks of Being a Hijabi

Chapter Twenty-One

The car stopped in front of a large apartment complex. Children ran around the parking lot, some on bikes, others on feet. I felt completely at home here.

"I hope you like it," Hussen turns to me and gives me a quick peck on the cheek.

"I love it hubibi." I smile and return the peck on his cheek. We both get out of the car and make our way to the main building to receive our keys.

"Good Morning," A old woman with graying hair sat behind the secretary's desk.

"Good morning to you too, um we wanted to receive our keys for apartment room 146." Hussen places the paper work and a piece of paper with the apartment number on it to the old woman.

"Okay..." She turned around the to face a wall filled with numbered drawers. She traced her finger against the numbers until she found 146, our apartment number. "Ah! Here it is!" The old woman unlocked the drawer using the ring if keys that hung from her belt. She opened the drawer and handed us the keys. "Here you go, have a nice day!" She smiled, her eyes lingering on my face and my hijab.

We thanked the old woman and walked through the lobby and up the stairs to our apartment. People peppered the hall ways and the stairs, all were staring any gawking at us.

"Hussen," I nudged Hussen's arm as we walked.

"Hmm?" He looked down at me. "What is it?"

"Why are all of the people looking at us like we just committed a crime?" I whispered under my breath. Hussen slowly sucked in his breath and exhaled loudly.

"Its because we are differebt hubibti, we stand out. We both dress modestly while they are barely wearing anything." Hussen continued walking up the long stairs with me right at his heels. I know I might sound cheesy, but, Hussen is so smart and open minded. I used to think that our marriage is wouldn't ever survive long, but Subhanallah! Look at us now, we are striving to please each other and our Lord!

"Zainub?" Hussen poked my face and waved his hand in front of me. "Earth to Zainub."

"Oh sorry, I was uh." I snapped out of my day dream and stared at Hussen's long face. His eyes were a deep hazel. His mouth  was pulled into an amused grin.

"Seriosly , you need to stop zoning out like that. It kind of scares me." He chuckled "We made it," Hussen points at the door, 146. We did make it. We shared a look for a while. Both thinking of the life that awaits us.

"Well, we can't just stand out here forever." He reached his hand to turn the door knob on the door after inserting the key in the key hole.

He slowly opened the door just a crack, the smell of new houses and fresh linen wafted out of the apaertment.

"After you," Hussrn gestured me to go in, I walked into the living room. It was furnished with two brown couches and a black glass coffee table. There was a shelf by the TV that held many Quran and Islamic books.

I turned around to face my husband, and jumped into his arms.

"I love this place." I whispered into Hussen's neck.

"I'm glad you love it." He chuckled into my hijab, and kissed my forehead.

A\N: so sorry that I didn't update like I was supposed to yesterday! I was typing up this chapter around 11:00 pm last night and fell asleep before I could finish it. And I was really busy during  the day so yeahhhh.
Anyway, how do you guys feel about this living together thing? And I think I won't be continuing the glossary , its too much work . Sorry, I'm really lazy. Next Saturday I WILL update chapter 22 or I might even update earlier ;)

Peace out!

-Sumi_love