Suraya

8

SURAYA
'Are you sure this dress is the one you want?' Sky's mother asks her.
We are currently at the bridal dress shop. We've been trying on dresses for the past three days and we haven't found one until now.
The dress she choose is a simple silky dress that fits her bodice and flairs from her waist. Making it look like a ball gown.
'Yes. I like it. It's simple and me. I like the silkiness and how soft it is against my skin. And I'm sure Jonathan would love to see me in this' she said squealing
'Then this dress it. Ma'm? We've found a dress' I say calling the lady who's been helping us.
'Oh wow! You look amazing in that dress Miss Skylar. Wonderfull. Let's just get you out of this dress and put it in a bag for you. I'll let you know where you are going to make the payment' the lady informs us.
We all nod. I wait behind while sky and her mom go to remove the dress. While I wait, my phone rings, I check for my phone in the bag and find it. Zayyad? Hmm? That's odd.
'Hello? Salamu Alykum' I say as I pick up the call.
'Amin Wa Alykum mus Salam, Miss AbdulMalik. This is Zayyad, hope you remember? Ummul Khulthum's Father?' He says
'Yeah I do, I saved your number that day as Mr Zayyad, so to what do I owe this call? Or do you need my help decorating anywhere?' I ask hoping it's true.
'Well yes I need your help but not decorating or anything to do with your work. It's Ummul Khulthum, she wants to spend the day with you again cause apparently your her new favourite person. So I was wondering if we could catch you later? When she's up from school?' He asks from his voice he is clearly tired
'Um Yeah sure I'll be free. One o'clock right? I'll be at your house in the next thirty minutes or so, do I need to bring anything? I'm close to the shops' I offer
'Oh no no, we have everything we need Alhamdulilah. And instead of going to my house could you just come straight to the fire-station cause I'm currently on a shift. You can drive can you?' He asks
'Yeah I can drive. I'll be there. MaAsalam' I say
'Thank you very much. BisSalam' And with that he ends the call. I check the time and see it's an hour to one. Just then sky comes out with her mom.
'Erm, sky? I need to go, can you remember the kid I talked about? Her dad just called and asked if I could take care of her today. So I gotta go pick her up' I explain
'Oh okay. Tell her I say hi and that I loved the time we spent together on Friday night. Love ya' she says waving me goodbye
'Love ya too' I say too waving her goodbye too before going outside to hail for a cab.
...
I reach the fire station within minutes and ask at the front desk for Mr Zayyad Muhammad, and he directed me to the waiting area.
'Salamu Alykum. Thank you for coming' he says as he entered the empty room.
'WaAlykum mussalam. It's my pleasure, you don't need to thank me.' I say smiling.
why do I always find him in his work clothes? I think to myself. I shake my head to clear off the thought before I think of anything else.
'Because I'm still in my shift, I'm handing my car keys to you so you would go pick her up and do whatever you guys want to' he says handing me his Hyundai car keys.
'Okay, thanks for the sweet ride. Is she not allowed to do anything? Or is she allergic to anything?' I ask to be sure
'Nothing except for wool. But if there's any mistake or in case your forget her pills are inside the emergency backpack in the car. Just make sure you guys are home before six' he instructs
'Okay, nuts emergency backpack, home by six. Uhumm, got it. Anything else? Mom?' I tease
'And no nothing else. Just call- wait mom?' He asks confused
'You know you are acting like a mom here. Saying every single detail I need to know before taking your daughter out. Chill man I've got this, remember Imran's my nephew' I tell him.
'Don't blame me, it's my first time leaving her with someone I don't really know and all. Besides all kids are different. But Imran's a tough case' he shrugs
I nod 'well, got to get going, I'll call you if we need anything. MaAsalam'
'Please don't forget to call. Bissalam and also tell her that she picks dessert, so before coming back you guys should buy whatever you guys need. And there's also extra money in the backpack too' he says and I laugh at him.
'It's like I should just wait for you to come off of your shift so we could go together. Don't worry. You have my word. Insha Allah there's going to be nothing that will happen, I can't make promises but I'm going to be careful' I try to convince him
'Okay. Okay. Take care. Ma'aslam' he says and I give a nod.
With that we part ways. He goes into the office and I go to the parking lot. And search for his car.Which wasn't difficult.
His car was a white Velester by Hyundai. A lot of people talk about loving black cars cause their flashy and classy and stuff like that, but I don't go for black cars.
My current car might be black but that wasn't by choice. It used to be my brothers car, but when he got a new car, her gave this to me.
I don't know why I love white cars or stuff that's white, but I just love them. Most of my stuff are white, if they aren't white their orange. Cause it stands for confidence and I like confidence.
I try as much as I can not to admire the photo in the car but I just can't.
It was a picture taken five years back according to the year in the photo. It was a picture of Zayyad and a supposed Ameena. They were sitting on the sand, Ameena's head on Zayyad's shoulder, while Zayyad's head was on hers.
They looked perfect. May her soul rest in peace. I look at myself one more time in the mirror before driving off.
'Suraya!' I hear Muhibah's voice say and I turn around 'why are you here? I thought I told you I am picking Imran up? Or did I forget?'
'No you didn't. I'm not here to pick Imran up. He's old news for me now' I chuckle 'I'm here to pick up Ummul Khulthum. She asked for me and here I am!'
'Oh okay then, did sky finally choose a dress?' She asks. Muhibah can be an introvert when it comes to weddings and stuff but she can't be a shadow at sky's wedding.
Sky might be my best friend but she is a sister to everyone. Her smile and charisma charms us  all.
I nod my head 'Yes she did. I can show you but I forgot to take a picture of it. But it's beautiful and thankfully she likes it too'
'Thanks amazing then. See you later, their out' she says going to the classroom section, while I wait out together with the other parents.
'Ummul Khulthum! Hey! How ya doing?' I said going up to her. Her face lit up when she saw me
'Suraya! I'm fine Alhamdulilah, what are you doing here? Imran is with his mom. Aren't you supposed to be with him?' She asks
'Na uh, I'm with you today. Your dad said we can hang out today, he said we can go anywhere we want as long as you're home by six' I explain
He eyes widened 'seriously? He said that? Oh yay! Can I call him to thank him?'
'Yeahs sure, here's my phone, I saved your dad as Mr Zayyad Muhammad' I said giving her my phone
'Why Mr Zayyad Muhammad? Why not just Zayyad or Ummul's Abba?' She asks curiously.
'Cause I'm still formal with him darling' I said buckling her car seat's seatbelt.
'Why? What's Formal? And where are we off to first?' She asked all at once
I shook my head at her questions 'formal is when you have to be respectful with each other. And we are going to the movies, ever watched wonder park?'
'Nope haven't watched it yet but I would love to. Can we get some chocolate first?' She asks
'Yeah sure, anything else before I leave this street?' I ask looking at her through the rear mirror
'Maybe juice? Daddy doesn't let me have more than one sugary thing when we go for the movies' she says
'Well you know what?' She looks at me through the rear mirror 'daddy's not here today, your with Suraya. So you can get whatever you want but still not much sugar so we won't make another tornado in there' I says and she giggles remembering the memory.
'Okay then, let's go get some sweets. I want some mentos and kitkats' she says 'can you carry me?'
'Yeah sure, you aren't as chubby as Imran. So you won't break my back' I say lifting her out of the car
She giggles as we go into the store. I put her in the cart kid seater and roll into the store.
'Oh there's kitkats! And skittles! And smarties! And dairy milk bubbles! Let's get some marshmallows, Abba likes them. The twisted ones please' she says pointing at everything she wants
'Okay but first, pointing's not a good habit hmm? So if you see something you'll like just tell me. Got it?' I ask picking all the stuff
'Got it. It's my day to choose dessert and I don't know what to choose' she pouts
'There's yoghurt, ice cream, custard?' I say looking round
'Uh uh, I'm tired of those stuff, I want something else' she complains while I look for the ingredients to a recipe I can't remember the name of the dessert is.
'Brown chocolate, white chocolate, marshmallows, butter, where are the oats biscuits?' I pause 'Ummu when you see hobnobs or any oat biscuits, tell me please'
'Why? What do you want to do with them? We have enough at home, Abbas a hobnob freak' she says giggling and I can't help smiling too
'He is? Well now don't go telling everyone what type of freak your father is okay? And stop calling him that. It's disrespectful' I warned.
She nodded her head and I rolled the cart to the next aisle looking for stuff I need at home.
'Let's go pay, and we are out of here alright?' I assured her.
'Yep. What time does the movie start?' She asks
'It starts in the next thirty minutes, so we would have to be quick' I say and she nods

By the time we get to the cinema it's ten minutes to the movie and we are just in time to get the tickets.
We sit in the middle row for some reason Ummul Khulthum likes. While we watch the movie I eat buttered popcorn while she sticks to sprite and a pack of mentos we are sharing.
'Where did her mother go?' Ummul Khulthum whispers in the middle of the movie.
'Her mom got sick, so she had to go to another country or place where they could treat her' I whisper back
'Is that where my Amma is?' She whispers back which makes me turn to look at her.
Her face is being illuminated by the reflection of the projector. Her blue eyes glittering as she waited for an answer.
'Uhm, Uh. No no, she isn't in any other country. Do you know want to know where she is?' I ask
She nods her head before a I answer her 'she's in a better place than earth. She's gone far away from us. But not too far, she will live in our heads forever till we go and meet her in Jannah Insha Allah' I explain
'How can she live in our hearts?' She asks quirking her head
'The more we remember her the more she lives in our hearts and becomes happy, you know when you cry, she feels bad but when you are happy and doing good things she feels like the happiest ghost in the universe' I pause thinking of where the word ghost came from but I shrug it off.
'Now shhh, let's continue watching the movies I hush not wanting to answer anymore questions to come.
She nods and turns back to the movie, so do I.

We leave the cinema a little after four and because we had nothing to do and I had to pray, we headed to her home.
'Now where's the key?' She thinks out loud her hand on her chin looking round the front porch.
'Where did your dad keep the extra key?' I asked her also looking round
'I think it's underneath the mat but I'm not sure, I think he hid it somewhere else' she hums
'Well? Let's check it' I said shifting the doormat that says be happy, it's going to be a good day, maybe, with an upside down smiley face.
There was nothing under the doormat and Ummul Khulthum was still in 'thinking mood'.
'Aha! I remember now! Lets go through the back, Mr Raul our cooks, he doesn't leave until he makes dinner, and I'm sure he is making it now' she says taking off to the small gate that leads to the small garden.
'Aye! The fathers little cupcake! How you doing? Did you forget that the keys with me?' A mans booming voice said
'Yes I did as usual, so what are making today? It smells nice' she says as I enter the kitchen.
'Assalam mu Alykum' I say to make sure they know I'm here 'err, hi you must be the cook Mr Raul, I'm Suraya' I say with a smile
'Oh what a beauty, Masha Allah the muslims say. I am the one and only Raul the cook' he says bowing a little, making Ummul Khulthum giggle.
'Well then, I can see your with chicken, some veggies, sweet corn and mayonnaise? Let me guess, daddy said something light so your making a chicken salad?' Ummul Khulthum asks
'Well done my dear, now what's for dessert?' He asked her
'Well..... Suraya? What did we decide to have as dessert?' She asks turning to me.
'We didn't decide on anything, but since you have the ingredients to a special dessert, we can make them. But first, let's go pray' I say looking at the time.
'Okay let's go upstairs, I'll show you my room and everything I have in my room' she squealed pulling my hand.
'Okay okay, you don't need to pull my hand I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying until your father returns' I tell her.
She squealed And ran up, while I trailed behind.

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