"don't fret yourself
o slave of Allah
why do you worry
when he's the controller
of hearts? - inaya."
It had been a month now. Afra sighed and put down one of the last platters of turkey with lemon on the table before pulling out a chair and getting seated amongst the triplets.
"That looks delicious Afra."
The Queen complimented her as she cut into the meat and served with the ones on her right side, which unfortunately were the triplets first and then moved on to the ones on her left.
Often times, she dreaded how harshly reality and fate together served a blow. Quite a lot had changed ever since Waasay's death, but life never ceased.
Even today â after all that had occured â there were times when she would feel like another huge mystery would pop up from nowhere and recreate those scenes all over again.
"So Afra, who are your friends who are coming over?"
Sulaaymaan asked and the Queen smiled at her whilst popping an olive in her mouth.
"Oh, they're my only friends at college."
Sulaaymaan was a peculiar guy. An opportunity that she had thought had slipped out of her hands was presented to her in a silver platter.
The night he told the surprising news, Afra was in such a shock that for the next few days she repeatedly pestered him for a definite answer.
If that would have been a joke, she would not have left him alive.
"What are their names Habibti? How old are they? Maybe you should call their parents too next time in Shaa Allah."
The Queen suggested, propping her chin on her palm.
"Of course in Shaa Allah dearest mama. So one of them is Abdullah and the other is Abubakr."
Sulaaymaan spit out what he was eating, alarming both her and the Queen who leaped out of their seats. They soon gathered by his side, with Afra patting his back and the Queen urging him to drink water.
A good few minutes passed until he began to catch his breath and leaned on the table as he gradually relaxed.
"Whatever happened to you Sulaaymaan? That was a horrible case. Please eat carefully."
The Queen sat gazing at him with concern before looking away a second later and picking at her food.
"Who did you say they were again?"
He croaked out. Afra and the Queen exchanged a knowing glance, coughed and slowly turned to face him.
His hands were fisted on either sides of his plate. Afra knew it of course.
"You mean Abdullah and AbuBakr?"
She smiled before battling her lashes.
"Why do you ask?"
His eyes narrowed slowly.
"Ah! I see. Abdullah and AbuBakr. Your brothers in Islam."
A corner of her mouth lifted up in a crooked grin.
"You mean best friends ?"
They began gazing at each other for two minutes until the Queen banged the table and scolded them to respect the food placed before them.
Afra did note how he kept shooting glares in the air, didn't respond back to the Triplets who kept talking to kept pushing the turkey to a side on his platter.
She was only mocking him and he knew it very well. It was silly and not reasonable for him to pose his emotions through food.
She had only just sipped on some soup when he pushed away his seat, threw his napkin over his half eaten plate and stormed out without a single heed to his mother's shouts.
"Mama, do you think this has........ become serious?"
"Aw no Habibti! You know that kid. He's being silly. Eat your food without any worries and go put some sense in his head later on."
Sulaaymaan was mad.
So so mad.
He had tried negotiating with the administrative staff of the college she was granted admission in.
But they told him that it could lead to a massive disruption in their system. The change in their timetables could make it difficult for the teachers to cope up with the stress of dealing with a whole class with the addition of teaching the crown Queen.
As expected, she was given a place in one of the same classes as the other males. There were female students too but they did not opt the same course which lead to her to be admitted into a male dominated class.
Of recently, she had been talking about two men in specific. One called Abdullah and the other named AbuBakr. From all that he had heard, both of them were cousins who were soon going to move to America.
Just another year before they would leave.
Afra shared all her classes with them quite surprisingly which made his blood boil with rage.
"Sulaaymaan?"
The door to their room creaked open enough for Afra's head to pop in.
"Sulaaymaan?"
He was lying awake on their bed, his legs crossed. But once her meek voice reached his ears, he positioned an arm over his eyes and pretended to ignore her.
She sighed loudly and he felt the door shut. He heard soft shuffling of his feet until she sat down beside him and her weight dipped the mattress.
"Sulaaymaan, I know you aren't asleep."
He shifted and turned to the other side, hearing her groan his name out.
"Sulaaymaan, seriously. Why are you so jealous of it? We're only friends. You know Abubakr and Abdullah!"
He squeezed his eyes shut. Yes he was quite aware of both of them as all she did after returning from her college was talk about their stories.
He even knew that she had a hunch on Abdullah's love life analysed as per the information given. Although she told him he wasn't the kind who would fall in love.
Whatever the case, they were men.
"Infact you do know how things go. There are so many guys who try to flirt and grab my attention. And these two, they always protect me and keep me in their company. Well then again, it's a different thing that Abdullah is the grumpy one....but you get the essence."
She leaned over his back, her arms grazing against his waist as she tried to peek over and look at him.
"Sulaaymaan, I'm sorry. What else do I do now? They're cool and it's lovely hanging out with them. We don't hold any contact outside college anyway. But in there if I don't have them, I'll be lonely. It's not like I can't manage those jobless dudes."
He shifted slightly and turned around to find her back to him. She had brought her legs close around her chest as she gently rocked back and forth. He carefully propped his head on his hand as he laid over watching her silently.
Often times he loved having a silence between them. Though they were sort of dealing with an argument right now, he still loved how much more sense the emotions held. How all their unsaid words flew about and depicted vast amounts of their love for each other.
And maybe by now even she knew that the best way to convince him was to put down her points and remain silent.
He got up straight, edged closer to her and wrapped his arms around her legs and rested his chin over her shoulder.
She jerked a little but relaxed once his growing beard pricked the skin of her neck.
"I'm sorry......I guess I'm a little overprotective. I know I may sound childish or even jealous but that's not what my concern is. I'm just worried that these people might end up falling for you just like how I fell for you. I feel our bond could be wrecked by their interference. It may be that I'm overlooking at things but I still feel that way."
She chuckled and brought a hand upto his cheek, caressing it softly.
"You know what Sulaaymaan? My heart is always in yours and yours resides within me. Then how would you say that I could even barely get affected by all of those others?"
He nodded on her shoulder and laid a quick kiss over her neck.
"What if he were more handsome than me?"
Afra hesitated.
"What if some girl were more beautiful than me?"
Sulaaymaan frowned.
"More beautiful? Duh, you mean average looking?"
She twisted her neck around and pinched him on the shoulder.
"You're the one whose not handsome okay! Be happy I chose you over others!"
"Oh yeah?"
He stood up on the bed with his hands on his hips.
She shuffled carefully and stood in the bed staring hard.
"Oh yeah!"
Sulaaymaan pouted.
"Even now?"
She giggled while tapping her chin.
"Maybe not now."
The both of them began laughing and dropped down on the bed.
Some memories of life are too precious than the moments themselves.
« Assalaamualaikum Princesses â¤
I know it's a rather boring chapter but don't worry. One exciting thing will come up in the next chapter. In Shaa Allah.
And just to let you guys know, there's only two more chapters left now until this book officially ends in Shaa Allah. â¤â¤â¤
Which I'll soon do in Shaa Allah.
â¤â¤â¤
I love you guys so much and just know that this book might be ending, but our journey isn't. â¤â¤â¤ Please don't be sad.
Much love,
»