Chapter Twenty

"I'm going to think about it," Yahya finally whispered, bringing the ice cold cup to his lips. Coaching was nothing like playing on the field, but then again, he had to start somewhere and at the same time, Abdur Rehman's words seemed perfect for new beginnings.

"You do that," Rafa said, pushing back her chair. "I'm so tired, I wish I could roll into a ball and catapult myself into my bed."

The boys chuckled at her comment, gathering their leftovers and heading towards the exit. It had grown dark outside, and the sun's absence had brought a chill in the air. As the couple waved their goodbyes to Yahya, they huddled near for warmth.

"Better get going," Abdur Rehman whispered, fishing for his phone to look at the time. His eyebrows shot up in surprise upon seeing the numerous missed call notifications. "Oh God, Mama isn't going to be happy."

"It's only 8:20," Rafa commented, swinging her body towards the car.

The evening breeze brought relief to the skin cells - pleasuring them with freshness and making themselves alive with the cold tinge as a cherry on top but it didn't give any sort of relief to Abdur Rehman's restless heart. "Let's get home," he whispered, biting his lip.

He wasn't sure when the loud music inside the restaurant had drowned out his ringtone, or how he hadn't felt the vibrations of the phone, but missing his mother's calls was never good. He gulped back the unease and pressed harder on the accelerator. It was imperative that they reach home as soon as possible.

"Yahya can be quite a shy boy sometimes," Rafa chattered excitedly through the car's speaker. "He's like that especially when I bring up Anjum. Do you think it's love?"

"Hmm."

"Anjum's really good. I would say she's as good as her late brother, but then again, no one compares to Aashiq."

"Yeah."

"Abdur Rehman, are you hearing what I'm saying? I was just kidding, okay?" Her chuckles echoed through the small space.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"What's up, Abdur-Rehman? Are you worried about Mom?"

"Yes," he confessed. Sitting together for dinner was a tradition his family had followed for decades, and which his mother held very dear.

Suddenly missing it and without any warning...his mother was going to be very upset.

"I'm sure it's okay!" Rafa chirped. "We have our meals with your family, today you had a meal with mine. Mom will understand!"

"She won't," he wanted to say, but bit back the words.

Upon reaching home, he pulled into the driveway, killed the engine and rushed to the door. Rafa followed behind in her car, gathering her coat, purse and small suitcase containing her possession's from her old bedroom.

As expected, Tayyaba answered the door before they had even placed the key into the lock.

"Assalamualaikum, Mama," Abdur-Rehman greeted cheerfully. Rafa mirrored the greeting.

"Wa'alykum Salaam. Bohat dayr kardi aaj." (took a lot of time to get home today." She commented, eyeing Rafa's go-to bag of the restaurant's leftovers.

"We were actually out with Yahya, we had a great time, alhumdulillah," Rafa offered, beaming.

"With your brother?"

"Yes! He insisted on eating at this really fancy place. And I said we should definitely go because Yahya always buys elite food." She giggled at the last part blissfully.

Abdur-Rehman stood to the side, dreading each word that came out of his wife's mouth. Rafa was so pure and naive, she didn't understand how she was only escalating the situation. His mother's temper was a dangerous thing once it arrived, and right now, it was only increasing like mercury on a thermometer.

"Mama, did you have dinner? We can have it now, if not," he said, studying his mother's face.

"I just finished after waiting over an hour," Tayyaba told, her lips in a tight line.

"Oh no! You shouldn't have waited! Eating late isn't good for health," Rafa insisted. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Abdur-Rehman and I will let you know next time."

"Rafa, I think you should freshen up, and then maybe we can have green tea together?" Abdur Rehman loudly said, his tone dangerously cautious.

His eyes pleaded to her, which surprised her. Why was he acting so odd? Eating out with his newly wedded wife shouldn't be a problem. They were married. They had every right to spend time together.

"I don't know why I didn't hear your calls, Mama. I'm really sorry," she heard Abdur Rehman whisper.

She quirked her eyebrows in confusion but decided to go up the stairs to their room.

"Yahya insisted and I thought naya naya rishta hai," he tried to lighten the mood. "I don't know when it got so late, it really wasn't my intention to disappear like that. Sorry."

Tayyaba let out a heavy sigh that unsettled him. "I never stopped you from enjoying your time with your wife, I only ask you to keep me informed. And this isn't something new, I have always told you to keep connected with me. You've always shown up at dinner, on the dot. I was thinking about all the things that could have happened! Beta, you're the only one I have, please don't keep me in the dark."

Abdur Rehman grabbed his mother's hands desperately. "Mama, hargiz nahi. Never. I'm sorry about today, I'm really sorry."

Pacifying his mother only increased the heaviness on his shoulders. As he returned to his and Rafa's room, he was filled with unsaid words. His mother was very sensitive and very possessive. Pacifying her was a skill he had spent decades perfecting.

Rafa shouldn't have interfered.

"Should I start on the green tea?" Rafa asked, walking out of the bathroom in cotton pajamas and a white tshirt.

"No, Mama went to bed." He sat down on the bed to loosen his tie and run a hand through his beard.

"Then two cups only?"

"I don't want any, thanks."

"Aw, and I thought we could have some lovey time," Rafa teased, sitting down next to him to apply lotion on her hands.

Abdur Rehman moved away from her, as if to create a barrier. "Rafa," he started. "When it comes to my mother, please let me speak first."

"Why? What happened?"

"What happened?" His eyes were aflame.

"What?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Log itney andey hojate hain." He started again, "Rafa, there's a system in this house, a family dynamic, okay? My mother, she's the head of this house, and she will be as long as she's with us. That doesn't mean you and I can't have a life, it simply means that she needs to be aware of what's happening."

Confusion marred Rafa's gentle features, then she gently nodded. "Is this about today? Is she really that upset about us eating dinner out?"

"Yes! No! Sort of." He stood up. "I- she...she's scared of me growing distant from her. She's always been like that. That's why when she's being sensitive, I need to talk to her in my own way."

"Okay..."

He nodded, some tension of the room settling.

While Abdur Rehman showered and changed, Rafa sat brushing her hair and reflecting over her husband's words. Log itney andey hojate hain. She reached for her phone to translate his words, feeling her heart drop to her stomach and anger lace her being at what he had said.

"You think I'm blind?" Rafa exclaimed as soon as Abdur Rehman returned, dabbing the hand towel over his long beard. Her words caught him by surprise, but he didn't react. "Abdur Rehman, I am the one who just came into this house, how am I supposed to know what the systems are? Don't call me blind when I am only yet to see something!"

"We have been married for over six weeks, maybe you should see harder," he teased with an edge in his voice.

This only increased Rafa's temper as she followed him to the cupboards, fuming with anger. "I can see just fine, I'm just not used to taking notice of these complicated dynamics, things are easier in my family."

"You know Rafa, I'm sorry." A sigh left Abdur Rehman's mouth when he shut the cupboard door, placing his watch inside. His inner self groaned out loud, times like this made him hate the moment where he was forced to stand at a place where he had to explain things of which the opposite part had no knowledge about. Deep down, he knows that Rafa is naive compared to the other caucasians but to be so engrossed in her own bubble to not notice how sacred his relationship with his mother was, became the reason for his temper to grow big.

First, she had convinced him to say yes to the dinner while he had tried to reject and now, she was acting like she had no role to play in this whole ordeal. Even though he was right in his own point of view, he didn't want to prove himself to her, so he neatly placed the towel on the back of the arm chair, and said, "You won't understand, there's no use talking to you."

"What?"

Allah has woven life completely out of man's prediction.

Sometimes we go through things not knowing when they would end, and on the contrary, we begin things not knowing how to go through them.

Man may pride himself that he had been blessed with knowledge and understanding but never win the game of life because none of his predictions take a form of reality unless the Lord of the world's wills it to be.

For Yahya, the fruit of his patience, the reality of his dreams had been in front of his eyes but he hadn't had the vision to perceive it unless Abdur Rehman had taken off the veil.

On his desperate attempts to get back his position in the team, to rebuild the foundation of his career, he was so keen to fit into the shoes of whose length his feet had overgrown. He had become a bit out of the place now but not completely out of the field. Deep down, he knew that he belonged there.

The soccer ball was what derived his blood to boil with passion.

And teaching his tricks and game plans to make the aspiring buds to blossom would mean indulging in something where his heart belonged.

Also, the main reason for his worries were not his lack of employment, rather he had been silently mourning because the love of his life deserved a better person. A better person than him. Even when she was independent, every girl dreams to be cherished and provided with love, and it can be bought only with money that comes from the hard work of their husbands.

He had wanted to provide no matter if it was smaller than what she could have provided herself with.

That became the sole reason for his distress and also for the lack of sleep at night but now, things took a different form all of a sudden. He felt like he had been kept under a veil for the perfect moment to hit the goal.

Alhamdulillah! He praised Allah with all of his heart as he walked out of the private school which now would be his work place from then on.

He didn't anticipate in his dreams to be welcomed so cordially and granted the opportunity to work with just the look of his face.

As he got himself comfortable in his car, a scream of joy was pushing his throat to honor itself in the small space but he tried to resist it. His treasure hunt wasn't over; rather it had just begun, the real gemstones were still intact to be claimed.

He pressed his fingers over the steering wheel, accelerating the car to race towards the destination of his dreams. The place where his heart had found home yet waited patiently each day to live this moment.

He drove through the highway, lost in his own mirage of thoughts, sparkles of love glittering though his irises as his vehicle speeded, his stomach feeling magical tingling sensations of anxiety.

His brain was frying his brain cells in a frenzy of what to utter and what to not, how to start and how to end.

Upon reaching the designated place, Yahya parked the car on one of the empty slots of the open parking lot, his eyes admiring the tall buildings of the former owner's achievements. Even though not alive and even when he hadn't had the chance to meet him personally, just with the good words he had heard from his sister about this legendary man made him see and feel the presence of the majestic aura he had left behind.

After the process to meet the special person of his dreams, he tapped his foot in uniform motions to keep himself occupied, every detail except her blurred into oblivion.

Even when the wait wasn't long, he felt in his bones that the receptionist took forever to say, "Mr. Miller, you may go inside now."

But before walking away from her, he quickly let his feet pad themselves towards the receptionist and he bent himself on the marble countertop, "You didn't give my identity, right?"

"Yeah!" The girl behind the desk shyly smiled, " It was hard but I tried," she nodded her head and before Yahya could walk away, she added in a quick note, "Don't forget to give me the autograph when you are done."

Yahya raised his right hand and gestured a salute.

He wouldn't agree aloud that he was nervous but the way his fingers shivered holding the door handle proved him wrong. Sometimes like this, he could be a terrible liar but never had he taken a step forward in order to back step later, so he pushed himself and pressed the handle to open the door.

He knew he was an intruder, giving a sudden surprise and the reaction Anjum gave told him the same.

As he let his face to be the first thing to bask in the inside's glory, Anjum had been busy scrunching her eyes at the sheets of paper lying in front of her, her hand toying the pen in the air and when her gaze fell on him, the pen slipped through her long fingers, touching the surface of the ground just as she raised on her toes to a standing position.

"Ya.. Yahya?"

"Assalamu alaikum!" Yahya sheepishly smiled.

"Wa alaikum assalam," It took a moment for her to come to her senses and she was still processing the information that out of all the people, Yahya took his time to visit her in her office.

"Shall I?" He asked permission to come inside.

"Of course," She walked out of her large mahogany desk of posh sandalwood. She pulled the visitor's chair with grace, "Have a seat."

Yahya tried to make himself comfortable while his eyes trudged anywhere but Anjum and this made her dwell in even more confusion.

She slowly walked back to her seat and sat down, placing her hands on her knees, holding them together.

Silence seemed to stretch through the both of them and nobody had the courage to break it apart.

It took forever for Yahya to clear his throat and Anjum's soul held her heart in a tight grip.

"Finally! I have got a job!" Yahya put forth his reason of happiness of the day and it made Anjum beam happily.

"Masha Allah!" Her lips curled into a sweet smile," Mabrook!"

"Thanks," He looked at his lap as well.

Anjum couldn't let out a breath of relief because the guy in front of her had even announced that he had come forth to share the good news of his employment but on the same hand, he wasn't trying to leave which only meant that he had more on his plate to give.

"I kinda.. You are the first person I am opening up to about this." He stuttered a bit.

More confusion marred her forehead that a few beads of sweat lined on the corners of her moss green hijab.

"May I know why?" She asked, wishing that she didn't come as blunt.

Yahya met her gaze.

"I want a future with you, Anjum," And just as he said that out loud, the air got knocked out of both of their lungs, "And for that, I have been trying to find a safe place for me to provide you with-"

"I would never-"

"I know, it's silly, but I wanted to make sure that you would be happy," He broke the eye-contact," Even though you can more than afford your expenses, it doesn't mean I sit at home and lag behind,' He licked his dried lips, "I just want to make you happy, show you that I care."

Anjum didn't know when but his words caused a pretty blush to ward off her confusions.

"If I want a future with you. I want it to be stable so nothing can ever bring a crack in between."

"That's.." She looked away from him and at the large vase of lilies she had filled in that morning, "That's quite admirable of you," She quietly whispered.

Yahya kept his silence for a moment longer, basking in the glory that she didn't reject him, that she too wanted this as much as him. They both had kept the matter under the rags for too long and the wait had been tiring but now it felt all the more worth it.

"I came here.. to make sure that you also wanted this?" He again wanted to confirm his affirmations and when Anjum didn't reply, he didn't look into her eyes to know the answer because deep down in the four chambers of his heart, he knew.

"Shall I go to your parents to ask for your hand?" The audacity of the question shouted off his stupidity but the person in front of him didn't burst into a fit of laughter and it meant that she did consider the matter seriously.

"You should-"

"Very well then," He got up and wanted to run out into the world and dance out for his joy knew no bounds.

As he turned away, he couldn't stop the grin marveling at his face.

And just as he was about to hold the knob to open the door, Anjum called out.

"Ah.. Yahya?"

He paused and turned around to face her, showing off his happiness.

"Don't be late!"

He grinned at her and she broke into a warm shy smile too.

"I wouldn't!"

a/n: hi warda, here's the special chapter. we made it angsty so you have a reason to take out your stress from exams lol