Hawwa's Paradise

Chapter-4 #Rewritten

bhaiya: brother

***

Qibriyah sighed, his eyes closing for a moment trying to restrain the growing anger in his voice before speaking.

"No."

Shaima entered the room carrying a tray with a glass full of an orange liquid which was Tang. She placed the glass on the center table in front of Qibriyah.

"I need your help." Khadija's voice strained.

"I can help you with getting marriage proposals for Hawwa."

"I want Hawwa and you to get married."

"You know I don't want to remarry. And even if I did, it wouldn't be with a woman nineteen years younger than me. Expecting this marriage to work is a fool's paradise. Don't bring this topic again." Finally Qibriyah snapped. Khadija's eyes widened at his harsh voice. "Sorry for the way I spoke." Qibriyah clenched his jaw, guilt brewing inside him seeing the hurt flash across her wrinkled face.

"I would love to see you as the part of my family." Tears threatened to spill from Khadija's eyes.

"I am leaving." He stood up not wanting to argue with her anymore.

"Don't you want the same?" A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Not in the way you want." Qibriyah's voice softened slightly. He walked out of the room and unlocked the door. Then he walked out closing the door behind. His heart felt lighter not having to look at her eyes anymore.

Deciding to take a break, Hawwa walked out of her room. She saw Khadija watching television. As she came near, she spotted Khadija's crestfallen face. Hawwa's hands fisted on her sides.

"Qibriyah bhaiya rejected me, didn't he?" Hawwa half expected it.

"Yes." Khadija responded as her eyes shifted to Hawwa who entered the room. Hawwa's lips tightened as her heart sank. "Make your BioData. I have contacted a matchmaker." Hawwa nodded.

After completing studying for the night, Hawwa went out of her room. She retrieved her mobile and tablet lying on the dining table. She kept them there to prevent herself from distractions. Then returning to her room she sat on the bed with her tab to browse templates of marriage BioDatas. She downloaded the one which she liked the most out of the four she checked. Getting up she walked to the door of the room.

"Dadima, I need you to check something on my tab." Opening it, she called Khadija who was reciting the Quran in the living room on a stand. Pausing the recitation, Khadija closed the Quran and stood up. Her head was wrapped loosely with a veil.

"What is it?" Khadija asked as she arrived at the door.

"Get inside." Pulling her inside the room by the hand lightly, Hawwa closed the door.

"I want to write Biodata using this method. What do you think?" Hawwa demanded bringing the tab infront of Khadija. Khadija observed, a slight frown appearing on her forehead.

"This looks fine." She commented after a moment.

Following evening, Qibriyah was watching a live political talk show on a Bangladeshi news channel on YouTube when he got a call from Khadija. He lowered the volume of the ringtone. He didn't want to speak to Khadija. The shame inside him for refusing her wish made it hard.

Two nights later, while walking towards the dining table at ten o'clock for dinner, Hawwa wondered if Qibriyah was avoiding Khadija. He never missed visiting Khadija for two days straight when he was posted in Dhaka. She didn't know if he was avoiding Khadija on phone too. She had to bury her desire of asking Khadija as she wanted to move on from him. She was going to marry someone else.

Two hours later, Hawwa was reviewing her completed Biodata while lying on the bed. When she felt satisfied with it's contents she sent a copy of it to Khadija. Then Hawwa went to her google bookmarks and clicked on a webpage leading her to a manga named "Sesame Salt And Pudding" by Suzuki Yufuko. It was an age gap romance manga surrounding a twenty two year old woman and a forty two year old man. The maximum age gap to Hawwa's according to Hawwa's comfort was nineteen years. But there were no mention of their birth months to see whose month came earlier. So she imagined the male lead to be nineteen years older.

"Check your Whatsapp." She said to Khadija when she was concluding praying isha salah.

"Alright." Khadija responded by taking a glance at Hawwa before standing up from the jainamaz. "The matchmaker has messaged me saying she will come to meet us tomorrow."