warrior's heart

chapter 13(pt1 )

#Loads of flashback dear readers!#

Safwanah arrived at Aswaan shortly after the asr prayer. She had left Heman after a happy send off from her dearest aunt with the knowledge that she would soon have a sister in law. She could not wait to tell Marwan.

Marwan, the mere thought of him brought a smile to her face and all those insects in her stomach started to move all over again!

They had met in Aswaan for the first time when she had come to buy their famous shawls for her aunt and herself. He was in disguise and going round the market to ensure that everything was moving smoothly and that no one was getting unjustly rich.

A thief had snatched her money pouch and as she was running after him, she saw someone run past her on hot pursuit of the thief. He had tackled him to the floor and had secured her pouch back by the time she arrived panting heavily.

She had used the pouch to hit the thief out of anger until her friend Hajar, had held her around her shoulders in order to save the thief from being beaten to stupor with a pouch by a very angry Safwanah.

"Let me go Hajju! Let me go!!! He would have stolen my savings!! Ammati really likes the shawl from Aswaan and I wanted to gift it to her. What if he had run away, I would not have been able to give it to her or see that happy glow on her adorable face!!

Let me go I say!! I need to teach him a lesson!" "Safwanah, habibti, please listen to me,none of that happened. This brother here helped us to stop him from running away. Now calm down and thank him instead of thrashing the poor man!"

Safwanah was about to reply that the thief was in no way poor but remembered her decorum and with great difficulty calmed down in order to thank the man who had helped her.

Marwan did his best to control himself and not laugh. In all of his thirty years, he had not seen a feisty woman as this one. She would have surely beaten the man if her friend had not stopped her.

After clearing his throat, he turned fully to the woman who was now approaching him. He had to force himself to lower his gaze for he had not seen a beautiful face as hers.

She had striking black eyes like her brother's with a pointed nose and thin lips. She had a beauty spot above her lip and above her left eye. She wore a brown loose dress with a matching veil and a pair of sandals.

Masha Allah he thought, lowering his gaze as she got closer.

"Assalamualaikum brother, I would like to express my gratitude to you for helping me out here. Allah knows what would have happened if you had not caught that man. Jazakallahu khair for what you did and may Allah reward you immensely."

"Waalaikumusalam, please do not thank me. I only carried out my duty to a fellow human being. I am grateful for the dua as well."

There was an awkward moment of silence between them before Safwanah spoke, "uh.... well I must leave now before it starts getting dark. I am from the kingdom of Heman and you know it is a bit far from here. Jazakallahu khair once again. Assalamualaikum."

With that, she left. Marwan looked at their retreating figures before he smiled and turned to deal with the thief. He had not even asked what her name was.