A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 25.

Safia’s POV

I switched on the bedside lamp to take a look. Yusuf's ankle was swollen.

“I’m so sorry.” I said to him.

“Huh? Why are you sorry?”

“It's my fault. I made you walk around so much yesterday and now you're ankle's hurting because of me again!"

"Safia! What did I tell you yesterday about stressing?" I didn't say anything further. I lightly pressed Yusuf's ankle and he bit his lip from the pain.

"Is it that bad?" I asked, a lump forming in my throat with worry.

“It’s okay.”

"No it's not! I told you to make an appointment but did you listen? Of course not! Now look at the situation you're in. Today, we're going to the hospital." I said firmly.

"No! This is supposed to be our time together that we're supposed to enjoy! I'm not going to the hospital."

“Yes you are!”

"No I'm not; you can't force me to go." I crossed my arms and turned away from him angrily. "Safia." He said pulling my arm. "Hey Safia." I turned so my back was towards him. He put his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulders. "I'll make an appointment with a doctor as soon as we get back." When I didn't respond, he said, "Come one Safia! First I have something wrong with my ankle and now you're not talking to me." He knew exactly how to make me stop my silent treatment.

“Fine.” I huffed. I turned around to see Yusuf looking ashamed. With his head down, he spoke.

“Safia, could you help me walk to the bathroom please?”

“It’ll be my pleasure.” I got up and held out my hand for Yusuf to take. He put his left arm around my shoulder and we moved together towards the bathroom. “Are you going to be okay in there?”

“I’ll have to be. Don’t worry about me.” He closed the bathroom door. As I stayed rooted to that spot, I began the think about how the rest of our trip was going to go. There were so many places I was desperate to see. But Yusuf was more important. Would delaying going to a doctor make Yusuf’s ankle worse? But it was Yusuf’s ankle, he was the one in pain so the choice was ultimately his.

“You’re still standing here?” He asked when he opened the door. I took his right arm and put it around my shoulder. “Wrong arm.” He said. Of course it was. When did I ever do anything right? I put his right arm down and went to the other side where he put his left arm around me. Pushing his weight down on me, we struggled to the corner of the bed. He sat down, feeling relieved to take the weight off his ankle.

“You’re going to have to pray sitting down.” I told him.

“Yeah.” He sighed unhappily. I went to do wudhu before I joined him and we prayed together.

Yusuf settled back into bed as I sat next to him stroking his hair. He had his eyes closed but I knew he wasn’t asleep. I’d stared at his sleeping face enough to know how he looked when he was asleep. He would cover half of his face and snore a little.

“I’ve got this day planned out Yusuf.” I said to him.

“What are you planning on doing?”

“We’re going to stay here, eat junk food, watch movies or something and stay in bed all day. We’re going to have a lazy day.”

“What about all those places you wanted to see?”

“They’ve been there for centuries so I’m sure they’ll still be standing for the next ten days. We can go later. Besides, I like lazy days.” I was beginning to look forward to the day.