True Purpose

c h a p t e r 28

Wedding preparations were on in full swing. Everyone was so busy with one task or another for Yasir's wedding. The guest list had to be made, invitations had to be sent, halls had to be booked, catering had to be arranged, clothes for the bride and groom had to be ordered. It was chaotic!

As expected, Arwa's answer to Yasir's proposal that had been taken by Rumaysah and Zaynab was a yes. Her parents had no objection since they understood that now that their daughter was a Muslim, it was quite obvious that she'd marry a Muslim guy. So they had willingly agreed for Arwa to marry Yasir. And the best thing was that they already knew who Yasir was since he was their son's teacher, and they liked Yasir.

Zaynab had been assigned the task of taking care of Arwa's wedding outfit amongst many other tasks that she had to take care of. Being Arwa's best friend, Zaynab was the suitable person for ordering Arwa's outfit since she'd most likely know what would match Arwa's taste, what Arwa's favourite colour was and what her size was.

Hassan was in charge of preparing the males' guest list. As he sat on the dining table with a notebook, jotting down names of people who were to be invited, he lifted his head up to look at Zaynab, who was sitting opposite him, using his laptop to check wedding gowns online.

"Zaynab, could you please do me a favour?" Hassan asked.

"Sure," she replied.

"Could you please go up to our room. There is a small diary in my closet. It was from when Yasir and I were in secondary - I think I was in year 9 and Yasir in year 7. Anyway, it has the contacts of mine and Yasir's secondary school friends, whom we want to invite," Hassan said.

"Okay. In your closet, right?" Zaynab asked.

"Right," Hassan confirmed, nodding.

Zaynab got up and went upstairs to their room in order to find Hassan's diary. She opened his closet and was immediately hit by his wonderful scent. She took a deep breath, indulging her senses in the scent of her husband. She had only ever hugged him once, and then, she had shared that little moment with him. Other than those two times, she had never been that close to him where she could actually smell him.

Why am I thinking such creepy thoughts? Smelling him? Really?! Zaynab thought to herself, shaking her head. She started looking through the piles of Hassan's clothes, but she didn't get the diary. Then her eyes fell to a drawer inside the closet, and she opened the drawer. And there lay the small black contact diary. But before she could take it, her eyes landed on a bunch of folded papers. Zaynab was curious as to what they were, but she knew it was none of her business.

Zaynab never ever pried about, she never ever snooped about. But this time, even though she knew it was wrong, her curiosity got the better of her. She knew she shouldn't, yet this once...

She picked up the pile of folded papers, and that was when she saw something else. A crumpled paper, as if someone wanted to throw it away, but they didn't end up doing so. She took that too. Holding the papers in her hand, she walked to her bed and placed them there. She then went to the bedroom door and locked it.

Going back to her bed, she sat on it and picked up a folded paper from the pile and opened it.

19.04.2013

Dearest Hassan,

If only you knew, if only you realised just how much I love you. You are the man of my dreams, you are ever so perfect! Why, oh why wouldn't you ever look at me? I want you, Hassan, so badly. Please, just once, look at me.