Against The Tide (Formerly Two Tribes)

22: JaFrah

JAMEEL

Even when Afrah was no longer in sight, Jameel's gaze fixated on the door, hoping she'd emerge, do whatever she had to do, and come back to him. He had been waiting for that moment since she was declared his wife. He didn't know if he would be able to wait any longer to express his love for her. His feelings were like a volcano inside of him, at the edge of setting off. He couldn't control it anymore.

He had started walking towards the bathroom, but before he could get there, he stopped in his tracks. He mentally smacked himself on the head for being so inconsiderate. Of course, she freaked out. The ideal thing to do at that period was to give her a moment to put herself together.

He puffed out his cheeks and sat on the stool Afrah had just vacated.

Ten minutes passed and Afrah hadn't emerged from the bathroom. Jameel began to worry. He wondered if she was alright in there.

He stood and advanced towards the bathroom door. "Hey!" He called, hitting his fist on the door lightly. "Are you fine?"

Silence.

"JaFrah!" He raised his voice a bit higher than he intended.

"I'm fine!" Afrah's answered from the other side of the door. "Give me a few seconds, I will be out."

Jameel breathed as he heard the faucet turn on. "Alright."

The doorknob soon twisted and Afrah came into view; her face hanging.

Jameel could tell she was avoiding his gaze, and surprisingly, he found it cute-extremely cute that she was that shy in his presence. It was actually his first time seeing her so flushed and the sight fascinated him.

To tease her, he bridged the distance between them and raised her chin. "Shall we continue?"

Afrah's jaw fell to the ground. She grabbed his hand and gently tossed it aside. "I need to greet...to greet Hajiya."

At the sight of his wife rushing to get away from him, Jameel burst out laughing. "Don't tell me you're going to greet her dressed like that."

Afrah halted in her tracks and cringed, facepalming. She hurriedly walked past him and into the closest to look for something appropriate to change into.

All the while, Jameel was busy laughing to himself. No matter how hard she was trying to run away from him, he wasn't going to move an inch from the room. She was going to greet his mother and walk back into his embrace. He had already had everything planned out in his head. What was left was the execution.

Afrah emerged covered in a brown hijab Jameel couldn't tell what was underneath the hijab because of its length.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jameel proposed. For obvious reasons, he wanted to be there to render some kind of support to her for he knew she was nervous and uncomfortable around his mother, but Afrah being her typical self, tried to hide it. She had a diploma in masking-emotioncy.

"I can handle this." She smiled. "Don't bother."

"Are you sure?"

Afrah nodded and chuckled. "I'm just going to greet her... nothing else. Why are you so worked up?"

"I will be here," Jameel plopped into the bed and winked at her, sucking in his lower lip-an action he was shocked of himself. "Waiting for you."

With Afrah he found himself doing things he never thought he was capable of doing-things that sounded and seemed outright ridiculous in his head. He cringed at the vision of Afrah cringing. In an attempt to be cheeky, he hoped he didn't end up looking silly.