Our Space

Chapter 23

Sometimes when Sami thought about what had been going on in the past few days, he'd get a nervous knot in his stomach. It never felt like this when he used to have marriage meetings before. Then again, those girls weren't Radia. There were those few girls he actually liked, like the one who wore skinny jeans. He wondered whether it was unfair to say no to a girl solely because of that since she had everything else in terms of faith and personlaity. But Sami didn't like how he noticed the shape of her calves and when she'd sit, her dress would go up a little and when she'd walk, some of her thighs would show. He knew he wasn't supposed to notice this as a Muslim man, but he couldn't help it. And thinking about how other men would notice it, he couldn't go through with it. Then there were the girls he liked who had rejected him. Sami preferred not to think of the reasons why they'd done so but he remembered the feelings of being hopeful.

Sami couldn't even remember their names anymore but he remembered that he liked these girls to some extent. Enough to think about how they would put an end to his loneliness. But he ever felt so nervous to see them, or so excited. This time it was different. This time he wasn't thinking about his loneliness at all. Rather, he was thinking of Radia.

The more he thought about her and tried to work out why he was thinking so much about her, what made her different from the others, he became more and more sure that he felt this way because she was his destiny. It sounded like a fairy tale but Sami was convinced of its reality because he had faith in Allah. However, he wasn't ready to share these thoughts with anyone yet.

A day after Manahil emailed Radia from his phone, Radia's father emailed Sami. Sami was at work, and he froze reading the email.

Asalamu'alaykum.

This is Irfan Yasir, Radia's father. I would firstly like to apologise if I had offended you or scared you when you came to see my daughter the last time. It must have taken courage to come alone and I realise I was perhaps a little inconsiderate. Radia tells me that somehow I managed to teach you a lesson and for that I am pleased. I have heard that you have made amends with your family and I'm glad. I would like to invite you to come to our house again and we can continue where we left off. But remember to bring your mother this time.

"Dude, you okay?" Someone asked, slapping Sami on the back. That's when Sami realised he had been staring at his computer screen with his mouth hanging open.

"Fine," Sami replied, looking up to see his colleague looking at him questioningly.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I think my possibly-future-father-in-law just emailed me."

"You're getting married?" Sultan exclaimed.

"I don't know."

"Sami, you didn't tell us you're getting married," Another colleague gasped.

"No, Olivia, I..." Before Sami could think of how to finish his sentence, someone else spoke up.

"Whoa, congrats man!"

"I'm not getting married! Well... it's early days. I just met her and if I do get to that stage, I'll let you all know so put your congrats on hold."

"Do let us know when the wedding is!" Someone else said and Sami shook his head.

Sami decided to reply back when he got home. He didn't trust his colleagues, fearing they would lean over to read what he would be writing. So as soon as Sami got home, he replied back saying he'd speak with his mother. From there, it took only a few phone calls and a few more emails for their meeting date to be confirmed. Thanks to Sami's mother and sister's free weekends, Sami was going for a meeting on Sunday, less than a week since he saw Radia.