A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 39.

Yusuf’s POV

Safia was spending a lot of time at her parents' house even though we were happily together again. On our first shopping trip, I didn’t have the heart to say no to Safia so I let her get what she wanted. She went grocery shopping once with Hafsa after we did when we began running low on supplies. It was after the 6 days of fasting that we went shopping again.

Before we left for the supermarket, I had to explain everything to Safia. So I sat down on our bed with her next to me.

“We can only get things we need.” I told her. “We seriously need to start saving again which means we need to be really cautious with money. Besides, you’re at your parents’ house most of the day so I don’t think this should be a problem.”

“About that, I talked to my manager. I may start working more days, in’sha’allah. That means I won’t be at mum and dad’s house all the time.”

“Okay, that’s up to you. But we still need to be careful. Please don’t pick out things we don’t really necessarily need, like muffins and cakes. I really don’t want to say no to you.”

“Can I get ingredients for cakes?”

“What did I just say to you?” I asked sighing. Safia looked back at me blankly. “Don’t make me say no.”

“I don’t get it. What are you suggesting? What are we supposed to eat? Why is food such a problem?” I knew Safia didn’t understand the extent of this problem. She’d probably never even thought of having such little money. At the moment, I was on the verge of asking someone for help. But that was my very last option. My next wages were going to come in two weeks’ time.

“It’s not only food. It’s everything. I think you’re just more worried about the food.”

“Stop making me feel like I’m fat.” She said putting her hands over her stomach self-consciously. I chuckled.

“Loving food doesn’t make you fat. I love food too. But we need to-“

“I know. We need to be careful. Hence we barely switch the lights on.” She said counting it on her fingers. “Thank Allah it’s summer and the nights are short. And we can’t keep the fan on all night. And we have to use the least amount of water we can, especially hot water. At least we don’t need heating just yet, that’s even more expensive. Winter’s going to be hard.”

“Right, anything else you have to say to make me feel worse?” Safia looked up at me with panic.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m just trying to process everything that’s happening. I’m sorry. Besides, everything’s great! I can live without cakes, you’ll see.” The hot day was adding to my exhaustion. I didn’t know how I was going to handle this. I had this constant worry that Safia would become distant with me. I couldn’t fulfil all her wants and needs. But I was going to try to make it up to her in other ways. I didn’t know how but I would.

When we got to the supermarket, I whispered into Safia’s ear again,

“Don’t make me say no.” She nodded and we went further in. We stopped near the bakery section and got some bread. Near the bread, Safia saw some fancy looking doughnuts.

“They look so delicious! Can we buy it just this once, please?” I looked at the price. It was expensive for a box of doughnuts! But I couldn’t resist. I held out the basket to let her put it in. She put the doughnuts back on the shelf. “Goodness gracious Yusuf, you gave me a whole lecture yet you were going to let me buy that? It doesn’t even taste that good.” I raised an eyebrow at her.