A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 40.

Safia’s POV

This was a lot harder than I expected. I guess I had really been living a very luxurious life before. I never had to think twice about buying something that had a price under a pound. But I didn’t need any of these things. They were all things I wanted. But obviously, I had to put my needs before wants.

I never knew how Yusuf was so self-reliant. He disliked help from anyone. He refused it every time I told him I could ask someone for help. Not dad, but Uncle Yahya or even Hamza.

I was due to start my third year of university soon. I had a conversation with my manager and she said I couldn’t work more days if I was going to go back to one day a week when I was back at uni. So I had started applying at other places where I could maybe work as a temp.

A week before Yusuf was to receive his monthly wages, he looked really stressed.

“What’s up with you?” I asked, massaging his stiff shoulders.

“Same old.”

“It’s just money Yusuf.”

“Safia, that would have been okay if we were living on a farm or something but we’re living in a city where every little thing runs on money. You can’t even drink water without money.”

“But surely things aren’t that bad.” Or maybe I was just in denial. This whole thing seemed unreal to me.

“In three weeks we spent over one month’s wages. If we carry on like this, we’ll have nothing.”

“I’m trying Yusuf. I’m not used to this, I’m sorry. I am trying though.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m not saying that at all. ” He said comforting me. We had conversations about finance too often. It struck me how little I knew. I just relied on dad to pay for everything. It never worried me at all. So now I didn’t know how to react, I didn’t know what to do. “I need to find a better job.”

“Same.” We sat and thought for a while before an idea struck me. “You said you fixed this place up, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That means you must be good at plumbing even though you haven’t finished your training. Why don’t you see if you can get any jobs on the side? If people need a plumber, instead of calling a plumbing agency, they can call you. You can do it for a slightly cheaper price but we’ll still have more money coming in.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“Of course it’s not a bad idea. It’s my idea!” I said, initiating all my ideas were good.

“You’re smart, but not that smart.”

“I know. I forgot to tell you the results I got for my second year. They were so average. I wanted to get a first! I blame you.”

“Me? Why do you blame me?”

“Because you distracted me from my exams. I found myself thinking about you half way through an exam.” Yusuf laughed.

“Really? What were you thinking about?”

“It started with an Arabic word you taught me a few days before the exam. Then I started thinking of the way you had your arm on my shoulder while you were helping me. I nearly got lost in the daydream before I remembered that the clock was ticking and I had an exam to finish.”

“Did you remember the word?”

“Na’am (Yes). It was taht, meaning under.” I said proudly remembering it.