Unexpected Promises

Chapter 6

Atifa's pov :

I was woken up by my alarm ringing continuously for a while. Groaning, I could feel a headache coming my way. Picking up my mobile, I squinted my eyes to watch the time. It was 5:45 pm. I slept for around one hour. Sitting up on my bed, I frowned. I don't remember putting an alarm before going to nap. My eyes wandered towards the window to see it closed. I don't remembering closing it too. I looked around my room and everything else seemed to be in its place, as it was before.

Someone came in my room? Maybe someone did, but who? My mind was reeling trying to think who could have come in here. Once again my gaze fell on my mobile and I saw the time. Ya Allah it was going to be Magrib soon! Quickly standing up, I went to freshen up and make wudu.

After praying, I folded the blanket and kept it in its place. Watching my room once again to see if I needed to keep something else in its place, I donned my hijab before leaving the room. I have to wash the dishes but before that, I decided to check up on the kids.

Opening the door of their room, I saw that they were still sleeping. Going towards them I gently tried to wake them up. "Amira, Alayna wake up now. You both have to pray asr." I reminded while patting them but to no avail. A tired sigh left my lips. These kids! How deep do they sleep?

Someone cleared their throat making me startled. "They won't wake up like this. Let me wake them up." I heard a deep voice from behind me. I turned around just to see him standing in the doorway. Without looking up at him, I moved aside, giving him space to come and wake them up. He came inside and before I could see what he was going to do, I left the room rushing downstairs to the kitchen.

I was surprised thinking how did he even come upstairs. I mean, I'm sure he wouldn't have just decided to come up when he knows that I stay there. Maybe ammi sent him there, but I still wasn't sure.

Also, I didn't want to stay in the same room as him. Especially when my mind was going haywire just because of his arrival and ammi's change of behaviour. And there is also a hadith that when a man and woman are alone in the room, the third person is shaytan. We should avoid getting in such situations where we will be left alone with opposite gender. It saves us from the fitnah. And even though I know that we weren't alone since basically, Amira and Alayna were there too, but we shouldn't forget the fact that they were sleeping and so, it would be counted as us alone.

I started doing the dishes while doing dhikr. I didn't want my mind to explode from all these thoughts. After doing the dishes and keeping them in their places, I walked out of the kitchen. It was almost magrib time now.

As I was going towards the stairs, I saw him coming downstairs and it was then that I noticed his outfit. I was so busy in my thoughts that I didn't notice it before. He was wearing a plain white shirt and blue pants. His hair was a bit messy, maybe because of running his hand through them again and again. I almost caught his gaze before lowering my eyes. "Astagfirullah." I muttered under my breath.

Ya Allah why do I keep doing this?! This isn't me. I don't do this! Shaking my head, I headed upstairs. Maybe because I overheard their conversation I was feeling this way and behaving like this. This can be the only valid reason I have.

As I was walking towards my room, I heard Amira and Alayna's voices, meaning they were up. Sighing in relief, just as I entered my room, magrib azaan went off. I made my wudu once again, just in case and started praying.

After I was done praying, I took my Quran and started reading Surah Mulk, Surah Waàqiah and Surah Sijda/Sajda. There are a few hadith regarding them.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "A soorah from the Qur'aan containing thirty verses will intercede for a man so that he will be forgiven. It is the soorah Tabaarak Alathi bi yadihi'l-mulk [i.e., Soorat al-Mulk]."