I AM ABLE

Chapter 26 - Fatimah

Yesterday I was called by Qudrah who told me our semester result had been placed on the notice board. I was very happy because I had been waiting for such a day to come. And today, when I checked it and found out I was having problem with Dr. Marwan's course I headed straight to his office and asked him why I saw "pending" in his course.

"Are you Fatimah Bulama?" He asked.

"Yes, I am" I nodded my head.

"Have a seat" He offered.

"No, I am okey standing" I muttered.

Thus, he huffed as he gently took off his eye glasses, cleaned it and wore it back. "Is Yusuf your boyfriend?" He queried.

"Yusuf Dolari? God forbid!" I squealed.

"Why did you said that?" He asked.

"Because he is a bad guy" I uttered as I gently folded my arms across my chest.

"Bad?" He wrinkled a brow. "Does that mean he forced you into helping him with his paper? Can you elaborate it?"

"Actually, sir..." I gulped and continued. "I helped him because I... I didn't want him to... to carryover the course again"

"Nice, why then did you said he's a bad guy? Has he ever..." He said as I cut in.

"No, he has never done anything bad to me though he once overtook me with his car. I only said he's bad because I think he's somehow into smoking and also, you know, womanising" I uttered.

"So, you're not even sure?" He asked. And as speechless as I was I began to stutter only for him to interrupt me. "Fatimah, it's not good that way. You ought to know people before judging them. Even in Islam it is not good..."

He kept preaching to me until finally, he brought tears to my face with his words. Indeed I was so wrong to judge Yusuf, I should have known him better first. Oh Ya Allah, forgive me for all my mistakes. I supplicated inside my mind with tears and just then, Yusuf suddenly bounced into the office and found me in tears...

"Yusuf? Thank God you are even here!" Dr Marwan said taking off his glasses. I thought he would involve Yusuf into what we were discussing but he didn't.

"Good Morning, sir" Yusuf greeted him and then enquired what was going on.

"Nothing except what you both caused for yourselves" Dr Marwan said and then continued. "I saw your booklets, she answered five questions for you which made us to pend your results"

Just then I felt Yusuf's eyes on me. And after some seconds of silence, he sighed and turned to Dr Marwan. "Sir, we are sorry. It will not happen again" He said.

"Are you sure?" Dr Marwan asked.

"Cross my heart" Yusuf said.

Thus, Dr Marwan dismissed us from his office after having promised to rectify the issue of our results for us. He was very kind, more than he had ever been.

While heading to the parking lot with Yusuf, I felt so shy to even look at him. What Dr Marwan said about judging people kept lingering in my mind. He was so right, and now I was regretting.

As soon as we were in the parking lot, Qudrah called and told me she wasn't feeling okey. Her voice said it all, and when I told her I would visit her that instant Yusuf insisted he would follow me. Well, I didn't stop him... after all, she was his friend as well and I owed him an apology for misjudging him.

...

"You drive just like my sister" Yusuf said as soon as I quickly swung the car into the fast lane and maintained my speed.