Scented Roads -Ch (1)

Ala

“Where’s Ala?”

“Mamma, please save us from this torture”

The 29 year old twins spoke together, to Ayesha Bint Saleh, the mother of this household’s five children. She laughed at her oldest sons and motioned towards Azhar’s room, her third child. They both ran before she could blink and disappeared around the corner.

Oh! How blessed she felt to have such children. They are always so playful and loving. She would thank Allah every day after her 5 daily prayers for what she has. A loving husband (though sometimes a little annoying), 4 sons and 3 daughters (2 of which are her daughter in laws). You can say they all have a very close relationship Ma shaa Allah

What more can an old woman want? She thought to herself before busying herself with another women’s daily magazine.

These magazines help women do such wonders really. Let me see which face mask would suit sensitive skin like mine.

While Ayesha got lost in her thought like usual, Omer and Amir, the twins rushed into Azhar’s room and started searching all around the place for Ala.

Omer was a minute elder than Amir and always liked to brush it in his face. Even at 34, Omer was carefree, a little irresponsible and kind of immature, though nobody could make this out of his appearance. Being a doctor with a height of 6’2 and good built, he gave of the impression of a tall and broody man who was always serious. His wife would describe him as the exact opposite.

Amir on the other hand was a serious person who liked to be more practical, responsible and logical. From childhood he would analyze everything, speak very less but smartly and never, ever disappoint anyone. In fact, Amir was the go-to person for all the siblings’ problems, especially Ala’s.

They found Ala in the closet and both grabbed her before she could run. She screeched as they squished her

“Caught you at least” Omer said proudly

“I can’t believe you made us play this childish game again!” Amir stated

“Yeah, you suck at it anyway, why do you waste your coupons in such things?” Omer asked simultaneously

Ala Grinned at her brothers. The 21 year old looked nothing older than a teenager. Her small brown eyes sparkled as she kissed both her brothers

“Because I love you both” She remarked cheekily.

Both, Amir and Omer, groaned. Their sister was a complete cheese ball!

“And no complaining, I used a coupon remember!” She quickly closed the closet doors, and made her way to the couch.

Amir looked at his beautiful sister and sighed. She is the light in his life. Amir, unlike his twin, has no children. Because of the age gap of 14 years, Ala is just like his own child for him. He has been by her side since her baby days. He loves his little sister more than he can ever love himself!

Amir stares at Ala, who wore the long blue gown he gifted her on her graduation last month. He always laughed at his sister’s dressing. Ala only liked to wear dresses, gowns or long flow-y skirts. And only Amir knew why!

How she can handle that, he never knew! His wife, Afnan, can’t handle a gown for a day. The last time she wore one was on their wedding anniversary and she kept tripping on her own feet. It was fun at first, watching his clumsy wife trip every now and then but when she twisted her leg, goodness it was scary. He carried her all the way to the hospital on his back (she’s not so thin by the way and it’s not so easy to that) and even begged her never to wear gowns again.

Coming back to Ala, even at the age of 21, Ala is nothing more than a child. He never understood how this kid could ever be serious while working!

Amir was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Azhar walk in the room

“Ala, get your feet off my couch.” Azhar shouted, then he turned towards the twins “What are you guys doing in my room?”

Ala sighed at the interruption and continued surfing through her facebook notifications. So many useless notifications!

Why do people send these useless candy crush request!

Agh! I don’t play it girl either

Oh nice, I wanted those good in market place.

Azhar grabbed both of Ala’s feet and pushed them off his couch making her slide down the couch. The brothers laughed as Ala screamed

“You messed up my hair you Baddie!” She said trying to fix her braided head band that now lay near her eye brows. She had the rest of her open. Ala had straight hair since forever but they weren’t perfectly straight, a little wavy at the ends and had too much volume. She had to keep combing after every 2 hours to make them look good. The problem with long hair…

“Your fault” Omer remarked

Like she didn’t know that… she thought

“How many times do I have to tell you to take off your shoes before keeping your feet on my couch?” Azhar scolded as Ala placed her feet back on the couch.

She huffed, got up and ran to Amir “Amir, Azhar’s being rude” she pouts

“Azhar” Amir warned and Ala stuck her tongue out at him.

“But she…”

Amir glared at him which made Azhar shut up.

It is so good to be the only girl sometimes! Especially when you have brothers like Amir!

After a few more minutes of bickering and pointless chit chat the four siblings were called, or more precisely, dragged out of the room by Habeeba, Omer’s wife.

29 years old, Lawyer. She looked much younger than her age because of her jet black hair, which she hid with a brown scarf today.

Omer smiled at his wife as they approached the dining room.

She didn’t smile back and ignored him the entire way. Then it struck Omer. Shoot! They got into a fight this morning, how could he be so forgetful!

Like all households, this household wasn’t perfect either. Obviously…

Omer had an argument with Habeeba about their eldest, Muhammad.

Omer had forgotten to pick Muhammad after work and the eight year old had cried for two hours straight trying to remember his father’s phone number. Habeeba got so angry that she screamed at him for being irresponsible and Omer, being the short tempered man he is, got angry too.

If only he had followed what prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said and sat down and drank some water instead of shouting back at his wife!

Oh! How he regretted his words! He was definitely going to apologize after dinner, gulping down his pride as that’s how a relationship goes. Someone has to approach the other and solve the problem! He repented to Allah as he thought of the morning events.

Ayesha Bint Saleh saw all her sons and daughters assemble at the table with a smile. Her grand children were all asleep as it was past 10. After thirty minutes of waiting, she finally saw her husband, Abdul Hadi rush in the dining room “Sorry kids, got stuck with Hoffman, he broke his ankle today. That kid I tell you!” He remarked.

In this household, the family would not start eating until their father arrived and started eating. They followed the Sunnah of the Prophet whenever and wherever possible. That is the reason why they are happy even in the tough times they face.

Abdul Hadi is a well reputed tennis coach who gives personal training and owns a training institute “Assalamu’ Alaikum By the way” He says quickly so he wouldn’t get scolded by his wife. He patted on her shoulder and sat down beside her, slightly kissing her on the cheek.

Everyone in the room groaned.

“Dad no please” Saleh said

“I am too young to see this” Ala remarked

“You’re 21!” Omer corrected

“Saleh should get married soon!” Amir said smiling at his wife Afnan

The room became busy soon with endless chatter that toned down the bickering of the spoons on the plates. Everyone was busy talking about unnecessary things until Ala’s father cleared his throat. Obviously there was something important to be discussed as he only did this when he was serious. Everyone straightened their backs and looked at their father expectedly.

“I know Azhar and Saleh are yet to be married but”

Everyone becomes more serious as the word ‘marriage’ is spoken but Ala doesn’t, she’s busy sneakily eating the brownie in front of her

“- But Ala got a proposal and-“

Ala choked on the brownie. The words of her father repeating in her mind. Quickly Amir got up and ran to her while Omer served her water. Amir kept on patting her back until she finally stopped coughing.

“Are you alright?!” Amir remarked a little too loudly for Ala’s liking

She nodded and nudged him to go then Ala apologized to everyone and drank some more water.

And some more and she didn’t stop drinking water until she heard her father’s laughter.

Abdul Hadi laughed and continued “Ala don’t sneakily eat anymore! I don’t want you to choke when you hear what I say next!” Amir nodded and took the brownie plate from Ala. At which she pleadingly looked at, ‘later’ she thought to herself. Later she will finish it all!

“SO as I was saying, Ala got this proposal-“

Ala no longer had any thoughts of brownies after that sentence. Her heart beating crazily and a bad feeling coming from within her “-I don’t like this proposal so much but your mother insists to meet the man before judging him so I have decided to set up a meeting”

Ala froze. Random thoughts filled her head.

Is this finally it? Is this the guy she has been dreaming about since forever? She quickly put that thought in the recycle bin of her brain.

She had had 15 proposals by now, 4 of the families had rejected her, saying she was too childish for their sons. She mentally huffed, childish? And ME? They barely knew me!

6 others rejected her saying she was too modern for their culture, wearing dresses and gown. She huffed at that too. She wore long dresses that covered her from top to her feet, above which she always wore a scarf. She never understood why wearing half open long shirts were acceptable but not her dressing style.

She always felt that everything should be acceptable if it follows the rules of Islam. She liked wearing the traditional shalwar-kamees but felt it should be acceptable to wear other clothes that follow the rulings of Islam.

Since 10 families had already rejected her, she didn’t like getting proposals anymore. She didn’t like how people were so judgmental and how they liked to follow culture over Islam. It only made her sad and confused.

“What do you think Ala?’ Saleh said seriously. The hazel eyed, brown hair Shorty never really was serious. Ala’s nervousness only grew as she looked at his expression.

“Huh?”

“We set up a meeting next weekend. The boy and his uncle are coming over” Amir said softly “Do you mind?”

Yes, I do. She thought to herself but only smiled at Amir “No”

Amir’s words repeated in her mind a couple times before she finally caught something of interest “Why with his Uncle?”

“His parents died when he was very young” Her mother spoke gently. Ala felt an ache in her heart. She couldn’t imagine a day without her parents! How did this person manage to live without both his parents?

“Innal illahi wa inna ilaihi ra’jioun” She whispered.

Even if she weren’t to marry this man, she wished for a good future for him.

And she prayed earnestly that Allah gives strength to all those children that have lost their parents. Surely these are all but tests from Allah and a way to come closer to him who has created us.

“So you will be going to your aunt’s next weekend, only till he is here of course” her father said.

In her family, the boy and girl don’t meet until both families have approved. She likes it that way too. Usually the females of the family would meet with her but since this man did not have any mother or sister figure, she wouldn’t have to meet anyone until both families approved of each other.

She nods and then grabs her brownie plate back from Amir, trying to act as normal as ever. But Amir knew his sister well. He knew that within, she was freaking out. He slightly patted on her head and kissed her forehead to calm her down. Ala smiled as she looked at Amir’s reassuring face

“Don’t worry, just offer nafil prayers and eat a lot of brownies today” Amir whispered. And Ala happily nodded. She really loved brownies!

As Ala offered her nafil prayers, she started crying. She had always been weak at heart, always easily worried about things. She thought about all the proposals that rejected her and all the ones she rejected and felt really upset. But as she made her way to bed, all the sadness turned into a mild headache which she relieved by continuously reading Durood. She then Spoke to Allah about everything she felt and everything she was afraid of. Who else was a better listener than Allah anyway?

She smiled as she put out everything and quickly changed into her white maxi. Much better, she thinks and gives another smile before grabbing her toothbrush. After moisturizing her skin, combing her hair and putting them into a loose braid, she takes out the clothes she would wear tomorrow and hangs them outside her wardrobe.

She the dusts her bed, following the Sunnah of her beloved Prophet, and also dusts her blanket and pillow before jumping on her bed. She feels her whole body relaxing as she adjusts and finally closes her eyes.

Alhamdulillah! She always feels so much better after crying and talking about her problems and worries to Allah!

She recites Ayatal Kursi thrice

Reads Durood and prays to Allah to forgive all her sins and her family’s and then the entire Muslim ummah’s sins and to protect us all from all the evils of this world.

Then she read the last three surah thrice each and blow on herself

And then finally she reads the Kalimah and the dua before sleeping and falls asleep.

This is how she goes to sleep every single day, or at least tries to.

And Alhamdulillah what wonderful sleep she would get!

---

The next morning Ala wakes up with a huge smile on her face. She dreamed about having a successful bakery again! Ala had completed her MBA just last month and was ready to open up her business. She had been doing part time job at her neighborhood bakery since 15 to learn about baking as much as she can and now finally is searching for a plot to build her bakery on and a job to earn the rest of the money she needs for investment!

She runs to her bathroom and gets ready for another day of job searching and market surveying. As soon as she graduated, Ala started searching to find the perfect place to build her bakery and also researching on other Bakeries around to know about her competitors. Only last week she started hunting jobs.

After wearing her favorite plain green gown, doing wadooh, styling her hair into an easy bun and wearing her black scarf, she runs out of her Bathroom to pray Fajr.

Then she sits on her bed and reads the Quran’s translation.

Indeed, your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne, arranging the matter [of His creation]. There is no intercessor except after His permission. That is Allah, your Lord, so worship Him. Then will you not remember? (10:3)

To Him is your return all together. [It is] the promise of Allah [which is] truth. Indeed, He begins the [process of] creation and then repeats it that He may reward those who have believed and done righteous deeds, in justice. But those who disbelieved will have a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment for what they used to deny.

It is He who made the sun a shining light and the moon a derived light and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time]. Allah has not created this except in truth. He details the signs for a people who know

Indeed, in the alternation of the night and the day and [in] what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for a people who fear Allah

{Quran, Surah al yunus (Jonah), ayah 3 to 6}

She smiles. After reading Quran, she rushes out of her room greeting everyone of her family. She then grabs a sandwich from the kitchen and leaves the house.

Everyone is always extremely busy in the morning. Ayesha bint Saleh gets her husband ready and then rushes to help prepare the breakfast with Habeeba, Afnan and Saleh. Yes, in this household one of the siblings have to help cook, today is Saleh’s turn.

Omer is getting his 4 kids ready for school and Azhar is helping him. Amir is always talking with one of his colleagues while typing things on his computer. And Ala…

She likes to get out of the place as soon as she can or else she knows she will end up helping everyone in the house! That’s horrible, trust her!

She loves helping, definitely but she doesn’t like the helping that would take 3 hours of her time and result in a mess.

To compensate for her running away in the morning, she makes lunch for everyone alone and cleans up after. The siblings and her mother didn’t agree at first but she, having the awesome convincing skills that she has, made them agree to it.

Ala takes the bus to the company she has an interview in. She has enough savings to buy a decent car but she can’t spend that money for it. The money is only for her bakery that she has been dreaming about ever since her brother taught her how to bake.

All her brothers have cars, except Azhar who is unstable at present, but she likes to be on her own during job search. It helps her not worry about troubling her brothers too much.

As Ala walks out of the office after a good interview, she feels a sharp pain in her stomach “No, not today!” she cries as she clutches her stomach. She still has one interview left!

Unfortunately for her the pain gets more intense by the minute. She understands it’s her time of the month and groans. She always has the worst cramps!

They are so horrible that for 3 hours straight she can’t walk. But being the ignorant girl Ala is, she goes to her second interview and ignoring the intense pain, gives her best. After the interview, she calls up Amir to pick her up from the bus stand near her place and rushes inside the bus.

The pain by now is so severe that she has no sense of her surroundings. So much so that she reaches the nearest empty seat and without realizing a boy is sitting on the other seat, she sits with her legs under her hips and her hands pressed tightly on her stomach. Her eyes brim with tears and she tries her best not to cry

“Ya Allah help me through this”

She thinks and keeps praying while looking straight ahead, trying her best to keep a straight face. Lost in her pain she doesn’t notice the red haired boy sitting beside her, let alone him staring at her with worry.

---------------

 Thank You sooo much for checking this out   :D       

See the preview  I made for my story here : http://goanimate.com/videos/0yO7_Oc6h_p0?utm_sourc...

 Do let me know about my mistakes!  It would really help!