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M A R I N A

Her keys jingled as she turned them around twice and unlocked the door to her home, her safe haven. The first thing she did was rip the scarf off her head and take out the clips, her hair falling down in waves soothing her scalp.

She tiptoed her way to the counter, dropping her purse with the intention to sit down on the stool nearby when suddenly a hand came and clamped her mouth shut as soon as she let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Not so fast now are we, little sissy?" Saad whispered from behind her, still holding her mouth closed.

His hand was too strong and tightly pressed so she had to resort to the one thing that she always did to him in her childhood.

She licked his hand.

"Hey what the fu-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as she grabbed her purse and slammed it on his cheek.

"Ouch woman! What kind of love is this towards your brother?!" He let out a loud cry as the green-eyed beauty smirked mischievously.

"And what kind of love is this oh dear brother? Scaring the shit out of me at 3 AM while still being your immature little self." She made her way towards the freezer and chucked a pack of frozen peas his way.

He groaned before placing the packet on his cheek and muttering some incoherent curses. Marina was probing the fridge to suppress her craving for Biryani but all she found was a leftover box of some takeout pasta.

As she made her way to the kitchen counter and dipped her fork in the cheesy goodness, her brother finally voiced the main reason he was here.

"What took you so long? You were supposed to be here three hours ago!" He let out swiftly, his voice laced with pure irritation but Marina could make out the pinch of concern in it. It was hard to take him seriously when he was in his pyjamas, brown hair sticking out in all directions and a pack of frozen peas stuck on his reddened cheek.

She swallowed her bite at the same time giving him the look of 'calm down.'

"There was an accident." She voiced calmly but the image of Shahroz's saddened face from the hospital made her feel uneasy.

She looked down at the box of pasta and used her fork to search for a piece of chicken to eat separately when she heard the sound of something hard hit the counter.

The pack of frozen peas came in her line of vision and she looked up to find Saad's hands coming near her face.

"What are you d-" Before she could complete he grabbed her cheeks and examined her face for any cuts or bruises. He removed his hands and scrutinised the area where he put them.

After he was satisfied nothing happened to her, he spoke again, "You look fine.. but.. what happened ?"

She could feel her heart swelling with love for her big brother. She smiled and pushed the empty box away from her.

"Nothing happened to me", she muttered a brief Alhamdulillah and the man in front of her did the same, "but someone else's car crashed. I had to save him.."

"Him?"

"Uh yeah him.."

"How did you save this him?" She could feel his protective older brother attitude surfacing.

"Umm.." She stopped and looked at him sheepishly who urged her to go on, "CPR.." She looked away once she let her words linger in the air.

She expected her brother to be somewhat displeased with her recent revelation due to her touching a non-mahram but to her surprise he gave the biggest of smiles to her.

She looked up to find him grinning and her expression gave away her confusion.

"Oh my God that's great! Saving a life?! You sure have those doctor skills little sissy!" He smiled softly, she raised an eyebrow and he continued, "Look I know you're probably thinking 'why is he not mad? ' but sis, you saved a life and you should be proud of that."

"And plus, if you're doing something like this or anything else with the pure intention of pleasing Allah, then who am I to get mad?" He patted her head and made his way upstairs.

She too did the same and the blanket of sleep blessed her.

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She woke up with the smell of pancakes and tea in her room and jolted out of bed, her covers falling on the ground messily. She rushed to the bathroom and did her morning routine before coming out fresh and ready for the day.

As she brushed the thick strands of her tangled hair, she couldn't help but thank her Lord for waking her up at the right time for Fajr prayer. She was afraid she would oversleep after coming back home at such an ungodly hour.

Her feet took her downstairs and she was greeted with the beautiful scene of her parents working on making breakfast.

"Assamalu Alaiykum ammi. Assalamu Alaiykum abba." She greeted her parents who turned around with joyous smiles on their faces before giving her bone-crushing hugs.

(Assalamu Alaiykum: Muslim greeting. Ammi: mom. Abba: dad)

"Walaiykum Assalam mera bacha (my child). How was uni this week?" Her father voiced with warmth. He was really proud his daughter was in the field of medicine. He got to show off about her hard work and skills to his friends at work and that's how she got most of her proposals.

"Hmm good, nothing special though." She grabbed her cup of tea and sat down next to her mother at the counter. Her brother came in and greeted all of them and they all ate as one whole family together.

Her mother was the one who brought the cat out of the bag, "Beta" (child), she turned towards her daughter who was busy chugging down the bottle of orange juice. She hummed, urging her to continue.

"Zaid is coming over today." Her mother blinked her eyes repeatedly, waiting for a response.

"Who's Zaid?"

"One of your suitors, beta. We think he's really good for you. He works as an engineer in one of Manchester's high-paying companies and we want you to consider him. He's really good-looking too." Her mother smirked and Marina had to control her blush. Saad snorted.

"Ammi I think it's better if we can let her meet him in person, might as well save all the blushing when he's here."

And then there were screams and two flying chappals (sandals) in the kitchen.

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