While the sun rested on the mountains, getting ready to retire, Zaira looked towards the waves curling at her feet and thought. For the decision she was supposed to take weighed upon her. She had prayed, but the dream was not clear.

No.

She just didn't want to admit that it was clear. She didn't want to take that path.

But deep inside her heart she knew that it was the path paved by Allah and that she would eventually end up at the destination, like it or not for her own good.

And with that note she drove to her house.

Zaira was a young girl, who had graduated not long ago. Having finished her higher studies, she just wanted to work in a firm or company which could pay an average salary. She wanted to be independent and stop living off her parents' money.

Not that yet parents cared much about her. She wasn't sure if they even remembered they had an elder daughter, frankly.

Once she got her monthly salary she would separate a section for her parents, then for her savings, for her daily needs and finally for herself. She wanted to travel to different countries, all over the world and discover new places, people, cuisines and culture.

She hoped to travel with her friends.

Little did she know,  that it would be with her quite reluctant partner of life.

And that's what had been annoying, troubling and scratching her mind.

Her parents had recieved a proposal recently and it was supposed to be real, this time.

Why?

Because her parents had warned her. She had been so successful at dodging all of the proposals that had come in search of her, before.

But this time her parents made sure there would not be any compromises or excuses. She knew for sure that they were not forcing her. No, they wouldn't. However much less affectionate, they seemed towards her, they feared their Lord.

But still she couldn't fathom the fact that she had to live with a another person. She had always been an independent girl who refused to back down in a challenge. She was always mistaken to be a boy when she was young due to her personality and attire. She always stood up against injustice. She was very famous among her friends for she always stood up for them. That's how strong headed she was.

But she knew how to behave in front of men. So she always followed the rules of Islam regarding that. But one flaw of her was that she did not know to control her emotions at times. And that did not help, the fact that she disliked men.

The male chauvinism that prevailed in the society and the privileges which were enjoyed by them only fueled her ideas. So sharing a life with a man, didn't seem pleasant to her.

But now that she had relaxed her mind at the beach and and now that she had decided, with a somewhat less heavy heart relative to earlier, she returned home.

She'd leave everything in her Rabb's Hands.

Verily after Hardships comes ease.

Ameen.

***