Chapter 14 (Fida POV)

Present

"Fida"

"Mmm"

"Fida"

"Ya?"

"Wake up"

"Daddy? You sound so weird!"

"I ain't your daddy, babe! Wake up!"

Babe? My father doesn't even know the word 'babe' exist. Maybe someone told him or he came across the word in online.

"Fida! It's fajr time! Wake up. It's getting late!"

"Ya ya I'm up," I said slowly opening my eyes.

"You are not my dad!" I screamed trying to get back to my bed.

"Exactly! Get up, go make wudu. You are wasting a lot of time." Irfan replied.

"Ok ok" I mumbled. God that was embarrassing.

I went to the bathroom and made my wudu. Then went back to my room and prayed my fajr salah.

"Start packing up," Irfan told me.

"What? Wait what are you doing in my room? I told you not to come, didn't I?" I asked him getting a bit frustrated.

"Fida, we are leaving. As you said we stayed for a week. Now pack up. I can help you if you want."

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't even know you. What made you think that I will follow?"

"The fact that we are married?"

"To hell with the marriage. I'm not a fool. Stop playing games."

"What are you talking about? We already told you what happened. Showed you all the evidence. What else you want to know, Fida? What's going on?" He said trying very hard not to raise his voice.

"How can you even marry me? I mean look at me."

"What you mean? Oh ya Allah!! Not again.."

"What not again?"

Past~~~~~

*the day after the wedding day*

"What you want for breakfast?" I asked Irfan.

"Ah, Fida. Sorry, I forget my card at the office. I'll go, grab it and come back as soon as possible. Ok? Just make whatever you eat every day. I'm not that picky."

"Oh ok sure. How are you going, though?"

"Bus."

"No, take the MRT. It's much faster and it's nearer. You have to walk 15 minutes if you want to take the bus. The bus takes a long time to come."

"How you know about this?"

"Google map, duh."

"Ok bye assalamu alaikum"

"Wa Alaikum salam"

---

*after some time*

"Fida, assalamu alaikum! Open the door" Irfan yelled through the window gap.

I was watching tv, laying on the sofa lazily.

"Ya, I'm coming," I replied.

I placed my phone on the table and went to open the door.

"Wa Alaikum salam. Come in."

"You don't lock the gate?"

"Nah. Not a habit." I replied.

"Ok, we'll I'm hungry. What you got?"

"Nothing."

"What? What nothing?"

"You told me to make my usual and 'usually' I don't eat breakfast so I got nothing."

Irfan just stood there wide-eyed. He wasn't sure of what to do. He doesn't want to look like the demanding husband on the next day of their marriage.

"Hello? You in there?" I asked waving my hand in front of him.

"I.. uh.wah..food..no.." he starts to stutter.

"Chill. I did make some toast but probably cold right now. I can make you another set. What drink you want?"

"Anything."

"No. You can't do this. What do you want?" I asked firmly.

I can't take it when people say anything. There is no such thing as anything. What you want me to make then?

"Ok ok give some tea"

"What tea?"

"Milk with sugar"

"Can. Anything else?"

"Nothing else madam. Thank you for the food." He said, faking a bow.

I placed his plate and his tea on the tea table. He started eating immediately. I switch off the tv and sat beside him with my own set.

"I thought you don't eat in the morning." He said in between chews.

"Well, I'm hungry."

"So what else you do in the morning?"

"I sleep. What you do?"

"Now I work part time and searching for a proper job."

"Oh ya. How the interview went? Did you get the job?"

"Which one?" He asked giving me a somewhat odd look.

Wait did he went through multiple interviews? Did he got accepted? Ya Allah what happened?

"Irfan. Is everything ok?" I asked him putting our plate together.

"Ya, it's fine." He replied in an uneasy voice.

"You know this is the first time you said my name." He stated out of the blue.

I stared at him. Yes. Normally I don't really use someone's name while talking to them. I only sometimes do that while chatting or messaging.

"It is your name, isn't it? Now, what happened with the interview?"

"Nothing. It's either I didn't get the job or a reply if I got the job or not."

"And?" I pressed. Something else is also bothering him.

"Now that I'm married I don't think I can support you with the salary I get from part time. I'm an assistant accountant in my uncle's workplace. Not the job I studied for. How can I afford an apartment for us? Maybe not immediately but in the future how? I need a stable job now so we could settle properly in the future. I cannot pressure you to go work nor can I live off my parents for the rest of our lives. I just don't know what to do?"

I didn't know what to say. It seems like it has been bothering him a lot lately. It's very hard to get a job in Singapore no matter what you study or which college/university you study in. I was lucky to get a decent part time job which actually doesn't relate to my diploma. I accepted it because I needed to find something productive or else I'll be sleeping all day and night.

"Hey hey. Don't worry too much now. I'm also working. We can do some saving while we live at your place. Then after either one of us gets a full-time job we can think about moving out, ya?"

"I'm not going to make you work full time. I can sense how much you don't like going out let alone work extra."

"Out of all the things I said you only got that out of it? Why I can't work extra? I can be productive if I want to be. I've been saving my energy during my lazy time."

"Okay, 'Mrs. I can work extra' now get up we need to clean up."

"Uh.. can we do it later. I'm really tired from yesterday. Standing the whole day killed my leg and my energy." I whined.

What? I'm really tired.

"No no! Get up. We are going to make lunch after clearing up. It's going to be fun!"

"Wait I thought you don't know how to cook?"

"Exactly! And you are no expert either. So we gonna learn and cook together!"

"You are awfully excited! So what you wanna cook?" I asked picking up my the utensils and followed him back to the kitchen.

It's going to be a long day!

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Thanks for still sticking to this book.

See ya soon.. I guess.

Bashayar