Chapter 1
Author's p.o.v~
Evening 5:02 p.m
Jeddah
Eliza was screaming her lungs out,( in her arabian accent) hey!!!!..help! Please! Cut it right now; she was holding her long black hair in her one hand and her other hand was busy pointing towards the barber of shop she just entered...she exclaims you please cut my hair...or It will infect my whole hair line,
, look at this big chewing gum...ehhhhwwe!!
Eliza speaks to herself, "why was I chewing that 2 big bubblegums"...
She sighs deeply! And slapped her forehead.
The owner Ayaan who was busy cutting a man's hair was silently waiting for her to calm down.
As he sees she is silent now he utters,
"Miss we don't cut women's hair here it's a men area only, this is a parlour for men only."
She was pissed enough to utter weird things and that's what happpend; she yells at them saying, "where is gender equality I am here suffering can't you see? I can't cut my hair it will be ruined, you want me disguise as a man to come here?
Huh?"
Ayaan replies,
﴾ "Astaghfirulla"
Arabic:" أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ "
Meaning, I seek forgiveness from Allah ﴿
no miss please try to understand I don't touch stranger females, who are 'Na Mehram' to me and not even her hair and..."
(His words were cut by Eliza)
Eliza lost her conscience and the tears were visible in her eyes as she again utters weird things "so you want me to become your wife so that you will cut my hair."
Eliza eyes became teary and she breaksdown in tears.
Ayaan stepped a little closer to her while keeping the modest distance and he very kindly requests, "please don't cry listen to me...hmm?".......and then he asks her, "miss do really want me to cut is short? Or you only want to remove that dirty chewing gum?hmm?"
This time Eliza eyes softened a little and she said, "remove this filthy thing from my hair."
Ayaan passes Eliza a box of tissue paper and signals her to wipe her tears.
Eliza wipes her tears and her lips twitches in a soft smile.
Ayaan offered her a seat near the cash counter and told her to wait there until he finishes the earlier customer work who came earlier and was waiting there patiently.
Ayaan did the earlier customer hair and it took him 10 minutes, Ayaan then went outside to flip the cutout board to show the shop is closed and after that he went inside the shop again and picks up a oil tin box from one of the shop drawer and handed it to Eliza. It was extra Virgin olive oil used for hair, Ayaan told Eliza to apply it on the affected area where bubblegum was while She looked in his eyes and found genuineness while he was directing her and she did what he told her then Ayaan told her "to wait for some time around 15-20 minutes then slowly try to remove it by sliding it off from the hair edges."
Ayaan started to clean the shop, he duated the chair and the counter and he also cleaned the equipments and then he vacuumed the dirty floor which was covered with the earlier customers hair. Ayaan placed the vacuum cleaner back at its place in a small cupboard, 20 minutes passes like this Whereas Ayaan took a glimpse of Eliza and and told her , " now try it removed it slowly. Eliza started to remove it and Ayaan saw her struggling state, he decided to help her by keeping a safe distance, he slided oit one of the drawer and took out a pair of rubber gloves and wears the blue gloves and asks Eliza in a humble tone "may I"?.. she looks in his eyes and nodded her head in a yes innocently while Ayaan moves towards her backside and tilted his back going down to her hair level and his shivering hands went towards her hair, Eliza left her hair and before touching Eliza's hair Ayaan recited,
﴾ "Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem"
(Arabic: 'بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ)
meaning "in the name of ALLAH, Most Gracious, Most Merciful ﴿.
And with that Ayaan slowly parted Eliza's hair in half from the middle and then he extended her half parted hair in her front profile while indicating her with his fi ger over the affected area and said, " try to remove this" and the other half part was on Eliza backside which was facing Ayaan as he made it that way. Ayaan started to remove the bubblegum trying his best to not touch her working hands which was near her neck and Ayaan's hands was up near that area too he was standing little far from her and was continuously bending.
He was being so gentle, while he asked Eliza, " if you felt any pain just tell me" Eliza answers him in tiny , " okay".it was all silent then like the wind has stopped whereas Ayaan was slowly doing the work like an expert, he was removing the bubblegum sliding it down from Eliza's long hair edges but everytime he slides she hisses in pain and Ayaan says,
﴾ "Ya ALLAH",
"Ya AR- RAHMAN"
meaning "He who will goodness and mercy for all his creatures" ﴿.
Ayaan grabbed some tissue paper from the nearby counter from the same tissue box that he had given Eliza earlier, everytime he removed some parts chewing gum he wiped that thing in the tissue paper. Eliza saw him doing his work in the front mirror of her seat in the shop and did the same work as Ayaan and bring out some chewing gum too and the satisfaction of doing it was visible on her face and she stared at Ayaan in the mirror while the chewing gum part she removed from her hair was in her hand and suddenly Ayaan's eyes fell on the mirror on her staring face, he lowered his gaze immediately and then his eyes fell on Eliza's hand in which she was holding that chewing gum and he immediately took out some tissues and forwarded it to her saying, " wipe your hands it this" Which made Eliza's lips twitches into a small smile and her normal stare changed into an endearing expression while she moves her head slowly amd looked at Ayaan with the same look on her face and Ayaan noticed her small smile and Ayaan stopped working and his lips also twitches into a half smile smile and he blinked his eyes twice giving her an assuring signal and Eliza smile become more wide, she immediately sat straight again. Ayaan again was removing the bubblegum patiently and after removing his part and he told Eliza, " leave it i will do the rest" and Eliza hummed in response and was sitting like an obedient child there. After approximately 30 minutes of work 75% of bubblegum was finally taken out of her hair. And Ayaan sighed in relief and stated,
﴾ "Al-Ḥamdu lillāh"
Arabic: " ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ "
Meaning, praise be to God ﴿.
Ayaan told Eliza, "wash the affected area with Luke warm water and don't forget to use shampoo" while he removed his gloves and took all the dirty tissues and put them in the dustbin. and then Ayaan says;
" إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ "
if God (Allah) wills
InshaAllah rest of the bubblegum will come out slowly too.
Eliza was listening to him carefully then she said, " thank you so much for everything and she stood up from her seat and went behind Ayaan and stand there while she asks him, "how much i have to pay?"
Ayaan heard her voice and turned around and his gaze was lowered and his eyes fell on her dirty hands while she bended her elbows little bit up keeping her palms away from her flowery long dress, he signals her to wash her hands in the nearby wash basin pointing his index finger first on her hands than towards the basin.
She washed her hand and swayed it in the air to dry them and calls Ayaan, hey!!.." You are knowledgeable person".
Ayaan passes her a fresh towel and says,
' it was not my knowledge.
It was ALLAH'S wisdom'.
She took the towel from his hands and start wiping her hands while making a thinking pout and Ayaan did not realize when he was looking at her beautiful face and as he realized himself adoring her delicate petal like features he shrugs his head slowly and immediately lowers his gaze and Eliza questions him, "how much i have to pay"??
Ayaan answers her, "nothing!...you have to pay nothing, go home now and never enter a male parlour like this again not everyone is welcoming and trustworthy."
Eliza said, " understood but tell me how much ?" She insisted him again to tell her how much money she has to pay but Ayaan declined her request and says "helping a human in need is a teaching of my religion"
Eliza smiles and asks him, " what's your name?" and he answers her, "Ayaan".
She again questions, "what does it mean"?
Ayaan who was still looking down took a glance of her face and tells her, "gift of Allah,...god".
She smiles brightly staring at his face and utters, "you surely are".
Her questions did not stop there, she again asked him another questions, "where are from you don't look like Arabian but asian"?
Ayaan sighs! And he kindly states,
"it's not good to interact any further without any solid right reason and I have to perform my fardh(mandatory) prayer its already Maghrib prayer time."....
Lastly he respectfully says, "please leave its a men area only".
She respected his words but was little upset too as she wanted to talk to him more, she waved her hand and left while saying "okay!! And Thank you for everything".
Ayaan lifted his gaze up and sees her back leaving the shop.
He sees her gown flowing in the air; she was wearing a lemon yellow colored gown in which different colors of little flowers were imprinted and she was wearing a different kind of footwear which he finds unique.......
He shushed his thoughts and pressed his lips tightly.
He went towards one of the chair in the shop and rested his back, he had a little pain in his back because of his earlier uneasy bending position while he was helping Eliza to get rid of that bubblegum.
After sometimes, he moved his attention towards the hanging clock of the shop wall but his mind automatically made a glimpse of Eliza's smiling face in the glass of the clock that he saw earlier in the big mirror of the shop and his lip parted itself and he sighed!!.
He closed his eyes and made a dua,
"May ALLAH Subhanahu wa ta'ala give you hidayat".
After some times he closed the shop and sat outside it, he was wearing his sweat pants and black t-shit and had a big tote bag on his shoulder that he carry all day from college to the Masjid and from the masjid to the shop and other places too.
And then Ayaan listened to the Adhaan( Islamic call to prayer) .
●●●●
The grammer mistakes should not be avoided but corrected humbly not ridiculously.
- Yara.
'Also, don't feel offended by the grammer mistakes'.
Quote time~
"وَأَحْسِنُ كَمَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ" ﴾
"...Do good as Allah has been good to you..." ﴿.
QUR'AN 28:77
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