“Yes, Daddy.”

With a slight look of surprise on his face, Daddy shifted his attention to the direction Ibrahim was staring at, trying to see what had captured the attention of his only son. However, as far as he could tell, he saw no one. The area was full of people, each minding their own business, and the girl Ibrahim had been looking at—Jidda—had already stood up and moved a little farther away, making it impossible for Daddy to realize that she was the one Ibrahim had been watching. Even if he had seen her, he likely wouldn’t have assumed she was the focus of his son’s attention, since Ibrahim wasn’t the type to stare at women. In fact, at this stage, their only wish was for him to agree to marry, but he always insisted, saying, “There’s time.”

Daddy turned his gaze back to Ibrahim as they had already merged onto the main road and the driver continued driving.

“Mu’azzam, what caught your attention so much that you didn’t hear me calling you?” Daddy asked.

Ibrahim smiled and replied, “I was just looking at people, Daddy.”

He said this because he didn’t want to tell Daddy that he had been looking at a woman. He knew that if he admitted it, both Daddy and Mummy would spend the whole day teasing him about it.

They continued chatting briefly, sharing the kind of conversation common between a father and his son.

---

On Jidda’s side, when she arrived home, she found Aliya and Umma sitting on a mat on the veranda, chatting. Aliya was eating. No one responded to Jidda’s greeting; instead, Umma gave her a look full of disdain and contempt.

Jidda went straight into the room, put down her handbag, removed her hijab, fetched water in a jug, and went to the bathroom. After washing up—she was already late for prayer, which was why she hadn’t prayed at school—she returned and asked:

“Umma, where is my food?”

Umma looked at her coldly and replied, “The one you brought for me to cook?”

When Jidda didn’t respond, Umma added, “If you know you didn’t bring anything, don’t ask me.”

Aliya, now full, dropped her spoon, pushed her plate away, let out a burp, lay down, and rested her head on Umma’s lap.

“Oh Allah, I’m full and tired,” Aliya said.