A husky morning voice followed immediately after few knocks on the deep mahogany door.
"Ummi," another knock followed. "It's time for fajr." The deep huskiness at the bottom of his throat made his voice deeper
A small groan was let out from Umaymah as she stretched and rolled from side to side
"I'll make Wud'u and be downstairs in a jiffy, do get out of bed soon." He stretched his arms and walked to the next door
After observing fajr (The early morning prayer), Salman suggested that they recite a page each from the Qura'n
"Your voice, MashaAllah! Miraculous!" He told her with a calm smile once she ended her recitation
Immediately they were done reciting their morning adhkar(remembrance), Umaymah didn't hesitate to gallop back to her room for another round of sleep
It was a Sunday
How else would she want to spend her Sunday morning if not sleeping
After all the stressful week of school and series of nonstop assignments.
There he sat, peacefully admiring the features of his sleeping wife.
It was such a nice view filled with uttermost peace and pleasure.
As much as he badly wanted to touch and feel her face against his slender fingers, he resisted because he didn't want to disrupt her peaceful sleep.
He also didn't want to lose the opportunity of watching how calm her face looked at that specific moment.
A bigger smile grew on his face each time she turned and tossed on the bed or when she occasionally let out faint snores and the smile instantly fell when the sound of the multiple alarms Umaymah had set went off.
After several unanswered and snoozed alarms, Umaymah's eyes finally opened as she stretched her arms and leg.
Stretching is such a blessing. What would man do without stretching.
She stretched some more.
A figure was in front of her but she couldn't figure out who it was through the layers of moist sleep crust that obstructed her vision .
Once her vision became clear, her stretching came to an abrupt halt.
"Huh? This must be a dream,"she shut her eyes back. "Wake up Umaymah." She told herself out loud
Salman's eyes wrinkled while smiling as he muttered "It is certainly not a dream."
"Wake up Umaymah! This is an unwanted dream."she said out loud again with her eyes shut even tighter this time.
The splendid and alluring smile still sat on Salman's face.
He tried his best to hold back.
His resistance finally cut loose.
As his desire slowly took over, the thin string that held him back and made him compose himself snapped in an instant and he didn't think twice before slowly lifting his hand towards her cheek and carefully ran his fingers through her flawlessly smooth skin in a sensual way while saying in a very small and hushed tone
"Does this feel like a dream?
His fingers were now under her chin
A very cold and uncomfortable sensation travelled through Umaymah's spine making her eyes flicker open with the speed of light
"Wh...What are you doing here?" She sat up and moved away from Salman to the other side of the bed, creating an evident distance between them
"You look really pretty when you sleep hazelnut," He said instead, finding a comfortable position. "How can someone look this pretty and cute all at once?" His arms rested on the the arms of the chair without taking his gaze off hers
Hazelnut
Oh- was that now some sort of way to make fun of me
Just because I ate a couple of hazelnuts? which you ended up stealing?
It's not even like you own them!
"That doesn't answer my question," she slowly drew the duvet to herself as she took a couple of glances at Salman who seemed unaffected by whatever she was doing. "Why are you in my room?" Her question came again
Salman silently glanced at the outfit he had on and back at her face
"I returned from the gym some hours ago and the loud sound of someone's alarm," he emphasized the last word as his eyes travelled to the gray Casio alarm clock that sat on the study desk at the far corner of the white walled room. "Caught my attention. Being the helpful and kind person that I am, I came in here to turn it off." He uncrossed his leg
Umaymah's head turned towards the Casio clock and back at Salman who was waiting for a reaction from her
"I heard the alarm ring, I just..." She scratched behind her glorious mess of a hair
"Right, I know," Salman smiled as he leaned forward and counted his fingers. "I know you heard all the eight alarms you set."
Umaymah rolled her eye
"You sure are one heavy sleeper." he laughed
"No! I am not!" She pulled the duvet to cover her exposed cleavage
You shouldn't have worn thing
She scolded herself mentally
"Two ear wretching alarms from two different alarm clocks and six from your phone, but you didn't even bat an eyelash,"he pointed out. "Who knows how many other alarms must have rang before I came in."
She narrowed her eye
"How long have you been here for?"
"Almost an hour, hazelnut." He answered like he knew that was going to be her next question.
Her eyes moved to what she was wearing and then back at Salman.
The sight at the thin material of the nightie and laced hem made her scold herself mentally again for not wearing something more appropriate.
Something more modest at least. Even though he was her husband
"I didn't do anything, wallah I did absolutely nothing." He defended himself immediately while throwing his hands in the air once he noticed the questioned look on her face.
Salman got up from the chair and sat on the bed.
"Don't come any closer,"Umaymah pointed her index finger at him while adjusting the duvet over her chest as he propped himself on her bed. "And don't call me that."
"So you don't like the name," he moved even closer making Umaymah pull back a few times. "How about this one, heavy sleeper." That sparkle that usually found its way into his eyes when he was being mischievous was there
It sat right at the depth of his eyes if you looked closely
He changed his position to sit on his legs, imitating her
And of course he pulled closer again.
"I said..." Her finger was still up as she looked behind her to analyze the space that was left even though she knew well that her bookshelf stood there leaving her with little or no space for escape at all.
Out of nowhere, nervousness took over her entire feature making her breathing unsteadily rapid.
Salman chuckled at how nervousness had suddenly taken over her entire face.
Did she imagine 'things' in her head?
He laughed internally.
"You sound like a girl threatening a stalker while walking down a dark alley," he closed the tiny distance left between them. "Why are you nervous though?" He tilted his head a bit trying to get a glance at her eyes which was docked down and were staring at the patterns the duvet held
"Salman..." She began but paused
"Are you afraid of me?" He grabbed her wrist and that was when her struggled breathing suddenly seized
He brought his head down to get a clearer view of her eye.
He was persistent on looking at her eyes as if looking at them would help him detect what was going through her mind.
"Huh? Are you?" He placed his vacant hand under her chin and raised her head so their eyes could meet.
A frail smile formed on his lips as he asked "Do I perhaps look scary?"
His eyes moved to her lips before shifting back to her eye.
"Yallah, Answer." It came with a chuckle
She had suddenly gone dumb
Say something at least
You look like a fool right now
She was having a conversation with her subconscious mind that she didn't notice Salman had moved a lot more closer than before
Oh God please, not the warm breath
She mentally cried
His face was right in front of her
"Talk or I'll..." He still had his hand beneath her chin
Or you'll what?
"You sure don't want to know." Her subconscious told her
The ringtone of Salman's phone came and he removed his hands from under her chin and reached for the phone in the pocket of his gray sweatpants, while still holding onto her wrist.
Her trying to escape was to no avail
He flashed her a sheepish smile as he brought the phone to his ear.
"Thank your Lord that that call came in." Her subconscious spoke again making her exhale heavily not realizing how long she had been holding her breath for.