"Love her so much, that she might doubt your sanity, but not your passion." - Dean Jackson 

~ This chapter is dedicated to every single one of you readers, both known and silent. I love you all and I wish you guys all knew how grateful I am for your support. And to me. Can I dedicate a chapter to myself? Oh well I'm doing it anyway! 

~ Make sure you guys have read the last chapter, because Wattpad hasn't been notifying my readers when I update o.O

~ Picture of Al Sakhrah mosque [Dome of the Rock] on the side.

EHEM. SO. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK...AFTER THIS CHAPTER. 

Chapter 27 - Te amo.

Yasmine’s POV

After that mentally gruelling experience, the only thing me and the boys wanted to do, was just arrive at Jerusalem safely without any troubles or anymore waiting. We made sure to pray and quickly eat before hitching another taxi. When we told the driver we wanted him to take us to Jerusalem, he almost had an aneurysm, since it would be another hours long drive, but after some haggling and negotiating on the price, he settled to take us.  

Since I wasn’t sleepy, having slept in the car ride before, I was unusually hyper - or maybe I was just confusing that with anxiousness. Luckily for me, Noah sat in the back and so for the remainder of the drive, I opted to spend it annoying him. An hour in, I somehow managed to convince all four of us to play the game ‘I spy’. Yes - that’s how bored we were. Desperate times, call for desperate measures. 

“Give us a hint,” Noah spoke, agitated over the fact that it’s been ten minutes and still none of them have guessed it. 

“It starts with G.” He looked at me dumbfounded.

“We’re going to need a little more than that, airhead.”  

I rolled my eyes. “OK. He’s hairy, he’s fat and he’s sitting right next to me!” I yelled in his face. I smirked at his annoyed expression.  

“Gorilla,” he mumbled. “You’re so lame Yasmine.” Shaking his head at me, he crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window, bored again. 

I heard a laugh from the front and turning my head, I watched as Zach vibrated with a small chuckle, whilst the driver was just smiling amusedly.  

“No I’m not. Zach finds me funny,” I retorted stubbornly.  

“90% of the stuff you say make me laugh Yasmine,” Zach stated, not turning his head to look at me but instead, focusing on the landscape before us. I could hear the humour still present in his voice, even though he wasn’t laughing anymore. 

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I huffed, sitting back in my seat properly and deciding to copy what they were doing. I didn’t blame them - the scenery outside was beautiful. I sometimes forgot how breathtaking this country was, since Gaza was so overpopulated we barely saw that much nature. There were no mountains or major hilltops in Gaza, but travelling away from home, at least allowed us this satisfaction. My eyes swept up the greenery before me and I suddenly had a long and somewhat irrational desire, to just live amongst nature. 

Getting restless again, I propped my legs up onto Noah’s lap and tried to get comfortable.  

“Excuse me,” he said, raising his eyebrows. 

“What?” I voiced innocently.  

“Put your feet down,” he uttered through gritted teeth. 

“But I’m comfortable like this,” I stated, not understanding his sudden annoyance. 

“There are two other men in this car,” he whisper-yelled. “It’s inappropriate.” 

“Oh,” I said, dumbly. Moving my feet off his lap, I faced the front again to see Zach shaking his head at me, a small grin present. I smiled back at him, unable to resist and before I knew it, we were sort of just staring at each other. A cough from beside me broke us from our reverie and I swivelled around to find Noah glaring at us both.  

Zach and I made eye contact one last time, him smirking and me blushing furiously, before we both sat back in our seats again. Gosh - I needed this drive to end already. 

It was the emergence of people and civilisation that signalled we had finally arrived in Jerusalem. I almost sighed with relief but when I remembered why we had actually travelled here in the first place, I instead wanted to cry. When the driver parked in front of a small Palestinian owned hotel, I emerged from the car in a somber mood. I went straight to the boot without acknowledging anyone, wedged it open and pulled out my bag.  

I walked into the entrance and sat down on one of the couches. I didn’t want to believe any of this was happening. I sensed Noah and Zach come in, but thankfully they walked straight up to the reception and checked us in.  

“Come on,” Noah chirped excitedly as they both strode towards me. “We’re heading straight to Al-sakhrah for maghreb.”  

“Maghreb isn’t for another hour,” I said, looking at my watch. “I was thinking of taking a quick nap.” 

“Are you serious,” Noah countered, staring at me with a, well…’are you serious’ look. “You slept on the way here.”  

I just shrugged my shoulders. As soon as we stepped foot here, my mood plummeted and I wanted nothing more than to sleep and pretend that this was all a dream. 

“I will never understand women. We come all the way here and she wants to nap, instead of going to sight see our favourite mosque, which who knows when we’ll ever see again,” Noah whinged to Zach. I felt like his words were kind of forced and although he tried to come off annoyed, he looked eerily calm. I squinted my eyes at him suspiciously, before sweeping my eyes across Zach, who looked…nervous? “Well?” Noah spoke up again.  

“Fine, I’ll come,” I snapped, getting up from the couch. “Can we at least put our bags down?”  

“The staff will take our bags to the room for us,” Noah said, becoming happy again within a nanosecond. What was going on with him? I eyed them both warily again, before pulling my phone out from the side pocket and holding it in my hand, then dumping the bag along with the others. Without changing from my skirt and long top or even freshening up, we walked out of the hotel and began the short journey to the mosque.  

“So what should we do for an hour?” I questioned casually, as we fell in step and walked at a good pace. 

“We’ll see when we get there,” Noah spoke, ambiguous in his reply. I looked over at Zach and observed as he shook his hands and arms out and rubbed his neck. Was he gnawing on his lip? I furrowed my eyebrows, confused by both the boy’s behaviour.  

“OK…” I trailed off. We walked on in the heat and I couldn’t help but take note of how the city remained the same in it’s appearance, however the people seemed more on edge. I walked past a sign I distinctly remember seeing seven years ago, that said ‘women to this side of the pathway’ in Hebrew and English. As far as I knew, this is what was expected for Jewish women, but whether this was actually enforced I wasn’t sure of. At that exact moment a bunch of Zionist settlers walked past, all of them men, sneering and giving us disgusted looks. I felt myself being immediately pulled to Noah’s side protectively. Feeling oddly vulnerable, I glued myself closer to him until they passed us by. Both Noah and Zach were staring at them icily and if looks could kill… 

I really didn’t want any trouble or confrontation, so I snapped my fingers and forced them to look ahead again as we walked on. This time, Noah kept his left arm looped through my right and he didn’t let go until we reached the Aqsa haram.  

Now, all I could feel was utter and pure happiness as the large golden dome stood in all it’s might before me. I stared up in awe at the mosque and hoped with every fibre of my being, that women were being allowed to pray inside today. Israeli soldiers manned the whole mosque and only let in restricted people every day. Usually no men at all where allowed to enter except the elderly, yet Jewish settlers were constantly allowed to use the mosque for their own ceremonial needs.  

I began walking around the blue, white and golden edges of the mosque, absorbing every inch of it’s beauty. Who knew when I would be here next? I took in all the chipped pieces of wall and the broken bricks that lead up to one of the entrances. I knew this ruin was due to the clashes that occurred between the Palestinians and Zionist soldiers and settlers. Usually riots broke out, especially on days when no one would be allowed to enter and pray. As a result, large amounts of men would pray directly outside the mosque, a symbol of their defiance. 

And through the years, and indeed moving forward, these soldiers and settlers will forever underestimate the resistance Muslims will endure, in order to gain their God-given right. They will forever underestimate the love embedded in our hearts for any place of worship, especially one that is located in a city dear to so many of our prophets. They will forever delude themselves into thinking we will surrender, but little do they know, we will never give up. 

I sighed with longing and sadness as I made my way around, tracing my fingers along the edges of the mosque. I attempted to dream of a time when men and women alike, could come and go as they please, to pray to their Lord without worrying over whether a guard would stop them from such a simple act. 

I didn’t realise that Noah and Zach were trailing behind me, until I stopped near a water fountain. Since there was still an hour until maghreb, not many people were milling around. I could see in the distance soldiers lined up at every entrance, helmets firmly secured on their heads, with one arm wrapped firmly and protectively on their rifle, no ounce of hesitance in readying themselves to use it. 

“I’ll be right back,” Noah blurted randomly, giving Zach a cautionary and what seemed like a warning look, before power walking off. 

“OK, seriously, what is going on with you two? And where is he going?” I huffed, throwing my arms up in annoyance. Zach just gestured for me to move aside a tad, towards a raised fence. Not having any other choice, I followed him the few steps and then stood in front of him with a ‘well?!’ expression. 

His face was red but it didn’t appear as if it was from the heat, but rather as if a blush was creeping it’s way up his face. He wasn’t looking at me either. Taking a deep breathe, he exhaled loudly and finally allowed his green eyes to flicker to mine. I would be lying if I said his behaviour wasn’t creeping me out.  

“Zach, what’s going on?” I asked, more softly this time. 

Unlike before, Zach kept his gaze firmly locked on mine, as he asked, “Yasmine, do you recognise where we are?”  

I looked around as if to make sure I actually had my head on straight. “Yes Zach. Were at Al Sakhrah. And?”  

I could see his lip twitch a little, as if he wanted to laugh but at the same time, maintain a serious demeanour. “I know that. Look properly, at the exact location of where we are standing.” I swept my eyes over the surrounding area. The fence, the water fountain, the soldiers in the distance, the rocks on the…

I gasped.  

Realisation dawned on me, like a punch in the face. “How could I forget?!” I whispered. I glanced at Zach to find him analysing my face closely. “This is where we met,” I finished.

He nodded his head, my most favourite smile emerging on his face. It was slow and lopsided but it radiated the pure happiness I knew he was feeling. Pure happiness that had now consumed my body. 

This was the place - the place where Zach had saved my life seven years ago. Both our families just happened to be visiting Jerusalem at the same time and both our families just happened to live in Gaza. After Zach saved me that day, I became weirdly attached to him and when I found out he lived in Gaza, in fact, in the exact same suburb, I was elated. And that was eventually how we had grown closer. 

I couldn’t believe I had forgotten though - this area held so many memories for me. This place was the reason as to why I had one of the most important people in my life right now. Someone who I didn’t think I could live without.  

“Yasmine,” Zach spoke, catching my attention again. “I am going to speak now and I’m asking you to please not interrupt me until I am done. OK?” The expression on his face, serious and anxious had me nodding silently, anticipation eating up at every single one of my nerves. 

“I honestly don’t even know where to start Yasmine,” he began, his posture rigid and his eyes cast over. Once again, he locked his gaze on mine and continued speaking. “All I know is that I have kept my feelings hidden for too long, feelings I never knew how to deal with. I kept them in the dark, because I never wanted to jeopardise our relationship, and because, let’s face it, you are the most important person in my life and I knew, that losing you, meant losing everything.” He paused to take a breath but his eyes never left mine. I held my gaze with his and I felt my heart pumping in my throat. I had no idea where he was going with this, but I just hoped it wouldn’t hurt in the end… 

“Yasmine, that day you came to my door and confessed your love for me…I thought I would die from happiness yet I was still scared that maybe, just maybe, if I said the same thing, you’d disappear or things would permanently end between us. But I thirsted to tell you, that the truth is, I love you too. I always have and I think, no matter what happens, I always will.

With you, love comes so naturally, so easily. You don’t make it hard. You love openly, with every bit of your heart, you fear Allah and you respect the people around you. You’re hilarious and beautiful and you take my breath away, every single time I’m with you Yasmine. Before I met you, I didn’t know what it was like to just look at someone and smile. I especially knew I was a lost cause, when I couldn’t stop thinking about you, even when you were getting to know another man. You drive me crazy, but I want you to drive me crazy today, tomorrow, next week and for the rest of our lives. 

I brought you here because this is where we met. And I bring you here again to ask you, if you would be mine - if you would marry me Yasmine?” 

I stared at the man before me, tears slipping down my face. Staring at the man, who had broken me and was now kissing my wounds closed. I covered my mouth to stop a broken sob from emerging. 

He loves me too. 

He wants to marry me. 

I wanted to jump into his arms and cry out in happiness but instead I just nodded my head in a ‘yes’ since I still couldn’t fathom stringing together any two words. My head was swivelling and my heart was pounding. I was still shocked of course - but the confession from Zach - Zach, who had just asked me to marry him was eating up at me. 

At my approval, I saw his eyes widen and he sucked in a breath. 

“Yes?” he confirmed in a whisper.  

“Yes,” I whispered, smiling through my tears.  

“Oh my God…you actually said yes,” Zach uttered, running his hand through his hair. I laughed and wiped the tears off my face.  

“What did you think I would say? Idiot.” He smiled down at me, his green eyes twinkling. The admiration and pure tenderness on his face was almost tangible.  

“I have this crazy idea,” he started.  

“What’s that?” I said, in an almost whisper. 

“We do our nikah right now. On this very spot.” He had a hopeful look in his eyes and I knew as soon as the idea came out of his mouth, that I would agree.

**** 

VOTE AND COMMENT OR I'LL BE REALLY SAD AND WON'T UPDATE FOR A LONG TIME. LOL.

Hope it wasn't too cheesy lol. 

Definitions:

Nikah: Islamic marriage, where you sign the papers. 

Aqsa haram: Haram means ‘area’ and aqsa is the name of the area where Dome of the Rock [Al Sakhrah] and Aqsa Mosque reside in.  

Maghreb: Sunset prayer