a/n: if there's a ring in the title, they're married

      I woke up to the sound of laughing. I slit open my eyes a bit. It was dark, so that meant it should be the middle of the night, and across the room from me, I saw Waleed awake holding little baby Aleena in his arms, feeding her a bottle of milk.

"You really have a big appetite, huh?" Waleed asked Aleena. "You gotta give Mama a break. Let her rest for a little bit."

Aleena let the bottle fall out of her mouth and started giggling. Just how I loved it. Waleed started tickling her belly which made her laugh even more.

"Okay, Aleena, we don't want to wake up Mama, right?" He shushed her quietly and she followed.

I could see a smile appear on his face which made me smile. Ever since Aleena was born 9 months ago, Waleed had been super helpful. If I was ever sleeping and Aleena wanted milk, he would try to feed her with milk I'd already prepared and then soothe her to sleep. If I ever woke up to Aleena crying, Waleed would tell me to go back to sleep and that he'll handle it. That's what made me so grateful for him honestly. The fact he didn't even want me to pressure myself into waking up for Aleena or anything like that, gave me the hint that he didn't want me overworking. He even told me himself.

Waleed started lifting Aleena up into the air and back down again, making airplane noises. I laughed when he did it again a bit too loud then he turned to see me awake.

"What's up?" Waleed asked with a smile.

"I just love how much you love and care for Aleena. It's really cute," I replied.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Like, 10 minutes?" I guessed.

"You should go back to sleep, jaani," he suggested. "You don't wanna wake up tired."

"I don't, but, I just wanna talk, I guess. I'm a bit bored."

Waleed laughed. "Well, you have your daughter." he held out Aleena. "She'll keep you company."

I laughed at him again. "I know that, chaanda. I just want to talk with you."

Waleed was rubbing Aleena on the back with her head laying on his shoulder. Aleena was sound asleep now.

"Okay, yeah, just lemme put her in her crib," he said. He went over to her crib which was still in the room and placed her down gently, with her laying on her back. She didn't make a sound and kept still in the same position. Waleed frantically checked her breathing by placing his hand on her chest and his expression looked relieved. I smiled at his careful gesture as he came back to the bed.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked, sitting up with his back against the headboard.

I sit up too and scooted closer to him. "I don't know, but, I do have a question."

Waleed wrapped his arm around my back and placed his hand on my shoulder. "And what's that, jaani?"

I lay my head on his shoulder and sighed. "How did we even get here? It all happened so fast."

Waleed shrugged. "It was what Allah willed, I guess."

"Yeah, I know that. But, how did you have that much patience to wait for me for that long? We were just kids."

Waleed held me closer to his side and started rubbing my upper arm. "And as a kid, I knew I would have patience. I just kept praying. Praying for Sabr and Tawakkul because I knew, one day, one day, I would be right next to you holding your hand." He then held my hand and intertwined our fingers then leaned in and kissed me on the tip of my nose, which made me smile. He immediately smiled back right after.

"And that's exactly what I'm doing," he said.

I kissed him on the cheek. "You know that I won't be the shy one here. We're both putting in the effort, right?"

"Definitely." He turned me around onto him, puts both his arms around me, and kissed me on the head.

"I won't lie, I like hugging you," he said, holding me closer.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and lay my head on his chest. "Me too, chaanda. Me too."