Chapter 6

Stella was sitting on the grass when Clara came to her.

“stella do you know, that new Muslim girl in our class slapped Arthur” said Clara desperately.

“what?” stella was shocked.

“Arthur was abusing her because of her hijab since she came, and now he tried to touch her hand” told Clara.

“okay, abusing her makes sense but what's the deal with touching hand?” asked Stella suspiciously.

“because he is not ‘MEHRAM’ for her” replied Clara.

“what's that?” asked Stella.

“I don’t know much but that’s the word they use for people who cannot touch them especially its for males, they have a restriction that not everybody can touch Muslim women” explained Clara.

Stella did not ask anymore. She got curious and started to had some suspicious feelings, of which she was not sure. That day as stella reached home, she saw somebody familiar in her neighbourhood. As she saw the girl closely, she realized that it was the same hijabed girl from her class.

“oh, hi stella!” as the girl turned around, she saw stella and greeted her happily.

“hello! I didn’t know that you were staying right next to my house” said stella.

“but I knew that you were staying here” she replied calmly.

Stella ignored her because she didn’t want to get embarrassed because she didn’t even greet her as she knew that the new neighbours are Muslims.  

“don't you guys greet people by saying salaam?” asked stella.

“yeah, we do, but I knew that you will not reply to my salaam as you don’t know the answer so I greeted you in your own way” said girl smilingly.

“what's the answer to your salaam?” from nowhere a question came in her mind and she asked.

“we greet by saying asslamo-alaikum and the other person replies walaikum-asslam" she told stella.

Stella asked her name, which she told her as Fatima. Stella had many more questions arisen in her mind but she controlled herself and went back home. She made up her mind that she will meet her again and ask those questions. 

The next day at evening, stella was watching TV when she heard the knocking on the door. Her mother was in the kitchen.

“stella look who's there?” she called out from the kitchen.

“yes mom” she replied.

She was not surprised to see Fatima, because she was already expecting that there will be unusual meetups as they are neighbours now. Fatima bought her a dish which her mother made.

“I bought you fish, my mother it in a new style today so I wanted to share it with you” said Fatima with a smile.

“thanks” said stella while taking the dish.

“come inside” asked stella.

“I'll surely come, I need your help in writing thesis, can you help me? If you don’t mind, I won't be upset with you if you'll deny I'm just asking” justified Fatima.

“oh, come on its not a problem I can surely help you” replied stella. 

*

Fatima and stella were sitting in the cosy room busy in their work when questions started to disturb her mind.

“can I ask you few questions, like if you don’t mind answering them?” asked stella.

“yeah, feel free” Fatima smiled.

“I wanted to ask you that what does your greeting mean, I mean salaam? Stella asked her nervously.

“it means peace on you, and in return we say walaikum-asslam which means peace on you too” replied Fatima.

“nice meaning” stella complemented.

“do you need to pray to god every day?” she continued.

“we pray five times a day, which is called namaz, and our god has name called Allah and he is with us 24 hours, even if we don’t pray but we pray to him to thank him for his blessings” explained Fatima.

Stella didn’t want to ask any further questions. She was feeling something inside pushing her and her words were seemed to be capturing her, she didn’t want to dig any further. They completed their remaining work in silence. 

Gradually they became good friends and even started to hang out together. Steven joseph slowly started to erase from her mind. She never thought about him again.

Only 1 week was left in her birthday, she was going turn 23 years old this 15 April. She was not as much excited like her mother or Clara seem to be. She was though happy that only a year was left in graduation and then she'll get job in best company.

“and then I'll live a happy and luxurious life” she used to think every time at night.

She was working day and night to reach her goals and become a successful person in her mother's life, so she can be happy to see her and she’ll have someone to praise her hard work wholeheartedly. 

Clara planned a great birthday party at a hotel for stella. She wanted to surprise her, she invited many of her friends and class fellows. Stella didn’t know that and she wanted to celebrate her birthday simply with her mother. 

The day arrived; Clara took stella to salon. And there she got ready for her birthday, and wore dress which her mother gifted her. She thought that Clara will take her home now but when they headed towards a hotel, she was surprised.

“I told you to not arrange that much "she said to Clara angrily.

“come on don’t be selfish, I am your friend and I had to do it, now please don’t be angry it's your birthday and we have a surprise for you” said Clara. 

Indeed, she was going to have a big surprise waiting for her.