Chapter 239 Taking the Next Step (2/2)

One thing he was sure of, since he realised how he felt, was that he was deeply in love with Sophia.

It was not puppy love.

Just going through the ten candidates hit it squarely in the face for him. When he thought about it, he had been subconsciously comparing them to Sophia since last year.

She had slowly crept into his heart and got hold of him without even him realising it.

How dense was he?

Obviously, very.

As Ali sat in his bedroom, staring at the ceiling, he groaned.

So many things to consider and think about, and he's only 14. Even if Sophia felt anything for him, ot wouldn't be the same, right?

When he chooses someone, it's for marriage. Once he confesses, it would be to the girl who he wants to marry. Once the girl accepts, it was essentially accepting him as her spouse. It would be straight to engagement.

It was that serious.

There was no such thing as 'dating' in the sense that is more commonly known. If you love the person, what are you waiting for? Rather than have a relationship that might lead to sin (bearing in mind pre-marital sex was a no-no), one would legalise the relationship from the beginning.

Essentially, if he got together with someone, it was with the intention to marry. If there was no such intention, there was no point in being with someone. Let her be free to find someone else for who she is meant to be with.

Ali knew very well that sort of thinking was insane for other people.

It had made perfect sense before.

If you love the person, you should show your sincerity, right? Committing yourself shows how serious you are and that this was not a game. If you're not sure, why are you even dating?

It had been so much easier when he wasn't in love. It made so much sense before but now ...

Just thinking about Sam and Betty made him insanely jealous. You like someone, confess, get together and date for some time before deciding. Whether you actually end up together is in the future - being together was enough for the moment.

Thus, despite the fact that Ali was well aware of his feelings by now, he did nothing differently. He decided to take things slowly and to treat Sophia the same as he always had.

Ali's plan was simple.

Until the end of the school year, he would be observing her carefully. He wanted to know her reactions, her thoughts, her feelings. If he could get an inkling of how she felt about him - whether it's only as a friend, or perhaps, there was something more, then he would take the next step.

The next step is getting his parent's approval and permission first.

There was no point in pursuing Sophia if his parents would be against it.

Truth be told, he had no doubt that his parents would be agreeable with Sophia, so long as she was nice. He could tell that his parents respected his choice, which was why he had been given all this time and even ten candidates to choose from.

Marriage was a serious matter and it would involve the family. It wasn't just between the guy and the girl, but also, the family.

That was one thing Ali didn't quite understand with the 'modern' world.

How could you abandon your family just because you fell in love? How could you say that the mother's opinion wasn't important? Unless ... unless the family was estranged? Whatever it was, Ali's family was important to him.

He respected his parents so he would need their permission.

Once he obtained that, he would start pursuing Sophia. The would need to deepen their friendship and talk about the sensitive stuff. His faith. His belief.

He would have to steel his heart on that one.

If her views were completely different from his ... then he had to bite the bullet and let her go. Never confess.

If her views were the same, or she was open to it ... then he would confess.

Then, it would be the final step.

The bad case scenarios.

She had no feelings for him at all. It was all his imagination, or worse, she had feelings for him, but she would never consider converting despite agreeing with the ideology.

Worst of all ... she just didn't know.

Ali felt the worst case scenario was the most likely one. After all, Sophia was only 14. What girl would be wondering such deep questions about their future anyway?!

He groaned.

Maybe he should just stop this before it even began. Why put so much pressure on such a young girl?