A tale of love, loss, and new beginnings.
Hareem wants to start over, Momin is stuck in the past. Can a newly wedded couple learn to love and accept one another while also dealing with an uncertain future and a haunting past?
Trigger warning: ptsd...
"Such wounds to the heart will probably never heal. But we cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever." ― Haruki Murakami
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Chapter Twenty Eight
"Right now might not be a good time," Rafique commented, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Considering that it's midnight, and that Zawiyar lives on campus an hour from here, and like I mentioned before, he has changed his ways, so he's really busy with his studies." Rafique wrinkled his nose, bargaining. "The best I can do is to get you two to meet tomorrow evening."
Momin considered the offer, then said, "That's fine as long as you can get at least two of the people I mentioned."
"Oh don't worry about that!" Rafique assured, smiling, "Wherever Zawiyar goes, Elena tags along."
Momin nodded his head, wrapping his head around the fact that he was going to meet the man who may have hurt the girl his brother had liked.
*
Hareem sat with both her hands under her chin, her eyes trained on the colorful display in front of her. Her homework was abandoned on her study table, the clothes she had worn to campus that morning were messily sprawled over the bed. The glow of the lamp was the only source of light in the room other than the ominous LED lights inside the fish tank.
A bored groan left her mouth as she threw herself back, landing in the mountain of pillows near the headboard of the bed. She was disappointed in herself for not confessing to Momin before he left a few hours ago. The confession had been weighing her down for days, and she had hoped to voice it out before it got too late.
What if Momin receives a note like the one I did? What if he finds out everything before I confess to him?
"I hate myself," she whispered, banging her head against a pillow.
There was a knock on her door, which interrupted her self wallowing.
"Come in!" She called out, sitting up.
She was expecting her mother to come up to her room sooner or later to get her for dinner, but as the door opened, she found Ahmed at the threshold.
He walked in easily, glanced around her room like he was looking for something, and then stopped across the fish tank. He stared at the fish for a few minutes, not informing Hareem why he had come into the room. Usually she would expect him to only visit her if he needed something or had to convey a message from her parents. But he didn't utter a single word as he walked on, observing her fish, looking out the window that overlooked the driveway, and then stopped across her new full length mirror. He flexed his arms, admiring his tricep muscles.
"Is there anything you need?" Hareem finally asked him, hugging a fluffy pillow.
"No," Ahmed replied, unbothered as he pushed up his short sleeves to flex his biceps.
