Stairway to Heaven

18. Chaos

"Ammar—Mateen is still on leave?"

Without meaning to, her eyes twitched in response to the inquiry. Yet, Hajra sat still in her place, appearing unfazed. Her chin resting upon the palm of her hand, whilst she kept her gaze glued to the book placed on the table, in front of her.

"Yes, sir. But he is supposed to be back soon—" Ammar's smooth voice flowed into her ears and she gulped to keep her face bare of  thoughts that had been haunting her for the past 2 weeks.

"—I am telling you. There's something going on between Mateen and Hajra." A classmate sitting in the row next to Hajra and Aymen, exclaimed to her friend; loud enough for both of their ears.

"No way! I don't believe it—Unless, I hear it directly from his mouth—! I mean, how can Mateen fall for some nerd like Hajra? However you see it, I am a million times better than her—!" The response came from a bitter source and Hajra sneaked a glance at Aymen from the corner of her eyes; who was trying her hardest to maintain composure, after promising Hajra to not lose her cool for the nth time in the past 2 weeks. Since once again, Hajra had become a laughingstock thanks to Mateen's efforts.

"Who cares if you don't? You can stay in your denial forever. But no matter how you look at it, the truth is as simple as this—Mateen only has eyes for Hajra—! Sigh. The way he carried Hajra, when she fainted in OT. I can't get enough of it. How dreamy! I wish I was her too—" Another of them chided in and Hajra barely controlled the urge to drop her face in her hands and fall into a deep and long slumber. So that when she woke up, there was no sign of Mateen Abbasi anywhere near her existence, or even her mere shadow.

"—However, to be honest I expected better from Hajra, but then again there couldn't possibly exist a girl who can resist Mateen's charms. Especially for a charity case like Hajra, it must be like winning a lottery—" The girl hadn't even finished yet, when Hajra clutched onto Aymen's hand, stopping her from lashing out at those girls and creating another scene.

It always ended with more drama and as much as Hajra wished to get them to shutup, she had pretty much accepted her fate. Even more than that, since long before thanks to Mateen, she had become accustomed to being part of gossip and ridicule. After the first few times, Hajra had decided to not pay them any mind. Like all gossip, this too would die down after some time, when they found a new topic to discuss. So, it was best for her to focus on what her Mother had sent her here to do.

Hajra had long ago realised the truth. Mateen Abbasi was a trial sent her way by Allah, to see if she could remain steadfast and patient. Either ways, she was already grateful enough to Allah for giving her a chance to fulfil her parents dreams of becoming a Doctor. So what if Allah tried her with the likes of Mateen? As long as she didn't lose sight of her purpose and forget about Mateen Abbasi's true face, she was good.

But that's exactly what had gone wrong.

Since the last time Hajra saw him, she couldn't erase from her mind, the tortured look in Mateen's eyes as he apologised to her. She was finding it difficult to stop overlapping the Mateen from 4 years ago, with Mateen of now.

"Do you want to go grab something from cafe?" Hajra continued slowly, with eyes still fixated on her hand clutching at Aymen's. When no reply came from her, Hajra managed to muster a small smile and looked up at Aymen's face, who was looking upon her with a pained look in her eyes.

"How....How can you be so strong, Hajra? Why...why do you put up with such ridicule, Hajra? You're a million times the person, these girls can even dream of—!" Aymen's voice broke, as she gaped at Hajra through quivering lips.