Broken By Mafia

chapter 1

Z A R A

- Four Years Later -

"Amma! I'm leaving!" I call out to her. "My interview starts at 1:30 PM but I heard they process everything by the end of the day so I'll probably be there for most of the day."
"Good luck, dear!" She kisses my forehead. "Insha'Allah, things will go well for you."
"Insha'Allah!" I reply.

"Do you have that ring on you?" She asks out of curiosity. I pull out the chain that's hidden under my cardigan to flash the black ring at her.

"I'm glad you stopped wearing that on your wedding ring finger. People in our community kept asking if you got married."  She laughs.

"Amma! I stopped wearing it on my finger three years ago! We don't need to keep bringing it up." I whine.

"I know, I know. I'm glad you made it into a necklace." She smiles. "Yasmeen really chose a ring that matches your color palette." She comments.

"Mhm." I agree, nervously.

Obviously, there was no way I was going to tell her the man I was in love with for three years gave it to me before he ditched me and never contacted me again.

Why do I still keep the ring? I don't know! I don't have the heart to put it away. I've been wearing it every day since he gave it to me four years ago.

For a year, I wore it on a finger he left it on but aunties in the neighborhood wouldn't stop gossiping so Yasmeen suggested I turn it into a necklace.

I feel like I can move forward if I just get a glimpse of him once. Just one glimpse and I can rest.

I would occasionally search for him on social media or the internet but it's almost as if he never existed. There's not a single trace of him, no photos, no email, nothing.

He's just... vanished.

Maybe I'm overreacting and he left the country or something. But it doesn't matter, he's gone.

But Alejandro is just a small part of my worries if he's even considered a worry. Recently, my Abbu debt has been racking up and I've been working part-time to help with bills.

I have my own student debt racking up and there's no way I can enter into post-graduate studies with so much money owing.

I've been losing sleep over how we'll manage. My parents are the sweetest, trying to tell me there's nothing to worry about but I'm not a kid, I understand the depth of the problem.

One of the lenders has been nagging Abbu about taking him to court for the money he owes. I wish people were more understanding but this world is anything but that. That's why I need to step up and do something, no matter how much everything scares me.

I quickly send a text to Yasmeen, letting her know I'm leaving for my interview.
I have to take a bus and a train today to get to the office because my interview is core downtown and I refuse to drive in such a hectic environment.

"Let's do this," I mutter to myself some words of encouragement before leaving my house.

• • •
"Ms. Zara Khan, correct?" The woman at the front desk asks to confirm right after I finished my interview.
I nod.

"We are not too sure about how long the selection process takes, however, it will be done an hour before office hours end. If you would like, you may return at around 5:30 to see the results." She informs me.

"Okay, thank you so much." I decide to take a stroll around town, but stay close by to the building.

It's only 2:30 PM, so I have about three hours to kill. I'm pretty hungry as well so I'll grab myself something to eat and relax my nerves.