manal | achraf hakimi [COMPLETE]

12.

again, usual reminder, if you haven't prayed yet, please do so first before reading the chapter :)

tw: mention/description of assault
things got a bit out of hand and uhm it became a little too dramatic. sorry

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3/1/2023

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[1310 words]

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'manal?' her mother asked her while she was slicing the onions. she was sitting down and slicing three large onions, trying to follow a recipe she saw online.

'yes mama?' she replied, pushing her knees together and moving to the side to give her mother space on the small bench.

'have you come to a decision?' manal bit her tongue. her personal charges against him had not be accosted for yet, but in her heart it felt like this would be a stupid proposal to reject.

'have you done istikhaara?' her mother asked once she was greeted with silence by her daughter.

'yes i have.' she was feeling very shy all of a sudden, unable to answer her mother directly. she wanted to curse her iman for putting her in this position internally.

'and what do you think the answer is?'

she swallowed a lump in her throat, her mouth becoming dry at the prospect of saying this. 'mama,' she waited for her mother to look at her, 'i am okay with it. you are free to do as you please with this proposal.'

her mother kissed her forehead, saying a quick prayer, and left to get her father and tell him the news. manal however, was cringing. this was such an awkward topic and she didn't like one bit of how she spoke to her mother. it felt so shameless, especially given her attitude towards boys and families that came asking for her hand since she turned 19.

'iman Allah will see with you.' she muttered under her breath, not willing herself to smile because of the situation.

she can't be happy, especially after everything she had found out about him when he was away in europe.

she shouldn't be smiling. no. she was a strong independent woman. she can't be giggling like this because a boy liked her.

she was grinning, despite the nagging feeling brought on her by the pictures that seem to be on her mind constantly.

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'is it because he's rich and i'm not?' someone slammed their hand on her table, which had manal staggering back. she was still at the school, cleaning up after the school day had finished. iman had just left a few minutes ago, giddy from excitement at the prospect of her best friend becoming her sister. manal looked up to find that they were alone in the room.

'excuse me?' manal looked from behind her veil, wondering what was going on. she was met with a man whose bright blue eyes startled her. she recognised him, of course. and she was not happy to know him.

'should have known that you were the gold digger type. you won't have anyone from the village but the second this foreigner arrives you're ready to marry him? unbelievable!' his words were angering her by the second. it also didn't help that he was shouting at her.

'mr fahed, i am going to ask you to leave.' she sternly told him, standing up to reach his height behind the table. manal was glad for the table that separated them, otherwise she couldn't trust the man to keep his hands to himself. she shuddered at the thought.

'oh really? you think you're too good for me don't you?' he leaned across the table and took a hold of her elbow, and pulled her closer which had her tripping on the table. she let out a wince at the degree of strength in his hold. 'i shouldn't have been glad of the table because now even the table is useless in protecting me.'

'ya Allah, please help me.' she pleaded within herself.

'let me go! have some dignity.' she shouted, trying to get away from him. his free hand was getting close to her face and she didn't like it.

'what's the true reason you won't have me manal?' he held her jaw which had her gasping for breath.

'i'm sensing it is because you don't respect her.' a voice came from the door of the classroom. she had never been so glad to see her brother and her, well, now fiancé. it had only been a day, so she wasn't even sure if the news had reached him yet.

fahed let go of manal forcefully, to which she responded by fixing the exposed hairs on her head. she raised her hands to her face, trying to calm her breath.

sufiyane had a deathly look in his teenage face, eyes red in anger at the thought of someone harming his innocent sister. he had just gone on a walk with achraf when iman has called achraf telling him she had left her stationary at school. the two had started walking towards the classroom when they heard commotion.

sufiyane immediately started walking towards his sister and checked on her, looking over her to see if she was hurt. she was, her jaw hurt like hell.

'oh, she's already got you on a leash. stay clear my brother, she's going to leech you off your money.'

'get out of my sight, i will not be held responsible for my actions if you stay here for even a second more.' achraf calmly said, though he was seething on the inside.

he was thanking God for bringing him on this route. he didn't want to imagine what else could have happened had he and sufiyane not happened to come back for the stationary.

'yeah yeah, foreigner, you're going to regret marrying a prude like her anyway.' the man said walking out. manal hated being called names, especially if they pointed a finger at her character.

achraf couldn't take it any longer and took a few decisive steps to get a hold of his collar. he pulled him back and slapped him across the face. fahed, in shock, staggered back at the brutal strength of the lean man.

achraf pointed his finger at the man, with his other hand still clutching him by his collar.

'don't ever, ever talk about her like that again, or better yet, don't let me catch you within a mile of her. do you understand me?

he didn't even let the guy answer him when he pushed him out the door, his shoes dragging behind him in the dried dust of the street.

all manal could do was watch as achraf glanced her way. sufiyane was still upset by the situation and she was processing what had just happened.

achraf wanted to go up to her, ask her how she is, if that donkey hurt her, if she wanted to file a complaint. the thoughts going through his mind were erratic, yet he tried to keep calm.

manal moved almost robotically, gathering iman's stationary bag ready to pass it to sufiyane when she walked towards achraf and handed him the case. she looked straight ahead, not knowing where else to look.

not out of embarrassment, but because her mind was still zeroed in in how close faced managed to get to her. she was moving mindlessly, she didn't even notice their fingers brushing past one another when she passed him the bag.

he opened his mouth to say something, noting her behaviour, but then settled on a 'shokran' instead.

after all, what could he say?

so he settled on, 'sufiyane take your sister home.' he couldn't bring himself to say her name out of the awkwardness of their new relation. although she could care less about that right now.

right now, she just wanted to go home.

her engagement party was tomorrow anyways.

that should take her mind off of things, right?

right.

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longer chapter? you guys don't understand i started writing one thing and then ended with this 😭 truly my mind said 'over dramatic drama right now or else!!!!' and then my fingers were like 'uhm yes that's what you should right!!!'

question: when you guys write your gifs, do you guys write  them on phone or laptop?

thank you so much for reading, the amount of readers this book gets is insane!!! you guys are really thristy for the hakimi fics that are basically non existent 😭 i'll do another one when i'm done with this maybe :)

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love you all,
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