game of love

2

 "I know how much it actually hurt you," Maryam said, as I finished telling her the story of how Yusuf broke up with me.

 "I'm fine. I'll get over it." I said, wiping away some stray tears.

 Then, there was a knock on the door, causing me to jump up. I looked up to see my mumma. 

 "Oh, mumma! You scared me!" I said and walked over to her.

 "My guria, what happened? I saw you crying." she said, holding my hands, as I lead her towards the bed.

(guria - doll)

 I inhaled, then exhaled. "Mumma. Yusuf broke up with me. It's okay though, I'm okay. It'll go away after some time."

 "My beautiful angel. Are you going to hide your sadness from me too?" my mumma asked me, moving strands of hair away from my face.

I shook my head. "Mumma, I'm okay. I'll heal." 

 "You really won't tell me will you?" my mumma asked me.

 I smiled at her.

 "Oh well. I just hope that no more tears come out of those beautiful eyes of yours." she said, pressing a kiss to my head before leaving.

Maryam turns to meet my wandering gaze. "I know what you're thinking."

 "What?" I asked her.

 "Can you stop acting like I'm not your best friend?" Maryam asked me.

 "Sorry." I said, giving her a smile.

 "It's okay. You know I admire you for being so strong, and acting like everything's fine, when I'm reality it's not." Maryam said, giving me a sad smile.

 I return the smile.

My phone rings, bringing me out of my haze. I look at the caller ID. It's Yusuf. I pick it up and put it on speaker

 "What do you want now?" I asked him.

 "I'm outside your house. I need to return some things to you." Yusuf said.

 "Oh, okay. I'll come outside." I said, ending the call and making my way outside the house.

I spot him, sat on the bonnet of his car, on his phone. As soon as I come out, he puts his phone in his pocket and takes something out of his car.

 "Here." he said, flinging packages at me.

 "Why are you throwing things at me?" I asked him, holding onto the packages.

 "They're all the stupid shit you got me." he said.

 "Oh, well thanks for returning them. At least it's not a waste of money." I said, just about to walk inside.

 "Why are you being so sassy? I just broke up with you." he said, eyeing me.

 "Excuse me? I don't have to explain myself to you." I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

 "I was your boyfriend." he said.

 "Yeah, you were." I said.

 "You said we'd stay together forever, and I know you dreamt about a future for us." he said, smirking at me. "Our kids and our future house."

 "You said forever!?" I said, getting mad. Honestly he was just wasting my time but my heart was shattering.

 "Yeah, but I was wrong, it ends now, here." he replied, flinging more gifts at my face.

The hard surface of the packages collided with my face and I let out a shriek. 

 "What sort of behaviour is this?" my dad asked, coming forward and shouting.

 "Oh, uncle ji." Yusuf said, fearfully.

 "Yeah. Don't you dare do anything like that to my daughter, now get out!" my dad said, as Yusuf scurried into his car.

 "Dad? How did you come here?" I asked him, wincing.

 "Maria. Are you okay?" he asked me.

 "I'm okay." I said, smiling.

He looked at me for a moment, before guiding me by my elbow inside. "Come on." he said.

My mumma looked at me in shock, as Maryam was stood by her side, her cheeks pink. She ran up to me. "Who got you so many gifts?" she asked me.

 "Yusuf returned all the gifts." I said and then she understood.

My dad cleared his throat. "I've made up my mind." he said, looking at me. "Maria, you're getting married."

 "Dad!" I shouted. "I'm only 23!" 

 "That's old enough to get married." my dad said.

 "I agree with your dad." my mumma said, as Maryam looked at me in shock.

 "We'll start looking for wedding proposals." my dad said and began walking up the stairs, with my mumma following behind.

Maryam walked to me. "What have you gotten yourself into?" she asked me.

 "I don't know." I said, sitting down on the sofa beside her.

 "What are we going to do?" Maryam asked me.

 "All I know is that whatever happens, if I do end up getting married to someone, I'm never going to fall in love with him, ever. Love is poisonous, it destroys and kills your inner happiness." I said, getting up.

Maryam looked at her phone. "I better get going, my brother's outside. See you tomorrow, okay? Call me if you need anything. Take care, love!" she said and walked out.

Signing, I walked upstairs, into my bedroom. I threw all the packages onto the carpet and sat on my bed. 

Why did Yusuf have to break my heart like that? Why was I so naive? ALWAYS trusting anyone.

I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I needed some change. I scrambled in my drawer and took out a pair of scissors. 

Without hesitation, I chopped off an inch of my hair. After I had done that, I laughed. This felt good. Then, I combed my hair, seeing if there were any uneven ends and trimming them.

I brushed my teeth and then cleansed my face. Coming out of the bathroom, I walked into my bathroom, choosing some pjs, before hopping into them.

(her pjs)

 I hopped into bed, pulling the covers above my head, trying to drown out all the thoughts and memories of Yusuf, that I didn't want to remember, whilst a tear escaped from the corner of my eye.

Why did I always have to suffer? Why was love not like the books and movies? 

Maybe I just wasn't meant to experience love, maybe love wasn't for me.

                                                         ࿔‧ ֶָ֢˚˖𐦍˖˚ֶָ֢ ‧࿔