Eternity

Chapter 33

As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

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Ayzal had been carefully organizing the desk in the study, trying to distract herself from the troubling thoughts swirling in her mind. The desk was cluttered with forgotten papers, books, and other items that had gathered dust over the years. As she sifted through the pile, her hand brushed against an old envelope tucked away in the back of a drawer. The envelope was yellowed with age, and the handwriting on it, though faded, was unmistakably Murad’s. With a growing sense of unease, she carefully removed the envelope, her fingers trembling as she opened it. Inside was a single sheet of paper, its edges slightly worn but still intact. Ayzal’s heart raced as she unfolded the letter and began to read Murad’s neat, familiar writing. Each word struck her like a bolt, revealing a painful truth that shook her to the core. The letter read;

Zayan,

I hope it is you who will find this letter and if you are reading this, it means I am no longer here. There are things I need to tell you, things that have been eating away at me. I can't carry this burden any longer.

I have been struggling with depression for a while now. It has been a silent battle, one I have kept hidden from everyone, including you. There were days when the darkness felt overwhelming, when getting out of bed seemed impossible. But I kept going, thinking that with Ayzal by my side, I could make it through.

You know, Ayzal and I met in college and we unexpectedly fell in love. We shared dreams of a future together, and I truly believed we would spend our lives side by side. When our families agreed to our marriage, it felt like everything was falling into place but everything was just falling into pieces.

I loved Ayzal with all my heart. She was my world, my future. But something happened that shattered everything. Mrs. Rahman, Ayzal's mother, came to me one evening. She looked so serious, so concerned. She told me that Ayzal had been seeing another man, that she had been unfaithful to me. She begged me not to tell anyone, not even Ayzal. She said it would destroy the family, that it would ruin Ayzal's reputation.

At first, I didn't believe her. How could I? Ayzal and I were so happy. But the way Mrs. Rahman spoke, the conviction in her voice, it planted a seed of doubt in my mind. I started questioning everything. Every smile, every touch, every moment we shared. It all felt tainted, poisoned by that doubt.

I couldn't confront Ayzal. The thought of asking her about it, of seeing her reaction, was too much for me to bear. I was already barely holding on, and this revelation pushed me over the edge. I felt so lost, so betrayed. I didn't know who to trust anymore. The love of my life was suddenly a stranger, and I couldn't bear the thought of living with that uncertainty. The pain was unbearable.

Zayan, I need you to know that I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just couldn't see a way out. The thought of living with that doubt, that betrayal, was too much for me. I hope you can forgive me.

Now that I am not here anymore, please take care of everyone and yourself too.

With love,
Murad.

Ayzal’s breath caught in her throat as she finished reading the letter, her hands trembling so violently that the paper nearly slipped from her grasp. The words on the page seemed to burn into her mind, each sentence a dagger plunging deeper into her heart. How could her mother, the woman who had raised her, nurtured her, and guided her, be capable of such cruelty? The revelation hit her like a freight train, leaving her gasping for air. Her mother, who had always spoken of honesty and integrity, had lied—deceptively, maliciously—to the one person Ayzal had trusted and loved. The betrayal felt like a void opening beneath her feet, threatening to swallow her whole.

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the words on the page as she tried to process the enormity of what she had just discovered. The realization that her mother had been the reason of Murad’s despair, the reason he had believed she was unfaithful, made her stomach churn with a sickening mix of anger and grief. How could her mother have done this? The question echoed endlessly in her mind, but no answer came—only a deep, suffocating sense of betrayal.

Her thoughts turned to Murad, and a fresh wave of grief washed over her. She could see him in her mind’s eye, his kind smile, the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, and the warmth that had always surrounded him. How much had he suffered, believing that the woman he loved had betrayed him? The thought was unbearable, and Ayzal felt as though her heart was being torn apart. Murad had died with that lie poisoning his mind, driving him to misery, and she hadn’t been there to save him from it. The guilt was overwhelming, crushing her beneath its weight.

Ayzal sank to the floor, clutching the letter to her chest as sobs wracked her body. The room around her faded into nothingness, leaving her alone with her pain. She felt like a part of her had been ripped away, leaving behind an emptiness that she didn’t know how to fill. The loss of Murad was now intertwined with the loss of trust in her mother, a double-edged sword that cut deep into her soul. She had lost the man she loved because of a lie, a lie that had been spun by the very person who was supposed to protect her. The betrayal and grief consumed her, leaving her shattered and struggling to comprehend the depths of the pain she now carried.

As she sat on the cold floor, Ayzal's mind replayed the moments she had spent with her mother, the warmth of her embrace, the gentle guidance she had always trusted. Those memories now felt like twisted mockeries of the truth. Her mother had not just lied—she had orchestrated the destruction of the love Ayzal had cherished, had taken Murad’s life away from him and left Ayzal in the ruins. The anger inside her built with every breath, a fire that burned hotter the more she thought about what had been taken from her.

But alongside that anger was a deep, gnawing grief. Murad had died alone, believing he had been betrayed by the person he loved most. He had died thinking Ayzal had cast him aside, that their love had been a lie. The image of him in his final moments, tormented by the lies her mother had told, was unbearable. She hadn’t been there to comfort him, to reassure him that she had always loved him, that she had never betrayed him. That loss was a wound that cut deeper than any other, a pain that seemed impossible to heal.

She felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness, the realization that there was nothing she could do to change what had happened. Murad was gone, and the truth had come too late. Her mother’s lies had shattered the lives of two people, and now Ayzal was left to pick up the pieces, unsure if she could ever put them back together. She felt lost in a sea of grief, the waves of pain crashing over her, threatening to drown her in their intensity. The betrayal had robbed her of more than just trust—it had stolen her future, her love, and her ability to see her mother as anything other than a villain in this tragic tale.