Eternity

Chapter 39

As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

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As soon as the door clicked shut behind Zayan, the silence in the room grew heavy, almost suffocating. Ayzal turned her gaze back to the window, staring at the world outside but seeing none of it. Her mother stood by the bed, the air between them charged with tension that had been brewing for years.

“Ayzal,” her mother began, her voice soft and hesitant, as if she were testing the waters. “What is going on, my dear? Why did you want me here?”

Ayzal didn’t respond right away. She could feel her mother’s eyes on her, could sense the carefully constructed facade of concern that the older woman was trying to project. But Ayzal wasn’t in the mood for games, not now, not after everything. She turned her head slowly to meet her mother’s gaze, her eyes cold and unyielding.

“Don’t play dumb, Mom,” Ayzal said quietly, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her. “You know exactly why I asked you to come. You know what I want to talk about.”

Her mother blinked, feigning confusion. “I am not sure I understand, darling. What is it that you want to talk about? I am here for you, whatever you need.”

Ayzal almost laughed at the act her mother was putting on, but the sound caught in her throat, turning into something bitter and sharp. “Stop pretending,” she said, her voice hardening. “Stop acting like you don’t know. We both know what you did, and I need to hear you say it. I need to hear the truth from your own lips.”

For a moment, her mother remained silent, her eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to gauge how much Ayzal knew. It was clear that she hadn’t expected this confrontation, hadn’t anticipated that her daughter would corner her like this. But even now, even with the truth hanging in the balance, she couldn’t bring herself to drop the act entirely.

“I don’t understand what you are accusing me of,” her mother said, her tone still deceptively gentle. “But if you are upset, if there is something on your mind, you can tell me. I only want to help.”

“Help?” The word was like a knife in Ayzal’s heart. “You think you are helping me? By lying to me, by manipulating my life, by taking away everything I cared about? How could you ever think that was helping?”

Her mother’s expression faltered for the briefest of moments, but she quickly regained her composure. “Ayzal, I never meant to hurt you. Everything I did was for your own good. I only wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me?” Ayzal’s voice cracked with the weight of her emotions. “You call what you did protection? You ruined my life, Mom. You ruined everything, and you did it all while pretending that you were doing it out of love.”

Her mother’s face hardened slightly, the mask slipping just enough to reveal a glimpse of the steel beneath. “I did what I had to do,” she said, her voice losing some of its softness. “You were too young to understand, too naive to see the dangers in front of you. I had to make the hard decisions because I knew what was best for you.”

“No,” Ayzal said, shaking her head. “You did what was best for you, not me. You didn’t care about what I wanted, about what I needed. All you cared about was controlling my life, making sure that everything went according to your plan.”

Her mother’s lips tightened, her patience clearly wearing thin. “You don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, her tone clipped. “I did what any mother would do in my position. I was trying to protect you from making a mistake, from getting involved with someone who wasn’t right for you.”

“Murad was right for me!” Ayzal’s voice rose, the anger that she had been holding back finally breaking through. “He was the one I loved, the one I wanted to spend my life with. And you took him away from me. You destroyed everything, and you didn’t even care what it would do to me.”

Her mother’s eyes flashed with something—guilt, anger, fear—but she quickly masked it, her expression hardening once again. “Murad was not right for you,” she said firmly. “He was weak, and I knew he would drag you down with him. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“You don’t get to decide that,” Ayzal shot back, her voice trembling with the force of her emotions. “You don’t get to decide who I love, who I marry, how I live my life. That was my choice, and you stole it from me.”

For a moment, her mother said nothing, the silence stretching between them. Then, finally, she spoke, her voice cold and controlled. “You don’t understand the world, Ayzal. You don’t know the things I have seen, the mistakes I have made. I wasn’t going to let you repeat those mistakes, no matter what.”

Ayzal stared at her mother, feeling a surge of sadness and anger all at once. “I understand more than you think,” she said quietly. “I understand that you have spent your entire life trying to control everything, everyone around you. But you can’t control me anymore. I am done with your lies, with your manipulation. I am done with you.”

Her mother’s eyes widened slightly at the words, a flash of panic crossing her features. “Ayzal, please, I was only trying to—”

“Don’t,” Ayzal interrupted, her voice sharp and final. “Just don’t. I have heard enough. I have had enough. If you can’t be honest with me, if you can’t admit what you did, then there is nothing left to say.”

Her mother stood there, frozen in place, as if trying to process what was happening. For the first time, she seemed at a loss, unable to find the right words to smooth things over, to regain control of the situation. And for the first time, Ayzal felt a sense of power, a sense of control over her own life that she had never felt before.

“I want you to leave,” Ayzal said, her voice trembling slightly, but resolute. “I can’t do this with you here. I need you to go.”

Her mother looked at her, a mixture of shock and disbelief on her face. “Ayzal, please, you don’t mean that—”

“I do,” Ayzal said, cutting her off. “I mean it. I need you to leave. Now.”

For a long moment, her mother simply stood there, as if unable to comprehend what was happening. Then, slowly, she nodded, the expression on her face one of defeat.

___________________________________________

Zayan just outside the door, his heart pounding in his chest as the voices from inside reached his ears. He had been lingering in the hallway, lost in his thoughts, when he caught the sound of Ayzal’s weak voice, trembling as she spoke to her mother. Something in her tone made him stop, his hand frozen on the door handle. He hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but the words that followed compelled him to stay rooted to the spot.

Zayan felt his blood run cold. He leaned closer to the door, his breath caught in his throat. As he heard them, he staggered back, his mind reeling as the pieces began to fall into place. He felt the blood drain from his face as the truth hit him with full force. All this time, he had blamed Ayzal, had harbored such deep resentment towards her, thinking she was somehow responsible for Murad’s death. But now, hearing the truth, the ground beneath him felt like it was crumbling.

His mother-in-law had lied. She had manipulated them all, pulling strings from the shadows, shaping the narrative to fit her own desires. And he had been nothing more than a pawn in her twisted game.

A sudden surge of anger rose within him, a fury so intense that it burned through the shock and disbelief. He couldn’t listen to this any longer, couldn’t stand by while the woman who had caused so much destruction continued to justify her actions. Without thinking, he burst into the room, the door slamming against the wall with a loud thud.