Once Upon A Lifetime

Chapter Twenty-eight ~ She would never fall in love

Taalia's POV~

Two weeks had passed since I accepted Daiyan's proposal. Our engagement party was set to be in a few days, InshaAllah. Things weren't as hectic as they were with Misha's wedding. We had decided to have a very small engagement party with only mine, Daiyan's, Misha's, Saqib's, and Hamiz's families. The Nikkah would be much bigger since both mine and Daiyan's parents wanted a big wedding.

I had started going to the orphanage and Masjid again but I did not continue with the weekly reading sessions. I resumed my work as a teacher. I had missed over a month of classes since Ramadan ended so they had already filled up my spot for my regular classes. So they gave me a new schedule and my partner was now a female. Today would be my first class with her and I had no idea who she was.

I went to the classroom that evening and was surprised to see Hadeeqa there.

"Asalamu Alaikum, Hadeeqa." I smiled. She turned to face me.

"Wa Alaikum Asalam, Taalia! It has been so long!" She smiled and gave me a hug.

Woah, she has definitely changed, MashaAllah!

"Yes, I know! Where have you been all this time?" I asked, setting my things down on my desk.

"I have recently gone to Saudi Arabia to visit some of my family! I went with my parents and we had such a good time, Alhamdulillah!" She smiled.

"Alhamdulillah! So have you taken on full time here?" She nodded.

"Yes I have! And guess what? The Masjid put me in charge of the next big event to take place here next month, InshaAllah!" I smiled bigger.

"Really?! Wow, MashaAllah! I'm so happy for you!"

"JazakAllah Khayr! Anyway, enough about me. What has been going on with you?"

"Oh, nothing really. Umm, Misha got married last month."

"Really?! To who?!?" She asked eagerly and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you remember Saqib?" Her eyes widened and she squealed with delight.

"Saqib and Misha?! Alhamdulillah! They seem like the perfect match!"

"Oh, they are!" I grinned.

"Oh, how is that Aasim? Misha used to go on and on about how you two are absolutely perfect for each other! Has he proposed yet?" She winked. My smile instantly disappeared and I looked down at my feet.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."

"Hear about what? What's wrong?" Hadeeqa came closer to me and I sighed, looking up at her and fighting back the tears.

"He, umm... he passed away about a month ago from a plane crash." I said quietly. Hadeeqa's face fell.

"What? Really?" I nodded. "I-I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't, you weren't even in Canada when it happened. It's okay now." I said quickly. We were quiet for a while after that.

The kids started coming in and soon we started class. The two hours passed by quickly and after dismissing the students, Hadeeqa finally spoke up.

"So, anything else new with you?" She asked. I smiled at her.

"Haha, continuing the conversation just where we left off." I chuckled. She gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

"So tell me."

"Well, I actually-" Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened and I gasped quietly when I saw Daiyan standing there. "Daiyan?"