A tale of love, loss, and new beginnings.
Hareem wants to start over, Momin is stuck in the past. Can a newly wedded couple learn to love and accept one another while also dealing with an uncertain future and a haunting past?
Trigger warning: ptsd...
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Chapter Six
Hareem's red rimmed eyes and downcast face didn't go unnoticed the next morning.
"Why the long face?" Aima asked her, hooking her arm with Hareem's as they walked parallel to the college grounds.
It had been easier to hide her crying session from the day before, from her family. Only her mother had noticed and questioned her at breakfast, to which she had merely said that she had been using her cellphone a lot lately. She was pathetic at lying and making excuses, but they seemed to work with her family.
"It's not long," she commented. "It's round." Her attempt at humor was dry.
"Ha ha. Who knew the shy little bunny could joke?"
"I certainly can when I want to," she said with a tiny smile.
As they passed by a group of girls, loud laughing caught their attention. The girls seemed to be looking in their direction. Hareem's body grew stiff, and traces of glee that were present on her face vanished.
"They're laughing at us," she announced.
"What? No," Aima assured. "They must be laughing about something else." Hareem shook her head, determined.
Back in high school, this was a common occurrence. She was used to differentiating when someone laughed among themselves and when the laughter was pointed at her. Her heart fell to the pit of her stomach, why were they laughing at her? No one here knew her secrets. Was it her appearance? They were laughing at her body; how her bag bounced against her bulging back, how her enormous stomach formed a curve in the front of her kameez or how her hijab failed to hide her double-chin.
"I'm sorry," Hareem announced in a whisper.
"Whatever for?" She only shook her head, unable to say the words. "Oh please Hareem, they weren't laughing at us, and if I had felt that they were, I would have introduced them to my fist." Hareem glanced towards her. "Kidding."
As they turned towards the building where their class was going to be held in fifteen minutes, Aima boldly asked, "Hareem, are you always this insecure?"
Taken aback, she stared at Aima, who wiggled her eyebrows, waiting for a response.
"Um, I don't.." She searched the ground. She didn't want to discuss her feelings with anyone.
"Don't want to talk about it? Oh. It's alright then. I'll always be here if you want to talk," Aima announced, placing a gentle hand on Hareem's shoulder. "You can trust me with your deep dark secrets." The sentence came out playful and like a joke.
Hareem only managed to nod with a pasted smile. How could she tell her friend that she still couldn't come to trust her fully? That as soon as she started progressing forward, she was stung with the same pains as in the past?
