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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It can't be.
"No I'm sorry. I can't do this," Hareem announced, shaking her head for emphasis.
"It's okay, you don't have to if you don't want to," Aima assured, patting Hareem's arm. "You can talk to Narissa and she'll probably understand." Hareem gently nodded.
News had come that Dur-e-Najaf, the club member who was to give a short presentation in their coming tutorial would be unable to appear on the D-day, so Narissa had mutually decided with the others that Hareem would be taking Dur-e-Najaf's place.
"I just can't step on a stage," Hareem told nervously. "I decided long ago that I wouldn't, ever." Aima nodded in understanding.
"Don't worry Hareem, Narissa can't force you, and I have your back, I promise," she offered a smile, which Hareem tried to return.
Both of them were in the club room on that Thursday afternoon. They were finishing up the costumes for the play which would be used in their history club tutorial. Hareem sat across the window, sewing the buttons of the dress, while Aima sat nearby, cutting off loose threads from the dresses prepared.
They raised their heads as the club room door opened and Narissa herself entered.
"Oh Hareem. Assalamu Allykum," she greeted with a smile. "I was meaning to talk to you." She looked towards Aima. "Did you tell her about our decision?" Aima hesitantly nodded.
"Well, of course, we all do. But like I said earlier, this is an all-girls college, you don't need to worry about anything. And once you're on that stage, everything becomes fine."
"No," Hareem halted. "I won't do it." Narissa frowned.
"Hareem, everyone except you has their part in the presentation."
"And that is why I made all the costumes and charts," Hareem defended desperately. Narissa wouldn't understand.
"I know," she calmly replied. "but a single person can't do two acts now, can they? All of us have been a part of this club for more than two years now, but you joined only a few weeks ago. You still have to prove your worth." There was something in Narissa's words or in how she spoke them that stirred something inside Hareem, and she did what she couldn't have ever thought she would do.
She tossed aside the dress she had been working on and reached for her bag.
"I did what I thought was right. But I won't stay even a second longer in a place where I have to show my worth," she firmly informed, before she began to walk away.
