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 Thirty One
Momin winced as the cold ice pack made contact with his swollen jaw.
"It may hurt, but it will bring the swelling down," the paramedic informed him, wrapping a gauze on his hand.
"Thanks bhai." Momin whispered to the paramedic as he finished up and went to check on Zawiyar again.
When Zawiyar had fell unconscious, Elena, the fiance panicked and called the police as well as 1122. The paramedics had rushed in within a few minutes to revive the young man, who now lay on a couch, an ice pack on his swollen nose and his eyes focused on Elena who was sending menacing looks at Momin.
Momin sighed to himself. The police had already taken his statement about the domestic disturbance, and now they were following up with Rafique, the owner of the house. Momin knew he wouldn't be formally charged for such a minor occurrence, yet the inspector had called his parents anyway, who would surely charge and prosecute him.
He didn't regret getting into a fight with Zawiyar, or about threatening him, but he did regret hitting him so hard that the drama unfolded. His mother had been on his case since yesterday when he had returned home in a bad mood, she would be furious when she arrived at the scene today.
Yesterday she had pestered him for an hour straight, trying to get the truth out of him of where he had been and why he was limping. He had ended up dismissing his bad mood with the excuse that he missed Hareem, which was exactly what his mother needed to hear because for her, Hareem was the daughter she had always wanted. Her questions had completely shifted to teasing comments and loving assurances that did nothing to soothe him, but got her off his back.
He had left the house that morning with the excuse that he had to pick up something from the local mall for Hareem. It wasn't entirely a lie, because he had picked up a keychain with a little plaster flower on it. It was the first thing he had seen hanging at the cash register. If he hadn't been feeling the way he was, he was sure he would have put more thought into the souvenir, instead of being in and out of the store within a couple of minutes.
His breath hitched as he saw his parents' car pull up in the driveway. His father hadn't even parked the car before his mother rushed out and in through the wide door of the drawing room.
"Momin!" his mother shrieked. "What happened?" Her hands went all over him, checking for injuries despite the paramedic having tended to him.
"I'm okay," he told his mother, grabbing her hands to pull her close. "I had a disagreement, that's all."
"Disagreement? You call this a disagreement? The police are here Momin!"
She sat down next to him on the couch, her fiery eyes widely looking around the room at Zawiyar, Elena and the handful of police officers, taking it all in and making sense of it.
