The Nearest Heaven

Part 6 - Breaking Walls

Part 6 -Breaking Walls

"It is only those who believe not in the Ayah (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars."

~Surah Nahl, verse 105

"Nearly died?" Fadiyah echoed. "They tried to kill you!" she said hysterically. "Someone tried to kill you!"

Faraaz smiled at her calmly, waiting for her to process everything. He had had more than enough time to work through the betrayal, the anger, the disappointment. He knew that he would have to give her even more time when she figures out who tried to kill him. "I know," he said quietly.

She looked up at him, tears were glistening in her eyes. She was close to tears and it looked as if she was trying to hold back the tears. "Can I continue?" he asked, the smile nearly faded from his face.

When she nodded, he shot her a smile and spoke on. "The night was slightly cold, I remember that. Apart from my haste to get to the venue on time. I remember how I complained how the cold was going to make Zuhara annoyed because she wanted everything to be perfect, and the cold weather hadn't made an appearance in her idea of perfect. She had dreamed about every second of her engagement and wedding from the time I met her. In fact, she had plans for every second of her honeymoon as well.

"When I was younger, I always thought that I wanted a woman who knew what she wanted out of life. And at the time when I met Zuhara, I thought that she was everything that I wanted. She had ticked all my boxes for what I wanted in life, for what I wanted in my wife. But, after my accident, I realise that I hope to never raise a daughter like her. It would be an embarrassment to me, a letdown." The dislike, the anger he held towards Zuhara was evident in his manner of speech. Fadiyah couldn't ignore the way he spoke of her. It was as if he regretted every minute he spent with her.

He then locked eyes with Fadiyah. "The past year that I spent alone, I realised that I never want someone like her. I don't want someone like her. But then again, who would marry a crippled man? Who would marry a man like me? Who would marry me?"

Fadiyah's immediate reaction was to reply positively, but this was the one instance where she couldn't. She knew what would happen if she had to answer. People would accuse her of malicious things. "People don't realise that Islam says a man should marry a woman for four things. Her wealth, her status, her beauty and her religion, and that you should marry her for her religion. But that applies both ways. Marrying for their level of Imaan is so important. So, to me, personally, I don't care how my husband looks, but if he has a high level of imaan, I would marry him immediately."

He smiled at her. "Not everyone is as kind as you, and not everyone has as pure intentions as you, Fadiyah. I hope that no one ever taints the vision you have of the world. I hope that you never have the face the true horrors of this cruel world." Faraaz believed that Fadiyah was truly too kind, too pure to be in the cruelty of this world, worst was that she was associating herself with him, which meant that she was bound to be hurt. He didn't want her to be tangled up with him and his psychotic family, but he was also too selfish to tell her to leave him and to never come back. Faraaz didn't want to let go of the light that had entered his life. Like Beast from Beauty and The Beast, Faraaz believed that Fadiyah was the one who could help him to break his spell of misery. Yet, he knew it was unfair to place such a burden on her, to expect her to be the one to be responsible for his happiness.

She blushed and looked away. "I am not as kind as you think I am. And I already know how horrible this world is," she whispered softly.

He snorted. "We will agree to disagree," he smiled. "Anyway, what happened was that I ran to the car because it was raining heavily. I didn't want to wet my suit too much, I was worried that it was custom made and that the rain would damage it because it was too expensive." Faraaz pulled a face as if he were disgusted at his past self. Fadiyah wanted to smile, but she hid it, knowing that Faraaz was opening up to her and it was a difficult thing to do. If he caught her smiling it would be as if she were laughing at him.