A Muslim's Past [COMPLETED]

Chapter 19

Amrah's POV

It seemed like years before Hasnain finally replied and we decided to meet up. I was glad today was fairly warm for a spring day in England. I saw Hasnain before he saw me. He had his back to me and he was kicking his right shoe against the wall.

"You're going to scuff your shoes like that." He turned around and my heart skipped a beat. He had the kind of the smile that just made you feel happy to be alive. Don't get me wrong I was still mad at him for punching Atif. How dare he do that? But just being around him made me feel as if everything would be all right. I shook my head, these thoughts weren't good.

"Why are you shaking your head?" I blushed but he didn't seem to notice.

We started talking about everything and somehow the conversation turned pretty quick to Aminah and Atif.

"Look, I'm sorry for punching Atif. I didn't mean for it to escalate so much. But Aminah means the world to me. Ami is my only sister. My family and I have always been protective of her. She is the only girl in our family. I don't even have any female cousin so everyone's attention had always been focused on Ami."

Hearing Hasnain talk about his family like that made me sad when I thought about my family.

"My family isn't like that. My family life isn't all flowers and chocolates. They've done things to me, that I can't ever forget. I have forgiven them, but whenever I speak to them, it's always there at the back of my mind. It's not something that I am ever going to forget and it's not something I like to talk about it either. But sometimes, it makes me mad, when they try to act like they care about me. The thing is they don't, it's just they feel like they have a moral obligation to be kind and caring towards me. Do you know what the worst part of it is? They don't even understand how much they have hurt me. And I'm scared to tell them. Because they might not care. " My voice came to a halt and I stopped.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things. Can you forget I ever said anything?"

"Look, I won't mention it to anyone. I don't know what they did to hurt you, but you've given them a second chance. Holding a grudge after you accept an apology isn't really accepting the apology. Sometimes people have a hard time expressing affection. "

"They have a very strange way of showing it," I mocked.

"I can't speak for the rest of your family, but I know Atif. He is always talking about how you're so smart and brainy and how he knows you'll get far in life. He also said that he will never get anywhere near as far as you in life or anything for that matter. He respects you and cares for you a lot. People have difficulty showing that, especially boys. We're not like you girls. We don't feel the need for all the fanciness of friendship or love; we just know it's there. There is never any need for us to reinforce it, so we don't. " We stood in silence for a few minutes until I broke it.

"Have you spoke to Atif?" He took a deep breath and hesitated before he spoke,

"Yes, and no. I am going to go speak to him tomorrow in person tomorrow. I just wish he'd told me. " He was looking down at his fingers and started fidgeting. There was something he wasn't telling me, but I didn't think it was worth it to push it.

"I know what you mean," I paused before continuing,

"What about your sister? What is her place in this?" I turned to look at him and he averted his gaze,

"I don't know, I haven't exactly mentioned anything to her." I felt annoyance at that,

"So my cousin is entirely to blame and your sister is entirely innocent in this." I could tell he was thinking about what to say next,