Take off your Hijab (Rewriting)

Traveling Down Memory lane ✅

"There will come a day by which you will look back at it all and see that what broke you only made you stronger"

Third Person's POV

Amal glanced down at her trembling hands, forcing herself to keep her breaths even. The buzzing in her ears drowned out her sister's voice, but she could still make out the determination in Azad's gaze.

"You can do it," Azad repeated firmly.

Amal's gaze flickered to the stage where rows of seats were arranged neatly, awaiting the graduates. The thought of walking up there, of being seen—exposed—made her stomach churn. "No, I can't," she whispered, barely audible.

Azad's smile tightened, a hint of frustration lining her features, but her eyes remained soft. "Well, you didn't just make me fly all the way from England to America for you to bail on me now."

"I didn't make you come," Amal argued, a hint of defiance sneaking into her tone. "You chose to."

Azad let out a sigh, shaking her head. "Yeah, I chose to. Because it's your big day, dummy. So, go sit back down and get ready to walk across that stage."

Before Amal could respond, her nephew—Azad's toddler son—reached his chubby arms towards her, babbling nonsense with a gummy smile. The sight made something inside Amal soften. Little Ali barely knew her, yet the bond between them was immediate. Perhaps the innocence of children held the power to see past all the messiness that adults carried with them.

"Give him to me," Amal said quickly, almost desperately. She wanted to hold him, to anchor herself, to use him as a shield from the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside her.

"Nope!" Azad hugged Ali closer, the baby boy squirming with laughter. "Nice try. But you're not using my son as an excuse to avoid your own graduation."

"Azad—"

"No," Azad cut her off gently but firmly. "We'll be right here, cheering for you."

"'We'?" Amal's voice shot up an octave, her eyes wide. "Who's 'we'?"

Azad's lips twitched in amusement. "Oh, you know, just a couple of aunts, uncles, and cousins."

"What?!" Amal spluttered. "Why—Why are they all here? I'm not getting married!"

Azad chuckled, a small nostalgic smile tugging at her lips. "If you think this is bad, you should've seen what they did at my graduation."

"What happened?" Amal asked, curiosity momentarily displacing her anxiety. She hadn't been able to attend Azad's graduation, having to accompany their mother on an emergency trip to visit family in Syria. It was a regret she carried with her—one of many.

Azad's eyes grew distant, the memory clouding them with both fondness and pain. But she shook it off, refocusing on Amal. "Doesn't matter. Today is your day. Now go, before they notice that their very own valedictorian is missing."

Valedictorian. The word alone held a weight that felt too heavy on her shoulders. Her heart pounded as she stared at Azad, seeing not just a sister, but a lifeline. She leaned forward abruptly, pressing a kiss to her nephew's chubby cheek, making the little boy giggle in delight.

Before she knew it, she was embracing both Azad and Ali squeezing her eyes shut as she whispered, "Thank you."

Azad made a soft, surprised sound, but she returned the hug fiercely. "I'm so proud of you, sister."

Amal pulled away, nodding more to herself than to Azad, and then spun around, legs carrying her forward before her mind could process the action. As she ran down the hallway towards the stage, a small voice at the back of her mind whispered that she was doing it scared, but she was doing it. And For the first time, that felt like enough.