TREASURES AND THORNS

Chapter 51

"All that you think is rain is not. Behind the veil angels sometimes weep."
                                    -Rumi
OMNISCIENT
<Shattered>

UNEDITED

Ahmad paced up and down in his room after Isha prayer. He wanted to go to her but he was unsure of how to do that. As he instantly offered her space thinking it was easy. Reality came like a slap on his face. The space was killing him. He wanted to talk...just talk. As he figured space wasn't something he could afford to offer, Ahmad came to a conclusion to go to her. Whatever the problem is, they'd deal with it together, he wouldn't let her suffer alone. He tucked his own feelings away as he made his way out of the room. He had just placed his hands on the door knob when a ringing sound got his attention.

Who could that be? Ahmad thought as he made his way to the phone back. The name on the screen before him did not put a smile on his face rather he sighed
Perhaps he should have ignored it, but curiosity pricked at him.

"Yes.." Ahmad said in to the phone.

"How dare you humiliate me like this?"

"Humiliate you?"

"Yes! I don't care why you do what you do but know this, I will not have it!"

When he saw the call, he thought he knew what it was about however her tone left him feeling unsure.

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"The stunt you pulled last night! How dare you claim that girl so publicly just because of one miserable million? Ahmad in front of 200 people which will turn in to 2000 instantly! Have you lost your sense of reasoning?"

Oh, so that's her problem...this woman is insane!

He remained calm unlike the seething tigress on the other end. "Congratulations Hafsat, Your spies have done a good job! I owe you no explanation especially on issues concerning my wife. I've got husband duties to do, take your bitterness elsewhere."

Ahmad's reply maddened her. What in God's name gave him such audacity?

The girls were right after all. So she hit below the belt, her golden trump card.

"Oh, now I know what this is about, she reminds you of your long lost love, sweet and innocent, sharing the same compassion as you do for orphans. I'm sorry you're still so consumed by your pain, now you're confused about your feelings...You think she's.."

Every sentence she dropped undid the stitches he thought were fully healed, a knot tightened in his gut as he felt bile in his mouth. "Don't.you.dare!" Ahmad's voice was reduced to a whisper but the emotions in them were louder.

He couldn't go back that path again, he had worked to hard to get to where he was. Yet, the ghosts he had buried deep within him, threatened to resurface.

Is there no recovery from this agony?

"You're obsessed with her

because she reminds you of your first love. You are smitten by a figment of your imagination, wake up Ahmad, she is not HALIMA!
The process was complete with that last sentence Hafsat dropped. She was so sure she had him messed up that she didn't wait for his reply. As she dropped the phone, her eyes turned to the watch on her wrist.
Its just a matter of time, he would come running to her.

Halima's passing caused him so much pain, his recovery was in forgetting everything that looked like her or sounded like her.

Hafsat was different so different he was convinced he had fully healed. In a way she had saved him too...but Rukkayya..