You, my Punishment (Islamic Story)

Chapter 51

She hugged me very tightly and because I wasn't used to it, it made me feel different. Better. She let go and went into the house with her big bag.

"Wow, nice house" she said smiling up at me. I smiled back, not really knowing what to say.

"So, I am Masara. I am married to this idiot Hamza, don't ask me why" she said, trying to break the ice. I smiled and mentioned to her to sit down.

"You really look beautiful in that abaya and scarf" I said quietly. I didn't know where it came from. I really didn't, but I needed to say it. I felt the need to start a conversation even though she was already talking.

"Oh, really? Thank you. Well, I wasn't like this before. I mean, before marrying Hamza" she said looking away. I got curious but decided not to ask further since I didn't know her.

"Are you hungry? Or do you want to drink something?" I asked standing up.

"I am not hungry, thanks, but I would like to have some tea" she said and I nodded. I went to the kitchen to make some tea.

"So, how long have you been married to Aneel?" she asked. I thought for a moment.

"I guess six months now" I said not looking up at her. I just could feel her nod.

"You're really quiet, aren't you?" she said. I looked up at her, trying to find out if she meant it in a bad way, but couldn't see anything.

"Yeah, I mean.. I've never really had someone to talk to, other than Aneel" I said smiling a bit. I didn't want to look up at her face. I didn't want to see guilt.

"Oh, I know what you mean. Come on, hurry up I am going to tell you my love story" she said grabbing the cups of tea when I was taking out some cookies. We went to the living room and sat down.

"So, I was this bad girl. The darkness of the family. Everyone was perfect, except for me. I was this badass girl who never gave a damn about anything. I went out, hung out with everyone, smoked- did everything. I was muslim by name. I never knew how to pray or how to fast. The only thing I knew was not eating pork and not giving the only thing I have to someone else. Not that I would've given it anyways. But one day, I had this friend who was a boy. We were hanging out and then this boy came up to us. He was my friend's friend" she said looking like she was living it all again When she came back to senses she laughed at me.

"Sorry. Anyways, this guy talked with my friend, but I was talking something important with him too so I just yelled at him for 'being an idiot for interrupting', so we argued. He said stuff, I said stuff but he was the whole time calm. He never swore at me or said something inappropriate. That made me really mad so I just pushed and pushed. After a while he just shook his head ignoring me and walked away. I had never experienced something like that before, that's why I was thinking about it the whole time. A few days later, my brother came up to me and said that a guy asked my hand in marriage. I was really shocked, because I never thought someone would want to marry me. I had these dreams and stuff too but I had never hope. I just knew no one would want me, because I was the bad one. I had a bad reputation. So I decided to meet the guy who wanted to marry me, I mean why would he want to marry a messed up girl, right? So I went to meet him, and guess who it was?" she said looking at me mysterically. I thought for a moment. How was I supposed to know? She just smiled at me.

"It was Hamza! When I saw him, you should've seen my face! I first thought he joked but when I saw his expression I knew he was serious. So the first thing I said then was 'why?' and he just laughed at me" she said smiling. I smiled too, being curious to his reason.

"Why?" I asked her to carry on.

"He said that he was seeing me every night in his dreams. He said he saw the good in me but it was very deep and needed a light to be found. So we talked for a few weeks and I accepted his proposal. When we were married, we talked a lot. Really, a lot. He inspired me. He told me things I never knew about this religion. He made me believe in Allah. And Alhamdulillah, that Allah sent him to me" she said. Wow.. that was really beautiful. I thought immediately about me and Aneel. Will he ever change too..