Bookworms | ✔

sixty-five

Nicholas's eyes widened as he read the cover page of his former university's newspaper, his wife's name in bold. His eyes eagerly read the contents that caused an uproar on campus, making headlines in local and regional papers, the link to the article quickly being shared on social media and erupting into a fury of hashtags and retweets. 

Dina exposed those who abused their positions, men and women that took advantage of people in the eye of greed, people like his parents. Although she did not target anyone specifically, he knew part of the editorial stemmed from his interactions with them and the stories he told her.

In effortless elegance, Dina weaved the roars of injustice across blank, unwritten truths, carefully displaying America's superiority complex by using business as an example, a small note amongst a series of heartaches.

He admired his wife for her diligence to speak the truth when those around her sought to bury other under falsehood, shrouded by the sheer veil of lies and sticky smiles. Her narrative was more than just her story; it was another's as well. Being a student journalist did not limit her in the slightest. 

"Damn," he muttered, stroking his chin. Small hairs bristled against his fingertips. "You really didn't hold back."

Dina hit her head against the coffee table from her seated position on the floor, a curtain of black falling around her. He could have sworn that he saw the steam of her dissatisfaction arise from her empty breaths, a groan escaping her.  

She finally moved in with him since Elijah was off to be with his girlfriend in their new apartment together. Nicholas heard about the campus article that trashed the world of business, but he didn't really understand the situation till Dina grudgingly showed him her article as if she was ashamed. 

He chuckled from the couch, where he sat cross-legged. "You're overreacting," he said, smiling. "This is a really great editorial MashAllah (God has willed it). You should be proud of yourself instead of moping."

She lifted her head, brown eyes glaring daggers at him. "Proud?" she questioned, humorlessly. "This whole state is going to come after me for writing this. I'm going to be a villain because of my opinion."

His brows furrowed. "That makes zero sense. This is an editorial. Opinion is exactly the whole point of this type of article."

"Say it louder for the rest of the world. I don't think they heard you."

"Gladly."

"That was sarcasm, Nemo."

Nicholas rolled his eyes, knowing the stubbornness of Dina all too well. When she was infuriated, her sarcasm had no limits, finding dry humor in everything regardless of the situation. It was her coping mechanism, her way of making light of failure, or in this case criticism. 

There was nothing wrong with Dina's article, facts shadowed every sentence, statistics followed every punctuation, and her writing styles weaved through the gaps, tying a fantasy of economics to the reality of corporations. Instead of wallowing in her own dissatisfaction, she chose to make a difference, and in return she was punished for it. 

"How did the students take it?" he asked, bringing his coffee cup to his lips. "I'm assuming they were livid."

"How did you know?" she smiled so sweetly that it felt bitter. 

He winced. "Easy, there."

"I can't believe they got so angry with me. I wrote it for the school's paper, nothing more, and it's not like I was going after certain CEOs or anything. Shouldn't they be praising me for speaking out about power abuse?"