A Journey, Seeking Forever

Chapter 35: Healing takes time

Adil yawned as he closed and pocketed his Quran. He tapped on the screen in front of him and viewed the maps to check the time left for them to reach Bahrain. The flight duration was 6 hours and 43 minutes and they had three hours left to land in Bahrain. He glanced towards the other side, Yazan was sleeping with his head resting on the backrest of the airplane seat whereas Zohra was staring into oblivion out of the airplane window even though there was nothing that could be seen. It was dark, black sky and nothing else. Her eyes, which were once so full of life and her personality that was so bubbly and chatty was all gone. She was alive and breathing, yes, but it looked like she was dead inside. 

Zohra heaved a sigh as if she had been holding on to air for so long and as if she had felt Adil's gaze on her, she turned her head to look at him. He didn't budge. He continued to look at her. There wasn't a word shared between them. But both of them knew there were a lot of unsaid feelings, a lot of uneasiness in the air surrounding them. Adil remembered the moment he was in the plane with her to Dubai when she couldn't contain her excitement upon seeing the Dubai islands and now he was looking at the same Zohra, all kinds of emotions drained from her. His heart burned in rage at Zahir for doing this to her. 

She didn't budge either. Looking at him at that moment made her recollect the day he confessed his feelings for her. The more she looked at him, the more betrayed she felt. After all, she knew what struggle she went through to send that letter. She had known from Yusra that Adil was in Bahrain for a break and with Zahir's constantly watching her moves like a hawk, she had to ask Humera to write a letter on behalf of her and send it to Adil's place and not her parents because she didn't want to risk any chance of getting caught by Zahir. She knew Zahir was tracing her calls to know whether she was speaking anything about him to anyone but she didn't know if he was keeping an eye on the mail too so, she took an extra step to be careful. And it was when months passed and no reply came, she knew she had to start living with the reality of her life.

Their eye contact broke only when the air-hostess drew her food trolley between them asking for their meal preferences - chicken or veg. He rested his head on the backrest of his seat as he shut his eyes close. As time passed and He could make out the twinkling streetlights of the city of Bahrain, He wondered why did Zohra had to go through this much? Why did Allah write so much pain in her Qadr, destiny, and then, almost as if a sort of redirection occurred in his mind as he remembered what Allah mentioned in His book, Allah doesn't burden a soul beyond it can bear. 

*************************

Zohra stepped out of the airport carrying the luggage trolly and breathed in the warm yet breezy night air of Bahrain and felt relieved. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders as she walked towards Zukroof and Yusra leaving her traumatic past behind. 

Zukroof couldn't control as tears coming gushing out of her eyes upon seeing Zohra. She enveloped Zohra in her arms and smothered her face with kisses. "Oh Zohra, Oh habeebti, what did he do to you?" She cupped her face in her palms, it looked drained of color with dull, sunken eyes holding an amalgamation of sad and happy tears. 

Zohra gave a pressed smile and moved her gaze towards Yusra. Yusra stood still in front of her not believing herself that the woman donned in black jilbab was really her twin sister. Zohra initiated the hug and Yusra held her tighter. It was when Yusra's arms circled around Zohra's body, Yusra realized how much skinnier Zohra had become. She could literally feel Zohra's bones.  

Yusra broke the hug and rested her hand on Zohra's cheek. They didn't have to say much to each other or even about how much they have missed each other's company. Yusra smiled sympathetically, "Welcome home". Zohra nodded in response as a tear escaped her eye, suddenly feeling more than grateful for her family.