A tale of love, loss, and new beginnings.
Hareem wants to start over, Momin is stuck in the past. Can a newly wedded couple learn to love and accept one another while also dealing with an uncertain future and a haunting past?
Trigger warning: ptsd...
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Chapter Thirty Seven
No one said it, but it was all she could hear when she entered the classroom early the next morning.
Hushed whispers and stares tracked her as she walked to her seat. A shiver went down her spine when she noticed someone measuring her from top to bottom, noting each and every part of her attire, belongings and body figure. A handful of her classmates from her major, who were usually friendly with her, looked at her with a combination of awe, disgust and surprise.
Hareem bit the inside of her cheek. Was their behaviour related to what had happened yesterday?
Taking a seat in the first row, Hareem turned her back on the staring faces and slid out her phone, checking to see if Momin had sent her any good morning texts. He had texted her late last night, saying Shabba Khair/Good night, and had said that he would text her in the morning.
Finding no new notifications, Hareem started to put away her phone at the same time as a silence filled the room.
She raised her head to look towards the entrance, connecting her eyes with familiar warm brown ones. Her heart fell to her stomach as she looked at the face of the person she had trusted blindly.
Gulping the knot in her throat, Hareem looked away. She could feel stares boring into her as Aima took conscious steps towards her before stopping across her desk. Holding her breath, Hareem looked at her classmates from the corner of her eyes, noticing how they stared at them expectantly.
She wasn't sure what her classmates were thinking, but she could assume they knew she and Aima had gotten into a fight that had eventually led her into running down the hallways in a tattered state.
Who did they think was at fault, she wondered? Did they think it was Aima because she was the one chasing and apologizing to her? Or did they think she was for not forgiving the woman who had become a trajectory of change in her life?
"Hareem, can we talk?" Aima softly cajoled, tapping lightly on Hareem's desk.
Hareem dared herself to lift her head to lock eyes with Aima, feeling a rush of emotions that reminded her of everything Elena and Aima had in common.
After the incident on the stage, Elena had approached her similarly, but in a more bold fashion. She had told her that whatever she had done was for Hareem's good, she had done it to protect her from attaching her heart to someone she would never get.
Her jaw tightened as she quickly surveyed the room, seeing familiar faces mimic the same expressions her high school classmates had shown. Expressions of disgust, annoyance and some of anticipation, anticipation and excitement to see what would go down between two contrasting personalities in a dual of raw emotions and love.
Her eyes filled up with tears, the strength in her diminishing as once again she felt like a speck of dust others easily stepped on.
She had made a mistake, she thought, the mistake of stepping out of her shell to explore and learn. She shouldn't have done that knowing how unworthy she was. She shouldn't have dared to think that anyone needed her to step out, that anyone would hold her hand when she was no longer protected by her shell.
