Sher_aine
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INTRODUCTION:
**[Scene: Morning. Fajr. A quiet room with a window.]**
My name is **Maryam**.
But most people just call me *"yung tahimik na babae sa likod"*.
I'm 19. I wear hijab. Not because I was forced to.
But because the day I put it on, I felt like I finally covered what the world didn't deserve to see first - my heart.
People see the hijab and think they already know my story.
*"She's religious."*
*"She can't do this, she can't do that."*
*"She must be boring."*
But they don't see the girl who stays up until 2AM writing stories in her notebook.
The girl who cries during sujood because she doesn't know how else to say *"Ya Allah, I'm tired"*.
The girl who laughs too loud with her cousins, and burns the adobo every single time.
I'm not perfect.
I miss prayers sometimes. I scroll too much. I get jealous, I get angry, I overthink.
But every time I fall, I remember one thing my Umm taught me:
*"Anak, Allah doesn't love perfect people. He loves people who keep coming back."*
So I come back.
To my prayer mat. To my du'a. To myself.
I'm not just a hijabi.
I'm a daughter, a sister, a writer, a mess, a work in progress.
I'm learning to love Allah first, so I won't break when people leave.
I'm learning that my worth isn't in likes, or boys, or how "modern" I look.
It's in how I treat people when no one's watching.
This is me.
Maryam.
A Muslimah who's still figuring it out.
One prayer, one mistake, one sabr at a time.
**[End scene. Sound of adhan in the background.]**
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