Damsel In Distress (COMPLETED✓)

CHAPTER: 79 | THE ECLIPSE (PART-4)

Allah Almighty, the creator of all creators, created this world—a world full of beauty so vividly exquisite that people can't stop writing poetry, singing praises, and capturing it in pictures, paintings, and scriptures. He gave us the sun, the moon, and the stars; the sky and the earth; the rivers, oceans, and lakes; the flora and fauna. The beauty of this world is so captivating that humans can't help but fall in love with it.

However, Allah says in the Qur'an that the world is a deception. He advises us not to get attached to this world and warns us that the world is meant to break our hearts.

Despite knowing better, people fall in love with each other all the time; they get attached and they get their hearts broken. The loss or absence of a loved one feels like the end of the world. But it's not.

Contrary to what poets and their poems claim, nobody dies or stops breathing when they lose someone. Whether they leave this world or walk out of our lives, life goes on, with or without them. However, they leave a void behind—an emptiness, a hollow abyss that is dark and lonely, a place where living, breathing souls die every day, a million times, over and over again. Yet, they survive.

Because people don't die of pain and suffering. They learn to live with it.

Life doesn't wait for anyone. The world doesn't stop. The earth has no choice but to revolve around the sun, just as humans have no choice but to live, whether they like it or not, whether they feel like it or not.

It had been two weeks since Laiba's departure and three days since Sarah's unsuccessful visit to the town.

She realized her mistake and apologized to her father, mending their relationship the very next day, but she was hurt by Laiba's behavior. She had defied her father, broken rules, and bent her morals just to meet her. And what did she do? She didn't even let her in. It had broken her heart.

Her best friend had broken her heart, and it was more painful than any heartbreak she had known.

Zeeshan told his elders everything that had happened in the town. They were now certain that they made the right call by not getting involved. By not letting Sarah in, Laiba had clearly given the message that she didn't want to hear from any of them.

Everything now depended on Aariz, and he was... another story.

He was salty for two straight days about being sent to Melbourne against his will, and during those two days, he refused to talk to his mother or anyone who tried calling him. He locked himself in his bedroom and spent his time doing God knows what. Zainab Othman informed her husband about this, and he told her it was better for him to be locked up in her house than being in a place where they can't keep an eye on him.

One morning, Zainab Othman invited Veronica for brunch and they were gossiping over a cup of tea when they heard him descending the stairs.

Veronica was on her feet, "Aariz!" She rushed to him, "How are you??" She opened her arms and was about to go for a hug when he stepped away.

She paused, her smile wavering, her hands still outstretched before her.

Aariz didn't know why he did that. Or perhaps, he just didn't want to acknowledge why he did it.

Laiba had once criticized him for letting Veronica hug him and that conversation had popped in his mind out of nowhere like an alert message. And his body had involuntarily moved in that instant without his say.

"Okay..." Veronica dropped her hands, "That wasn't rude at all." She tried to cover up with sarcasm but it was clear that it had offended her.

Aariz scratched his head and rubbed his temple, trying to erase those images of her messages from his mind.