You, my Punishment (Islamic Story)

Chapter 26

I was out of the hospital for a week now. I asked Aneel about what happened to Ibrahim but he ignored me. These past week we were okay. He wasn't so close but wasn't that cold either. He is bipolar, and I guess I was stuck with that.

"Sahra, get ready" Aneel said when I was cleaning the house. I ignored him because I was busy with placing some plants on the drawer but I was such a symmetrical person that it took me a lot to organize it.

"SAHRA" He yelled again and I turned, looking him in the eyes.

"Come on, get ready. We are going to the mall" He said walking away.

When I asked Aneel why we were going to the mall he told me that he wanted to buy me some clothes. I guess he saw that my drawer was almost empty. I was a bit nervous though. I didn't want to embarrass myself and I didn't want him to spend money on me.

"Aneel, where did you get all this money from?" I asked when he forced me to try an expensive dress. I didn't even want to try it on but he shot me a look that gave me no other choice.

"My dad has his own business. We design men clothes and sell them to brands all over the world. Next year I'm going to take over. And well, I was born rich" he said. But.. but why was he involved with a gang then if he had money already? I decided not to ask cause it wasn't the time and place so I went to the changing rooms and tried the dress. It was a long dress, that covered my whole body. It was a little to the tight side, but it wasn't that much that you would see my curves. I threw a last look in the mirror and made my way to let Aneel see. He looked from head to toe and I became a bit uncomfortable.

"And?" I asked him, dying to know if he liked it.

"No" he said. I immediately felt bad. I should've seen it coming. I was not pretty so why would this dress look perfect on me.

"No, it's not that. You look good, but it's a bit tight" I nodded and turned around to change, having rosy cheeks from the compliment he made.

After shopping we went to a restaurant to eat some food. When we were eating in silence. I couldn't take it anymore and broke it.

"Aneel, I want to ask you something" I said. I looked at him and laughed. He looked so cute, eating like a kid with sauce on his chin. I grabbed my napkin and cleaned it.

"Go on" he said after frowning at my cleaning.

"Before, you always said to me 'don't touch me'. Why?" I dared to ask. He stopped with eating.

"Cause... cause Ma-" he didn't continue. It was like he was scared of saying it. He stood up and left money on the table and went out. I looked after him in disbelief before running after him. I reached him and grabbed his arms. It was raining but I didn't care and I was happy that we left the stuff we bought in the car.

"Aneel, wait-" I yelled but he walked very fast. I ran faster and stepped in front of him. He didn't try to run anymore but didn't look at me either.

"I'm sorry, I just-" I couldn't even finish what I was saying.

"Don't you get it?! It is hard for me! Pretending that nothing happened is difficult and it hurts! It hurts to touch you even though it isn't in a romantic way, knowing that I promised, freaking promised the love of my life that I would NEVER- never ever touch another girl" he said walking off to the car. He didn't even wait for me and drove away. My tears were already streaming down. He was making it so hard for me. I wanted to become a good person and make him good too but he wouldn't let me do it. I didn't belong anywhere. Even that voice that always spoke to me and gave me advice didn't talk to me anymore. I sat down on the ground hugging my knees. Worthless. Ugly. Pathetic. Every word they said to me came to my mind. I closed my ears because I could hear them yelling those words to me. I closed my eyes and opened them, feeling that that voice was not going to talk. I looked up and it was then that I saw a hand reaching out to me. When I looked up, I saw that boy from the bus and the mall. That boy who gave me weird feelings.

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Final Editing Done (11-10-2016)