In Your Love... {Eternal Ishq #1}

Ch-21 When Nightmare comes alive!

                In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

‘Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon our beloved Prophet and Master Muhammad (s.a.s), all his blessed descendents and noble companions.’

                                                                                       -Aameen.

Dedicated to honeythe1 for being the first to hit the right guess ;)

 

Chapter Twenty-One

When Nightmare comes alive!

 

It was late in the night but Maryam seemed to have forgotten all sense of time as she gazed at the ocean, sitting on the lone chair in her cabin’s balcony. 

Her mind seemed to flash her nineteen years of life before her vacant eyes. It was like watching a phantasmal slideshow changing from one scene to another. The joyous blissful childhood when Sufyaan was to her more than a hero fulfilling all her childish wishes, pouring love and making her his beloved companion.

Next came the scenes of slow rift between their wonderful relationship that grew larger and larger until Maryam believed in her heart that her father really hated her. The years when they became almost like strangers…the cruel years of neglect, hurt, pain and the gnawing loneliness that made her bury more and more into her studies resulting in excellent grades. Yet nobody in her school ever called her a nerd. Maybe it was because of her pretty looks and her sense of humour that made her always accepted everywhere by her peers.

Then the scenes of gradual popularity during her high school and her inclusion in the most popular group during her mother’s illness... It was like a kind gesture of Fate as it was a most welcome distraction. Because if not for her friends’ constant love of getting into scraps or throwing around their weight around school as being da** hot or cool, Maryam didn’t know how she would have coped the mental and emotional turbulence when her mother finally died. And her father even in his grief, had remained distant and aloof.

Then came the exams, counseling, coaching, and more exams…including the much-awaited prom. Finally after the results, the months of feverish excitement, her passion for designing clothes, the trips to modeling schools, people’s frank admiration of her beauty and the most amazing thing, befriending the super model Sophia.

Maryam’s ambitions had grown then, besides fashion designing, she decided to become a model herself. She had started mingling more, the days had not been enough for her learning, the nights became longer as she partied and danced especially with those she knew who would help reach her goal. Until the day came when she was sure she was becoming accepted in the modeling agency…then more hardwork, meeting Joe and the others, celebration, jokes, laughing abandonment until the night came when Sufyaan hit her.

Her threat of leaving him forever and his cold reply…the packing up, the suppressed pain seeping again from the bound, wounded heart as she stood in front of his closed door the next day and finally going to Sophia.

And that turned into a most special day as Sophia and she became closer like never before. For though Maryam had been part of a large group of friends, she unconsciously maintained a distance and didn’t become too intimate with any. Maybe it was the knowledge that the more close you become to a person, the more they had in their power to hurt you. And then, the night had turned into more than special, like a cherished yearning dream coming true…Sophia’s persuasion, going back to her home, seeing her father sobbing like a child over her photo…then their rapturous rapprochement! Ah that had become an unforgettable moment indeed!