Hijabi Not in Distress

Chapter 34

Continuation of Flashback (3 years ago):

Ahmed's POV:

Did I mean what I said? Yes, of course, I did. I love her so much that I get nervous when I'm around her. My heart races when I'm within 10 feet of her. Her smile, her laugh, her snarky comments. I love all of it.

Now, I just had to figure out how to tell Sairah I'm sorry and that I never called her back because I was too embarrassed to face her after all the things I said... and regretted. I couldn't believe that my own dad-

"Dad!" I call out as I enter my house.

"Ah, Ahmed. It's good to see you son but you should be in New York."

"Yea I know but we had an extended vacation." I explain.

"Still, New York is your new home now. You can't keep running back to your past in LA or you'll never find your future." He picks up a news paper and straightens his suit.

I scoff at my dad. "Why are you so keen on me 'finding myself' in New York." I decide to confront my dad. "Is it because you feel guilty about something?"

"Son anything I do, is because I care about you." He sighs and studies me. "As for feeling guilty, I have no such emotion." He walks away picking up his coffee cup from the counter.

"Dad!" I follow him to the kitchen. "How could you say you care about your son and push him away from the one person he loves the most?" I try to make my voice steady.

"Ahmed," my dad sighs giving me a tired look. "If you really loved her you wouldn't have doubted her in the first place. But you did." He tilts his head to the side and gives me a pitiful smile. "Anyways, let's not ruin the mood with such trivial matters."

I'm stunned by his words. I feel angry at him but moreover I'm angry at myself. He was right. I doubted Sairah so easily. And I felt so incredibly guilty for that. "How could you?" I look my dad in the eyes trying to find some emotion. "How could you hurt your own son like that?"

My dad rolls his eyes, "now's not the time to play Romeo. It's time to talk about your future at NYU."

"Sairah was my future!" I couldn't control my anger. "She still is! And she always will be!"

My dad just laughs. "Son, your future with her would be beneath you. Sairah had potential but I feel that her ranking-"

"Enough Dad!" I couldn't believe his words. "You should be ashamed for what you did. And Sairah isn't someone who uses people for their money."

"In that case you should feel ashamed, too." My dad takes a sip of his coffee. "Well I mean I was the one who gave the gun, but you pulled the trigger. Ending your "young love". " He rolls his eyes as if love was an immature thing.

I opened my mouth to say something but once again he was right. I'm the one who hurt her, not my dad. Sure he was part of it, but I was the one who rubbed salt in her wound. "Well at least I have the decency to fix things." I narrow my eyes at my dad.

"Fix things? How?" He raises an eyebrow and was genuinely curious.

"I'll tell her how you managed to edit the video and that I-"

"She already knows that." My dad cuts in flatly. "You're going to have to try harder." He pats his hand on my chest and gives me a tight smile walking away.

"I'll tell her how I'm sorry and that I love her." I say following my dad.

"She knows that, too. Why do you think it hurt her more?" My dad looks over his shoulder.