MANAL

55: Manal

"So you thought the best way to go about it, was to lie to your parents? I can't believe this. It's disappointing. Whenever I begin to think you can do no wrong, boom! You come up with something disappointing."

I lowered my head. This was exactly the reason why I didn't tell Ummi in the first place. I knew she was going to be seriously disappointed in me. I couldn't blame her though, because she had high hopes for me. She wanted me to excel in my studies and do well, for myself.

"How many?"

"Tw...two." I stuttered.

Ummi heaved a sigh. "What did you go about doing? What distracted you so much?"

"...I don't know." I replied; my head still lowered. The truth was, I knew exactly what went wrong: I lost focus on my studies and began to hangout with Hala and her friends, instead of spending the time studying. I knew I was wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to confess that to Ummi. I just couldn't. "I'm sorry, Ummi. In Sha Allah, I will try as much as possible not to allow it happen again."

"As you should." She scoffed. "This is so disappointing." She muttered.

I didn't know if her last statement was  not meant for me to hear, but I did hear it, clearly.

I felt sad.

"Does your father know about this too? Have you told him?"

I shook my head. "No. Please don't tell him, Ummi." I beseeched. As it was, Ummi was already disappointed in me. I didn't want Abii to be as well...

"Alright, I won't." Ummi responded.

To say I was astonished, would be an understatement. I didn't expect her to agree so quickly, without any form of persuasion.

"But..." She continued. "It depends on how good your upcoming results would be."

Fair enough.

"Thanks, Ummi." I gave a closed lip smile. "I worked really hard for it. I have no doubts the results would be better."

"Good then."

I turned to leave, but stopped, remembering I promised to visit Jawaad's mum tomorrow and I still hadn't ask for permission from either Ummi or Abii.

I hummed.

Ummi shot me a questionable look.

"Ummi, I...I want to visit Farida tomorrow. Can I?"

"Why? What do you want to visit her for?"

Ummi hadn't changed at all. It was really tiring how she tended to treat me like a kid, almost all of the time. I was already eighteen for Allah's sake.

Am I not old enough to make decisions for myself?

"She's my friend, Ummi. I just want to visit her. It gets really lonely here. I don't have any friends in the neighborhood. I don't go out often either."

"Imran will be back from school soon. He will keep you company, if that's what you want."

Imran?

I snorted.

Ummi really sees me as a kid.

"Since I returned from school, I haven't even stepped a foot out of this house. please, Ummi, I won't be long."

"Who did you say you want to visit again?"

"Farida. My friend from secondary school. You know her."

"Why hasn't the Farida visited you recently? How comes you're always the one visiting her?"

Are all mothers like Ummi?