It's About Her!

Lifting the Curse

"If this is what you want then this is what will happen. I will help you." he smiled.

"How?" her brow squeezed lightly. Is there a way to cut off a significant part of her forever?

"If you promise to be honest with me with your emotions and thoughts only then will I be able to erase that man of your memory?"

"Hmm." she nodded positively and he smiled.

Shawn got up abruptly and stretched his hands out for her to hold. Zoya glanced at his hands back and forth for a while before slipping her palm in his hold.

*****

Zoya took a deep breath and stared at the entrance of the mosque. She looked back at Shawn who was looking back at her with a smile. Now she understood what he meant by when he asked her to join a place that could restore her peace of mind and soul. His clue was obvious but she was too occupied to understand it.

"Why are we here?" she asked holding the hem of her kurta.

" To find peace."

"Shawn you know I don't come to these places anymore then why did you bring me here." she almost turned when Shawn blocked her way.

"Are you having a fight with him(Allah) as well?" he pointed to the sky in amusement.

"Who am I to fight with him(Allah)? I am too dirty to step inside such a holy place." A far memory of her holding hands with her mother flashed before her eyes and they turned moist.

Shawn mirrored the hurt on her face and he opened his mouth to comfort her when a masculine voice boomed behind them.

"No, you are not dirty."

Zoya and Shawn turned their head towards the man and a look of disbelief passed in both of their orbs. Zoya almost clutched her heart at his glimpse. She looked at him and turned her eyes at Shawn as if cursing Shawn silently for calling Aditya here.

"No Zoya, no one can be dirty before his(Allah) eyes, he is our creator so practically everything we have is his, even our sins." Aditya walked with a slightly leaned head and a smile playing on his lips.

Zoya didn't realize when Aditya has covered all the distance and now he is standing before her.

"If something is really dirty here, then they are those eyes who look at others with dirt." Aditya slips his hand inside his pocket and takes out a handkerchief. He began tying it on his head as he speaks further.

"You know it is kind of disrespecting him to stand outside his(Allah) place and not stepping inside." 

Aditya glanced at Shawn and Shawn smiles back at him all the way replaying how Aditya has come to him a few days ago with tears in his eyes, apologizing to Shawn for his mistakes and asking for his help. Shawn understood then how much Zoya affects Aditya and if it was not for her, he wouldn't have gotten a sorry from this man.

"Come on Zoya. Step in." Shawn encouragingly smiled

Zoya glanced at Shawn and then at Aditya. Her eyes tingled with all the bitter memory that led her to think of why she is not pure enough to visit holy places and how Allah was never on her side. She nodded her head sideways and stepped back. She was almost about to run but Aditya held her hand on time, stopping her from moving.

"If you run away today, you will be not running away from him(Allah), but from your own self. Your belief, your hope, your reason to live, you will run away from all of it. And I won't let that happen."

Aditya turned Zoya by putting his hands on either side of her shoulder. Zoya avoided his admiring gaze on her and tried to look away by all means. Aditya read every expression that passed on her face. He waited for her struggle to die and then he moved his hands to her dupatta and took off her shoulder gently before making a loop of it and placing it around her neck from behind. He then wrapped her head with it. She gasped when she realized what he did. Zoya stared back at Aditya's deep eyes which only held longing for her.