Mending Broken Hearts

16. Masterpiece

I loved Noor as a friend, and could never imagine myself having anything but friendly thoughts for her. But I had spent the last month comparing myself to her despite my best efforts not to. Every time I thought of Omar, she came to mind. After all, she was the woman he was so desperately in love with that her rejection made him delay an entire year of surgical training.  

I knew he was over her. I had to believe that. But if Noor was the kind of woman he wanted, I was the complete opposite of it. 

And that realization hurt enough for my heart to keep itself securely locked in its cage. 

"Madi?" Noor's voice brought me out of my own conflicting thoughts. 

"Talk to me. What's on your mind?" she probed gently. 

When I didn't answer, I didn't even know where to start, she reached out and squeezed my hand, "I don't know if Omar is the guy for you, that is for you to decide. But I can tell you one thing for sure, you can trust him with everything, including your heart."

"Why couldn't you?" I blurted out the question that had been on the back of my mind. 

She smiled and sat back, "Because the love story Allah wrote for me was with Salman, not Omar. His story is written with someone else who can love him back as much as he loves her."

You will find someone who will love you as much as you love her. Maybe Noor wasn't the right person, but someone else will be. I had said that to Omar months ago, the night Noor came to the ICU. I wasn't talking about myself back then, but now the thought of anyone else being in love with him felt like daggers plunging into my chest. 

But can he love you the way he loved Noor? A voice within me asked, just like it had on a loop these last few weeks. 

"Why does life always seem so complicated?" I said out loud.

Noor casually shrugged, "Life can also be incredibly unfair, filled with drama and heartache that often lies beyond our control. But in all that, miracles happen every day, and even in life's ugliest parts, there is a hidden beauty."

"So how do you navigate through it all without breaking?" I inquired.

Her sigh carried a sense of wisdom, "By not facing it alone, Madi. I know genuine people are rare. Yet, when you discover that one person who brings true happiness by accepting you for who you are, you hold onto them through thick and thin, as if your life depends on it. Because, in many ways, it truly does."

Only one face and name came to mind when she said who brings true happiness by accepting you for who you are. No matter how hard I tried to push him out I was beginning to realize it was a losing battle. The man, simply an intern who had reluctantly joined my residency program because life handed him lemons, had somehow become the part of my life I couldn't live without. 

I didn't want to live without, even if I could. 

"You're a wise woman," I smiled at my friend. 

"So are you," she smiled back, "which is why I know you'll listen to your heart when the time is right."

My story couldn't have had worse timing, yet, like Noor said I had no choice but to listen to my heart. Because even If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, its the heart that willingly loses itself even in the midst of a crumbling world.