Pure At Heart

Pure At Heart (11) Nice to see you again

 "If the world was free of problems, paradise would lose its value." -Mufti Menk

                                                  -----------------

"Cousins", I repeated. He gave me a weird look but then nodded. I glanced at Dylan but his usual smirk hadn't returned yet. He was still in shock to see me standing with him. It had almost been 3 years now since i had seen him last, and all those nights i prayed to never see him again. Why did he have to come back in my life? I didn't know what the future held for me but i sure knew it was worst than what was already going on. If i dont tell Zayd now, i might end up living on the streets. So much can happen if Zayd doesn't find out. But, a lot can happen if he does. He might divorce me and hate me for rest of my life. He can accuse me of so much. But if i understood all his flaws and loved him even when he told me about his past, then so should he. And if he doesnt, then maybe he's not worth it. Maybe he's not worth anything.

"How's your college going Maryan?", Zayd asked her, sensing the awkwardness of our group of four. She suddenly looked back at Zayd since she was staring at me for the last 2 minutes.

"Its going awesome. I made some new friends.. i love it", she said. I didn't want to stand anymore with them. I walked away and moments later, i decided to go up to my room. I locked the door and sat on the bed, taking the current situations in. Dylan and Maryan were Zayd's cousin. They were going to stay over for a week. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I took my hijab off and let my hair loose. I took my earrings, the bracelets and all the rings off and threw them on the bed. It was a little hard for me to feel better at the moment. Dylan didn't have any sympathy for me, of course. And to take his revenge and make things worst for me, he could be telling Zayd everything about me right now. If not now, he will do it soon. His life goal is to make me lose in whatever i do. I had no idea what to do. I didn't want to tell Zayd, but i had too. I knew exactly what would happen if i didn't tell him. Dylan and Maryan will be after me this whole week. I just had to make sure to stay out of their sight the whole week. No one could know that we knew each other. Especially Zayd.

I didn't want to go outside anymore and the party was about to end anyway. So i changed my clothes, freshened up and curled up on the bed, pulling the blankets on me. I was in middle of the sleeping-but-awake situation when i heard the door open. It was Zayd. He came up to me and touched my forehead to see if i had fever.

"Hamna", I heard his quiet voice. I opened my eyes to see him sitting right beside me, his hand on my arm. "What happened?"

I shook my head. "My head started to hurt suddenly. I should've told you", i sat sitting up. He rubbed my upper hand gently. "It's ok. Go back to sleep. I just came to see if you were ok. We were actually about to watch something on the TV so i thought i'd come see if you want to come. Goodnight", he put the blanket back on me before turning the lamp off. I heard him walk outside and close the door. I was glad they were having fun. Wish i could have fun too.

About an hour later i woke up by the sound of someone knocking on the door. Thinking it was Zayd i told him to come in. Unfortunately, it wasn't Zayd. It was Maryan. I quickly sat up when i saw her. She turned the lights on and had her trademark evil smirk. A 2 second memory slideshow played in my head as everything came back to me. How she had kicked me; how she was sending me to Africa.

"You should know your limits Maryan. You cant come in here whenever you want", i spoke in a firm voice. A snort escaped her throat as she examined the room.

"I like the room. Can i tell you something? Or, my apologies, give you a heads up on something?" she stared at me as she spoke.

"I was sleeping. You should know to not distur-