Hawwa's Paradise

Chapter-12 #Rewritten

Looking over his shoulder, Qibriyah noticed Khadija walking past him to return to her seat and Kabir coming to a stop near Qibriyah. Standing up, Qibriyah pushed his hand forward for a handshake. He gave Kabir salam. Smiling, Kabir shook hands with Qibriyah. He responded to the salam.

"I am courting Hawwa starting today. You are her Chacha. So I wanted to tell you that in person." Kabir's lips thinned in a straight line.

"If you are expecting an approval, then having Amma's approval is enough. Has Amma told you I am against you and Hawwa courting?"

"Yeah."

"Then I am returning to my room." Kabir turned around and left the room. Hawwa's shoulders slumped. With longing, she stared at Kabir's figure as he departed. Qibriyah sat down on the sofa.

"Hawwa, why are you interested in marrying me?" He turned to Hawwa. Hawwa's lips parted. She shifted in her seat, suddenly self-conscious in Khadija's presence.

"I will leave you two to yourselves." As if Khadija heard Hawwa's thought, she stood up from the sofa. Hawwa's eyes brightened up with gratitude as she glanced at Khadija. She waited for her grandmother to walk out of the room before looking back at Qibriyah.

"I have," A shy smile spread on her lips. "...liked you since I was thirteen."

"Why?" Qibriyah's eyes narrowed.

"I felt sad for you because how your childhood was." Hawwa's smile turned sympathetic.

Shaima appeared with a tray of two glasses filled with Tang.

"It won't be easy to be in a marriage with me." Qibriyah commented, as Shaima put the glasses on the table one by one.

"Marriage won't be always easy." Hawwa shrugged. "Why didn't you want to remarry? I heard you had trust issues. I want to know about them in details."

"How about this? I wanted to divorce Tara." Qibriyah raised his eyebrows. Hawwa's eyes widened.

"Dadima never told me." Hawwa shook her head. "Please." She gestured to the glasses. Taking the nearest glass, Qibriyah emptied the glass in two gulps. Meanwhile taking a sip, Hawwa held the glass in mid air.

"I had told her about this." Qibriyah began putting his glass back on the table. "When Tara ended up contracting dengue I decided to wait for her to recover before breaking the news. But she ended up dying." Hawwa went for another sip of the juice. "I was relieved at not being married anymore just as I mourned her. My mourning was for a friend not my wife." Qibriyah's eyes was awash with guilt.

"Why did you want that?" Hawwa went for another sip.

"Because of the trauma of catching my mother committing adultery with another man in our house red-handed. That too on the same bed she and my father shared." Qibriyah clenched his jaw. Hawwa choked on the drink. Her stomach churned. She had only heard of Qibriyah's mother cheating. She witnessed anger burning in his eyes. "It wasn't only that reason. Do you know what my father did after getting to know?"

"He cheated back." Hawwa responded. Qibriyah nodded. 

"He should have divorced. Why did he have to stoop as low as her? Why did she cheat in the first place?" His gaze averted to Hawwa's left. His hands which were resting on the arms of the sofa fisted.

"Then how were you able to marry?" Lines appeared on Hawwa's forehead.

"My trust issues which developed seeing my parents marriage weren't so intense back then. They escalated after an incident I heard of after marrying. One of my course mate's older brother had a newborn son born to him. A few days later, he had gotten a call from a man saying that he was the affair partner of his wife and she might have given birth to his child. Horrified, the man did a paternity test of the baby behind his wife's back. The results shattered his world. The baby wasn't his. He divorced his wife and terminated his identity as the father to the baby legally by showing the test results to the court. He couldn't see the baby in the same way anymore. He would remind him of the cheating. He then started drinking due to depression. Finally he ended up committing suicide."

Hawwa gasped. Her hand jumped up to cover her mouth.

"This is one reason for which I am happy I am not a man." Her hand dropped on her lap. "As if getting cheated on is not good enough, you also have to find out your child is not really yours, but born from the cheating. Then some people will shame you to still raise the child as your own." Qibriyah's hands relaxed. He was staring at her impressed at her thought. "What happened afterwards?" Hawwa bit her lips, feeling shy under Qibriyah's gaze.