A Trial On Love

11

FOUR YEARS LATER.

She stood on the podium, staring at the audience that smiled proudly at her. She moved the dangling thing attached to her graduation gown from her eyes and felt as tears fulled them. But she wasn't going to cry today, not when today was such a good day for her and in all her life, she had never imagined that she would be able to witness today. It was such a bliss.

"Please, a round of applause for our best graduating student, Rayhan Muhammad Salis!" The MC announced and she felt as her heart squeezed tightly against her chest. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe this. She did this, despite the darkness creeping at every crevice and corner of her entire being.

She still stood there, unable to move and when her eyes roamed the audience again, she got a hold of the two strong pillars of her life. The two women that had given her all that she had never thought possible in her life. They had given her the life that was painfully snatched from her back, even along with all the things she had never thought possible to get.

She smiled at them and when they smiled back, Rayhan wasn't able to control her tears this time. She let them rolled down to her cheeks and watched as they kept motioning for her to walk further to accept her award, and she did. She was the best graduating student in Gobarau Academy, Katsina. Her, that little scrawny girl everyone thought was sick because of the color of her eyes.

That girl that cried herself to sleep everyday because she wanted to go to school and her guardian felt it was a stupid thing to do. That girl that couldn't sleep for the entire night when she was finally able to go to school. She knew finishing secondary school was just like a starter to the education life, but this was a vainglorious moment of her life. She was over the moon and would be, for the rest of her life.

Yes, her life was snatched away from her painfully, but that didn't mean she wasn't given back something more beautiful. There were times a part of her missed Dumurkul and almost found herself telling Aunt Sofy and Aunt Nina about her hometown, so that maybe they could take her back even if it's for a day. Then she stopped and remember the warning of the mask man.

She missed her friends. And today, she wished Nafi was here to see her. Even though she knew that if everything had gone well, which she hoped badly that it did, Nafi was able to graduate last year. Maybe she was able to go further? Maybe not. Indo must've given birth to her baby, she probably had another child since then. Maybe Saude had fallen in love with her husband. She simply hoped life was going well for them, too.

"Rayhan!" Both Aunt Sofy and Aunt Ninah screamed at the same time after she had walked down the stage and she grinned at them before she ran, hugging them both at once. "We're so proud of you, girl. So proud!" They said in unison and she couldn't keep her laughter in place.

Yes, she could even laugh now. Hell, she was even so happy that one could think that she had forgotten about that incident. As though it had never happened. Yet, every time she went to bed at night, the memories came back creeping into her bones and she sometimes stayed up all night crying and begging Allah to help her forget about it altogether.

And no matter how many years had passed, she had still not forgotten him. Especially today, she wished she could see him. So she could throw her award at his face and show him that even though he had tried to snatch away her life, Allah held her hands and did all she wanted to do for her.

"Let's go and celebrate. What do you want to do today?" Aunt Sofy had asked, she was usually the reckless one amongst the two. Even though Rayhan was a bit closer to Ninah, there was just some spark of life with Sofy that one would never get elsewhere. She was fun to be with and so much loved by Rayhan.