Venus: The Odyssey to Happiness

Part 14

Rebuilding after a romantic breakup, especially when love was genuine, is a real challenge. Emotional highs and lows can make the situation very complex. One day, everything seems fine, and the next day, discouragement can set in. You express the fear of never being happy in love, a understandable concern after such an experience.

To break the routine and emotional fluctuations, you decide to step out of your comfort zone by exploring new places alone. New roads, new landscapes, and new people encountered are seen as new opportunities to make the right connection. You participate in outings with friends, visit family, and even embark on a spiritual retreat in the holy city of Tivaouane. This last experience helps you put recent events into perspective, allowing you to accept that if the relationship you've prayed for so long hasn't materialized in this life, it may happen in the next. You just have to live in the most beautiful way possible to earn God's favor.

As a Muslim, you acknowledge that marriage and children are part of predestination, but you can't help praying for a husband who suits you and blessed offspring. The toughest moments are when you realize that this prayer has been answered for everyone around you except for yourself. Despite searching and reflecting on any wrongs you might have done that hinder the fulfillment of this wish, you accept that it's part of your destiny and may not come true in this life. This realization, however, does not prevent you from giving meaning to your life. You promise yourself that you will eventually be happy; you have too much love in you not to consider sharing it.

After a few weeks of emotional and sentimental convalescence, you feel much better. That's when you come across El Hadj's WhatsApp status celebrating his wife. El Hadj, the man who struggled with sending good morning/night texts and saying "I love you." Is it really him being so romantic? You're stunned. Fortunately, you hadn't blocked him. At work, you manage to regain composure. Your regard for him drops drastically. This event confirms that all the talk about vows, principles, etc., is just talk; men behave the way they want. You realize how much you tormented yourself loving someone who had no consideration for your needs and didn't even respect the painful period you were going through. You despise yourself.

More surprises await. You learn the next day that his wife visited the workplace. You don't know the pertinent reasons that led her there, but boasting about being chosen cannot be excluded. If you had crossed paths, what attitude would you have had? She was prepared for it, for sure. You contemplate the situation, but you're certain of one thing: you wouldn't have agreed to debate at work, and if she caused a scene, you would have thrown her out. You're enraged to realize how wrong you were about El Hadj. Were his parents really the ones opposing our marriage in the end? Did El Hadj truly have noble intentions toward me?

In the end, the answers to these questions don't matter. What you've learned from this story is that the more benevolent and tolerant you are, the less people will consider you. You're almost sure that, over a lifetime, El Hadj won't encounter someone with your human qualities a second time. Jupiter, on the other hand, has understood this.