Alina Kanaan

Chapter 36

"Repel evil with that which is better." (Quran 23:96) 

"What are you doing here?!" I ask him angrily.

"Taking my revenge!" Aman yells. A bunch of men come in the door.

"Search the house and take whatever you want," Aman orders the men.

"How dare you come in here and take our stuff!" I yell. I see Francisco come up behind Aman and punch him. In return, Aman gives him a punch. They start to fight. When Francisco knocks, Aman down to the ground, he tells me to run with him in Arabic. It's to make sure Aman or the rest of the guys won't understand us.

Francisco grabs my hand and I run with him into the dark streets. It's extremely dangerous to go out into the streets in Mexico at night, but we're not safe in our own house anymore.

"Where do we go?" I ask him in Arabic.

"Not to any of my relatives because I don't want them to get dragged into this," he replies. I nod in agreement.

We both look back and see that there are men running after us, so we keep running. As we run, I look at our surroundings to try to see if we can hide somewhere.

"I have to carry you," Francisco says.

"Why?" I ask.

"You're pregnant and I don't want you to run this much. It's not good for the baby," he explains. Without me even saying anything, he quickly picks me up and runs with me in his arms.

"Alhamdulilah for being blessed with an amazing husband," I smile.

"Alhamdulilah for being blessed with the wife of my dreams," he smiles.

We finally find a place to hide. We lean against a wall that faces away from the street we were running on. We stay there for a while even though we know that the men ran passed us already.

"Where are we going? We can't go back home," I say.

"We're going to have to walk to Tijuana. We can't stay in Ensenada anymore. They know where we live and they know where my family lives I assume," he explains.

"How far is Tijuana from here?"

"It's about thirty minutes by car, so we'll have to walk for a long time. But I'm thinking of dropping you off with my relatives. Then I'll walk to Tijuana. You're pregnant, Alina, remember that. We need to keep the baby in good condition which means keeping you in good condition."

"But Aman wants me! I should be the one who has to walk. I will do it to keep you safe."

"No, he wants me. I'm the one who took you away from him. He wants me dead."

"You didn't take me away from him. I took myself away from him!"

"I know, but he doesn't understand that. Seeing you happy with me kills him. He wants your source of happiness destroyed. He wants to be the one to make you happy again."

"I will never ever be happy with him!"

"Yes, but hope is what keeps his desire for you alive."

"Just like hope kept your desire for me alive."

"Exactly. That's why I can figure out how his mind works because I've been in his position before. But I never ever thought of killing him or trying to get you guys apart. That's selfishness."

"I see. Well, we have that to our advantage then."

"Yes. Come on, let's get you to my relatives' house."