Beloved

9. (Hamza's POV)

You deserve nothing but great things

I am glad I met you

You need to stop torturing yourself

'Sir' I heard someone call out and I was brought back to the reality. I looked to the side and saw one of my students, Hadia standing outside of the office, looking my way. I got up the seat to find out the reason of her visit.

'Sorry...I just wanted to ask about Ayat. I am trying to contact her for some time to discuss about our group assignment, but she is not responding back. I can't do all the work by myself' She complained.

'You don't have to. You can join Junaid's group. Connect with him next week.' I told her, and she walked away. Ayat was absent for weeks. Her father passed away three days after being admitted to the hospital due to severe internal bleeding. The last time I saw her was at her father's funeral and after that, I couldn't get myself to go and see her. While her father was admitted to the hospital, we spent a lot of time together. I felt a strange pull towards her and I couldn't bear to see her alone. At the funeral, I found out about her engagement and that cleared out every single ounce of feelings that were raised in me towards her. Maybe just seeing her under such devastating time softened my heart towards her but at the funeral, seeing her with her fiancé it all vanished. All except the words she said to me.

'Staying late today?' Karim entered the office and handed me my coffee.

'Thanks...yeah, there isn't much to do here anyway...might as well finish my work ' I told him.

'Why don't you come with me to go see Ayat? Mama wanted to go and check on the girls. I didn't really get a chance to go and meet them either after the funeral. It'll be nice' He offered me.

'I have some stuff to do so I don't think...' I started.

'Like what? You just said there isn't much to do here' He eyed me.

'Laundry' I couldn't think of anything else.

'You are coming with us' He ended the conversation from his end and went back to working on his computer while I mentally slapped myself from not thinking of a decent enough excuse to avoid going to Ayat's house.

'You didn't have to bring all this aunty' Ayat looked at Karim's mother as she sat down next to her. She was dressed in a plain light green dress. Her hair was neatly tied in a knot. She looked put together yet so broken. Her eyes looked tired and heavy. She seemed so exhausted and I couldn't stop looking at her.

'You look so weak dear' Karim's mother reached out to her and caressed her cheeks. The tears started to build up in Ayat's eyes and my heart twitched. Seeing her so hopeless made me feel helpless.

'You're okay?' Karim elbowed me, and I shifted my attention to him. He caught me looking at her.

'I don't think so' I answered truthfully.

'How is Haya?' I asked her, and she finally looked at me.

'Okay,' She lied and looked down immediately.

'Where are you going?' Karim asked her just as she got up from her seat.

'I'll be back...I won't take long' Ayat left the room and I saw her going to the kitchen.

'I am going to go check on Haya' Karim's mother excused herself and left to go see Haya.

'Go and talk to her' I heard Karim say and I turned my head to face him.

'Why?' I asked him.

'Because you want to, you are constantly staring at her since we got here. Either don't stare at her or go and talk to her already...you are being creepy' Karim took out his phone and went outside in the yard to call someone.