Trust Me (An Islamic Love Story)

Chapter 3

The boy swears loudly as he turns around to look at me but stops midway. I am trying my best to ignore how embarrassed I feel and breathe deeply. I don't meet his gaze because I generally avoid looking at people's faces. It is easier to forget them this way, and with men, having your eyes away is better anyways.

Something has fallen from his hand too, and as I bend down to pick my notice, he does the same. Our hands brush against each other, and I flinch and pull my hand back. I can feel the guy's stare boring into me out of the corner of my eye. Why is he staring? Is something wrong with my face? Maybe my hijab is not set properly.

I ignore the temptation to redo my hijab; instead, I look at the notice. I see it is the same as mine, except it has a name scribbled on the top, and I realize my notice got exchanged with his. "Azar Hussain..."

"Excuse me?" His voice is surprisingly deep and smooth, unlike the rest of the guys howling in the café. "You know my name?"

I register that I said his name aloud. "I-I didn't... t-the..." The amusement in his voice makes my stuttering worse, so I shut up. "Sorry," I mumble and turn to leave, but I freeze as I see a face standing out in the crowd, smiling maniacally. The crowd seems to blur into a mist until there is only the man who haunts me day and night.

As the world spins, a hand gently pulls on my wrist. I come to my senses and realize the guy tugged me away from getting in between a water fight.

"You are hurt," he states, examining my hand, and for some reason, his voice helps me calm down. Maybe because Azar is speaking makes him feel more real than him.

"It's just a paper cut," I barely say, moving away from him.

"Not so fast, angel." And those words are enough to take me back to the memories of being hunted, the merciless laugh echoing in the hall and ringing in my ears. "If angels come on earth, humans cut their wings. Of course, my angel, how can you expect otherwise?"

I close my eyes, recoiling at the memory, and all I can hear are my screams and the laughs piercing my soul. My heart is hammering in my chest. It is Azar, Abeer, I tell myself. It is Azar. Not him.

"You didn't introduce yourself to me," Azar says, not realizing what I'm going through at the moment. "What's your name?"

"Leave me alone." My voice comes out very unsteady as I try to not pass out. It is Azar, not him... Azar, not him... And even though I am telling him to leave, a part of me doesn't want him to. A part of me wishes for him to keep talking till all of it is over. I fear that if he leaves, I might slip into my nightmares again. Hypocrite, the word stabs in my head, yet I am unable to walk away just yet.

"You need to let go first," he says, still amused, gesturing at my hand locked in his. I let go immediately, and that is when I meet a pair of recognized eyes. "Madiha!" I exclaim breathlessly, looking at my best friend. She is gawking at Azar and me. As Madiha approaches me, the water fight causes Azar to move at a distance from where we were standing.

"Madiha I-I..." I pause because I am too flustered to speak. "Let's go to the class," I still manage to say.

As soon as we leave the cafeteria, Madiha bombards me, "That guy was holding your freaking hand. Why? What was that all about?"

I explain to her how I had to go to the cafeteria and how I bumped into Azar. She looks worried and a little doubtful about my story too. "Abeer, don't you know about him? He is Azar Hussain. You don't want to get involved with him, trust me on that."

"I haven't heard of him ever before," I say before I can refrain myself.

"You don't even want to know what kind of stuff he does. Just stay away from him," she insists, and I nod and say, "Obviously. I don't want to get involved with any guy."

"Good to hear that," she reprimands, but I can't shake off her judgmental tone. I look back at my hand and am taken back by the band-aid on my cut.

At Dhur prayer break, I stay in the room longer, and everyone else leaves except two teachers, who are still praying in the distance.

I open my hands and pray in my heart. Oh Allah, I don't know what happened today with Azar. I know he is a stranger, but I don't know why I felt as if I was able to control my panic attack because of him. Forgive me, My Lord, I don't want my panic to make way for ambiguities and sins, and whatever I felt, I want to forget it. Can I please not come across Azar again? Oh Allah, let me be free of the horrible memories and the man who was responsible for those memories. Let me be free, and let me be normal. Help me get through this life, Allah. Help me get over these tests soon. Ameen.

I leave the prayer room and wear my shoes. It takes me a little while to tie my laces, and then I quickly head back to the class but on my way back, the speakers announce: "Students gather for assembly in the auditorium immediately and bring your notepads with you too."

As I head to the girl's locker room, I feel jumpy as I am alone in the hallway. I feel his presence everywhere. I feel as if he'd come out right from nightmares at any moment, and I will not be able to get away. My breathing hitches and I walk faster.

I enter but root to my spot as I notice two people are already there. The boy's back faces me, but I can see the girl's face. I recognize her. She is Mishal from my batch but from the other class. A part of me is actually relieved to see people because people's presence is less suffocating than anyone of my nightmares.

Mishal twists a lock of her light brown, curly hair as she leans in and whispers something to the guy. Before I could think and react to the situation, she sees me, and her warm gaze turns cold in a split second. She communicates through her eyes about my presence to the guy.

"Hey,aren't you the girl from the cafeteria today?" And the moment he startsspeaking, I recognize him. Azar Hussain. 

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Jazakallah Khairun for reading. Please vote if you liked, makes my day.

What I want to know in the comments:

1) What do you think about Azar Hussain?

2) Were my descriptions well enough? Could you imagine what I was writing?

3) If there is some mistake grammatical or Islamically, please point out :)

4) How was the chapter overall?