No Matter What: Chapter Twenty

Cold still air, silence as remorse and guilt crept into him, he stood speechless unable to utter a word. Looking into his eyes with tears blurring his face in front of her, she sharply turns her head away. She felt sick and disgusted by just looking at him. With her mouth shut trying to curb her cries she only wished for the one in front of her to morph into the one she was eager to see and hear from; the one who would touch her face gently and place a kiss on her forehead. The one who would take her into his arms and whisper that everything will be alright. She wished that Shihab was in Hilal’s place; right in front of her, beside her hospital bed. ‘You…’ she struggled to speak. ‘You brought me here?’ she asked as hatred and anger traveled through her pale body and bloodshot eyes.

‘How could you do this to your family? You brought us disgrace and dishonor’ he told her as his tears were streaming down her face while holding a firm crushing grip around her arm. ‘Let me go’ she pleaded as she tried to use her petite body to shove him away only he couldn’t. ‘Such a despicable act, how dare you do that to us and to top it off you went on with a worthless bastard?’ he vented out all his anger as he gripped her other arm tight. ‘You were my daughter but now you are dead to me. You brought us shame, how do you expect us to face everyone? How do we face our tribe?’ her father said in a very angry loud voice as he hyperventilated and pushed her frail small frame to the wall. ‘It’s not his fault he has no family’ she screamed out as she felt the first of the series of punches and slaps which started. She felt she had to defend herself and Shihab. She felt she had to speak out since keeping quiet and agreeing to all her family’s decision did her no good; it was time for curbing no more. Noor stood up against her father and fought him off as strong as she could only to be subjected to more pain and hurt. ‘You have the nerve to reply back to me?’ her father fixed his hand over her neck. ‘You have the nerve to disrespect and shout at me? ’ she coughed as she tried gasping for air while shutting her eyes not wanting to look at the monster facing her. ‘I love him’ she chocked the words out. ‘He’s my husband’ she struggled speaking. Her father got shocked as he let go of her while she backed away in quick steps until she tumbled over the stool behind her. ‘Your husband?’ he asked not believing what he has heard. ‘Hilal didn’t tell me this’ he yelled as he walked out of the sabla slamming the door behind him, when she realized that Hilal was the one who ruined what was the perfect ending. Hilal was the one who just killed off her hope of ever living normal.

He drives off with a smile on his face as he takes a deep sigh. He is happy and ecstatic. Unable to believe what just happened today, he picks up his phone and unlocks it to take a glimpse at the breath of fresh air he has been craving for all these years. ‘I miss you too’ he reads it out loud as he feels a rush overcoming his senses. ‘I MISS YOU TOO’ he screams it out as he giggles unstoppably like a small kid. He shrieks as he starts speeding up, feeling his heartbeats increasing its pace. He hasn’t felt this way in a very long time that he forgot a person could be this joyful in his lifetime. Reaching home at the driveway, he hopped out of his car with his house keys in his hands but then smiled and went back to his car. He had a better idea; he wanted to do something he hasn’t done in a very long time. He wanted to go back to the beach where it all started and all ended. More memories needed to be in the place of the sadness that remains soaked in the golden sands, it needs to be washed off for a clean new start.