The Face Behind The Veil✔

Chapter 12

     "How was your exam?" Farouq asked as Sameerah and Hafsah came out of DLC.

     "Alhamdulillah. It was surprisingly easy." Hafsah said, collecting her bag from the security man outside.

     It was a month since Zayden broke up with her and she was perfectly fine now. She still had the flowers he sent and the notes he wrote that said that they were meant to be forever.

     "I got everything set for the picnic." Farouq said as he led them to his car. "That's cool." Sameerah said, sitting at the passenger's seat. Hafsah took a seat in the back and Farouq drove off to the dam. Zayden had overheard them talking about it some time ago so he decided to apologize there.

     He had everything set up, waiting for Hafsah to arrive. Hafsah wasn't expecting to see Zayden there at all. She thought she would just go there and have fun with her friends. When they got down, Hafsah helped them to set up the blanket so that they could start eating. Just then, Zayden appeared out of nowhere.

     "Hafsah." he breathed out. She had so many emotions running through her. Anger, pain, hurt, but still, somewhere deep down in her heart, she had a little ounce of love left for him.

     She got flashbacks of everything he did to her. How he cheated on her. How he wanted to take away her most prized jewel, her virginity. How he insulted her. And now, out of the blue, he thought he could just reappear into her life and everything will go back to normal. Everything would start smelling like roses? What did he think of her? Some kind of dog that he'll just push away and drag back anytime he wished?

     Hafsah wanted to yell at him. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to kill him for everything he did but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

     "Hafsah, I know I've hurt you intentionally and I don't deserve your forgiveness but please, give me one last chance. One last chance to prove how much I really love you, to make up for all the things I did." he said, hurt lacing his voice. She wanted to believe him. He loved her right?

     Hafsah let out a bitter chuckle. "Love you say? Do you even know what love means Zayden? You claimed you loved me yet you broke at the smallest sign of a storm. I cried myself to sleep because of you Zayden. Something I had never done, cry because of a guy. But you broke me Zayden. You broke me into a million shattered pieces." she could feel her walls crumbling. She wouldn't break down in front of Zayden. He wouldn't see her cry.

     Farouq and Sameerah had excused themselves a long time ago. They didn't want to come between them.

     "Haf-" he started but she cut him off. "No Zayden, let me talk. Why? Why did you do all that to me? Was I not good enough for you? Or is it because I don't party and do all those haram things you like? Everything was fine before that night. What happened Zayden? What happened to us?"

     "Baby." he sighed. "Don't call me that, you lost the right to call me baby the moment you broke my heart." she said, her heart crushing as she spoke.
"Hafsah, I know you're hurt. You have every right to but please give me one more chance. Just one."

     "Give you a chance you say? What about Zeena? Lailah? You never wanted me, Lailah was all you wanted, all you needed. I want to forgive you but I can't bring myself to do it. My heart aches as I think of you. Do you know how much pain I had to endure watching you act all lovey dovey towards her? Of course you wouldn't. You don't understand the meaning of pain." she let out a harsh breath.

     "You never truly loved me Zayden. Were your feelings for me that superficial that you moved on immediately we broke up?" she asked, her voice cracking at the end. This was it! She had reached her breaking point.

     "I loved you Hafsah and I still do. I fell in love with you not your body. I was misled by my hormones. I've changed Hafsah, I really have. Please, just one last chance? I promise never to touch you until you ask me to. I want to show you something. If after seeing it you don't want to be with me, I promise to let you be. Please." She could sense the sincerity in his voice. She sighed, nodding her head.

     He walked behind her and put his palms over her eyes, blocking her view of the outside world. She froze at the contact but quickly masked it by telling him to go on. He led her for a few seconds before removing his palms. The view in front of her was breath taking. She stood, looking at the most beautiful sunset she'd ever seen with trees all around. Not just trees, these trees held memories. Photos of their relationship.

     "These trees here and not actually trees Hafsah. These are memories, milestones of our lives and relationship. These trees hold memories that are related to us, that are associated with us. Each and every tree shows a different part of our life. For example," he said, pointing to a tree that held a photo of them on their first date. "This was us on our first date. That day, we had a toast to the beginning of a new chapter of our lives. That day, I knew you were the one for me." She could feel her chest tightening at his words.

     "This one is my favorite, the tree of relationships. It has everything. These pictures, they mean everything to me. All the sweet talks, the ups and downs we faced. They are a lot of memories. All those memories we made together are symbolized by this tree. I can tell you that this tree faced thousands of storms but it never fell and it never will." he smiled sadly. She looked at the empty tree to her right.

     "Why is this tree empty Zayden?" she couldn't help but ask. "It's the unpleasant one, the tree of darkness. It symbolizes the bad phases in our relationship, the bad times. How you've been hurt because of me. How you cried yourself to sleep because of me. These memories, the memories I wish I could forget but can't. All the pain, you leaving me all alone. My life becoming miserable. These are memories I want to get rid of. The tree of darkness." He let out a sad sigh.

     "Why did you do all of this?" she asked him. "One reason." he said. He held her hand and led her to the middle of the trees. "Happiness awaits us still." he said, going down on one knee.

     "Hafsah, I have two questions. First, do you still love me? Secondly, will you be my girlfriend once again? Please?" She looked at his eyes glittering in the moonlight and the little spark of hope they held. She wanted to embrace him and scream yes but remembering all he did, she didn't.

     "Zayden, I have grown too strong to ever fall back in your arms. And to answer your question, yes, I still love you but I am not in love with you. Not anymore. If there's one thing I learned from our relationship, it's that we should love, not fall in love because everything that falls gets broken. I have been broken once and I won't let myself get broken the second time by the same person. I'm sorry." she said and walked away.

     "Hafsah please don't do this to me. I can't live without you." he said, running after her but she shrugged him off.

     "Farouq, I don't want to ruin your evening. You guys can continue with the picnic, I'll see you later." she told them.

     "But I can't leave you alone." Sameerah replied. "Yeah, I'll take you home." Farouq said and packed the blanket and picnic basket into the trunk of his car.

     "Thank you." Hafsah whispered in a low voice.