You're My Bliss.

Seven: Closure!

Karima's POV.

"OMG!!" Laura shrieks startling both Fadila and I when she enters her room.

"What?" Fadila asks annoyed.
"Well, Mahfouz spoke to his dad and uncles, they're just waiting for a date to come and make things official"

It's not like I'm not happy for her, I'm ecstatic but I don't think I'll ever be enthusiastic about getting married ever again.
I've been divorced from Muhammed 6months now and everything still feels surreal. I know we were just married for 2years but when you're in pain, when all you feel is agony, a second feels like a century, a day feels like eternity and it stings, so much.

"Karima?" She calls out my name "You good?"

I nod and smile.
She continues giggling"I'll finally have all that sexiness to myself".

Fadila giggles "Have some shame"
"It's not your business, you don't know how it feels"
"Ooh I care" she says sarcastically "Love is a fickle feeling, it brings nothing but heartbreak"

"Mahfouz is sexy and he's mine, period"

"Fadila?" I call her name, she turns.
"Can I please talk to Laura, alone?"

She smiles "Please do" she hurries out closing the door.
Laura walks over and sits on the rug next to me.

"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Do you love Mahfouz?"

She nods "I do, a lot"
"Really? What do you like the most about him?"

"Apart from his abs" she laughs "His smile"
I nod.
"Why are you asking?"

"Marriage isn't just about being Couple goals"or being inlove. I've noticed that when you talk about Mahfouz you only talk about his abs, muscles, face, his smile, his voice. Not his personality or his attitude or character. I don't mean to sound old and boring but I just think I should be honest with you"

"Okay" she says blankly.

I know she might not listen but at least I said something.

"Every single relationship will get boring after you've been together for so long. Sometimes love isn't a feeling, it's a commitment to love everyday, physically and emotionally. It's not always laughs, smiles, fun and sex. It can get hard and people tend to quit when it stops being fun. Some people are only in it for the pleasure and that's why in this day and age guys start losing all the desire for their wives after they get pregnant, because then their body is out of their control, their emotions too and things get real because you have a child to take care of. Some people don't like real. They want to live in their little bubble of momentary happiness and they call it living in the moment".

I huff "I loved Muhammed, I drooled over his toned body, his smile, his words and everything about him. Even when I saw red flags I let his words cloud my judgement and he was so good with words" I smile "Like really good. He knew what to say and when to say it no matter the circumstance and I loved it about him. I never asked myself if he really loved me, I thought the words were enough proof and I have no doubt that he did, at least now I do"

She looks at me confused "You think he loved you? Even after what happened? He was talking smack about you"

I nod "You think I'm delusional. But I'm not. I said he loved me, I didn't say I was his priority. He's a selfish person and he came first, then his properties, then everything else before love. When someone says they love you people assume that they'd die for you, they'd give up their happiness for yours and they'd love you till the end of time but that's not all it is. It's about what love means to that person, what feelings are to that person"

"Do you remember last week when I was with Farouq watching that cartoon? It's applied here too. The owner of the toy store had this one in a million toy, every child wanted it, they would stare at it from across the street, admire it by the window then one day a boy saw it and he wouldn't stop crying until his mother agreed to get him the toy, so she did. And it was in the car that they realized the toy was broken, the owner swore it wasn't that way when he sold it and they left with a loss, with a toy that became a liability. So that's how people are too. On the outside they're perfect, you admire them up close and afar and appreciate them but they're broken and they'll never show you they're broken, they show you what you want them to be, they show you what you think you deserve and when they become yours, when you're tied together, that's when you realize how broken they are".

She suddenly hugs me "You must have gone through a lot"
I laugh "At least I get to share my knowledge and experience"

She nods pulling away "And you're right, maybe I drool over his physical appearance all the time but I really do think he loves me. Maybe I love him more but he has feelings too"

I smile "Then that's all that matters".

::

Mimi is a girl I met at the camp, she's really nice and luckily we're both here.

The teachers all treat me like a child, which I find quite annoying and my students always try to flirt which is funny, I appreciate their confidence.

I sit by my table in the staff room grading papers. Some copied one another which is hilarious. Back then you'd tweek a few things to show dissimilarity but now they don't even try because they don't care and I'll help them not to care.

"Yaya?"
I raise my head and see Farouq, smiling at me from ear to ear.

"Yaya kuma? Not in school. What do you want?"
"Well, we have your class after recess and I noticed you barely got some sleep yesterday because of us so you can use that time to just rest and regain your energy"

I stare at him.
"Really?"
He nods.

"You know you're flunking, right?"
He smiles again, he's actually the male version of Laura, their resemblance is uncanny "I know and I'm trying my best"

"After my class what's after it?"
"We have counseling, double period"

I smile "Fantastic, I'll ask your counseling teacher if I can use the class and what do you have after that?"

He frowns "Please no"
"What's after that?"

"Uh...Homeroom"
I clap excitedly "And I'm your homeroom teacher, how nice. I'll see you soon"

He walks away dragging his feet.

Mimi sits on my table "He's your brother?"
I nod "Kinda"

"Kinda?"
"Yup"

"What kind of connection does your brother have? I'm here as a useless hausa teacher and you're a homeroom teacher"
I smile "I teach world history, do you want to switch? Eh? Doing research 24/7?"

She laughs "No thanks, enjoy yourself"
"I thought as much".

::