Leilah Usman awaits an acceptance from a university abroad so she can leave the country she never loved when she stumbles upon an ancient diary. Through the eyes of Mahrosh Irfan, she finds herself in a world so completely different from hers.
One w...
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Her heart pounds profusely against her ribs, as she turns the page when her mother's voice pulls her back to the breakfast table.
"Leilah?"
She looks up, her gaze briefly meeting her mother's who stares at her from across the table, her brows drawn together. "Mhmm?" Leilah closes the journal and spoons her cereal.
"Did you get any acceptances yet?"
Her grip on the spoon tightens but she feigns nonchalance, "Not yet."
Asma observes her daughter for a few seconds before she speaks up, her tone light. "You haven't left the house for days. Why don't you plan something with your friends?"
The fact suddenly hits her and Leilah freezes for a brief second. She recalls the times she turned her friends down in the past few days when they made plans. Her betraying gaze flickers towards the journal and a sudden tightening of her breath is enough for her to realize that she knows what the reason is.
"I'll go," she tells her mother, determined to stand by her words.
She goes that very afternoon. Her friends laugh as they pose for pictures and selfies for their instagram stories, talking about their university plans and moving out. "I hope you get into Imperial, Leils," Taniya says, taking a snap of her bubble tea, "We would be able to room together. Oof. Wouldn't that be splendid?"
Leilah simply hums in response, forcing a brief smile. She feels distracted and zoned out during the whole time, and when she leaves- the earliest of the lot, her friends talk about her. "She must be worried, poor girl," one says, "I think she still hasn't gotten an acceptance."
But university is hardly in Leilah's mind when she returns home. Her gaze flickers towards the leather bound journal on her side table and an unsettling feeling rocks her heart. "I've always been like this, though," she tells herself, counting down the times she binge watched her favorite animes, stayed up reading her favorite books- it's the same this time as well.
Her heartbeat settles down and she feels the ends of her lips tilt as she picks up the journal again.
No, I'm not getting too attached, she mutters to herself as she opens it up, I'll just read it like a novel. Nothing more.
Somewhere from behind the curtains, years ago, a sudden gust of wind storms inside. Two figures stand by the window sill, fear gripping their hearts as they look down below. "He's here," Aleena whispers, and Mahrosh' widened eyes snap towards a figure that runs towards the house. In mere seconds, he is in the room with them. His grip tightens around a newspaper and a light blazes his eyes.
"Pakistan. They say it's name will be Pakistan."
In the present, Leila lays on her back as she flips through the journal, blind to the turn of the road in front of her.
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asalamolaikum!
a short update before i go on a break for ramadan ~ i hope and pray that we all make the best of this month and focus on our ibadah and our connection with Allah and His Book.
have a blessed ramadan! i hope we meet again as better individuals ^^
