12. Aaryan

Aaryan didn't want to go home. After the classes, he spent hours in his garden and discussed the presentation with Mary. Even when Mary left, he did not go but sooner or later, he had to go and face the family. So he inhaled in anger, got up and walked to the house

In his house, no one was talking to him for days, and rather than feeling guilty, he was annoyed at them all. They never understand him. His family was behaving like Aaryan didn't exist and then there was another thing that crossed all limits of his irritation.

It was the third day; the time of it all to end "Come and eat the dinner" his mother said. Why do they have to do it? This question made him even more angry. His family would behave like strangers for the first two days and on the third day it would be like nothing ever happened "I am not hungry" he replied, trying to walk upstairs "Aaryan, come and eat with your family" His steps stopped at his father's thundering voice and he knew he just had to listen to him.

Aaryan sighed arrogantly, rolled his eyes in annoyance, and sat on the table. For a while, no one was saying anything, and then "Where were you?" His father asked an irritating question so he decided to give him the same reply "I was at club" Yusuf stopped eating "He was studying in the garden" Amara abruptly said, trying to make her father calm but Aaryan was working oppositely with her "With my girlfriend" he added with a smirk and the stare intensified "No, Baba, he was working on a presentation with his classmate" She said glaring at Aaryan "Oh, would you stop taking my side, Amy?" No one was eating now, and he just spoiled the mood. "I don't care about you, Ryan," he knew it. Amara was trying to sort things out, only because she didn't want her parents to get worried "We are your parents, Aaryan, not your enemies" Amina said in silence "Well, I don't feel the caring at all, Mama. Everything you guys says is just a shout against me. You don't care about me and never understands me!" he was replying to Amina but his words were intended towards his father, "Do I not provide you with everything you need?" Yusuf asked, and for a moment, he stared at his father. "What have you done for me, Baba?" His father went silent upon hearing it and he appeared to be in deep shock, "What have we not done for you?" Amina replied while sounding hurt "Oh, come on, Mama, don't play like you guys are the best parents. I told you I needed a setup for my band. I told him to get me a guitar three years ago! Where are they, huh?" His eyes were stretched open, filled with fury

"I told you to stop with that idiotic band and music. Act like what you are, Aaryan!" Yusuf said, throwing a fist at the table. It caused thunder, and everyone was shaken by it. His father was angry "Act like what, Dada? Like a terrorist with black eyes and a covered face?" Aaryan instantly regretted saying those words in an instant, but he could not take them back now. "What did you just say?" His father lost the calmness in his voice, and instead of getting terrified, Aaryan decided to fight. "I look cool as I am, Dada. I got a band with millions of views, there are people who listen to me unlike you in the Masjid" Aaryan lost all of control over his impulse and was unaware of the words coming from his mouth. His chest started to rise and fall rapidly, and he was not in his senses

"Are you making fun of your religion, Aaryan?"

"All I want to say is I don't understand why it bonds us in chains. Why can't I drink alcohol when I want or gamble– stop with them actually, tell me why it teaches you to give money to charity when you have children at home who need their wishes to be fulfilled?" He stood up, and the chair fell back, making a loud sound. Yusuf stood up slowly, he looked at Aaryan with teary eyes. Aaryan expected a slap but his father appeared to be dizzy. Yusuf held a corner of the table as he stumbled backward. "Baba," Amara stood up and ran to him. Aaryan couldn't help himself with caring and stuff at that moment because all he was consist of, was rage "Go to your room" Amina said pointing a still hand toward his room and without saying anything in reply he listened to his mother

Aaryan smashed his foot in the chair as soon as he stepped into the room "Why the hell don't they ever understand?" He shouts in frustration. In the same anger, Aaryan fell to the bed. "I don't understand them," He said, scowling. Aaryan was still so furious and his ragged breaths were echoing in his room. He wanted to scream all the frustration out, but that wasn't an option for him right now.

He leaned to the bed frame. His eyes wandered in the room, trying to find something to calm himself down. They landed on the dozen books lying on the table, and in an instant, Aaryan forgot whatever happened a few minutes ago.

Twelve books, all fall under the same category: 'How life started from water?' Aaryan read each of them two times yet he found no reference that was sure of itself and then he looked at the top shelf of the closet

He knew it. Even though Aaryan was not a practicing Muslim, he knew that the Holy Quran was the truth and there was nothing to feel suspicious about it. He tried to ignore the curiosity but Aaryan was a little guilty about what he said about his religion a few minutes ago. He tried to remove that thought again and again but soon curiosity took over him.

Aaryan left the bed. He went straight to the washroom, washed his face and arms, ran a wet hand over his head, and then kicked some water on his feet. When he stepped back to the room he held the Holy Quran in his hands. It was all filled with dust, and for an anonymous reason, it made him feel a little more guilty. Ignoring the guilt, he dusted it with a clean cloth and sat on the bed. The ideas about biology always excite him. He had been studying it for years, and it always left him dumbfounded. The way scientists get thousands of books worth of knowledge from a cell that we can't even see from our eyes. The complexity of the nervous system. The perfection in the stands of DNA and how a minute change can cause death.

Aaryan knew this was all made and controlled by Him but he was just never interested in getting involved with his religion because again, he knew that even if he was thrown in hell he would enter paradise anyway just because he was a Muslim, so as always he blocked the thought of guilt in his heart and began to find science in the Book he was holding.

Aaryan just opened a random page, but he didn't find anything related to science when his gaze landed on the lines that read, 'When you see them (hypocrites), their appearance impresses you. And when they speak, you listen to their ˹impressive˺ speech. But they are ˹just˺ like ˹worthless˺ planks of wood leaned ˹against a wall˺. They think every cry is against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. May Allah condemn them! How can they be deluded ˹from the truth˺?'

Aaryan closed the book in an instant, his eyes were wide open, and he stared all around the room with uncertainty. "How did the Holy Quran know this?" He asked in terror because that was actually what happened a few minutes ago. Aaryan had said those words to his father about his appearance being the best, that every shot that leaves his parents' mouths was against him, and that his songs are better than the sermons he gives in the mosque. He was a little of this book now. Aaryan shrugged that thought off by saying, "It must be a coincidence," and then he tried for another time. Maybe he would find something about science or his curiosity this time. So he just opened it randomly again, and this time the words were even stranger to him 'They ask you 'O Prophet' about alcohol and gambling. Say, "There is great evil in both, as well as some benefit for people—but the evil outweighs the benefit." and once again he was left dumbfounded. His breathing started to get slow, and so did his beating. Aaryan did not know what was happening but he got that the Quran was something different and it was nothing like he remembered from his childhood

Aaryan covered it in that cloth, stood up, and walked to the cupboard, placing it over the shelf. He concluded his thoughts and decided that he would not touch it ever again. Aaryan knew it was the right decision to make, but when he was standing in front of the mirror, Mary's question hit him so hard "Are you a Muslim?" He now hesitated to answer it and the reason stayed unknown to him