28.Mary

Mary was living in hell

She was wounded and the last hope to heal her was gone. It's been a month since Aaryan broke up with her, and no matter how much she thinks about it, there was nothing wrong she had done. She tried to think of it again and again, if there was a word, an action, or just anything that she had done to make him hurt. The answer was always nothing. She had done nothing, so why did Aaryan break up with her? They were happy together. Aaryan was making her happy. In a world where she was always running from life. Aaryan made her turn back and made her want to live, but now he was gone

Mary was sitting in his garden. She knew she should not be doing it but she had nowhere to go. Matthew just threw Mary out of the house after punching her and breaking her nose. There was no reason for it. There was never a reason to justify his behavior and Matthew was different now. Maybe he was finally uncovering his beast to the world. His way of punishing was getting vulgar and the only thing he told Mary was to hold on to her belief firmly or she would end up in hell.

No one could force a belief on others and it wasn't something that needed too much thinking to understand. Everything was a mess in her life, and on top of every crazy thing, Matthew thought she was attracted to Islam. It was absurd of him to even think like it because Mary was well aware that no matter what happened to her she wouldn't let go of her religion because she would be lost without it

Mary was sitting in silence. She was gazing at the dog house and thinking about what happened to him.

Jeremy was gone. Even though she hadn't met him many times, she loved him too. She was sad about it, but Mary couldn't even imagine what it was like for him because Aaryan treated Jeremy like his child. She didn't know how he was holding onto this. And Mary found herself thinking all about him over again.

She was successfully manipulating herself into thinking that Aaryan just needed some time to heal from this and he would come back to her soon, but then Raheel said something about his situation 'I think he is becoming religious.' Was Aaryan becoming a Muslim? This was an odd question because Aaryan was already a Muslim.

But now he was different. Not actually different but unrecognizable. Something had made him changed. He was looking different and behaving differently, and it was all in a good way. Aaryan felt more respectful and thoughtful. She didn't know what becoming a Muslim looked like. All she knew about Islam was that all the useless– cool or fun things like alcohol were prohibited, and there was one more thing she randomly read about that religion.

Muslims can't touch the opposite gender. She figured it to be the reason why Aaryan jerked her hand so hard that night. Was it okay if it hurt her? Aaryan had never done anything to cause her pain but living every day hoping for things to change was hurtful

Did Aaryan's feelings just vanish? Was she the only one who was hurting? Would Mary have to give up on her love?And once again Mary was thinking about him. She tried to stop herself but it was all useless.

She was silent now and so was her brain. As she sat there, all of their memories flooded through her head. This garden was filled with the moments they have spent with each other. Even if she wasn't allowed to sit here she would still come to this place again and again just to take a glimpse of them from their moments.

After a moment, someone entered the garden. She was both sad and relieved to find that it wasn't Aaryan but his father. Staring at Yusuf, Mary left the bench because, of course, she was not allowed to stay there.

"I- I am sorry," she said, stepping towards the exit. "It's okay, you can stay here for as long as you wish," Yusuf said, and she stopped. "Really?" This place was calming, and Mary didn't want to leave it, and those words made her feel relieved. His father nodded in reply "Thank you…" Mary didn't know how to greet him. "You can call me Uncle or Yusuf. As it suits you," he completed the sentence "Thank you, Uncle Yusuf." The greetings made him smile.

Mary had a question again. She had so many questions to ask relevant to her father, and she knew Yusuf was the person who had all her answers. "Can I ask you something?" She found herself saying, "It's about my father." She could see something like pain appearing on his face when she said it. It was obvious, Yusuf knew that Mary was John's daughter.

"Take a seat first," he said as if he was ready to answer all of them for her. Mary followed the words, and Yusuf sat on the chair.

"What do you want to ask?" He said, looking at the table. "Uncle, did you know my father?" Asked Mary, unsure of her instinct.

"Yahya was a good friend of mine. We had spent years with each other." All Mary knew was that Yusuf was the detective in charge of her father's case, but it was new to her that he was close to him, too. This wasn't the time for her to get lost in thinking because she didn't know how much time she had to ask.

So Mary asked, "Was my father murdered?" Yusuf looked up in an instant. His face flashed gloomily. "I have spent five years of my life trying to prove it, but in the end, I was presented with death threats." This could have been shocking to Mary if she hadn't known her brother.

"Who do you think is the suspect?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Yusuf sat up, crossed his hands together, and sighed as he said, "Your brother." She just replied with a nod, "Did you already know it?" Yusuf asked in almost a shocking voice and she nodded again "He hasn't stopped, has he?" The thing Yusuf was indicating felt like her bruises and scars, but she didn't want to say anything about them, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Take this," He said, moving a handkerchief towards Mary as he pointed at her nose. Mary realized that she hadn't cleaned up the blood because Matthew never gave her time for it before hurling her out of the house. She took it from his hands and cleaned the wound

"Do you need help?" His father asked and she did, she needed help. Mary wanted to scream at the top of her lungs that she needed help but she never wanted to put anyone's life in danger

"You are getting it wrong. Matthew didn't do it. I just bumped into a door" she lied "It's up to you, Mary" She knew that Yusuf was pointing to her lie

"I don't need help and why would you even want to help someone like me" her voice got a little fierce

"What do you mean by someone like you? You are just like my daughter, and for the sake of my friendship with Yahya, I would do everything in my power to help you." A thought had fallen upon her.

Why were all of these Muslims, so eager to help her? This wasn't a bad thing but then why was she feeling angry over this simple thing? This was all fake. She knew it could be something like trying to convert her to Isl– that religion, so Mary decided to act tough.

"Can I ask you something?" Mary said, glaring at him. He moved his head in yes. "Why did my father choose the wrong path?" Her voice was as similar as a shout

"Wrong path? By the wrong path do you mean Islam?" Yusuf unexpectedly laughed. "Yeah, that." Her voice stayed the same. "Why do you think Islam is the wrong path?" And suddenly Mary was unable to bring one single reason at her tongue to support her accusation.

She knew there were so many reasons

Even when her brain was not helping her much, she still tried to find something.

Muslims love violence and war, but she had nothing to support this statement, and she knew it was only because she didn't have enough knowledge. But there was another thing that Muslims hate every other religion– she was from another religion and all the Muslims around her did nothing but try to help her. This was wrong, Mary should not be thinking rightly about Islam. There should be something, something– Islam was directly linked to terrorism, but again, Mary knew this was all the dump that the media had thrown at them, and she could not say it out loud. She was unable to answer him "Think about it tonight and maybe you will be able to find one," Yusuf said, she was still silent and soon he left the garden leaving her all confused

There was no way Mary was going to think about anything like Islam, so when Matthew allowed her in at night, she went to her room and slept. At least she tried to sleep, but she couldn't. There were things bothering her and keeping her up. Mary was sure that she didn't even try to think but she found something against Islam.

Muslims oppress women and don't respect them

Well, that was what she thought. Even though Aaryan and even his father were nothing like it, she thought it was just an exception and everything the internet told her was right

•••

The next day, when Mary went to university, she was unable to wait for classes to end so she could go to Yusuf and ask him the question.

Only if it was just about the question, she could think about it, Mary would have been happy. There was another person and she could not look away from him

The last seats belonged to the Two of them.

He left it.

Aaryan simply shifted his place and he now used to sit with Taha.

Mary was alone in the university because James and Luna were never interested in keeping a friendship with her. Even though they didn't announce it properly, she could just feel it while being with them. They would always ignore her as if she was a leech bugging them.

There was just one person now. Raheel. He was a friend of her and not of Aaryan. This was one of the reasons why she loved Genesis Lab and another reason was Dr. Sarah. No one knew how polite and amazing she was except her. Mary has visited her office a couple of times in the month just to ask some more questions.

Mr. Asher ended the class earlier and there was still some time left in the lab. She could not help but look at Aaryan. He had grown a beard, and it was the most attractive thing she had ever seen. Almost as if it was made for his face. He was way more handsome. His eyes were still so amazing, so perfect, so beautiful, and on top of that, his smile was out of this world. Aaryan was laughing while talking about something with Taha. She wondered if he really didn't have any feelings for her.

Even after a month, Mary was unable to forget him. She wanted to run to him and hug him. No matter how much he tried to throw her away, Mary wanted to still be with him, listen to him when he called her Diamond, stay with him, and do all the crazy things together, but in reality Aaryan wouldn't even look at her.

Trying to stop these thoughts from coming and staring at him, Mary decided to leave the room. It was time for the next class anyway.

As she reached the door, there was a crowd of students, just standing and talking at the door. Based on the look, they did not seem like moving anytime soon, and Mary could never in her imagination was going to tell twenty people to step aside so that she could pass. So, she waited for them to leave.

They didn't move even after five minutes. She was standing at the door quietly, thinking about some sort of solution she could make and then Aaryan came.

"Excuse me, would you step aside and clear the door?" he said in a loud voice. "Oops, Sorry, Man. We didn't realize we were blocking it," one of the students said, and the way was clear. Mary was sure that Aaryan didn't do it for her but her heart wasn't agreeing because Aaryan never left the class even when the crowd was gone. Mary stared at Aaryan. Aaryan did not look at her, but his hands were tightened into a punch. Aaryan looked angry and she saw no reason for it.

Mary took a broken breath and went to the lab, where "Habibiti" Raheel welcomed her. "Ray, how are you doing?" She asked, doing their signature handshake. "Cool and Handsome as always," He said, making her laugh as always. "Girls won't agree," she whispered.

"Hey, Kailey! Am I cool and handsome?" Raheel just shouted to a random girl in the class, catching Mary by surprise.

"Pretty much," she shouted back with a wink. "See!" Raheel shrugged his shoulders and laughed again, and just then, he entered the class, taking her smile and breathing.

There was no friend of his in the lab, and that's why Aaryan always sat in a corner. And as soon as the lab finished, he would run to somewhere she wasn't sure about.

"Stop staring, Mary," Raheel reminded her, and her eyes yanked, looking in the lab at many places at the same time. There was no need to make an excuse in front of Raheel as he already knew.

She was feeling sorry for Raheel. At least he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment from Aaryan. They were friends, and it wasn't like Raheel made him drink alcohol on purpose. It wasn't that big of a deal, but Aaryan was treating him like no one.

What in the world had happened to Aaryan that made him so different?