How Love Happens - Chapter 40

 

Three months later

Haifa gazed outside from the small balcony window of her apartment as she sipped her coffee in the early hours of Thursday morning. She debated whether to make toast or skip breakfast altogether. The problem was, she was fine eating alone and living alone before, when it was just her and mamma.

Now, after being at Vavathi for over five months, she was having difficulty with that. She missed the family gathering at the dinner hall and everyone chatting with everyone. She missed the way they all made breakfast and cleared the plates. She even missed her everyday chore of sweeping the front area by the road. When she had moved to Vavathi, she missed the busy city sights and sounds. And after coming back, she missed the quiet life.

She had barely unpacked. After returning for a week, she didn't feel like fully settling in. At first, she thought she would do it once she was acclimatized to the city, but somehow that acclimatization never came. Deciding on toast, she sat down at her dining table to eat. Haifa bit into her bread, feeling somewhat moody. She had been giving herself time to adjust and kept telling herself things would get better once she did.

The truth was she felt like she was stuck somewhere, not moving forward or backward. Life felt motionless, and a part of her felt depressed, thinking that she might never recover.

Haifa talked to her mother every night after work, and the bits of news she got from the island calmed her. She still had connections with everyone. Aunt Latheefa had informed her about her new grandchild, and her mother told her about news around the island. Even Aunt Naseema called, if not frequently.

The only information she did not get was about Zishan or Saira, and those were the ones she most yearned for. The only tidbit of information she ever got about him was when her mother mentioned the concluding ceremony of his training held a couple of days back. Haifa had tried her best to keep herself from texting him and congratulating him on his success. It took a lot of effort to refrain herself. Nevertheless, she had never been more proud of him.

Haifa got ready and checked her time. She had thirty minutes, which was fine since her office was a twenty-minute walk. Quickly, she took her bag and came to the kitchen counter, withdrawing a glass and filling it up to drink.

As she stepped into the kitchen, she stepped into water and almost slipped. Quickly dropping her bag onto the counter, she knelt down to inspect and found water leaking under the sink. Retrieving her rubber gloves from beneath the sink, she cleaned up the mess with paper towels. Just as she finished, she discovered her pant hem drenched in rusty water.

Cursing under her breath, she hastily pulled off the gloves and ran back into her room to change. Making a mental note to inform the building maintenance about the leak once she returned from work.

Haifa made it to the office just two minutes before time. She delved into her latest project in her cabin in the new office. The place was a dream come true for her — sophisticated equipment, a friendly working environment, and professional coworkers. She was absolutely thrilled with the progress she had made.

The people there somewhat idolized her as a superhero for her excellent performance in the competition. They marveled at having such a young photographer, especially a girl who could venture into the field herself to capture those pictures. Little did they know how much help she had received.

Before she knew it, it was noon, and she had a lunch set with Aish for the day. Haifa sighed as she collected her bag and made her way out. The best part of being in Male’ was the abundance of restaurants and cafés scattered around, all within walking distance. Fortunately, both their office buildings were just minutes away, situated in the densely populated area of office buildings.

During the first few days after her return, she was disturbed by the very loud vehicles and the numerous people walking on the roads. She had been so used to the island environment that she felt like a fish out of water. Inside her apartment, it was completely the opposite. The silence was so deafening, with no one talking in the background or walking around.

Haifa never realized how much she had changed during the months she had been away. She had never had a family around and detested the thought before. But now, she felt like she missed it a lot more than she had anticipated. She actually wished she had never had the experience so that she wouldn’t have known what she was missing.

Haifa waited at the busy road corner as non-stop traffic squeezed through the narrow path. The honking and sounds of different vehicles buzzed along with men’s loud voices filling the air. Pedestrians bumped into her back and front as she tried to make herself as small as possible, looking at the other end, hoping to see Aish appear any minute now.

Something dripped on her shoulder; Haifa jerked away to find she was standing under an outdoor unit three stories up of the building behind her. With disgust, she checked her shoulder before brushing at the spot.

Haifa was contemplating waiting inside the restaurant when she spotted Aish’s car turning at the corner. Breathing a sigh of relief, she gestured for her friend. The car quickly stopped at the side of the road, and before Aish could open the door, the honking began as the traffic jammed three roads down.

“It's leaving!” Aish said to the man behind her as soon as she shut the door. "Geesh, how impatient can these people be? And the honking!" she exclaimed as she came up to Haifa.

Haifa muffled a grin; her rich girl jokes were right at the tip of her tongue. But she had promised herself she wouldn't joke about it if she was in a bad mood. And she was a lot lately. They hustled towards the restaurant, filling their plates at the buffet before securing a table. Thankfully, the place was still a bit calmer because they had come in early. It would be full and buzzing in just minutes.

“Bad day at work?” Haifa asked.

“It's all bad days. I don’t know what I am doing. It just sucks,” Aish replied. “I'm telling you, they teach everything about work efficiency and business strategies, but no one teaches you how to work in an actual workplace.” She huffed.

Haifa looked at her sympathetically. “Maybe you are just too self-conscious; it is stressing you out,” she replied.

“Of course I am. They're all waiting for me to make a mistake; I see the smug looks on their faces.” She shook her head.

Haifa looked at the food on her plate, making a face. Her appetite had taken a slow nosedive for the past few months, and even her appearance testified to it. But she just didn’t feel like eating much; flavors felt dull. Come to think of it, everything felt dull to her. She tried to appear happy and doing great, but inside, she felt like she was still empty.

“You need to give yourself a break, maybe…” she stopped mid-sentence.

“What?” Aish asked, her brows frowned, leaning over to see what Haifa was looking at. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Haifa couldn’t breathe; she looked at her hand and around her. “My ring! I think I dropped my ring!” she said, her voice going into a higher note.

“It's okay; let's find it,” Aish said as she stood up, helping her look.

Tears stung her eyes as Haifa pushed her chair back and went on her hands and knees, frantically searching. “It's not here!”

“Calm down, did you have it on today?” Aish asked, trying to console.

“Yes! I never take it off!” she suddenly felt difficulty in breathing. Aish looked at the people around them who were staring and gave them an apologetic smile.

“I must have dropped it when I came over!” Haifa stood up immediately and began to run outside. She retraced her steps but couldn't find it. She rushed into her office; her coworkers looked at her in bewilderment. But she did not care; she immediately went into her cabin and started searching.

Haifa pushed the stationary on her desk with a sweep, not caring as most of it fell off. She checked her drawers, her chair upside pushed back, and every nook and corner of the floor. Suddenly, she remembered the gloves she had used in the morning. Walking out quickly, she popped her head into her department head’s cabin.

“I need to run to my apartment for a bit, is it okay? I won't be long,” she asked hurriedly.

He looked up from his desktop, checking the time. “Sure, it's still lunch hour. Be sure to be back by three; there is a staff meeting. Hilmee insisted everyone be present. Our chairman is giving an announcement.”

“Okay,” Haifa said quickly before running out, almost bumping into Aish.

“Honey, are you alright?” Aish asked in concern. “Talk to me.”

“I think I dropped my ring in my apartment when I took off my rubber gloves this morning,” she said, “I need to go there for a minute.”

Aish stared at her for a second, “I will call Rashid; he can drop us to your apartment,” she said slowly.

Haifa shook her head, “It will take too long for him to come in the traffic and to go there. It will be much faster if we walked.” She started off without waiting for a reply.

They reached her apartment in twenty minutes, Haifa sweating in the afternoon heat. But she did not care; she needed to find her ring. She rushed inside and frantically searched, shaking the gloves, and with a clink, her ring fell on the tiled floor.

With a rush of relief, she swept it off and slipped it onto her finger. Finally able to breathe, she leaned against the counter. Her eyes closed, her hands closed over, rubbing the ring to comfort herself. When she opened her eyes, Aish stood watching her. She took her elbow and led her to the sofa, sitting her down.

“Tell me what just happened,” she asked, “Why were you acting like that for a ring?”

“It's not just a ring. It’s the one he gave me when he proposed,” she replied, suddenly realizing how crazy she had been acting, “I don’t know what came over me. The minute I thought it was lost, I couldn’t think straight.”

Haifa realized just how much it meant to her, how much she had missed him, and how empty she felt without him. “You think I am going mad.”

“No, I think you love him so much that you are losing yourself without him. You are a ticking time bomb. You have held a brave face for so long, but it is cracking now,” she said softly, “When we find the right person and they love us so deeply, it's hard to let it go. It takes years to deal with such levels of emotions and still have them haunt us.”

Haifa looked at Aish. So many times she had heard Aish talk about love and loss. Every time she got the feeling she had experienced it firsthand. The sad look that always crossed her face, the melancholic dip in the corner of her lips. Haifa always knew deep down Aish had a love story she hadn’t shared with her. Haifa did not ask; she knew her friend would tell her when time comes.

“I need him back. I don’t think I can live much longer without him,” she said sadly.

“What are you going to do?”

“I am going to go back and make him take me back.”

“What about your job? And the fact that he said he won't be giving a second chance?”

“I will find something else to do,” she said confidently, “He will have to take me back. He just has to.”

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Have a wonderful day!