This book is a sequel to Khalifa and cannot be read as a standalone. To avoid spoilers, description and excerpt are added inside the book.
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Started: May 2, 2022.
Completed: December 3, 2022.
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cover by @xniftykayx
Do you love tragedies and everything that breaks the heart?
— Friedrich Nietzsche
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Him
"You never told me you were going to see your mother's grave," she says as she finishes reading the letter his mother has left him and rolls it back, putting it in its case but not handing it to him.
He lifts one shoulder in slight embarrassment, slight dismay. "It is difficult to talk about failed hopes. There is a difference when you live with a suspicion of losing someone forever and when it becomes a reality. In the former case, there is still a hope that allows you to dream. And when you dream, you are happy, habibti. But when dreams break, life is not the same anymore."
Noura doesn't answer him, lowering her eyes to the letter case in her hand. Then putting it aside, she cups the side of his jaw and caresses it lovingly, gazing at him fondly.
"But I have you and you have I. And if God wills it, we'll have a life no less than a dream-- we'll have a family of which we dream. So no matter if life cannot be the same, janem, what doesn't change is that there's still someone to love you."
He smiles at her. She returns it softly, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. He pulls back to take out his mother's ring from his pocket and holds her hand in his. Slowly, he slips the ring on her finger as she watches him curiously.
"This was my father's gift to my mother when they got married. It belongs to you now."
She only squeezes his hand in response, probably seeing the pain on his face. But the ache in his heart will dull with time. He may never forget, but he will learn to live with it. Until then when the knife is blunt and can no more hurt, he might keep bleeding.
Lowering his head to her uninjured shoulder, he closes his eyes and she gently begins stroke his hair. If he ever cries on her shoulder, she never let him know. In silence, she offers him her shoulder.
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Her
The eyes do not tire gazing at their beloved. The eyes marvel at the beauty of them. For what the heart loves, it loves through them. And what could a glance do for her. A stolen glimpse can never satisfy her longing. Those eyes have longed for him to stare until forever.
He looks up at her, catching her staring, and smiles as he licks the honey off his fingers. If her face has turned warm, she's too captivated by him to notice-- drowned into his own eyes to resurface into sanity. Adam lifts a piece of bread with honey to her mouth.
"Eat. Let yourself and my child be healthy. You can gaze at me all you want afterwards. I will never complain."
She takes a bite of the bread and smiles, glancing away. "Don't let it get to your head."
