Chapter 75

                                    

                                          
*
The naming ceremony was held at Afrah's parent's home. Adnan didn't want the security of his house to be compromised during the event, so he agreed to have it at her parent's. The night before the ceremony however, he stayed with her until midnight. They took a walk in the backyard, circling the perimeter several times. Hafsah was sleeping soundly in Halima's room upstairs, barely a few minutes after Afrah finished feeding her. Soon she would be waking up when her diaper got full. They'd just endured over three hours of her crying when her grandmother decided to pierce her ears that day. 
                          
The wind was cold and harsh. When Adnan noticed Afrah shivering, he drew her close and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 
                          
"You smell nice," she said with a sigh, wrapping her arm around his torso. 
                          
"Did I not smell nice before?" he asked with a slight chuckle. 
                          
"You always smell nice," Afrah said. 
                          
"And you smell amazing," he said, kissing her forehead. "You look beautiful too."
                          
On their seventeenth round, they sat on the bench and watched the dark clouds gliding over the moon. 
                          
"So he's gone?" Afrah asked. 
                          
She'd been holding the question in for several days now, avoiding the conversation so it wouldn't ruin the atmosphere between them. She'd left the hospital on the third day, and Adnan had mentioned in passing that they'd almost gotten Yusuf in his hiding spot. Afrah wasn't allowed to dwell on it too much however as she was soon swept up in all the congratulatory messages and the preparations for the ceremony. 
                          
"Vanished without a single trace," Adnan said with a groan, rubbing a knot in his neck. "We came close though. The neighbors confirmed he was indeed staying there, but no one saw him leave."
                          
"And the car?"
                          
"Burnt on airport road according to eyewitnesses. He's slipped through our fingers once again."
                          
Afrah sucked in a breath, staring at her fingers which were slightly swollen.
                          
"I'm sorry," she said. "I know how hard this must be on you. He's your father after all, and no one should have to go what you're going through."
                          
"I'd do it all over again for you," he said. "It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. If you were somebody else and he did what he did, I would still do exactly what I'm doing. He deserves to pay for what he did."
                          
"But you still love him as a father," she said. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, Afrah could see through his tough demeanor. The sadness in his eyes had never disappeared since he found out what Yusuf did. Even now, she saw it as plainly as ever. 
                          
"I wish I didn't," he sighed. "I wish I could hate him as much as he deserves."
                          
"You can't change how you feel, Adnan," she said, reaching for his face and turning it so he was staring directly at her. "You're only human. And we can't change who we love or why we love them."
                          
"What he did to you..."
                          
"Is my burden to bear, not yours," she cut him off. "I still think about it everyday, but I will not let it dictate my future. I am a human being just like everybody else, and I refuse to carry his shadow with me wherever I go. You should do that too."
                          
"I can't ," he said truthfully. "Not when he's still out there. Not when he can still hurt you or Hafsah. What is my purpose if not to protect the both of you?"
                          
"And you're doing that," she said. "You're doing more than I could have ever asked for."
                          
"But it's still not enough," Adnan said exasperatedly as he stood from the bench. "It's not enough, Afrah. He's still out there. And look how close he came to harming both of you. If something had happened to either of you, I..."