Haya and Zayan sat in the ruined fort, their eyes locked on each other.
Holding each other's hands, they spoke not one word.

It had been two hours of looking at each other and their surroundings. The confession of love had put them in a serene state which unfortunately was going by too fast.

"So I hate to ruin the moment but umm...what exactly are we?" Zayan asked the real question

"It'll be weird to say we're just getting to know each other. We already know each other in and out." She replied

"Not as a couple though." He shrugged and she nodded in agreement

She knew she had to ask a question and she knew it would make things awkward but today she felt like a braver version of herself and she didn't want to end the streak when it came to him

"Are we having this conversation just to avoid talking about marriage?"
She asked the difficult question.

Marriage, of course!
It was the ultimate goal in this society. It didn't matter if the two individuals knew each other or not, it didn't matter if one of them had just been through a divorce or recently been widowed.

There was either a ring on the finger or the individual was single.

It was the way the society worked.
That didn't mean she never wanted to get married. She was a human being after all, and she didn't want to die alone but that also didn't mean she wanted to get married just now.

"Look, no matter how much I love you or how much that talk with Mohsin may have inspired me. I'm not ready to get married just yet." She said.

She wouldn't admit it, but her sixth sense told her all of this was temporary. She kept pushing back that feeling but it kept gnawing at the happy part of her brain.

"I know. I get it. I wouldn't wanna force you into marriage either but don't you see it in the future somewhere?" He questioned

"I do. But that future isn't in the few upcoming years. I'm sorry if that's a deal breaker, but I can't rush into this." She admitted.
She knew it sounded harsh but it was the truth and she couldn't run away from it for forever.

He looked defeated for a moment, before he hid it just as quickly.

She laughed disappointedly to herself too.
"You can't do this. This isn't your plan. You wanted to be married and have kids in like three years from now. I can't give you that." She said.

Tears pricked her eyes. Never had she thought she would gain and lose love so quickly. A little too quickly.

"You're right. It's not my plan." He lowered his head, contemplating every possibility.

Even a dream would've lasted longer than this.

They fell quiet again. Only this time, it wasn't serene.
It was a sad and disappointed kind of quiet.

She looked at herself in the black screen of her mobile phone. As usual, her first reaction was to wince and her second reaction was to shake that feeling off and tell herself that she was beautiful.

It hit her at that moment.
The main and most strong reason why she couldn't marry him right now.

She loved him, with all her heart and soul, but she was also rushing into this. She was trying to feel comfortable in her own skin after months and she really needed to focus on herself right now. She couldn't put anybody above her right now. She couldn't be unfair to herself again.
And she couldn't apologise for putting herself first.

Zayan watched carefully as her facial expressions changed from one to another. He had known this woman his entire life so he knew what went through her mind before she even said the words.

They had only just started enjoying the sweet taste of word 'love' on their tongues and now they had to let it go. They had only just started believing it was true and now it was ending so fast.
It wasn't fair.

"You should go Zayan. We'll only hurt each other if we carry on with this." She said, despondent yet firm in her decision.

Damn it, why couldn't it have lasted longer than two hours!?

But this was a bitter pill they had to swallow at all costs.

He nodded with a heavy heart and got up to leave.
Haya stared ahead at the sun, letting her tears flow, her heart skipping a beat with every step he took away from her.

Zayan's feet felt heavier with every step he took until suddenly, he stopped walking.

He turned around and so did she as she heard the sound of the footsteps stop. He started walking back towards her and she stood up.

"You know what, Haya Siddiqui. Screw the plan if it doesn't have you in it! Life is unpredictable, if not because of you then because of something else, my plan might fail if Allah wants it to. And I'd much rather have you as the reason for the failure of my plan." He exclaimed and her eyes shone with happy tears

"Those are the worst romantic lines ever! But I love you!" She exclaimed too.
Both of them laughed with tears gleaming in their eyes.

All he could think about in that moment was how a broken person could give him a smile that fixed him. A smile so beautifully bewitching that it could cost him his sanity — and that would still be a cheap price to pay for it

"I don't know about marriage just yet but I think we should tell our parents about us." She said and he nodded in agreement.

They walked down the fort staircase together, parting as they reached their cars.

"It's gonna be okay, right?" She asked

Even though they were going home to tell their parents one of the best news' ever, there was something that told her it wouldn't turn out well

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, cupping her cheek.
He knew what he was about to say might be a lie but when it came to her, he could lie about the entire world just to see her happy.

"It's gonna be alright." He replied

She genuinely wished she could've ignored the glimmer of uncertainty in his eyes, but she hadn't.

—————————

Driving home, she played a 'Coldplay' CD, singing along. When she reached, she conveniently found both her parents in the kitchen.

"Hello!" She greeted them as she sat down on a stool, smiling wide.

"So I take it the meeting went good?" Her mother asked and she smiled wider.

As she retold the whole meeting to her parents, word by word, their expressions changed from one to another really quick but at the end, the only expression on their face was pride.

"We're glad you're our daughter." Her father said.
Both of her parents smiled at her and squished her in a hug.

"I have something else to tell you as well." She finally said.

"We kind of have an idea but go on." Her father said

"Me and Zayan, we..well we're kind of.." She tried to complete her sentence but was interrupted by her mother

"In love with each other?" Her mother completed the sentence

"Yeah.."

"We already knew." Her mother laughed

"Really? How?" She asked

"We raised you kids. Besides, it was written all over both of your faces." Her father joked and she laughed shyly

"We just hope you kids aren't doing something irrational." Her mother said

"Of course mom, we're not stupid." She replied

So she sat happily with her parents, telling stories of her childhood and plans for her future while laughing over home made sweets.

Meanwhile Zayan entered his house with a heavy heart.

He walked to the living room where he found his parents sitting and watching tv.

"You want something to eat?" His mother asked, her eyes still glued to the tv

"No. I actually need to talk to the both of you."
The moment he said the words, both his parents looked right at him, ignoring the tv.

The words 'We need to talk' always meant something super serious in their household.
Communication, or lack thereof, was the biggest flaw in his family.

"It's about me and Haya." He said and his words only made them more alert.

"Go on." His father said, his voice unrelenting.

"We love each other."
Before actually speaking the words, he had come up with several versions to sugar coat the truth but there was no actual way.
This was the truth, and he had to tell it unaltered for he wasn't ashamed of who she was.

"W..what?" His mother asked in disbelief

"You heard me. I love her and she loves me. Simple. We're not thinking about marriage right now but we thought our parents should be aware." He explained as if it was no big deal. He tried to ignore the faces of his parents but his tries were useless.

"You can't marry her!"
His mother exclaimed and his father gave a curt nod in agreement.

"What do you mean I can't marry her? It's my life. Besides, you love Haya. You used to say she was like a second daughter for you." He replied

"Of course I love her. She's a great girl but she will not become my daughter-in-law." His mother said, standing firm on her point

"Would your answer be different were she not divorced and burned by acid?" He bluntly asked.

For a moment his parents were silent before his father spoke.
"Yes."

"Yes!? That's all you have to say for yourself. Do you realize how pathetic you sound? It's not her fault she ended up in this situation." He exclaimed, utterly surprised at this reaction by his parents.

He wasn't expecting them to be completely on board but he wasn't expecting this reaction either.

"Nobody cares about the situation, boy. We have made our decision clear." His father said.

"You people are heartless! You're no better than the people you judge!" He shouted and stormed out of the door.

Suddenly, breathing became a difficult task and everything around him seemed to be irrelevant.

All he could hear was Haya's voice telling him she loved him and all she could see was her face as she made the confession.

It was a fact less known and acknowledged but usually it was the people who loved each other the most, who never ended up together.

In his rage, he punched a wall, injuring his hand in the process and then he began crying like a baby in the middle of the street.

Later that night, in some part of the big town, Zayan stood in front of the mirror, gloomy that he was yet another victim of the society's shallow mindset

In some other part of the same big town, a realization dawned upon Haya as she stood in front of the mirror, gleeful about the fact that she wasn't an acid attack victim.

Instead, she was an acid attack survivor.

——————————————————————————————————————
And that is it! That's the end of Haya's tale.....well not really.
As some of you may remember, I mentioned at the beginning of this book that after 'Book 1' of Memento Vivere ends, I will write another book which will feature all the endings for all the parts.

For now, it has been an absolute pleasure writing about a topic that is considered taboo and not talked about at all. Thank you so much for the appreciation everyone.
Please vote and comment.

Can anyone guess what issue I'll be writing about in the next part?