❝ I know. I could be happy until midnight if I wanted to. But what about after midnight? What about two AM? What about four AM? What about months and even years later?
I don't want to let him in knowing sometime in the future I'd have to let him go...
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Daneen's gaze travelled from Badar to Abnosh to Tabish, but lingered a little longer on Tabish. The dull throb that resounded in her chest at his sight made her take a step back.
Daneen dropped her handbag and shawl over the kitchen table, clearly visible from where their guests were sat in the living room. "I didn't take anything. If you're not satisfied with my word, by all means, you can check my bedroom."
Tabish stood up. "Why did you leave?"
"Weren't you the who asked me to? You hated seeing me be treated like crap by your mother, Tabish. I thought if you loved me as much as you said you did, you'd give me the space to make my own choices, no matter the consequence they brought upon you."
Daneen knew her words were extremely contradictory to the reality she had admitted to both herself and Tabish the previous night. She knew the excuses she was using were futile.
"What about the consequences your choices would bring upon you?" Tabish questioned. "Don't you feel the same way about me?"
Daneen clenched her jaw. "I have been saying the same thing over and over to you. Life doesn't work this way. You can't just steer things your way when they're not. You and me-look at us. Look at me, Tabish. I don't know what delusional fairyland you're living in and what those books fed to you, because I grew up hearing different stories. And the ideologies my parents narrated to me-they make so much sense, especially right now where I'm standing, because countless obstacles are keeping us away. And we can't do anything about them."
"We'll find a way. You won't have to live with Mama, we can get our own place-"
Daneen's throat grew tight. Don't cry. Not now. She shook her head. "I don't want to. And I'm not sorry."
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