Matthew was home, but she had not broken any rule, and she was not frightened for her life right now.
Mary was grateful for Aaryan to come. He made her feel better, but he left something terrifying. She did not know her father because in this house, she was not allowed to talk about him. Her mother was sick, she could not even speak most of the time, and there was no way that Matthew would help her with it.
But if Mary didn't know anything about her father then how did Aaryan know? And what about the involvement with the police? As much as Mary remembers, Matthew told her that their father died of a disease, but what had Aaryan said? Maybe he remembered the wrong person because he was just nine at the time, and he got the name wrong, too, so it was obvious.
Mary was succeeding in convicting herself with it when she realized something. The case, Aaryan was talking about happened twelve years ago and she was nine at that time, too. It was the same time when her father passed away. She thought of it as a coincidence, but Aaryan looked confident in his words, and Mary was now curious about her father more than ever. She wanted to resolve this mystery, to know about him. She wanted to find out what kind of person her father was so Mary decided to do something risky
At night, when everyone was sleeping, she got up. The room that had everything related to her father was downstairs and it was the same room that everyone was prohibited to go in by Matthew. Mary walked down the stairs with as low a sound as possible. Her feet moved on the stairs as if they were clouds walking on a devastated path. One wrong move or even a little sound could end her life.
Mary was standing in front of the room. It didn't have a lock on it, probably because if she was caught in that room, her punishment would be death, and that's exactly what Matthew wanted.
Mary opened the door to a strangely peaceful room. It smelled like dust, and the room felt so calm.
There was just a single bed and a closet, that didn't have a door to cover. Some books were placed on the ground.
The last time Mary heard anything about her father was when her mother begged Matthew to not burn their father's belongings. She said that it was the only thing that was left and then Matthew made a deal with their mother. There was only one condition for keeping them at home, no one would be allowed to enter the room, and Mary was breaking the deal.
Carefully, she closed the door behind her. Taking little steps, she moved to the bed and sat on it. Mary knew they always had been quite rich, and if this was all her father had, then she must know nothing. Despite having so much money, why did he choose to live in poverty? She could find the answer as she saw a budget diary on the floor, just beside her leg. Mary picked it up, cleaned the dust with her hand, and then opened it
She found the answer. Mary was shocked by how much money, her father had donated. This could be the reason why John was not living in luxury, But why would he give money to charity over fulfilling his own needs?
To know the answer, she began to read the list
"To Islamic Center of Hawthorne: donated amount six thousand dollars"
"To Masjid Al-Fatiha: donated three thousand dollars
"Salaam Islamic Center: donated five thousand dollars"
"Islamic Center of Hawthorne: donated amount five thousand dollars"
And the list never stopped. No matter how many pages she turned, there were more and more
The question now wasn't how much money had he donated but
"Islamic Center? Masjid
?" She asked herself, terrified "Why would father donate to Muslims?" Her voice was filled with fear. It was making no sense to her. She stood up, her eyes looked around the room to find an answer but there was nothing and then Mary looked on the floor. She found the answer, there was something on the ground that she never in her wildest imagination, had thought to find in her house. She was frightened of the thing she had just seen on the floor of her father's room, and it was "Al-Quran?" Reading it from the cover, she almost shouted, and then she pinched her lips hard.
Mary didn't touch it, she knew something bad would happen if she even looked at it. She was afraid of a book, of the words it contained and everything about it. So, Mary ran out of that dangerous room. She closed the door and walked to her room as fast as she could, and this time, she didn't care about making a sound because her heart was beating so fast in her ears.
She didn't remember anything until she was back in her room
"My father was a Muslim?" Her breathing was so fast that she couldn't even hear her question, and then Mary realized she was still holding onto that budget diary. She hurled it away as if it was a bomb ready to burst and blew her away. She was confused, she didn't know what was happening so Mary fell on her knees and started to cry.
It made sense to her now. Everything Matthew said about John was right, their father had chosen the wrong path. Matthew tried to save them all by keeping her away from her father. What if she went into that room again and got distracted from her religion? Matthew was handling it the best way.
She had to do something, something for her father. She needed him to be forgiven because he had done wrong, so Mary began to pray. "Heavenly Father." She cried, "My father had been distracted from the right path. He fell under the influence of evil. Please forgive my father and make him pure again. My heart is heavy with regret for the ways I have failed to live according to Your will. Please forgive me and my father, Lord, for all of our sins. Help me to turn away from sin and to follow Your path." Her shouts echoed in the room. She couldn't breathe but still forced herself to continue because those words had to be said out loud, and there was no other way around. "Forgive me and my father. He had done wrong to himself. Thank You for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through whom I can find redemption. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen," and she stopped speaking, but the tears never left her. Mary stayed attached to the ground and just like that the night passed
The next day Mary went to the university with a heavy head and a broken heart. She had to leave early, or Matthew would have noticed her swollen eyes, and she knew she wouldn't be able to lie in front of him.
As she entered the class, she spotted that person in his seat, peacefully reading something from his phone. Taha may not have realized her presence, that's why he never stopped singing out loud. For a reason, that song was odd, almost as if it wasn't music but something else. Taha's voice was melodious, and she had always admired it, but now this voice had peace in it as well. It was from a different language, and she guessed the language must be from the Middle East. "Wad duhaa. Wal laili iza sajaa. Ma wad da'aka rabbuka wa ma qalaa. Walal-aakhiratu khairul laka minal-oola' it was soothing and calm it matched the feeling she felt last night in her father's room– "I thought you quit singing because of a disease or something" For some reason Mary said it in a taunting way. Taha stopped reading whatever he was. "I am not singing," He replied. His tone didn't match hers. "Then? What was it?" She asked, "I wonder, you do not want to know." and she abruptly replied with a loud "Why?" Mary did want to know, and not only that, but she wanted to hear it again or at least know what it was. "I told you, Mary. You don't want to know it." This calmness-- attitude in Taha was making her angry, and on top of that, he wasn't even looking at her. He was staring somewhere on the floor just beneath her feet. She looked down and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her sneakers or jeans "Explain yourself" Mary demanded "You may not need to know the explanation as well" Mary was done and she was just about to punch this calm-- egoish Taha when "Hey, Mary" Aaryan was there standing just by her side. He gave a weird look to Taha and then wrapped his hand around her neck. All of the sudden her thoughts got complex
Aaryan was a Muslim too
Aaryan was a Muslim
She couldn't have him. Even if she could not help herself in hating Aaryan, she should keep distance from him
"Hey." Unlike her feelings, her voice was all shy. It was okay. At least Aaryan wasn't a practicing Muslim or something, and he didn't even appear like a Muslim to her, so she was safe with him. "How are you?" He asked and she wasn't sure why she said "Fine, what about you"
"Fine, fine. Let's go." Aaryan dragged Mary with him to their place, on the last bench. There was still some time in the class and she got the urge to say it right now "I would join ART" Mary announced in anger, looking into his eyes, Aaryan looked stunned "Huh? What do you mean?" she took a deep breath in "I mean I will join ART as the main vocalist" she repeated and didn't know what the hell she was doing
"Why? We didn't get an A+, isn't our bet already over?" He asked in confusion. She did not care about the bet because this Taha, right there, just made her furious and she needed to show him where he stood by taking his place. "It was my fault, and I have made up my mind," Aaryan threw a hand over his chest, he was relieved. "Thank you," he said "Thank you," Mary said back and Aaryan glanced at her with a bright smile, his beautiful lips curling softly at the corner, his smile that would melt Mary in it and she was staring at him, in those out of this world, the most perfect brown eyes and– "Oye" Aaryan snapped his fingers in front of her face "Where are you?" in his gorgeous eyes– "Oh, I just-" her brain was just flickering and nothing was coming to her mind and just then Mr. Asher entered the class and saved Mary
They were all in the Genesis lab and Mary's feelings were still complicated. Anger was surely one of the emotions, she was dealing with at the moment "It's our five-month meeting anniversary," Said James with a huge wave of excitement. "Aw, Jamie, you are going to make me blush," Luna said, hiding in his arms, and Mary was done. In the beginning, they were good guys and looked cute with each other. It wasn't like they had changed, but their constant flirting just made her mad. James and Luna made her feel like an invisible creature. All three of them were friends, at least that was what Mary thought but then she realized she should start to keep her distance from them
When Mary unwillingly glanced at Aaryan he was already looking at her with something like worry on his face. He shifted his expression in a blink, and a smile appeared on . "Hey, Diamond. Come here" He whispered. Mary couldn't help but walk to him. He felt like a savior in the moment and Mary was sure that James and Luna would not even realize her absence as they were busy taking; flirting with each other
"Hey, habu Aleuryan." Raheel was surely greeting Mary in his language, yet she heard something like Aaryan in that sentence, and when she looked at him, he was giving a thank you stare to Raheel "Hey, Ray, how are you doing?"
"As good as forever," He replied with a wink. "So, Habibiti, should I welcome you to ART?" She nodded to Raheel because this decision was eternal, and upon getting the response, Raheel moved forward to embrace her in a hug, and just then, Aaryan kicked his leg. "Ah!" He whined, and with no concern for him, Aaryan just said, "Stay away." Raheel rolled his eyes and said nothing. Was he jealous– "Okay, Diamond, let's meet at Raheel's place tomorrow at eight. I will share the address with you" He sounded jealous and she agreed