1 year later.
Farida
Checking myself once again on the big glass door and button up the last button on my brown dress jacket. I want to make sure I look more like a civilian than a random person, being a head architecture worths looking good, plus I have high expectations of this job.
I notice the securities standing at both sides of the door, glancing at each other and looking at me like I've grown two heads. I gave them a tight smile and they reward me with laughter. I push through the door praying that everyone here is as cheerful as the guards outside and well, the receptionist is and that alone gives me hope.
Some minutes later
The interview isn't as scary as I thought. The CEO appears to be a gentle old man with respectable manners. He nods his head while going through my CV giving me signs that it's approvable and I smile in response knowing that I'm very much qualified for this job.
He raises his head and meets my eyes with a gentle smile. "Congratulations Ms. Ali, you have the job". I almost cream in content. I'm finally a working woman. "Thank you so much sir". I respond with the warmest smile I can offer. "You can call me Mr. Elliot". His warm and cheerful behavior make me more confident that I'll enjoy working with him. "Thank you Mr. Elliot".
"Stop thanking me already, you earned it and you got it, my assistant will show you to your office where you'll be together with your team, I expect them to show you everything you need to know and you should cooperate with them, work is better when you do it together. You'll start working tomorrow, my assistant will tell you the details". He says nodding at his assistant and he responds.
We walk out of his office and he begins to show me around introducing me to my team and I figure out that the warmth of the CEO is like a virus that spread throughout the building. I will surely like it here!
At home
Mum decides to throw a party for my new and also first job, when I say party I mean baking cakes and cookies with orange juice and eating it together in the living room while talking about whatever we're doing it for. Yup, that's my mum's definition of party. And so that's how we celebrate my success, with my parents and my lovely children.
Speaking of children, I never ask my parents to share the story of my marriage with me again ever since I realized that it gives my mum tension and her blood pressure always goes up and make her sick, I don't want my past to dictate my family's future. If my husband is truly dead then why trying to find out who he was which will definitely cause me another panic attack. I know that one day his family will come to see their grandchildren and I'll know them again. Maybe by then my memories would have come back and my illness would have gone. But now all that matters to me is the present and our future, I just want everything to be back to normal. I don't want to give my parents anymore tension, and that's a promise.
After the party I decide to step out and get some fresh air, I really love the atmosphere in this environment. I quickly slip on my hijab and made my way downstairs. "Where is mummy going?" Azrah's tiny voice comes from behind me making me smile so widely that my cheeks begin to hurt. I just love being called mummy. I turn to my baby girl and stretch my right hand for her to take and she begins to run towards me giggling like she won a lottery. "Be careful, you don't want grandma to see you running in the house" We laughed together as she grab my hand. we go to the kitchen where we find mum tickling my baby boy ajwad as he laughs and starts to hiccup making me laugh so hard that I begin to hiccup too.
"Like mother, like son". Mum shouts making me laugh again.
" Come ajwad" I extend my hand to him and he hops off the stool and runs towards me. "No running in the house" mum said with a serious tone and I laughed. " You know, your children took after you. I can't count the number of times I said the exact same sentence to you when you were a kid". My mum said laughing as she remembers the past. I announce that I'm going outside for a walk with my kids and we walk out of the kitchen to the living room and to the main door.
The scent of freshly grazed grasses blow into my nostrils as soon as the door is opened. The kids run outside like they've never seen the sun before and I laughe at there cheekiness. I hold both of them with each of my hands as we walk around the neighborhood. I greet the friends I made ever since I got here. I'm a really lucky woman.
Farida's Mother
I watch her through the window as she walks around happily, her olive skin shine in the bright sun and a fresh glow appear on her strawberry shaped face. He slightly round pink lips stretch in a smile as she greets our neighbors, now I wish this moment of happiness will never end. I wish the truth will never come out and she remains happy. Do not think I'm a selfish woman, I'm a mother and that too to a girl whose mental condition is critical. I have to keep up with my lies to save my only child.
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