Be Strong Like a Mountain
PART 2
She gave a faint smile and bowed her head slightly. "I am sorry," she said softly. "I am sorry for troubling you all."
Then she stood up, wiped her hands on her old clothes, and walked to a small restaurant nearby. She sat down in a quiet corner.
After a while, she looked at a woman sitting next to her and asked in a gentle voice, "Excuse me... can I ask you something?"
The woman sitting next to her smiled softly. "Yes, you can ask me anything," she replied.
Rayoun looked around and said, "I really love the soup from this restaurant. But today, I don’t see anyone here. There’s no chef, no guests. So... who do I ask to make it for me?"
The woman gave a gentle smile and touched Rayoun’s hair. "Daughter, you are so beautiful. What happened to your hair? You look very tired."
She placed a comforting hand on Rayoun’s shoulder. "Listen, hardships will keep coming in life. If you turn away from them, your enemies will chase you even more. They will try to humiliate you. It’s better to stand up. Be strong like a mountain, so no one can break you."
Saying this, she smiled faintly and walked away.
Rayoun gave a small smile and said, "Thank you so much for looking at me and for caring. But I asked you... I really love the soup from this restaurant. But today, I don’t see anyone here."
She looked around a little and then smiled faintly. "Daughter, today this restaurant... the owner died. So she will never come back. And maybe this restaurant will never open again," the woman replied. Then she started walking away.
Rayoun went silent. She bowed her head and said softly, "I am sorry. I didn’t know the owner had passed away."
The woman stopped and turned back. "It’s okay, child. It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. And yes... never forget what I told you."
Rayoun thanked her again. After the woman left, Rayoun sat alone in the restaurant for two hours. Her words had touched her heart so deeply that it felt like life had returned to her lifeless body. She felt a little lighter, even happy.
She stood up, stepped out of the restaurant, looked around at the weather, and gave a faint smile. Then she started walking slowly, step by step, towards her home.
On her way home, she saw a boy in a dark, empty street. He was harassing a girl, stealing money from her bag. He even had a gun pointed at her head and was forcing her to give him cash. He had taken her phone too. There was no one else in the street. It was very dark.
Rayoun stepped forward quietly. She picked up a dirty brick from the side of the road and hit the thief on his head. He fell unconscious immediately.
Rayoun quickly called the police. Within minutes, the police arrived and took the thief away.
The girl Rayoun had saved turned out to be someone she knew. It was Suman. The same friend who had betrayed her two years ago. The friend who falsely accused her, got her expelled from school, and broke her completely.
Suman looked at her with teary eyes. "Thank you... Rayoun," she said. Then she bowed her head and whispered, "I am sorry. I did something so wrong to you. I didn’t know all of this would happen to you."
Hearing Suman’s words, Rayoun’s heart shattered all over again. Without saying a word, she ran away from there.
---PART 2 END
