0
A/N: This is a shortened version of the original chapter. Book must be purchased for the full story.
“I divorce you.”
The words were spoken emotionlessly, just like another person might have commented on the weather, on something that had no impact on one’s entire life. When she looked at him, his eyes were distant and his face expressionless. Then he zipped up the suitcase, lifted it off the bed, and started to walk out.
Even as her heart was cracking and her life had been upended, she thought of Jâsim and how she’d explain why Fareed had left. “You have to come and see your son,” she said after him. “You will, won’t you?”
Fareed didn’t answer. He just kept walking.
She sank on the bed as he disappeared; and as she heard the distant sound of the front door open and click shut, signalling his departure, the floodgates opened and tears flooded her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. As her heart shattered into pieces, the sound of the rainfall outside made it seem as if the earth was crying with her, as illogical as that was, over the betrayal of a man she had given years of her life to, whom she’d delivered a healthy son for. It didn’t matter that she’d been married to him since she was sixteen or even all she’d done for him in their seven years together. It didn’t matter she’d pushed aside her own happiness for his or that when her father and brothers had disapproved of the match, she had spoken up for him and validated him.
Fareed Muhammad obviously cared about none of those things when he broke her heart without blinking an eye, abandoned her and their son, and walked out of their lives for fresher, greener pastures than what she could provide.
