The Assault

CHAPTER 2

Throwing on her scarf and stealing one last look at herself in the mirror, Hala took her signature black coat and dashed out of the house.

They were definitely going to be late again today.

It had become an unforgivable habit of hers, snoozing the alarm and going back to bed. When her parents were here, she didn't have to bother about waking up on time because there was always someone to keep track of time for her, but now they were away on vacation. And for the first time in a while, she had the whole house to herself and her daughter.

And Sarah had been late to school ever since.

“Ugh!”, she groaned. “Whats wrong with me? I used to be so mindful of time before, how did I become so lazy! I'm sorry Sarah, I'll make sure that you go to school earlier tomorrow, this time, I'll keep my promise.”

“It’s okay mother, please don't worry about it. Besides, if we don't meet any traffic on the way, I might get there just in time”, she didn't like to see her mother upset at all.

“You’re such a sweetheart Sarah, what would I do without you!” As she admired the little girl that sat beside her, she couldn't help but thank God that her daughter had turned out to be such a darling little girl. Sometimes, Hala wondered whether the girl was really 8 or 25. Do all kids act this way?!

“Mother”, Sarah called next to her, “why are you smiling?”

“Oh, I was simply thanking God for gifting me with a daughter like you”

“Mother, my friend’s mother hits her a lot and scolds her. She's always crying at school. I've been trying so hard to console her but she wouldn't stop crying. Will you speak to her mother and ask her to please stop hitting her?”, she begged.

Hala hadn't expected her to say something as such. She didn't want her to start thinking bad of her friend’s mother eve though she was actually doing the wrong thing.

“Listen, dear. “I’m sorry that your friend is going through all that. But I'm sure that her mother loves her and takes care of her very much, just like I do to you. But you know sometimes when a child does something wrong, we will have to correct them as parents, right?”

“Yes, mum. But she cried all day yesterday. Please talk to her”

“Alright, dear. I'll take to her. Have a nice day”, she yelled after Sarah as she ran towards the school gates. They had managed to reach their just three minutes before time and she couldn't help but exhale a breath of relief. It would have been rather shameful if she had to beg again today. When she was sure that her daughter had entered the school, she drove off towards her workplace.

********

Hala stepped into Ayra Living, one of the most classical home marts Westville could ever boast of. It stood a gigantic five-story hexagonal structure, with granite pillars supporting the frontmost vertices of the hexagon. It was covered entirely in tinted glass panes with silver emphases which made it stand out among all other edifices on Fyne Avenue.

Inside, it was a hybrid of modern and royal architecture, each floor boasting its essence and identity. The ground floor was dedicated to living rooms and lounges, and it was Hala’s favorite place of all. When she was much younger, she would always go window shopping at an interior design store and test out all the spectacular couches they had to offer. It was a rather ridiculous obsession of hers that had earned her several glares and scowls from the sales workers. But she didn't mind at all.

If one couldn't have everything to themselves, then at least it wouldn't sting to check it out a little. However, since the luxury of hopping from one couch to another had passed away with her childhood, she simply smiled at the receptionist, stepped into the elevator to the executive section on the fifth floor but then concluded otherwise. She had come in quite early today, why not go round for a little inspection?

************

Hala stepped into Ayra Living, one of the most classical home marts Westville could ever boast of. It stood a gigantic five-story hexagonal structure, with granite pillars supporting the frontmost vertices of the hexagon. It was covered entirely in tinted glass panes with silver emphases which made it stand out among all other edifices on Fyne Avenue.

Inside, it was a hybrid of modern and royal architecture, each floor boasting of its essence and identity. The ground floor was dedicated to living rooms and lounges, and it was Hala’s favorite place of all. When she was much younger, she would always go window shopping at an interior design store and test out all the spectacular couches they had to offer. It was a rather ridiculous obsession of hers that had earned her several glares and scowls from the sales workers. But she didn't mind at all.

If one couldn't have everything to themselves, then at least it wouldn't sting to check it out a little. However, since the luxury of hopping from one couch to another had passed away with her childhood, she simply smiled at the receptionist, stepped into the elevator to the executive section on the fifth floor but then concluded otherwise. She had come in quite early today, why not go round for a little inspection?

************

“Get me some coffee, please”, she smiled at her secretary. Hala hadn't speculated that the tour would have taken such a huge toll on her nerves. She started with the first floor where beds and rugs were kept, spoke with the sales representatives and commended them for their impressive customer service, then went up to the second floor which they called “the Show and Shower”. She had spent the most time in there. People now paid quite a lot more vigilance to their bathrooms, so it was about time they also upped their game significantly and provided their clients with just what they deserve, and even more because Hala was the type to go the extra mile to appease her customers.

Her last round was at the kitchen wares department. She hadn't spent as much time there partly because she was tired and mostly because she had no doubts that they were doing a great job over there. She had wanted to go over to the marble store just outside the main building to check up with them but decided that her nerves needed some tending to, so she ordered coffee. While she waited for it to arrive, Hala surveyed the skyline and the city that lay before her.

When she launched her interior design enterprise 9 years back, she never thought of reaching such an immeasurable height. Just a few months before Sarah was born, she was at her lowest. The memory of all the emotional trauma she had to endure from Adam wasn't a recollection lane she’d love to go down ever again. She had been through it, endured it, and conquered it. And that's it. It's all gone, alongside the old Hala that was gullible and exceedingly susceptible to manipulation.

When Adam eventually decided to abandon her, he hadn't been entirely honest about it. He had fibbed about going on a business trip with friends and pleaded for some money. Her parents had gotten weary of his conniving ways and ultimately asked Hala to let go of him, but she had been so blinded and heedless. She had chosen to stay with him and fight for a marriage that wasn't worth saving in the first place, and fact that she didn't want her child to grow up without a father. So, she had stayed and struggled to mend an alliance she didn't tear apart in the first place.

When she couldn't ask her parents for money anymore, he opted for her necklaces claiming that his supposed business kept on flunking. She understood him then, acknowledging that everyone could easily go through the same ordeal in a business. She had given him the very last one she possessed, the one she conserved to gift her daughter with on her wedding day. It was a family heirloom that was passed down to her from her mother, an explicitly priceless piece of jewelry that Adam had his eyes on since the wedding day.

When he eventually left on his trip, he left her a letter saying that she shouldn't bother looking for him because he wasn't coming back again. She was upset, at him for being an unjustifiable cheat, at herself for being so despicably ignorant of all the warning signs. She had wallowed in self pity for days, scared of approaching her parents after all she had done and said to them in defense of Adam, and scared that her predicament might end up hurting her unborn child.

She couldn't go to anyone, nor did anybody come to visit her. It was the worst tribulation that had ever befallen her in life. She then understood the true meaning of life, that it was all bling and glamour until the tables decided to turn and you're left wandering erratically in a sea of uncertainty and regret. Deep, hurtful regret that ate away at every fiber of your being, leaving you so desolate and lonely, all the while wondering where it all went wrong in the first place.

However, in this very case, Hala very much knew where it all began, she was simply heedless and distracted.

It all began when she started college when she decided to stop listening to her parents and “follow her heart”. That was the worst mindset that a young person could ever adopt. Your heart pushes you to make reckless decisions that you ended up regretting in the long run. And since then, everything that happened in her life afterwards was worth regretting. From her sloping grades, to her dwindling morals, to her withdrawal from University, to her marriage to Adam. Everything single thing was painfully regretful. And even more painful was the fact that she didn't have anyone to console her.

She had gotten on the bad side of her father ever since she became adamant about marrying Adam. They had grown even more apart when she fell into his trap and he began successfully exploiting her and capitalizing on her family's wealth. Most of her friends abandoned her when she chose her path back in college. The only person that remained true to their friendship was Hannah. “Extremist Hannah” as she had named her. Hannah was the only person that believed some ounce of good still resided within Hala’s heart. She had tried so hard to get her back on track but ended up being taunted and told off. Even so, she never stopped caring about Hala, even after her unfortunate marriage to Adam. She had tried to keep in touch. But she eventually got married and moved off to a different country, and they haven't heard from each other ever since. And for the first time in her life, Hala was a hundred percent on her own.

She had eventually gotten the independence she yearned for as a teen, but it came at a rather hefty price. It was that time that she realized the value of family, the value of friendships, and most importantly, the significance of staying true to your deen.

She was heavily pregnant and her supplies were dwindling by the day. She developed a passion for interior design when nesting mode kicked in. She would arrange and rearrange her house due to boredom and anticipation of childbirth until it eventually became a hobby. It was her getaway from her problems. When she felt lonely, she cooked and tried new recipes, when her problems became too much to handle, she tidied up the house and got rid of some steam in the process.

But the more she cooked, the more her pantry became more of a yawning space. The more she tidied up and blew off some steam, the more her house became more of a shelter than a home.

She couldn't stay like that anymore, she had to find a way to support herself one way or the other. Since interior design has become more of a passion than a hobby, she managed to raise a little capital and registered as a seller on an online market community. Thankfully, she was much more fortunate with business than she was with marriage.

It wasn't easy at first, but she kept going and supporting herself through it all. By the time Sarah was three years old, she had established a successful interior design venture with the help of her parents. It wasn't something huge, it was modest and thrived well. Her parents have been very supportive ever since they found out about her predicament. They helped her stand up on her own two feet again and even go back to university to study architecture. Afterward, she went ahead to obtain a master's degree in interior design. And it had been the dawn of her new beginning. Even more so, she perfected her cooking skills with time, something that she held so dear to her and dreamt of turning into a successful venture one day, just like Ayra Living. With her parents’ support and her daughter, she felt like she could take on anything that fate hurled at her.

And as she sat down and began with the day's work, she couldn't help but thank God that her dark days were over.

Or so she thought.