True love never runs smooth – chapter 3

Told from Syed's point of view

Syed sank to his knees in the bathroom and wept till he had no tears left. This situation was utterly impossible, it was tearing him apart and he felt like he was going mad. He loved his family, of course he did but he loved Christian too and he couldn't understand why he couldn't have both, why was he being punished just for falling in love?

After the revelation at the party about him and Christian things had gone from bad to worse. Amira had been distraught, devastated, and he couldn't forgive himself for inflicting so much pain and heartache on her, she hadn't deserved it. He could't believe that Christian had forced him to come clean so dramatically, but then again he supposed he had no choice, Syed hadn't left him any choice.

And now he had lost everything, Amira, Christian, his parents. Zainab could barely bring herself to look at him and he was only allowed to stay in the house because Masood had insisted upon it to her. Tamwar was his one and only consolation, the only one who had shown him any empathy or understanding, the only one who had ever asked him how he was feeling. All Zainab and Masood were concerned about was how this whole business had affected them, how it made them look to other people. They thought he could just wipe Christian from his memory and pretend that it had never happened. Zainab was even talking about inviting the Aunties over to find him "a nice girl". The woman was incredible, she had buried her head in the sand like an ostrich and was determined to stay there!

Syed sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He must stop wallowing in self-pity he told himself. But it was difficult when he kept bumping into Christian everytime he left the house. Only that morning he had almost collided with Christian as he was coming out of the shop. Syed had been deep in thought and hadn't seen him until Christian had snapped at him to "watch where you're going!" and had then stormed out of the shop. It had been almost like a physical pain seeing him, Hearing his voice and not being able to touch him. He had wanted to run after him, throw himself at his feet and beg him for forgiveness, but he knew it was too late for that. The look on Christians face had said it all, he would never forgive him for everything he had done, all the lies and sneaking around had taken their toll and there was no hope left.

Nothing mattered anymore, all he had to do now was try and get through each day by immersing himself in work, work and more work. The intrusive ringing of his mobile cut into his reverie and he glanced at the screen in amazement, it was Christian! What could he want? He was excited and nervous all at the same time, but he couldn't ignore it. He picked up the phone and listened incredulously as Christian began to speak….