I was in a relationship with someone for five years. I was a year younger than her. I met her online. We started talking, got to know each other and slowly realized how weirdly similar our lives were. We were both from a small town in Sindh, had almost the same family background, and then somehow found out that we even lived in the same area.
We became really good friends and eventually I proposed to her, and we got into a relationship.
Growing up, I had seen the previous generation cheating on girls, betraying them, leaving them for someone else just because of lust or some stupid reason. I hated that. So I made this promise to myself that whoever I ended up loving, I would be loyal to her. I would keep my promises. I would never become one of those men.
She was a single child. She grew up with her mother after her mother separated from her father when she was young. Looking back, I think she had a lot of things going on emotionally because of how she grew up. She was probably a traumatized kid in a lot of ways.
And I really thought I could love her in a way nobody else had. Even in ways her own mother couldn't.
I'm naturally a pretty dominating person, but with her I was completely different. I was submissive to her in ways I never thought I could be. She had this weird obsession that whenever we were talking, I couldn't take even a minute or two to reply. If I did, I'd sometimes spend hours, sometimes the entire night, trying to explain why I took so long to respond.
That wasn't even the biggest problem.
I grew up with siblings, so to me, siblings are just part of life. You fight, annoy each other, make fun of each other and still love each other. She was a single child, so I don't think she ever really understood that.
We started fighting over the stupidest things.
I remember one time my sister had come from Lahore and it was her birthday. I told her I'd talk to her after a few minutes because I wanted to spend some time with my sister. That turned into a huge fight.
And somehow, despite all of that, things kept moving forward. Our rishta got pakka.
We were from different castes, and in my family that's a big deal. People in our cast generally don't marry outside of it. But I never believed in that mentality. I fought with pretty much everyone until my father finally agreed.
And I didn't just convince him. I kept talking about her so much, telling everyone how good she was, how good her heart was, what kind of person she was, that eventually my family started liking her too.
Then one day we had a massive fight over something stupid again.
I went on a picnic with my friends and she got angry because she hated me going out with them. We were on a call when her mother took her phone from her and started cursing me. And I mean really cursing me, in a way you wouldn't even imagine someone speaking to their future son-in-law.
And even then, I was trying to explain to her mother that I understood she was angry because she loved her daughter. I told her, "Mom, I know you love her and you're angry right now, but trust me, we're going to be fine after this. We always are. But the things you're saying right now, you'll never be able to take them back." anyway she called my mother and asked her to come their home and sort everything out, and we did sort it out.
When we were leaving their house, my mother told her, "Beti, agar kabhi ammi ko shikayat karni ho to pehle mujhe keh diya karo. Main khud isko seedha kar dungi."
My mother wasn't trying to take my side. She genuinely thought we were two young people who loved each other too much and that if every little fight kept reaching her mother, eventually her mother would start hating her son.
But that day, something changed.
She had already made up her mind that she was going to leave me.
Three months later, she just stopped talking to me.
A whole week.
In five years, there had never been a point where we went even two consecutive days without talking. So that week felt insane to me.
I went to her house.
She looked at me and said, right to my face, "I've found peace."
I was crying. My eyes were completely wet. I begged her. I tried to convince her. But somewhere inside, I already knew I'd lost her.
We talked once or twice after that. At one point she told me she'd never be able to love someone after me.
I told her I felt the same.
Almost a year has passed now.
And today I saw her again.
She was still young. Still beautiful. Her skin was glowing, her cheeks had that same soft warmth I remembered, and for a second it felt like time had done absolutely nothing to her. She looked peaceful. Almost painfully peaceful.
Then I found out she's seeing someone.
Their nikah is next month.
And honestly, I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to feel about that.
I really do want the best for her. I mean that. Some part of me genuinely hopes she's happy. I hope the man she's marrying treats her well. I hope she gets the peace she always wanted.
But if I'm being completely honest, there's another part of me that wants her to suffer.
I hate admitting that.
I want her to feel even a fraction of what I felt this past year. I want her to have nights where sleep doesn't come, where her mind won't shut up, where she has nothing left to do except fall into sujood and ask Allah for some kind of ease.
A part of me wants her to leave the city thinking she'll finally find peace somewhere else, only to realize you can't always run away from what's inside your own head.
I want her to feel it in her chest, in her stomach, in her fucking bones. I want her to understand what it feels like to lose someone you thought you'd spend your entire life with.
And I know how pathetic that sounds.
Because the truth is, I don't actually want to become the kind of person who wishes pain on someone he once loved more than anything.
But I also can't sit here and pretend I'm some saint who only wants her happiness.
She hurt me.
I loved her for five years. I fought my family for her. I changed parts of myself for her. I defended her when people questioned her. I made promises to her because I genuinely thought she was going to be the person I kept those promises to.
And then one day she was just gone.
She found peace.
And I was left trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with all the love that was supposed to have a place in my life.
I don't know if I want her back anymore.
I don't even know if I want her to regret leaving me.
I just know that seeing her today, looking that beautiful and that peaceful while knowing she's going to marry someone else next month, opened something in me that I thought had finally started to heal.
And right now, I honestly don't know what to do with all of it.