by Houda El Mouatassim Billah
by Houda El Mouatassim Billah
Morocco World News
Marrakesh, January 28, 2013
Everything started when she was hired as a journalist in a very prestigious multilingual newspaper in a city far from her home. Having been the only one to succeed in the job interview amongst hundreds of young talented people who applied too, she felt very lucky and blessed for such an opportunity. She promised herself not to let anything stand in the way of realizing her dream of becoming a well-known journalist.
The first day of her job went smoothly; she got along with her colleagues very quickly as she was a very charming and sociable person. Being a novice in the profession, she was neither ashamed nor too proud to ask around for any pieces of advice that could assist her in doing her job perfectly.
Amongst the people she had asked for help were two male colleagues from a different lingual department, who were known to be brilliant and very talented. Adam and Zachariah didn’t hesitate in advising Sophia and providing her with all the guidance and help she needed. More than that, the three of them soon became best friends and started hanging out frequently. The two young men were already roommates and best friends too, as they had been living and working together for approximately four years. They showed her around, had fun together and made the best out of the few hours they spent together. Somehow, the fact that Sophia joined the newspaper staff brought joy to both Adam and Zachariah whose lives revolved mainly around work before she appeared. It was as if her sense of humor and fun personality unleashed theirs too.
Sophia was a very special person: her way of thinking and of dealing with everyone and everything around her was very sensible but a little sensitive at times, contemporary but a little old fashioned at times. She would give you advice as a wise fifty-year-old person would, but play with you and laugh as a four-year-old child would. Even the way she expressed her ideas, the choice of her words, the sound of her voice, and her charming smile attracted everyone around her, and obviously, Adam and Zachariah were no exception.
Day after day, they became closer, a little intimate even. Their time schedules didn’t always match, but Sophia’s and Zachariah’s did most of the time, which gave them the opportunity to spend some quality time alone. Zachariah treated Sophia as if she was a child who needed protection. He never let her cross the street alone. He used to take her hand, help her cross the street and not let it go until they were on the sidewalk. And once there safely, he always moved to the side next to the jammed road asking her to move to the other side, as if he was getting her out of harm’s way and placing himself in jeopardy. While enjoying their long walks along the beach, they always expressed their admiration towards one another. Yet, at that time, none dared to express their romantic feelings: Zachariah seemed to have his own reasons, while Sophia wasn’t even aware of how strong her feelings for him grew gradually inside her.
Meanwhile, Adam’s feelings for Sophia grew stronger too, and he was just waiting for the right time to tell her all about them and see what her response was going to be. Their relationship was special too. Adam was interested in Astronomy as a hobby and Sophia had always been fascinated by that world and eventually, by him too. They used to spend hours chatting online at night, starting their conversation with talks about Astronomy and ending them with discussions about their other mutual hobbies and interests.
Everything was going smoothly between the three until the day Adam saw that Zachariah whisper something in Sophia’s ear when they were walking her home one day after having spent an entire evening together, chatting, playing and teasing each other as usual. Sophia had asked Zachariah earlier that day about why he kept staring at her that entire day, uttering only a few words here and there, which wasn’t like him. He refused to answer her repeated questions, but was enjoying the way she was persistent. He liked the fact that she cared about him enough to pay close attention to the change of his behavior towards her. It wasn’t until she was about to go into her house that he grabbed her and whispered in her ear: “We’re not just friends, you and I, you know. The way you talk, what you say, even your smile make my head spin and my heart race. I’m too scared that the way I feel will make a bomb explode on my face one day!”
His words instantly drew a smile on her cheerful face. Apparently, she didn’t pay attention to the ending of his sentence as she was too ecstatic from hearing his flattering words. It was right there and then that her feelings towards him, which were building up inside her without realizing it, were suddenly set free and became a reality. So, with a fluttering heart, wide smile and a shaking body, she entered her house that night dreaming of what tomorrow will be like for both of them now that his concrete words and her happy expressions exposed what they had been hiding for months.
That same night, the night when Zachariah finally admitted his feelings for Sophia, the night when both her eyes and smile screamed “I do too” out loud, she received a shocking text message from the latter that said: “I think that it’s better for us to just be friends. Being anything else but that will take us nowhere. Good night!” She almost went crazy reading that. She tried calling him instantly but in vain, his phone was off. Then, she immediately went online looking for Adam. She wanted to ask him about what happened a few minutes earlier. But before she had the opportunity to ask him about anything, Adam said: “I like you Sophia. I like you so much to the extent that it hurts me. I like everything about you and being merely your close friend isn’t enough for me anymore. What do you say?” Before she even had time to grasp what Adam had just told her, her phone rang and it was Zachariah! She answered her phone immediately dismissing the fact that Adam was there waiting for her answer. She shouted at Zachariah and blamed him for what he said, before he interrupted her and explained what happened:
“You know me well enough to recognize I wouldn’t have said that if I didn’t have good reasons. I was just called a coward and a backstabber by my brother-like a friend. He thought we are dating behind his back while he is infatuated by you too. Yeah, he did tell me about his feelings for you before but I believe that mine are stronger. Not only I like you Sophia, I love you. I finally found someone whom my heart and mind both vote and crave for! But then there’s Adam, whom I love and respect as a brother, who has always been there for me and whom I can’t hurt that way. I know I should’ve waited until tomorrow and tell you all this face to face, but his words were painful to hear as if he was stabbing my heart with a knife! I think I’m too ashamed to face you while wavering the way I am now. I’m dead. It is sure I want to be with you and only you and I shouldn’t care about anyone else’s opinion, but at the same time he’s not just “anyone”, he’s Adam!”
After a silence that lasted what seemed like ages, they both sighed in agony, disappointment, and confusion. However, Sophia summoned all her strength and wisest ideas, and articulated these hardest words: “Apparently, I have been having feelings for you for quite some time now, strong ones actually. I, too, believe you’re a person I would do anything to be with. Yet, we can not deny that Adam plays an important role in this as well. If he was just some other guy, I don’t think we could have cared, but like you said, he’s your brother. Who am I to break such a strong bind that is so hard to find nowadays? I’m just some girl you accidentally met and that you should obviously forget. You’ll find someone better than me, someone who will not make you lose your best friend and that’s all that matters now. We’ll have to endure through the process of getting over each other. Just be sure that I will always respect you and keep you in a special place in my heart, so long.” And she hung up, with tears filling her eyes and screams tearing her chest apart. It was the first time she had such strong feelings for someone, and unlucky for her, they couldn’t act upon them. After all, she thought she would have done the same thing if she happened to have to choose between her best friend and someone she loved.
She got online again after regaining some of her psychological stability, and found Adam still waiting for her. He knew she was talking to Zachariah, but clearly couldn’t care less. He picked up their conversation where they had left it off, and asked her about her opinion again. She told him to postpone their conversation until the next day in order to take some time to think rationally. That night, she didn’t sleep until dawn. Her brain didn’t stop working, and the ideas in her head sounded like this: “Adam is a gentleman too, you do like him as well and you too get along quite well. And if you’re not going to be with Zachariah anyways, why not be with Adam who’s a special person too. After all, there is no happy ending to your love triangle. Someone is going to get hurt eventually!” Apparently, at that time, she didn’t fancy the idea of being alone in a strange, and needed someone to help through her homesickness. In this case, it was going to be Adam rather than Zachariah, unfortunately for her!
Months went by slowly, as Adam and Sophia became romantically involved, while she and Zachariah only exchanged a few words and looks here and there. Surprisingly enough, the latter revolved around how much they both suffer from not being together, and that, although they were already dating other people, they couldn’t forget the intense love they carried for each other, the thing that caused Sophia to suffer even more, as feelings of betrayal were creeping down her body.
One day, out of the blue, she disappeared, leaving her dream job, her soulmate and her boyfriend behind, and went back to her hometown to look for a fresh start. She almost lost her sanity those days. She had been taking sleeping pills and antidepressants for quite some time since infidelity wasn’t one of her traits.
Day after day, Adam and Zachariah suffered from her absence in silence, no one could bring up the topic of Sophia’s disappearance and they ultimately grew apart, since looking at each other’s eyes always implied remembering her. As for Sophia, even though giving up her dream job was a hard decision to make, she felt that she had to take responsibility for not acting the right way the first time. She was well aware that when facing a predicament like the one she did that infamous night, she shouldn’t have chosen any of them. She should have talked rationally to both of them explaining to them that nothing good can come out of choosing a guy over his best friend. They should have endured it the three of them back then, instead of blindly following their feelings which eventually meant living unhappily ever after!
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