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“Clever You knohat I s can be quantified And they last”

“If you think so,” she scoffed, “then I feel sorry for you”

“Says the woman who married for ‘ those were And ould the ‘so moral’ you want to ask of me be? Love?”

The word, his ridicule as he threw it at her, skewered her “We agreed that doesn’t exist Or if it does, it doesn’t matter”

“Then what do you want?”

She took a deep breath, asked for soht

In a life that had exposed hi scope, few things ever took Farooq by cos had

They all involved Car hi out And now, her request

A clean slate

She was asking hier, to deny his e of her crimes She wanted to start fresh What for? A way back into his good opinion and goodwill? Into his e she’d once made him lavish on her, and she’d squandered?

The worst part was how she understood hi at the perfect time to have the desired effect on him His first reaction to her request had been to snatch her in his are her skin off with the violence of relief, the liberation of capitulation He still wanted to let his new insight into her ordeals and her exponential effect on him wipe his memory, soothe away the lacerations, drive hiht the temptation with all he had

She wasn’t here because this was a shiny new beginning and it was her choice to start over, but because he’d given her none If it had been up to her, no matter her reasons, he would have never found her and Mennah, and Judar would be heading for destruction

He itation of hope, while the dread of the little girl who’d grown accusto turned down clouded the heavens of her eyes, made the red-rose petals of her lips tremble, and his convictions evaporated as they formed

And that hy he couldn’t relent

She’d been destructive as his hter, she’d be devastating If he let her

He braced against the pain as he ended this hope for so he wanted as e the past isn’t one of rant you”

It was a good thing he’d given himself that pep talk Otherwise he would have relented upon seeing her flame dim