January 2015
Layla continues working hard. She never asks for a penny of what she earns. Her employer pays her monthly salary to her mother and that is how things work. Layla’s mind has settled for a quiet demeanor. It doesn’t question, it just barks orders to the rest of the muscles, even as they get tired of working. Sometimes, she wants to give up but she knows if she would do that, marriage would automatically come next.
This, Layla fears deeply. She has never wanted to be a woman with messy hair and dirty clothes; the one that runs after her kids and serves her husband round the clock. So, she stays mum. She has also sealed her lips, as her employer’s arrogant daughter commands her all the time, critiquing her work; complaining that the bread is not soft enough or that Layla has missed sweeping dust from one of the corners.
One of these days, as Layla is walking to the general store to get salt, she comes across a lean guy. He doesn’t even look like he is from around, he looks like someone from the television. A foreigner, maybe, Layla thinks, as the rest of the villagers gawk at his beige jeans and blue t-shirt. He has another local man to accompany him, and it is through this dark-toned local person that he approaches Layla.
Apparently, the local guy is his translator and helps him communicate with the villagers. The foreigner wants to know Layla’s story. Something breaks loose inside her heart and she pours out her destiny’s doings to a man she doesn’t even now. After all, he and his side boy aren’t from the village so that doesn’t equate to harm of any sort.
July 2014
Call it a stroke of luck or a silver lining to Layla’s cloud but fate had decided to take an unforeseen twist. Only this time, the twist favored Layla. She couldn’t believe it at first. In truth, she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want that her happy feelings to soar high only to come down in a crash that would hurt way too much. But Layla is going to go back to school.
The foreigner was an angel of some sort for the girl who dreamt big, who wanted to study hard and become a teacher. Basically, the guy was a travel blogger who recorded people’s stories and shared them with the world. Learning of Layla’s passion made him feel very bad. It felt to him like she was a victim of unfair poverty that crumbled her dreams into powder that scattered in the air and no one cared about it.
So, the blogger reached out to people, his friends, and his followers to collect funds for her schooling. He paid a large sum from his own pocket so that the girl could continue pursuing her dreams. Fate takes twisted turns but in the end, Layla is going to go school. It all sounds even more real, as the days to her joining approach. Excitement coils deep in her belly. She doesn’t even know what to think. All Layla know is that she doesn’t care about her age, she only wants to fulfill her dreams.
