When he needed assistance, she helped without sighing.
When he told the same story twice, she listened.
When he made a mistake, she corrected him without trying to make him feel small.
One evening, she brought him a plate of his favorite food.
“Baba, I made this the way you like it.”
He tasted it and smiled.
“Very good.”
She sat beside him.
“Do you think you will ever completely forgive me?”
Suleiman put down his spoon.
“I forgave you the day you apologized sincerely. Trust is different. Trust grows when people see that your actions have changed.”
Amina nodded.
“I understand.”
“Good. Then don’t spend the rest of your life asking whether I have forgiven you. Spend it becoming the person you want me to remember.”
She leaned against his shoulder and cried quietly.
This time, he placed an arm around her.
Outside, the evening call to prayer drifted through the neighborhood, and the apartment filled with the familiar sounds of Sami playing in the next room.
