Act 1, Scene 20

As I felt her embracing me with her arms wide open, I couldn't help but feel as though I only mattered and all the others were just minuscule props left on the sidelines . From the start, she had always been a nice person to talk to - your problems, her predicaments, life's abundant mind-boggling questionnaires which would often pop without a warning were usually the topics of our easy flowing, rampant conversations.

She would often say the right things, at the right time
and I would willingly take them in stride - no matter how
honest/ugly the truth can be.

When she got to know that I was about to turn 21 by the end of this month, she couldn't help but quip at how young I still am due to the difference in age between her and I(which is 41 years, by the way). To have someone tell you that for a change is nice because it doesn't exactly help when you're with other kids whom most often tell how old you're getting when that time of the year starts approaching - believe me, it's like a painful stab to chest is what it is.

I then asked her; since I am at this age where most
people think it is the prime time of anyone's adolescent pre-adult life,
what good words/advice could she bestow upon me?

"Even with all the money in the world, even if you're considered as one of the smartest, one of the most beautiful people or anything else for that matter, all of that won't matter if you don't have faith.

Because when you have faith, you have something to hold on to when all else fails and who is the one person who would be constantly there for you, through your hardships, your tribulations and your blessings? Allah SWT is the one who is always there for you."

And up until now, she has no idea how words so simple yet meaningful as that have affected me, one way or another.