Sofia Khan is Not Obliged

by Ayisha Malik

But it seems that this is life. The yellow brick road is paved with babies and just too many questions about the ‘M’ word . . .

‘We write to taste life twice.’ I’m not sure she knew what she was talking about: we write to get rid of the taste certain morsels of life leave us with.

Emotional dependency is bad for personal growth. (And a little too good for physical growth. Obviously.) As a woman of the twenty-first century, I should be enlightened enough to not obsess over my single status. I’m going to do more meaningful things. Voluntary work? Help London’s homeless? Bake cakes for people? (Learn to bake?) The list is endless.

You should never change is the culmination of all your flaws made necessary: the imperfect sum of an imperfect past, which turned out to be a good thing for someone.

One of the issues about the whole ‘being alone’ stance is not having anyone to share the world’s problems with. A person’s been scooped out of your life and so you speak into a pit of nothingness. Or you don’t speak at all, depending on your tendency towards soliloquy.

I’m a marginally intelligent, selectively confident, assertive woman who isn’t defined by what’s on her head, but by what’s inside it.

While I’m not quite a ‘let’s live in each other’s pocket’ type of girl, sharing the fundamentals is rather basic. And anyone who says love is all that matters hasn’t quite grown up. This is long-term planning . . .

Note for book: Cyber-dating rules are different to real-world rules . . .

‘People are always going to ask when you’re getting married,’ said Maria. ‘That’s what makes people actually get married.’

‘It is a test from Allah; for all of us.’ He paused and sighed. It took a few moments before he carried on. ‘One of the greatest things a person can face on earth is the test of separation. Separation, in any form, is loss, but remember: the greatest separation is that of hope. Ignore people who blame us for the actions of a few, because a person who has faith is never separated from hope. Do good deeds, Brothers and Sisters. For everyone. Start with your neighbour – even they have rights over you – because when life is over, your good deeds will be all you take.’

You know those people who say, ‘Go with the flow?’ They’re idiots. Question everything and, more often than not, you’ll stumble across an answer.

‘God, let me tell you – love? Man,’ he exhaled dramatically, ‘love can be the most beautiful thing ever. And the most devastatingly heart-breaking thing ever.’

The worst thing about people who are oblivious to what they say is when you’re really pissed off and then have to explain why you’re pissed off. So you’ve been walking around, seething, and they’ve been pottering about without a trace of excess emotion.

‘Nothing is more important than my daughters.’ That’s the nice thing about dads; they actually believe this. I kissed him on the cheek and looked him in the eye. ‘I’m afraid the world would disagree.’