Nora was in a state that was difficult to explain. How could love knock on the doors of her heart amidst such a catastrophic situation? Nora was a beautiful girl with olive skin, green eyes, and silky chestnut hair some strands of it slipped out from under her hijab. She and her family had been displaced by the war from the northern part of Gaza to the south, taking refuge in a UNRWA school in Rafah, where displaced families were sheltering. Gaza was enduring horrific aggression, a genocide, and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Yet, love arrives whenever it wishes, ignoring everything.
Khaled, the young man who captured Nora’s heart, was cheerful and had a commanding presence. His hair and beard were as black as coal, his skin fair, his eyes sharp hazel, and his sweet smile could melt anyone’s heart. He lived with his family in the same school where Nora’s family had taken refuge.
Despite the sorrow and pain and the dull days, the one thing Nora never grew tired of was seeing Khaled. She tried, often without much intention, to catch his attention, whether it was during the water and food lines or while hanging laundry. The world was crumbling around her, yet she lived in another world, a world filled with passion and love.
Nora was shy and never dared to initiate a conversation with Khaled until one day. She was carrying water for her family and felt tired, so she paused for a moment to rest. Suddenly, Khaled approached her, as he often did with anyone in need of help. With his sweet smile, he said, “Let me help you, it’s too heavy for you.” His words were like a sweet symphony that echoed in her ears, and she couldn’t stop herself from gazing at him. She quickly broke the gaze with great shyness and said, “Thank you.”
This love couldn’t develop any further. In Gaza, it seemed that love was forbidden, while misery and destruction reigned supreme. One day, the school they were sheltering in was heavily bombed, forcing everyone to flee once again. At that moment, Nora realized she might never see Khaled again, and the thought of longing for him from now on drowned her in despair.
But fate smiled upon Nora. Khaled reappeared suddenly, bringing life back to Nora. He spoke to her family in the street, inviting them to join his family in setting up tents to live together. Nora’s family agreed, and she was filled with joy. She felt that Khaled had done this deliberately, wanting to stay close to her.
Days passed, and a new tent community was formed. Nora and her family lived in this new community, where people led a life similar to that of their ancestors, without their smartphones, one might think they were from a primitive age. Khaled remained the same, but his smiles and glances directed at Nora now carried new meanings, and those signals were enough to make her face flush with embarrassment.
The exchanged signals between them worked wonders in Nora’s heart. She was madly in love with Khaled, but her inability to express her feelings tormented her. Every time she saw him, her heart would race. She wondered: Does he love her as she loves him? Or are all these signals just a figment of her imagination, woven by her love for him?
One day, a small child came running toward her and smiled, saying, “Nora, Nora, Uncle Khaled says to give him your phone number.” Nora knew immediately that the boy was Khaled’s messenger, one of the children who followed Khaled like he was the leader of their small gang. Without thinking, Nora wrote down her phone number and gave it to the child.
That evening, she received Khaled’s first message: “Hi, how are you?” Nora’s heart pounded wildly, and she was overwhelmed with love. After exchanging messages for several days, Nora realized that the eyes indeed spoke, and her doubts were true. Khaled loved her just as much as she loved him, and his constant presence near her was no coincidence; it had been intentional.
To Nora, everything felt magical, as if she were living in a fairytale but in reality she was in a nightmare oh how love change everything. After several weeks of exchanging messages, Khaled invited her to his tent, where he lived alone. Nora was filled with fear, and for days, she was under the influence of adrenaline, wondering whether to go or not. She was in an internal struggle, but her love for Khaled overpowered her fears. One night, she decided to go to his tent. She stood at the entrance while Khaled waited inside. At that moment, bombs were falling as usual, death and destruction everywhere, and starvation and siege spread chaos across the strip. The world was collapsing, the past seemed like a parallel reality detached from her, and the future had vanished. Nora stopped thinking, cast the world that had abandoned her behind, and entered the tent.