Mona Stories · Read & Watch
I am Seham. Hazem had been abroad for four years. Our home still had its furniture and walls, but I had stopped feeling secure or connected to him.
During his absence, I became involved with Khaled, my friend Shosho’s husband, and with Amr, her nephew. I could not undo those decisions simply because I wished my husband would come back.
An unexpected knock
Late one night, I heard a knock. When I checked the camera above the door, Hazem was standing outside.
I opened the door and held him, laughing and crying. He had wanted his arrival to be a surprise. His warmth made me happy, but it also intensified my guilt.
The next morning, I told Shosho he was home and said I wanted distance from her and Khaled. She joked that I had forgotten my friends now that my husband had returned.
Yet even while I resented her influence, I began thinking about drawing Hazem into the same pattern.
A vacation built on a lie
I asked for a honeymoon at a seaside resort. Hazem wondered how I knew the place. I claimed Shosho and Khaled had told me about it, hiding the fact that I had already been there.
Khaled arranged the chalet and said that he and Shosho would join us later.
At first, Hazem and I enjoyed our time together. I kept wondering how I had betrayed someone who was trying so hard to make up for the years away.
When our friends arrived, Khaled began asking whether I had forgotten him. I was frightened that Hazem might discover our past relationship. Instead of ending contact, I devised another deception.
I arranged for Shosho to stay with Hazem while Khaled and I went out. When we returned, what I heard convinced me that another boundary had been crossed.
Everyone acted as though the evening had been ordinary. Behind the smiles, each of us was keeping something from the others.
The pregnancy
After returning home, I tried to believe the situation was over. Then I felt unwell and went to a doctor, who told me I was pregnant.
The timing frightened me. Hazem had been home only a short time. I could not be certain whether the baby was his, Khaled’s, or Amr’s.
When I told Shosho, she suggested ending the pregnancy. I rejected her suggestion, feeling that another secret would not solve the problem I had created.
Hazem was delighted and believed he was the father. His happiness made it harder to look at him without remembering what he did not know.
I also feared that either Khaled or Amr might use the situation to threaten me.
No easy ending
Loneliness does not erase my responsibility. I know that the choices were mine.
The account ends before Seham decides what to tell her husband or establishes the baby’s paternity. She asks whether confession, silence, or an attempt to repair the damage can offer a way forward without harming someone else.
Watch this story
Original Mona Stories narration. Playback controls are set to English; available audio and captions depend on the video.