Wafaa

“He was Mo-Maw’s youngest son, but he was also her confidant, her lady’s maid, and errand boy. He was her one flattering mirror, and her teenage diary, her electric blanket, her doormat. He was her best pal, the dog she hardly walked, and her greatest romance. He was her cheer on a dreich morning, the only laughter in her audience. Jodie shunted him again but Mungo only grumbled and curled tighter around her. Her brother was her mother’s minor moon, her warmest sun, and at the exact same time, a tiny satellite that she had forgotten about. He would orbit her for an eternity, even as she, and then he, broke into bits.”
― Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo

“No," he says quietly. "In every universe, it's you for me. Even if it's not me for you.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place

“You're like gravity. Everything keeps spinning, but my mind's always got one hand on you.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place

“In 2011, we really believed we were birthing a new order, that everything would change and the corruption that had seeped through the veins of the nation, poisoning every organ, would be flushed out at last . . . Six years later, it’s embarrassing to remember just how innocent we were—not naive so much as innocent.”
― Noor Naga, If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English