It had been a stressful work week for Ali. He was in charge of his team’s presentation at an event that included other tech start-ups like theirs. The event would take three days, and his recent promotion saw him overseeing others. He didn’t like following up with people, but it came with the title and the salary boost. Then, a mane of black, natural hair caught his eye. The owner of the mane turned, and she had the most fantastic smile he had ever seen. Suddenly, the event felt like an exciting place to be.
She was jovial and was talking to people whenever Ali looked at her. “She must be one of those girls,” Ali thought. He needed to capture her attention. There were evening refreshments at the end of the first day of the event, and Ali got his moment. He saw something interesting on her key holder.
He waited until she was standing alone, and he joined her.
“Hi, I’m Ali. I should probably say I’m a fan of the North but that would make me a liar.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Your keychain. That’s the Starks’ symbol,” Ali responded.
“Oh, you’re a Game of Thrones fan? I’m Catherine,” she said.
“Catherine, it makes sense why you would gravitate towards the Starks,” Ali replied.
“Yes, amongst other reasons. I take it they were not your favourite house. So who’d you pick?” Catherine asked.
“The Lannisters, of course,” replied Ali.
“Are you sucker for evil? Should I run for the hills?” Catherine joked.
“Maybe I am. A little thrill is good for the soul. Seriously though, if you look past their extremely evil side, almost everybody in House Lannister had character. The House Stark had good people, whom you’d typically root for but their goodness overrode their survival instinct, save for Arya,” Ali responded.
“Way to dismantle my argument for The Starks!” Catherine told Ali.
“I’ve had a bit of practice, seeing as I’ve had to defend my fascination with the Lannisters since they have quite many haters,” Ali told her, winking.
Their shared love for Game of Thrones saw them spend a few more hours together. They met for coffee each evening for the remainder of the event. A week later, they went on a Game of Thrones trivia date where they learnt they were competitive people after narrowly losing the trivia, and they sulked hard. Their connection was undeniable, and they wasted no time before dating.
It was an easy relationship in most ways except for one: religion. They agreed on most things, but religion proved challenging. Ali was Muslim, while Catherine came from a Christian background. Ali had no problem with their religious diversity, but Catherine struggled.
“If we got married, would you expect me to convert to Islam because I am the woman?” Catherine asked Ali.
“Do you want to convert to Islam?” Ali asked her.
“No, I don’t,” she replied.
“Then you won’t. Nobody has to convert. You stick to your religion and I do the same. As long as we have mutual respect for the different religious practices, and discuss any matter that arises, we should be okay,” Ali responded.
They had been dating for eight months, and it hadn’t been a pressing matter at that point. Ali thought Catherine would finally be okay with their religious differences, but over the following months, it became a constant source of conflict in their relationship.
“I’d like you to join me for service on Sundays,” Catherine told Ali.
“I can’t commit to all Sundays but I have no problem joining you whenever I can,” Ali told her.
So Ali attended church with Catherine a couple of times. He had attended Christian schools, so he knew what to expect. Further, while he wasn’t going to convert to Islam, he was open-minded about learning from any experience. They didn’t fight about religion for a while, but that was because Catherine didn’t voice her thoughts.
A year and a half into their relationship, she went home for a weekend. She came from a family where they attended church as a family, and her parents had responsibilities in the church. Growing up, they would sit at the front of the church. She wanted that for herself and the family she would have. During that church service, she finally realized why she had a problem with the religious differences in her relationship. Later in the week, she spoke to Ali about it.
“I thought you were okay with me attending church with you?” Ali asked.
“I appreciate your effort but it’s not quite the same with being a part of the religion. I want what I had growing up. Going to church as a family and sharing such moments. I don’t even think my parents would approve,” said Catherine.
“I don’t think there’s anything else I can do since I don’t want to change my religion,” Ali said.
“I know and I feel awful because you didn’t pressure me into converting either but it really matters to me,” said Catherine, crying.
“It hurts me that we have to end things because I love you and this is a functional relationship save for that religious aspect, but you ought to have what you want,” Ali told her.
They had a back-and-forth for a few weeks. Catherine tried to be okay with their diversity but eventually accepted that religious diversity wasn’t what she wanted despite loving Ali. Ali respected her wishes, and they parted ways amicably.
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