The story I’m about to share with you today teaches us all an important lesson about why we shouldn’t involve a third person in an argument or fight between two people. Often, this third person is just waiting for an opportunity to create misunderstandings and hatred, building walls that make hearts so bitter that there is never a chance to reconcile.

This happened during last summer vacation when my paternal uncle’s family came to stay at our house, and my paternal aunty’s family also arrived. My uncle’s daughter, Aleha, and I have been very close friends since childhood, sharing all the small and big things in our lives. Even when all the other cousins were around, we would often sit separately and talk for hours. However, this friendship wasn’t liked by everyone — particularly my aunt’s daughter, Hafsa, who is around the same age as us and seemed to be bothered by our close bond.

She had been jealous of us since childhood. Back then, she would complain about us to others, but now that we were older, she would just give us angry looks and call us names to provoke us. We didn’t take her seriously.

Anyway, I and Aleha spent our days laughing, joking and having fun. We would watch movies at night, go for morning walks and enjoy each other’s company.

But one day, Aleha accidentally spilled her lip gloss on my shirt while getting ready. I was supposed to wear that shirt to go out. A small argument started between us, and I scolded her for being so careless, saying she had ruined my new shirt and now I’d have to wear something else. I shouted a little and she shouted back, saying she hadn’t done it intentionally. Then she left the room, and we didn’t talk to each other the whole day. Since we were best friends, it was not a big deal if we fought sometimes, for we usually made up soon afterwards.

That night, Hafsa came to me and started speaking badly about Aleha. She said Aleha was at fault and shouldn’t have been so rude. She claimed Aleha had gone to her after leaving the room and spoken badly about me, saying I was petty to fight over a shirt.

Hearing this, my anger rose and I decided to end my friendship with Aleha. I thought, “Someone who speaks badly about you behind your back can’t be your friend.”

The rest of the days passed without me speaking to Aleha. My mum tried to make me understand and asked me to talk things out with Aleha, but I was too hurt, so I refused. Eventually, everyone went back home.

Even when we met at gatherings or weddings, I wouldn’t talk to Aleha, and she wouldn’t talk to me either. It was as if our friendship was completely over. Often, I missed her, but then I’d think that if she didn’t even try to talk to me, it meant she didn’t want to be friends with me anymore.

A year passed like this. Then one day, when we went to my uncle’s house for a gathering, the elders advised us to talk things out in private and resolve our grievances. We both went to a separate room and started talking. As we cleared up the misunderstandings, we were shocked to discover that Hafsa had not only spoken badly about Aleha to me, but she had also spoken badly about me to Aleha, poisoning both our hearts against each other.

We both cried, regretting why we had let her words come between us for so long. Then we hugged, spent hours talking about everything that had happened, and promised that from now on, if we had any argument or fight, we would work it out together and never let anyone else come between us.

So, my friends, let this incident be a lesson to not just me, but all of you — we should never let a third person come between two people. Instead, we should talk things out and clear up misunderstandings immediately, so that our precious relationships don’t get ruined.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 20th, 2025