Many of us ladies tend to fall for men with pretty faces and terrible attitudes. And somehow, along the process, we manage to convince ourselves that between his insults and excessive jealousy, lies his unconditional love – and what more can we possibly ask for?
We would put up with anything for the sake of love, but should we really settle for a person like Hassan, played by Ahmed Hatem, from Halawet El-Donia just because he claims that everything he does for Salma Abu Deif’s Alyaa is done in the name of love?
The answer to this question is definitely not! Let’s take a look at how their relationship developed.
Hassan, who lost his wife and is currently raising his child happens to be a rich and attractive young man – with a very bad temper. You often see Hassan shouting at his employees, getting physically violent whenever he’s pissed off and treats his fiance with utmost disrespect.
He claims that his anger towards his employees comes from the fact that he wants everything to be perfect in his newly-opened restaurant, and that his attitude towards his fiance comes from the fact that he loves her and gets extremely jealous. However, for any adult who has a functioning brain these excuses aren’t reasonable whatsoever.
He doesn’t respect that she has a life. When she first met him, she was a food stylist and photographer, the first thing he did was make fun of her work. Later on when she started helping out with his restaurant, he underestimated her; even when her sister was getting married, he was inconsiderate to the extent that he didn’t allow her to be late to help her sister out.
She is never his priority, his daughter and his work always come first. And whenever she tries to become part of his and his daughter’s life, he pushes her away. “She’s my daughter, I say who she mingles with, I say how to raise her, she is mine,” he says in an episode to Alyaa when she tells him that she agreed to take her to her friend’s birthday.
Last episode we saw him making fun of her family because her mom fell in love with a man after her husband died. “Once we’re married, I want you to get away from all this Turkish drama,” Hassan requested.
In one episode she left her sister’s house because Hassan didn’t like a friend who was also there. “Who does Hassan like then, Alyaa?” said her sister.
You can already sense that he’s distancing her from her family and friends, which shouldn’t be acceptable.
He always blames her for everything – he knows quite well how to turn the table. And he never takes the time to discuss things with her, either he sweet-talks their problems away or he shouts at her until she apologizes.
He never appreciates what she’s doing. He calls her an irresponsible loser, all while she’s taking care of his business, his child and her sister who happens to be a cancer patient.
Staying silent throughout all these incidents of emotional abuse, eventually led to him physically abusing her because she got harassed in the street.