BETROTHED ✓

14°

Yumnah was preparing to sleep, when Yusrah walked into the room, stretching and yawning.

Instantly, Yumnah sat up. "Hey, Yusie, where have you been? I tried calling you, but you weren't picking any of my calls."

"I'm sorry." She massaged her forehead. "I was in Abba's study. I switched off my phone to avoid disturbance. Why were you looking for me?"

"Yusuf is back. He asked about you."

"He's back?" Yusrah grinned. "Is he in his room right now? I will go and see him."

"Wait!" Yumnah stopped her, right in time, before she could use the door.

"Ammi doesn't want him to be disturbed. He looked really exhausted. He is probably sleeping as we speak. You will get to see and speak to him
tomorrow."

Yusrah shrugged and walked into the closet to change into her pajamas.

She emerged, clad in matching pajamas as her twin.

"Yusie, please come over here." She motioned with her head. "There's something important I want to tell you."

"Yumnah!" Yusrah groaned. "If you're so bored, why don't you go to sleep, you gossip."

"It's not a gossip, okay?" She rolled her eyes and hurled the nearest pillow at her. "Yusuf didn't return alone. He came back with that girl he told us about— the one he met at that village."

"That's nice of him." Yusrah curtly responded.

Yumnah hummed. "I don't like her though."

"Why? What has she done?" Yusrah questioned and sat on the edge of her sister's bed.

"You should see her." Yumnah cringed. "She's so timid and local. When I saw her, I mistook her for a maid."

"You don't like her because she's local?" Yusrah raised a questionable brow. "But what did you expect? She's from the village, so she's bound to be local."

"That's just part of the reason I don't like her. The main reason is that she's not appreciative. I showed her to the guestroom and even went the extra mile to make sure she's comfortable, but instead of saying thank you to me, she remained silent and was engrossed in gaping at the room. She's one kind of a weirdo, I tell you."

"Haba, Yumnah, you shouldn't be so quick to judge someone. It's wrong. What if she didn't appreciate it? You did it because of Yusuf and not because of her, right?" 

"You have a point." Yumnah sighed and dropped on the bed, like a log of wood. "Goodnight."

Yusrah shook her head and walked to her own bed, at the other end of the room.

•

Intuitively, Larai sprung up and was about to dash out of the room, but abruptly stopped— In her former room, she didn't have a television or a bed. The floor wasn't tiled and the windows didn't weren't aluminum framed. The walls weren't painted and no fans, bulbs, or wall clock was present there.

She facepalmed and hurried to the window. It was strange how her body was so used to waking up very early in the morning and engaging in house chores.

The moment she pushed the curtains aside, the brightness of day shone directly into her eyes, making her intuitively block the light with her hand and move a tad away from the source.

A knock on the door made her head swiveled in the direction.

Her lips broadened to its limit, for she thought, just like the previous day, it was Yusuf. The enthusiasm earlier displayed morphed askance at the soft voice of a female.