Tale In The Red Sand

Chapter Thirty - Eight

Was that not the answer he was looking for? She thought jestingly to herself. Ercole had not stopped staring at her with bewilderment to which Hibaaq swallowed her nerves and pursed her lips. Perhaps he thought she was going to make him grovel, though she had no desire to do that. That kind of grovelling was something she'd see in the pictures where the woman got back at her man for being unfaithful. Ercole was far from unfaithful, and right now, he deserved more than anything she could give him.

'When you lose someone dear.' She recalled, it made her feel poignant. The large muscle in her chest trembled. She knew what it was like to lose a parent, and with Allah's grace she was left with the other. She couldn't imagine losing both her mother and father. Hibaaq was disappointed in herself for not being brave enough to call him in his time of
mourning so that she could've given her condolences, and an ear for she was too far away to lend him her shoulder. Even though, she conveyed it through her father it wasn't enough.

Hibaaq raised her knitted eyebrows at the prolonged silence before her father came to the rescue.

"Do you want to court for a while before wedding?" Warsame questioned, looking between the two as Ercole and Hibaaq shared an eloquent gaze before simultaneously replying 'No.' All those routine conversations on the terrace were courtship enough, though it wasn't intended to be. Ercole and Hibaaq knew all there was to know about the other and wanted to grow and learn more not in courting but in marriage, and it was something they both silently agreed on in that one telling gaze.

...

The sun rotated its shift and the soft glowing of the moonlight now illuminated the compassing scales of land as far as Hibaaq's eye could reach as she peered out the kitchen window. She happily stood over the soap filled sink, washing the pots and pans after winning a fair fight against Xalimo and ushering her back home to her family. They had eaten the delicious dinner, and with Xalimo dismissed for the evening Hibaaq could let her fervent thoughts run wild while her hands busied themselves.

She couldn't believe that she was now an engaged woman. It felt so surreal even if it had only happened a couple of hours ago, she couldn't contain the smile on her face. As she finished drying the last pot with a tea towel someone cleared their throat, announcing their entrance and she had a slight feeling of who it might've been. Hibaaq turned around meeting the devoted eyes of her soon to be, standing with his strong arms folded and with a pretty smile on his face.

It felt perfect. The joy of looking at each other without the guilt of being immodest.

"How are you." Ercole asked as he came closer, continuing to keep the respectful distance, though it was close enough for Hibaaq to discern the worry in his eyes. She slowly breathed in, knowing his enquiry was about her wellbeing after the gudniin incident. "Your father told me everything. I'm so sorry, I never -"

"No one expected it, especially me, but Alhamdulillah I was able to leave the situation whole and I wish to never speak about it again — if you'll be kind." She divulged, drying her damp fingers on the apron that tied around her broad hips.

Ercole quickly nodded, taking heed in the weight of her words and believing she would come to speak of her troubles when she wished to. For now, he was beyond glad that she was okay, although he had something else on his chest that he needed relieve.

"Hibaaq, I'm sorry for the way I left." He breathed, sliding a hand across his stubbled chin. "It was childish of me and I need you to know that you did nothing wrong. I thought I'd lost you for good to a man that suited you better than me."

Hibaaq remembered how irked she became once her weeping ceased, then she gradually allowed the misery train to hit its course on her for a couple of months. It was hard, but she managed to drag herself out of it somehow, though shadows of him still haunted her. It terrified her just how easily she could move past things when she was content because all that seemed so irrelevant to her now.