Lost In Paradise

Chapter 10

***

"You look terrible."

Amina sat up to find Saudat leaning against the door, arms folded in front of her while she made a small bubble with her gum and popped it. Her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, and something told Amina that she had probably been crying throughout last night.

"I need your help with something," she said, stepping into the room but stopping halfway through. She looked around slowly as though she had never been in the room before, and her posture was so rigid that Amina could sense the silent debate going on inside her head, trying to decide whether she should come closer or not.

"What can I do for you?"

"Ihsan is holding a party this evening, and my hair is a mess," Saudat said. "I need you to take me to the salon to get my hair done, and then I need you to drive me to the party."

"Why not call an Uber?" Amina asked.

"Because you have a car," she pointed out.

"You can take the key," Amina said.

"I don't want to drive."

"Why not ask Aslam?"

"He's sleeping."

"Umma?"

"Tafsir."

"Why not..."

"Just say you hate me and you don't want to spend time with me," Saudat scoffed. "I'm extending an olive branch here, but you're being impossible."

"So you admit you've been giving me an attitude?" Amina asked with an eyebrow raised in superiority. Saudat stared down at the ground, as though she was wondering how to get it to open up and swallow her whole. Under normal circumstances, Amina would have backed off and dropped the conversation. But she needed to hear it from her sister. She needed to understand why the distance between them had become so evident.

"Fine," she groaned. "You win. I will admit that I've been difficult to live with for a while now. But it's not entirely my fault."

"Then whose fault is it?"

"It's your fault too," she said. "You've been different ever since you came back from your trip. I don't even recognise you anymore. You barely say anything to anyone and you're always cooped up in your room. What happened to you while you were away?"

Amina gripped the duvet as she forced a blank expression on her face, trying not to terrify her sister. She had sworn to keep it a secret, and she had promised herself that she would take his secret to the grave. In her own way, she had tried to make amends for his crimes, trying so hard to fix what her father had broken. But no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to work. The stain of her father's legacy remained to this day, and it was a burden she had to bear for the rest of her life.

"I-I can't tell you what happened," she said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Saudat took a step back, the hurt expression on her face cutting through Amina like a hot knife through a stick of butter. She wished she could reach out and hug her sister, to reassure her that everything would be okay. But the space between them felt like a wide cavern, and no matter how hard she tried to reach out, Saudat would always remain just beyond her reach.

"Did you hear that Salim Garko is getting married next week?" Saudat said, wiping a stray tear from her eyes, then frowning at it.

"Saude..."

"I mean I knew it would happen eventually," she continued, turning away from Amina and heading towards the window. "The little weasel told me he would die if he didn't marry me, and yet he has the audacity to send me his wedding invitation. I don't even know why I didn't block him ages ago. He honestly thinks he's slick, sliding into my dm and telling me that he's getting married against his will. You're a grown ass man. You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"