Living Royalty

19. Just like old times!

Samaah's P.O.V

A whole week had passed since mine and Arif's archery incident and that had doubtlessly loosened the two of us towards each other. We spoke a little more to each other, other than just me waking him up for Fajr. He had asked me to cook an Italian dish because he enjoyed it last time and when I did, he praised me directly. We also made a few jokes here and there. I had noticed, his arrogance had gone down. He didn't make a single big headed remark ever since I told him not to. I was happy that atleast it was a start with me helping in changing him!

However, there was no sort of love between us. We were still a lot behind when it came to a proper husband-wife relationship. We didn't talk as much as we should, even though we had just started talking. His parents were telling him to take me for a honeymoon but he ouright refused. To be honest, I was glad because the thought of being all alone with him in a foreign country made me uncomfortable. I wasn't really close to him. He also still continued spending most of his time away playing rugby or with his friends, or at home, on his electronics. Even though he had dropped his arrogance, he still didn't work at all, and his old habits were still there. Yet, I was glad also that whenever Arif wanted to practice archery, he always took me with him.

It was afternoon time and I was sitting with my mother-in-law and Samiha in lounge 10, and we were talking about something religious, when all of a sudden, my phone rang. I looked at the screen for the caller I.D and smiled when I saw Saamih's name. I excused myself and left the lounge to answer the call.

"Hello, Assalamualeikum big bro!" I greeted happily.

"Wa'alaykumsalaam baby sis! How are you?" He said from the other end of the line.

"I'm fine Alhamdulillah, and you? How are mum and dad?" I asked.

"We're all good Alhamdulillah. But the house is too lonely! I miss you so much, Samaah!" He said. My eyes filled with tears.

"I miss you too! So much, honestly!" I said, blinking back my tears furiously.

"Samaah, you won't believe it! Yesterday, I met your old classmate Zaydaan!" Saamih said, chuckling. I burst out laughing till my stomach hurt. Saamih and I both had an inside joke regarding Zaydaan. We used to say his name sounds like Shaytaan, although we didn't say that to anyone. However, whenever his name was mentioned, we would just burst out laughing and people would look at us like we've totally lost it.

"Where...did...you...see...him?" I asked, pausing for breaths because I was still laughing.

"Oh, I ran into him at the garage. Apparently he works there now," Saamih answered.

"Oh, right," I said.

"Anyway Samaah, listen. I need to talk to you. Meet me at the café near your place in ten. I'm on my way there already," he said.

"What's up, Saamih?" I asked, worried.

"Nothing bad, don't worry. Just come there, or should I come to pick you up?" He asked.

"No, I'll come. I'll be there in ten," I said.

"Great. See you then baby sis," Saamih said and ended the call.

I went back to the lounge and told Samiha and my mother-in-law that I needed to leave and they both nodded without asking me where I was going. I then went upstairs to my room. When I entered in there, Arif was sitting on the bed with his Macbook. He looked up at me and acknowledged my presence with a nod. Before, he would never even look up at me, even if he knew I walked in. Although a nod wasn't as good as a greeting, it was definitely better than nothing at all. I opened the closet and took out my abaya. As I was putting it on, Arif spoke up.