Mending You And I

Chapter Two

Expecting him to start asking her about how her day was, like any normal person, she was a bit surprised when the first words that he spoke to her were nothing like that.

"Sorry to say this, but you're not the one for me."

That hit Maryam like an arrow to the heart.

With widened eyes, she turned to look at him finally. That time, she was least concerned about his looks or his personality or the fact that she was alone in the room with him without her hijab.

"What?"

He looked away from her, clutching the small jewelry box he held in his right hand. "You're not the one for me," he repeated, sending another bomb to fall on her. "Before you think it's because you're not pretty enough or not good enough, that's not the reason. You're just not my type. It's also because I'm in love with someone else and I can't leave her for a stranger like you."

For a second, Maryam tried to digest his words but then she was confused whether to feel angry at the fact that he was so full himself to think she would not consider herself equal to him or at the fact that he had that annoying expressionless face as he casually said those words to her. She decided that both things were unacceptable and not to mention, annoying as hell.

The cold sweat that was making her shiver a while ago had disappeared and now, Maryam's body was fired up from the immense fury she was feeling. She looked at him–no glared at him as if that would make him understand what in the world he was actually saying to her.

"Then why are you here?" she asked in a low voice because she was afraid that she would not be able to control herself if she exploded. For a moment, he looked confused by her question but when he understood what she meant, his expression turned aloof again.

"I was forced into this marriage. I did all this just to maintain my position as the Saleh company's CEO." He looked at her. "Do you know how hard I've worked for this position? I couldn't let it go just like that." then he held out the jewelry box he had been clutching on to.

"Anway, this is your present. Mom told me to give it to you. Please wear it so she doesn't know that we're not planning to take this marriage seriously." he sounded like he didn't think of her as anything worthy of respect as he tossed the box at her. It fell right beside her knee on her spread-out lehnga.

She didn't bother picking it up, still unable to believe what was happening. Abdullah stood up and walked over to the mirror to look at himself, leaving her on her own. "You look pretty but you can change out of that now. It looks like a big problem to deal with and it's all fruitless when you have no one to show it to. The bathroom's right there."

Maryam just looked at him in shock and flabbergast. She was still trying to make herself believe that she was really hearing those words from him. Could anyone be that obnoxious?!

But she decided there and then. She wasn't taking it anymore. She got up from the uncomfortable position she was sitting in on the bed and grabbed her pajamas from her bag. Storming past Abdullah who was still checking himself out in the mirror, she hissed at him before walking away to the washroom.

"Well, thank you for the suggestion, you jerk. I don't want to wear this stupid dress for a person like you anyway."

With that, she slammed the washroom door behind her and quickly changed into her comfy clothes. She couldn't help but swear at him in her head.

If he didn't like her, why did he say yes? Why did he have to ruin her life? He was a sissy who couldn't say no to his parents and stand for himself. A coward!

But Maryam quickly took it all back.

She glanced at herself in the mirror, all her heavy jewelry and extravagant clothes replaced with her pajamas that had an irregular pattern of small yellow dots all over. Her wavy hair fell to her back and she tucked a few strands behind her ear.

In a way, it was a good thing he wasn't interested in her. She could just live there with a big status as the daughter-in-law of the house and go about her own business without having to fulfill her duties as a wife and taking care of him.

She would just separate herself from him and construct her little world in another room. After all, the main reason she had agreed to get married was to escape her foster family and their bad behavior towards her.

Yeah, she could do that.

With a satisfied smile, she walked out of the washroom, making up her mind to tolerate being in the same room with him for a night until her parents-in-law left for Turkey.

"You can sleep on the couch there," Abdullah said to her, pointing at a fancy couch that was on the other side of the room.  Seeing the dissatisfied look on Maryam's face he added, "It's comfortable. Besides, you don't really have a choice." he sounded a bit annoyed by her probably because of the nasty words Maryam had said to him before going to the bathroom.

But, she didn't mind that. It was worth it.

"I'm keeping this up just for tonight," she replied, walking over to the couch after grabbing a pillow from the bed. "After your parents leave, I'm not staying here a moment longer." Abdullah looked more happy than angry at that.

"Fine by me."

"And if you think I'm doing this to hide your secret then you're completely wrong. I'm doing this just because your parents would be hurt to find out that their son is actually a coward." she sneered at him, taking him by surprise at how quick she could change personalities from being a shy bride to that.

But he narrowed his eyes at her. "How dare you call me a coward?"

Maryam did not want to continue it further. She could've been a bit accepting if he wasn't so arrogant and full of himself. But, because of his nasty attitude, she didn't want to have anything to do with him.

"I'm going to sleep. Please make this easier for yourself and me by being quiet for the rest of the night."