Twice His Age

9: Promises Made

"Enough with the Meeral and Hajia's talks, Sabeeha! You're breaking my heart!" Anas yelled as he burst into tears. "Please...it's hurting me seeing you this way. If you could see the way my heart is boiling and how it's so hard to tame down the urge to hurt the people that are making you this way because I can't! That terrible woman that's making you hate your life is my mother and there's a limit to how much I can do!"

He wiped at his tears but more gushed down as he stared at her crying face. "I love you, Beeha, but there's a limit to how much I can protect you from them. But believe me, I'm figuring a way out of this for you. I'd do all I can to protect you, Sabeeha. I'm so sorry you're going through this because of my family. I hate myself because of this."

Zaid's heart churned with pain for his friend. Even though he knew his friend had confessed his feelings to her, they both knew she wasn't going to take it seriously. Because this wasn't the first time Anas told her he loved her and she would never think that his 'I love you' now had a different meaning attached to it.

"Anas, that's enough." He said, with a voice so low and demanding that they both turned to look at him. "Let's all get to the hospital," he ordered and fixed his eyes into hers. For the first time, their eyes met and a lone tear dropped painfully onto her cheek. "For the clothes you were washing, I'd have them taken to the dry cleaners first thing tomorrow morning. And that gown you're wearing now, I'll go out now and see if I can get you another gown from any boutique in Jimeta."

When there had been silence and none of them was willing to move, Zaid unbuckled his seat belt and aimed for the door. "If there's nothing left to worry about, we all should get inside." He said and hopped out of the car.

He had never been pained by someone else's pain like hers. He wondered who she was and what was her story. Who thought so low of himself? And even after narrowly escaping being raped, she was thinking of what Hajia would do to her? He sighed out of frustration and huffed out some air from his mouth.

Before, he would've already called the police on Idi and have him arrested and then he'd confront Mommy himself about how she was being maltreated. And he didn't miss how scrawny she had turned into. Yes, she wasn't in a good physical condition when they left Damaturu, but he could say she was doing much better there than here. It looked as though she wasn't eating. She had lost so much weight and her complexion had darkened.

Finally, they were out of the car and together, they walked inside. Some tests were condoned on her and while they sat down to wait for the results, Zaid excused himself and went out to get some air and also see if he could get the dress for her as promised. He went to the boutique and the first dress his eyes landed on was a mustard gown with touches of deep maroon that instantly had him picturing her in it.

He bought it and drove back to the hospital, only for him not to find them in the lobby. He asked the nurse where they were and she told him she had been given a room. Her temperature had risen so much, along with her blood pressure. They needed to monitor her for the night, it'd be so risky to have her go home at this condition.

He walked into the room and found her on the bed with an IV attached to her body. The moment the door opened, she looked up at him and her eyes instantly went to the nylon in his hand. "Oh, I got the dress for you." He said and she only nodded her head while she tried so hard to sit upright and when Anas walked up to help her, the moment he came to a close distance, she shrilled and slumped back on the bed, clenching her eyes shut.

Anas stood by the bed and watched her painfully. "Sabeeha, I'm never going to hurt you and you know this more than anyone, don't you?" He asked softly and she slowly opened her eyes and stared at him, her tears coming back in full force.