THE UNLOVED WIFE

44. BASEBALL

I nodded and inhaled deeply.

"Thank you," I uttered.

He kissed my forehead and his hand touched my tummy.

"We're about to have a family Honey," he said.

Suddenly the thought inspired me and all feelings of embarrassment and guilt slowly fade.

"Tagaytay. I want to spend four months there," I suggested.

"Then Tagaytay, we shall be tomorrow," he announced.

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Aaron's POV

Unloving someone is a tedious task, difficult but not impossible. I was so occupied with my emotions and Zai that I ignored completely or maybe intentionally ignore my Islam. This was not how I expect things to have turned out. But it's as good as it gets. However, as I recalled the last meeting I have had with my best friend, I cannot help but curse myself again and again.

Flashback

I was sitting at the bleacher when Amir's figure was in sight by the entrance. He walked calmly, hands on his pocket. I did not bother standing up. Instead, I opened my can of coke and took a sip. It was past one o'clock in the afternoon and the sun was up. There were some baseball players having a practice game.

After a minute, Amir sat beside me. I gave him his can and he too drank it.

"Assalamu alaykum," he said.

"Wa alaykumusalam," I responded.

Both of us were just looking straight ahead.

"Remember when I was about to try out for baseball but you stopped me?" I said.

"Yeah, I literally had to pull you away from the field," he answered.

"I sort of disliked the idea of playing football with you. But because you were my best friend, I just let you dragged me," I continued speaking.

"I know that."

"Wouldn't you want to know now why I'd rather play baseball than football?"

Amir just shrugged his shoulder and took another drink.

"It was because I wanted something to be mine, instead of ours," I remarked.

That made Amir looked at me.

"You know, people thought of us as inseparable, same interest, same likes, same love," I said, uttering the last two words a bit slowly.

Amir cleared his throat. Knowing him, a speech is coming up.

"I want you out of our lives until you're completely over her," he said.

Our gazes locked and I nodded.

"That's the only way. Staying away and respecting our marriage," he finished saying.

With that, Amir stood as I finished my drink. I stood up too. We silently climbed down from the bleacher.

"Hey, how about we show these college boys your baseball skills?" Amir suggested.

"Why not?"

The entire afternoon was spent hitting balls and running through bases. My team won and by 5 pm, we hurriedly drove towards the nearby masjid to do our asr prayer.