THE TALE OF SARAH

Chapter Seventeen

Hamad, who was knotting his tie, had his face instantly break into a wide grin. "Mum? Mum you came to my room!"

Munirah ignored his enthusiasm. She was here for another reason. A very serious one at that. "Hamad I need to talk to you." She said, standing in front of the door, not meeting his gaze.

"Mum, not now. I'm going to run late, I'm now the acting Head of Division." He boasted playfully.

She ignored him again, and went straight to the point. "What did you do to Sarah?"

"What did I do to her?" He replied with a question of his own, not getting the slightest point.

"Did you rape her?"

He let out a surprised laugh. "Oh, that. Mum its not called rape. She's one of the servants here, so I have every right to do what I did. Even the Qur'an said-" Before he could finish, Munirah slapped him hard across the face.

Her eyes were bloodshot. Anger was visibly emanating from her. She pointed a finger at him. "Don't you dare use the Holy Book to justify your filthy act. Don't you have any shame? It has been only you from the start, look at your brothers." She yelled at her now fuming son.

He simply grabbed his laptop bag from his bed, and stormed out of the room, leaving behind a very ashamed heartbroken Munirah in tears. After some time, she gathered herself and left the room.

She slowly descended the stairs in her own thoughts, but the train was broken when she saw Sarah holding her back in pain, about to collapse. She quickly rushed forward to hold her, and so Sarah collapsed in her arms.

She put Sarah's arm round her shoulder and walked her to the closest guest bedroom. When they got there, she opened the door with her leg and walked an unstable Sarah to the bed, where she immediately slept off.

She hadn't slept at all the previous night, and she was very exhausted.

After making sure that Sarah was sleeping, Munirah contemplated what to do. Sure Sarah needed urgent medical care, but she couldn't do it all alone. She needed Umm Hakeem.

Yes! Umm Hakeem.

No! She had offended her.

What was she going to do now?

Of course she did what every person seeking forgiveness will do: Apologize. 

***********

Munirah stood in front of Umm Hakeem's room, the biggest in the female quarters section. She was about to do what a master will never do, so she hesitated before knocking the door.

"Come in." Umm Hakeem replied from the other side.

Munirah timidly stepped in.

Umm Hakeem was laying on her stomach on her bed. When she turned to look at who it was, her face fell. She was still very angry at Munirah. But, she greeted her. The woman was her boss.

"Assalamu alaykum." She greeted quietly, raising herself up from the bed.

"Wa'alaykumus salam. Uh- Um-" Munirah stuttered. She gathered up confidence and spoke up. "Umm Hakeem, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for lashing out on you the other day."

Umm Hakeem didn't reply.

So Munirah continued. "I'm really very sorry." She let a tear fall. "My conscience won't let me rest, so I spoke to Hamad this morning. He-" Then, she broke down. Umm Hakeem went forward and walked her to the bed. She sat her down and held her side. Munirah raised her head and looked at Umm Hakeem in the eye. "He admitted it shamelessly." She started crying uncontrollably.

"Shhhhh, its okay." Umm Hakeem soothed, rubbing her back.

"Its not okay, Hamad is my son, I carried him in my womb for" She brought nine of her fingers up "nine months."

"It really is okay, its God's plan. Let's leave that for now, we'll tell Sa'ad when he gets back. Now let's focus on what we can do: Sarah. She needs urgent healthcare."

Munirah wiped her tears and nodded. "Yes, she's sleeping in one of the guest rooms. When she wakes up, we'll take her to the hospital. Then if she's truly pregnant, we'll register her for antenatal."

"She's actually truly pregnant." Umm Hakeem commented.

Fearing the answer, Munirah raised her head and asked. "How did you know?"

"We bought a pregnancy test."

To this, Munirah burst into uncontrollable tears again.

Her Hamad. He really did something as filthy as that.

And then he was now a father too.

********

Who else thinks Munirah should have let Hamad finish justifying his filthy act with the Holy Book? We should have heard the rubbish he wanted to say😠😠.

Just like terrorists use Jihad to justify their killings of innocent souls😠😠.

May God help us.