Faryah

30.

" We're going together?" I asked again to be assured. " Yes, if you don't want to.."

" I said I'll come with you, I'm not backing out" I cut him off and watched him smile a little. " Thank you, so much" He answered and continued driving. " At least you'll keep me from acting all stupid" He said again and smiled at me. I smiled back and placed my eyes back on the road as all the horrible memories flooded in my mind. He couldn't remember who I was. The innocent six year old he molested and took advantage of. It was hard to live with those memories. It was seriously heart-breaking. I always wonder what came into his mind to actually do that me. What was that thing that was controlling his mind when he was doing what he did. I'm pretty sure Mama Zainab knew nothing about this, maybe it happened at the time she ran away from him. But why did he really take me away from my family. I had lots of questions that only he could answer. He had to answer. He really had to. I was going to find a way without letting Khalid know.

I got down from the car as Khalid parked a few metres away from a certain Ritas Coffee.

" He's supposed to be in there" Khalid said as he walked to my side and looked towards the cafe. " Are you ready?" I asked as I felt him intertwine our hands. He nodded and smiled at me. I needed to ask myself that same question too. Was I ready?

I wasn't sure that I was. But I could do this. I knew I could.

"let's go" I said lightly as we walked towards the cafe, hand-in-hand.

The cafe door jingled as we pushed it open, it was a small cafe, with about twelve tables , for two and for four. Six tables were already occupied. The cafe was painted red and brown, simple. It was decorated with flowers and paintings of food. I looked around and found a man seated near the window. He was seated on a table for two. " There he is" I said to Khalid as I felt his hold tighten. It felt like he was going to break my fingers. He was looking towards the man I saw and the anger on his face was so obvious. I tried slipping out of his hold and found his hands clutched. He needed to calm down. I placed my free hand on his right cheek as I caressed it gently and stood in front of him. " You can do this Khalid" I whispered and felt him let go of my hand and pull me into a hug. " Breathe in and Breathe out" I said again as I patted his back. " I can't stand his sight" he shot in a whisper. " Try, it's for the best" I replied and let go of him. " Let's leave" he said as he was about to turn around. " No, be a man and face your father" I whispered and watched as his eyes laid on his fathers back again. He sighed and finally spoke up" hold my hand" He replied and I obeyed. We slowly walked over to his fathers table and he got up from his seat to greet us. I couldn't bear staring at his face for long if not I was going to lash out. I had to control myself.

" Son" His eyes held happiness at the sight of Khalid. " I only agreed to this because of my wife" Khalid shot at him. He needed to calm down. I felt him lay his eyes on me and all the memories from that night came flashing back again. My eyes were stuck to the wooden floor. " oh you're married, I didn't know. It's nice to meet you, daughter-in-law" His voice were like daggers thrown towards my heart. I was going to explode. I didn't know for how much long I could keep on pretending. I took my eyes of the floor and looked at him briefly, giving him a small brief fake smile. " Come on sit down, what do you two want to eat?" He said nicely as he brushed his suit and took a chair from the opposite table for me to sit. I wanted to say he looked like a changed man honestly, but I couldn't bring myself to. At all. Khalid sat beside me, in front of his father without saying a word. Without us saying a word to him, he smiled and called the waiter. " Uhmm please get us each a cup of latte and a slice of cheese cake" he said to the waiter and he walked away.

" Son I'm really thankful that you met up with me today, thank you" He said to an angry Khalid. " What's your name?, you are a really beautiful girl, no wonder my son married you" He said to me and I stared at him intently as I watched him smile. It looked so genuine and nice. " Fauziyyah" I answered and felt Khalid's eyes on me. I looked at him to see if his facial expression was going to change, but it didn't. " Sorry, I go by two names, I don't really use Fauziyyah, but call me Faryah" I answered as I pretended nicely. " Oh, that's nice" he answered and I heard Khalid groan.