The Scars They Hide

Chapter Twenty-Six - Showtime

She made a firm resolution not to think about him and lasted an entire day before she realised that she'd cooked for him and now there was too much food.

Even May picked up on her horrendous mood and said all too cleverly, "If Uncle Jaafi was here, Mama would be happy."

Lutfiyah stared at her daughter aghast before narrowing her eyes. "You, young lady, see and know too much. Now go and play. I'm busy here."

May completely ignored her and sat down right to her left, pulling out her toys to play.

Sometimes, her daughter took too much advantage.

###

The sad thing about this Eid was that Sara couldn't make it. She could only take so many off days and travelling all the time for a day or two was not her favourite thing in the world to do.

Due to this, despite there still being a family get together, Lutfiyah didn't nearly enjoy herself enough to actually look forward to it.

But May loved going to the abattoirs to watch the sheep and cows so she couldn't begrudge her daughter the experience. It only made her antsy to have May away from her and rather with her family for the entire morning, something she never felt with Jane or Jaafar.

"Relax, Lutfiyah, the men will bring your daughter home safe and sound. This is why you need to get married. You're too attached to your child."

Lutfiyah smiled politely at her aunty before accepting the stack of plates to go lay the table. She really missed Sara.

###

She wasn't really in a hurry to go back home so she stayed the night by her father and then invited him over to her house the next day for a meal.

Feeling lonely, she then invited Randy as well, promising to video call Sara who was pretending to feel left out.

At least she'd have herself occupied for the evening. She didn't think she'd be able to spend the entire weekend stressing about Jaafar.

It was so stupid yet so agonising and if this was how people felt on a regular basis, no wonder so many chose to remain single.

Randy disagreed wholeheartedly on this.

"Damn, I have been waiting for your father to leave the room for ages."

Lutfiyah laughed and shook her head. "He's not that bad. He's a sweet man."

"Oh yeah yeah I agree. I was actually waiting to ask what the heck was going on."

Lutfiyah frowned then delayed answering by forking casserole into her mouth. Randy continued to stare, raising an eyebrow when she continued to ignore her.

"Agh fine. I just needed some company, okay?"

Her friend huffed and leaned back in her chair. "Since when? You've always liked living alone. That's what you've been preaching to us for the past few years."

Randy knew full well since when but she continued to niggle at Lutfiyah for reasons unknown.

"I am not falling for your tricks. And besides. I'm allowed to feel lonely once in a while."

They were interrupted as her father came back with a freshly washed May. "There we go. All clean and fresh. I'll just take these dishes to the sink, okay?"

Lutfiyah didn't even bother protesting because she knew that he just wanted to spend more time with May before he went back the next day.

Before she could continue with her excuses, her phone rang.