The Scars They Hide

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Decisions, decisions

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Decisions, decisions

Lutfiyah was freaking the heck out. She was spiralling. There were no other words to describe exactly what she was going through at that moment.

She could not believe that Jaafar owned the building. It made sense now that she thought about it. Change of ownership took place around the exact time that Jaafar moved in and all the little coincidences aligned perfectly with her issues.

When she had introduced herself to him, he'd already known who she was, most probably from the building information and there she had been, completely oblivious to everything.

A little voice that sounded suspiciously like Randy piped up. You're ignoring the bigger picture here, honey.

Yes, well she had a right to be freaking out. She was so overwhelmed with everything, she hardly knew where to put her face. Not to mention, her father was right there watching and waiting for someone to answer.

"Okay, so since you both seem to have lost your tongues, tell me how you two know each other, hmm?"

Jaafar cleared his throat and seemed to regain his composure, sitting up straight as he answered. "I'm your daughter's neighbour, Mr Abbas. I live in the flat opposite and I moved in a few months ago."

Her father nodded and turned his face to her. "What's wrong, Lutfiyah?"

She blushed, mortified that she had to speak when she would have preferred to move back to her ancestors' birthplace and work in a field for the rest of her existence.

"Nothing, Papa," she said, her voice half strangled as Jaafar smirked at her. She was going to positively murder him.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how one looked at it, her father saw the smirk and said, "So, you want to marry my daughter, do you?"

That escalated quickly. What happened to finding out what was going on?

Jaafar didn't even flinch, his stupid handsome face set in resolve. He nodded and looked her father full in the face as he did it. What happened to the terror he had been feeling before?

"And why is that?"

Jaafar's face softened as he tucked May more firmly against his chest where she had been sitting uncharacteristically quiet, fiddling with the buttons of his kurta.

"Because I care about her and about May. In these past few months I've come to think of them as my own family and Lutfiyah is such a wonderful mother and woman, any man would be lucky to have her."

Her father raised an eyebrow at that and Lutfiyah felt her face warm even more. This was ridiculous!

"Is that so?"

Jaafar nodded again. "Mr Abbas, I know this is very unconventional. I regret not having met you before and done this the proper way. I just…

"Oh yes, we know. You were going mad being away from them. We all heard."

Lutfiyah made another strangled sound and sincerely wished for the ground to open up and swallow her. Never in her life had she been this mortified in front of her father.

Jaafar grinned and ducked his head, running a hand over his face like he was trying to wipe the grin away. How dare he be amused? This was her father, for Allah's sake!

May slipped off his lap and ran towards her, climbing into hers before whispering, "Mama, what's marry?"

Lutfiyah tucked her nose into the fragrant neck of her toddler, smiling softly at her precious baby's innocence. "It's when two people love each other and stay together and promise to care for each other forever and ever."