Riyaadh's Story

Chapter 3

He couldn't help but stare at her back as she slept. It was hot and the duvet had rolled down her body without her knowing, exposing the low squared cut of her nightie. He watched her back curve as she moved closer into herself, staying as far as possible to her side, even in sleep. The dark burgundy stamp moving with her, shifting as she shifted, moving as she moved. 

He looked down at his watch, surprised to see how far down the hour hand had moved. When she had left, he promised that he would be right behind her but the stub of his cigarette had turned into one more, which turned into another and before he knew it, almost half an hour had passed. By the time he walked back into the hotel room, she was already asleep, oblivious entirely to his arrival. He had changed and walked back into the room, fully intent on getting into bed but he couldn't bring himself to lift the covers. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about the last time he had slept with another woman in his bed.

He didn't know that it would be the last time. He had woken up to Farhana's arm around his waist, her eyes wide open as she waited for him to wake up. She had kissed him, brushing her lips over the slight stubble across his jaw before moving closer and closer to his lips... He didn't know as he made love to her that morning that he'd be divorcing her night. He didn't hear her mournful cries or the crash of skin against wood or the utter regret in eyes so deep that it would splinter two hearts into pieces.

He only saw her. Everything- his air, his mind, his soul- was consumed only by her as they found and lost themselves in each other. Nothing else.

He leaned his head back against the couch, resting his foot against the edge of the coffee table as he ran a finger over his arm. The mark had faded into nothing but a light pink dot yet its memories rippled so roughly through his mind that the pain felt as fresh as it had the day it happened. It was the first of many that would dot his arms over the years but that one, that one would always be the most painful one of all. He closed his eyes, sure that he would sleep there and then but the thought of Saudah waking up to a husband that had left her alone on her wedding night was enough for him to open his eyes once more. He stood up slowly, walking hesitantly towards the bed, softening his steps the closer he got. He lifted the covers gently, trying to get in as quickly as he could but even the slightest rustle of the sheet caused her to turn over almost immediately...

"Oh." She looked confused for the barest hint of a second before recognition clouded her eyes and she remembered who he was once more.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." She rubbed her eyes, pulling the covers back up to her shoulder once more.

"Why don't you go back to sleep." He said, pulling the duvet just a little higher over her shoulder.

She simply nodded, too tired to argue before she closed her eyes once more, lost to sleep almost immediately, leaving him alone once more to dwell on nothing more than old memories that would follow him to the ends of the world...

***

He looked down at his plate, rubbing his neck as he watched her expression to the mountain piled before him. He was from a family of heavy eaters; it was just genetics that allowed him to practically inhale all his food in just under five minutes.

"How are you so..." she didn't know how to say the words without offending him. She turned her head to the side, gesturing with her hands instead.

"Skraal?" he supplied, watching her almost amusedly.

"Ya, skraal is a good word." She tittered, obviously embarrassed at her tactless question.

He merely shrugged his shoulders, cutting up his pancake into teeny tiny pieces. "It's all the smoking, I guess." He said, pouring golden syrup over the fluffy pile.

"I see..." she said, delicately spooning whipped cream over her own pancake. "I almost whacked you when I woke up for Fajr." She said, laughing softly at the idea of it all. "I swear, it was so weird." She thought back to waking up in the dark to the feeling of something behind her. She would have screamed if it weren't for the fact that she saw her wedding dress hanging on the cupboard handle in front of her.

"Would have been a heluva wake up call."

"Ya, I guess it would." She smiled, looking back down at her food. He made her feel shy to eat as little as she was but she never was a morning eater. She could feel his eyes on her as he ate, adding to her self-conscious belief that she was going to eat like a child, messing cream and crumbs everywhere... more than anything in the world, she detested the idea of being a Dirty- Harriet and she really, really didn't want him thinking that of her.

She didn't realise, however, that she was far, far, far from the truth behind his thoughts.

He was thinking about how pretty she looked and he how much he loved rhe dash of red lip-gloss that she had rolled on quickly before leaving the hotel room. "What time do we need to leave?" he asked, feeling awkward in their prolonged silence.

"By about half past 10." She said, thoughtfully. "My cousin insisted on doing my make-up for me."

"And what are you wearing?" he asked, looking down oddly at the way she ploughed through her pancake.

"Uhm..." she couldn't understand for the life of her why his question made her blush. She would chalk it down to her disgusting cousins and their disgusting minds for forcing her to think only dirty thoughts whenever she heard that question. It was and awful day when they all got together for one last do before the big day.  She had never heard the words naked, condom and sex more times in her entire life than she had heard on that day. She was scarred for life; she definitely knew that. "I guess it's a surprise." She tittered, nervously.

"Okay..." He saw through her bluff, catching the hint of red on her cheeks and ears as her mind processed the question he had asked her. "If you say so." His lips tilted up once more in that manner that she had become so enthralled with... his deep dimple almost inviting her to simply poke it with her finger before she looked back down at the large chocolate muffin she had jammed onto the top of her plate.

Not yet. Definitely not yet...