THE TIMOROUS DUNYA✅

FORTY

"I went to Indo's house." She made sure Kandala was paying attention to her. "But there were new residents there."

"Oh!" Kandala voiced. "Her mother relocated to another house. And Indo got married, you know, outside the village."

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Maryam was beyond shocked. Not at finding out her friend was married, no, but how it was hidden away from her. Somehow, she felt like the news was  bad rather than good. If not, why then would everyone hide it from her? They certainly did not forget.

"I forgot." Lie! But Maryam chose to ignore it.

"Well then, who did she get married to?" There was a visible wince on Kandala's face. It was as if she was dreading that question yet knew it was inevitable. She looked solemn for a moment, like she would rather dig a hole and hide inside than open her mouth to speak.

Then, her eyes bulge out of its sockets and she sprang to her feet. "The noodles. It's going to burn!" And she's out of the room.

*****

Returning home, Maryam walked slowly, no longer as energetic as she was when she stepped out in the morning. The sky was a dull blue with giant grey clouds which Maryam suspects, the sun was hiding behind.

She was wrapped in the giant bubble of her thoughts, loosing focus on everything except the next haven she will place her tired feet on. Then suddenly, she caught sight of a green Honda approaching her. The driver parked swiftly next to her. Maryam halted, suddenly frightened the person might be wanting to hurt her. Was he going to knock her unconscious, blindfold her and kidnap her?

She looked around, there were people and she reminded herself, she was just a few steps from home. She could always run.

A door opened, and a man stepped out. Not just a man, but a man she had known all her life. A man she had envisioned a future with. A man she had loved, wholeheartedly. A man that loved her, atleast told her he did. A man she had married and found a home in his warm embrace.

Maryam wanted to run into his arms. Hold him close to her, hold him tight, and never let him go. She wanted to give him a hard slap on the head, a hot glare and shout 'why? Why did you leave me?' And he'll say, 'I was held in a deserted island, bound with thousand of chains. And every single day, I had fought really hard to free myself, for you, for our blossoming love, to come back to you. And I did today, at last'. Then she'll hold him tight and whisper endlessly how she missed him.

'I missed you so much, so, so, so, much.'

But no, she couldn't speak. She couldn't move, she couldn't breath. She only stares and stares, shocked, anxious, breathless.

"Maryam..." Oh how she missed that voice.

"Malik..." She could hardly hear her own voice.

"I missed you." He said.

I missed you too, so much, much more than you'd ever think. But she didn't reply him, her mind was suddenly laden with images of the last night she saw him. How he'd disappeared, without explanations, without goodbye, nothing, and she suddenly wants to know where he had been all these years, what he had been doing, what he hadn't been doing, everything.

"Where?" She asked. "Where did you go to?"

"I... I went back to school, continued my studies, got a job." Maryam nodded, as if she understood him. As if it was a reasonable explanation for leaving your divorced wife, after two days of marriage.

"Mama has been yearning to speak to you, but you were gone. She had searched for you for years, almost desperately. Desperately definitely." Malik paused. "Will you please stop by at our house? She is really ill." He added.

Maryam nodded. Mama, Hajiya Faltama, her mother-in-law, the woman that wanted to curse her son if he didn't divorce her, that woman wants to speak to her.

Both their attention were turned as the passenger's door of the car was opened. In there came out a beautiful woman, dark, plump, sleepy. She yawned and stretched abit, and Maryam squited. No! Not just a woman, Indo. It was Indo.

"Abdul, why did we stop here?" Indo asked with a hoarse voice. It seemed, she still hadn't recognized Maryam.

Then she did, right the next instant. "Is that you?! Maryam?!" Indo gushed and hugged but Maryam was too numb to return the energy.

"Erm... Aisha is my wife." Malik spoke at last.

Maryam was glad when Sufyan appeared at that moment. Because she had no idea what to say to those words, what to do. But as the bright, beautiful face of Sufyan appeared before her, she had felt a glint of hope surge through her. Perhaps, it was time to let things go. Let the past be where it is and look forward, at the future. Perhaps, it was time to move on.

And she flashes Malik one of her rare smiles. One that said, 'it's okay, it really is'. And she said, "This is Sufyan, my fiancè."