..."Okay, whenever you're ready." he said and sauntered out, not waiting for her reply. He was being entle with her just because he had no choice but it was so unlike him
She finished what she was doing, wondering what he had to say to her. She packaged her cookies in a jar, took some with her in a bowl with a glass of milk and went to meet Muslim in the garden.
She went through the path she saw and was looking around till she saw where he was seated. She moved with her tray in support of her palms, she reached the table he was, placed the tray gently and sat down opposite her husband.
When she noticed he was pulling the tray towards him, she said, emotionlessly, "it's not for you."
"Where's mine?"
"You didn't tell me you want to have some." She said and paused for a while, then continued, "besides, I thought you do not want my food." She added, referencing her statement to what he said earlier in the morning.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"Straight to the point, what do you have to tell me? Let's talk fast, this place sucks." She pretended to look around, her facial expression disapproving though she admired the place so much.
He cleared his throat and started, "Jasmine. Our marriage was arranged, yeah? I thought you were the one that came up with that but later realized that you were also forced to marry me."
"Well, same here."
"I know. Just like you don't like this marriage, I also don't want it. So I called you so we can see what we can do." He said and there was that ‘melodious silence’ that visited them before Jasmine decided to talk.
"Muslim. The deed has already been done, the knot is tied, we are hitched, I don't think there's anything we can do. And if you're thinking of divorce, I'm not in support of that, not because I like you but because this is what my father, and your late father, agreed to. I know right now, Uncle Omar is happy in his grave and I'm proud of that. But I also have someone I want to spend the rest of my life with and now I just cannot do anything, we are helpless." She said her last part in between sobs as she wiped the lone tear that escaped her eyes, and more that followed.
"Jaz, this is not the right time for you to cry. Be strong, we can do this." He said. Like seriously he called her Jaz, he shortened her name in a romantic way which neither him nor her noticed what dripped with that statement!
Seeing that ‘Jaz’ would not stop crying and for the fact that he understood her pain, he stood up from his chair and went to hers, he placed his hand on her shoulder and used the other to help her up. He swallowed a lump and said, "let's get in." His eyes suddenly turned red, she reminded him of Ummulkhair, he was hurt to the point that his whole body wobbled.
"May you be in Jannah waiting for me to come and marry you, Khayr." He muttered under his breath, feeling dizzy. He was crying internally, his wife was crying physically, her eyes were swollen and red.
As they were about to step into the house, Jasmine collapsed, he didn't even notice she slipped out of his grip until he heard the sound of her body hitting the tiled ground.
"Jaz!" He called and bent down, realizing she fainted, he took her in his arms; bridal style, and went with her into the house, his room.
He placed her gently on his bed and went to get water.
He sprinkled water on her face and kept on saying, "please wake up Jaz."
She took a very sudden breath and woke up in freight. "Sadeeq." was her first word, much to her chagrin, it was not her Sadeeq, it was Muslim, her so-called husband.
Warm tears continued to cascade down her face, Muslim could no longer hold the threatening liquid in his eyes, he let them flood also. She was crying, he was sobbing silently. They spent a while in that spot till they slept.
...
"Salaam alaykum newlyweds." That was Aisha, alongside Sa'eeda. They were in Muslim's house. It was evening so Aisha suggested they should go and check on her brother and cousin sister-his wife. Aisha is approximately two years younger than Jasmine and a year older than Sa'eeda so she's friends with both of them but closer to Sa'eeda.
"Wa'alaykum-assalam." Jasmine answered coming out of the kitchen with a smile on her face.
"Ha an! Kinga yacce kike glowing (have you seen the way you are glowing?) It's just a day fah." Sa'eeda teased which earned her a playful glare from her sister.
Aisha chuckled and said, "Good evening Jasmine."
"Evening my dear how's home. Have a seat." Jasmine offered and sat while the two of them sat opposite her. Even though Jasmine was smiling ear to ear, Sa'eeda, her favorite sister could see the pain behind her smile. She wasn't surprised to see her sister masking her emotions, she would do more than that to keep her pains to herself, she believes in solving things alone.
"Both of you wait here, I'll go get you something." Jasmine said and went to the kitchen, then later came back with a tray and a wide grin on her face. "I made your favorite, although I didn't know you girls were coming." Jasmine said appearing in their view.
"Oh my dear, you never forget to bring milk together with cookies." Aisha licked her lips.
"I am salivating..." That was Sa'eeda.
"So as a newly married woman, you still managed the stress to make these." Aisha said, her mouth stuffed with cookies.
"Hey don't fall down." Jasmine giggled at their reaction. Sa'eeda was not even talking.
Jasmine knows the secret to every recipe she cooks, it must taste heaven even if it is her first time. Her hands are blessed.
"Hey finish up and let's go see the house. You know we didn't come when them Aunty Aidah were coming for the first time." Aisha said after a while.
"Let's rest first." Sa'eeda said and relaxed on the couch.
"See this tiny thing, acting like a pregnant woman. Will you stand up?" Aisha yelled playfully.
Stretching out her hand to Aisha, she said, "Okay, help me up." And so she did. "Sister, we are going to go round and inspect, would you come with us?" Sa'eeda added, directing her words to Jasmine.
"Nay, you just go I'm cooking. Just don't get lost." Jasmine answered. There was that deep concern that dripped in her tone.
"Mhm. Can you imagine...." Aisha started.
"Amarya does all the chores. Ugh, I can't imagine." Sa'eeda completed. They joked on there way outside and Jasmine just shook her head and smiled.
Aisha and Sa'eeda were having a tour around and they met Muslim.
"Hey bro" Sa'eeda said and grinned." So because you're now married, you don't pick my calls, you don't reply to my messages ko? Finish ci- ing your amarci, you will look for me once you start having problems with you wife because no one understands her like I do and when you're eager for me to sort the two of you I will ghost you too." Sa'eeda added while glaring at her Muslim jokingly.
Yes! Sa'eeda is Muslim's all time favorite among all his relatives, he jokes with her not like he does with anyone, not even with Aisha.
"Oh no! I'm sorry, I didn't ghost you intentionally. I didn't even get time to scroll through my messages, wedding ceremonies are stressing." He apologized to Sa'eeda in the same manner which she complained.
"Whatever." She smiled.
"Good evening big Bros." Aisha greeted.
"Evening my dear."
"Hey you big mouth. You always greet them first because you want them to say I don't greet."
"That's because you don't have the hormone that will tell you it's the right time to do something." Aisha retorted to Sa'eeda.
"So you girls didn't tell me you were coming to see, we should have prepared something for you." He said in a big brother-like manner.
"Oh my God ‘we’" the girls quoted.
"‘we’ as in you and her." Sa'eeda simpered.
"Big deal!" Aisha said and the laughed.
"Hey what's funny?" He asked them, all confused.
"Oh bro, nothing. So you mean we must inform you before coming?" Sa'eeda asked, heading to somewhere with her words.
"Yeah. If you can't inform me you should at least tell Jaz. But I didn't say you must. It is your house." He said, smiling at them.
Same thing here, Aisha saw and heard the pain in her brother's smile and voice respectively.
"Who is Jaz?" The talkative asked, cocking a brow.
"Jasmine. My wife."
"Oshey! ‘my wife’ big deal!" The girls said in unison again.
"Your wife." Sa'eeda raised her hands and made a quotation gesture with her fingers and laughed.
"So you girls came to make fun of me?" He asked, his forehead wrinkled.
"No! Nope, we came to visit." Aisha said and batted her eyes at her brother.
"And we are now going on an excursion around this house." This time, it was Sa'eeda.
"You should eat something at least." The man said.
"We ate the delicious cookies your wife made." Sa'eeda replied.
"But big bros how can you let your amarya cook? She's now in the kitchen cooking dinner." Aisha interrogated.
"She's cooking? Jaz doesn't hear word." He mumbled but the girls heard him right.
"Um...you girls enjoy your excursion, I'll go inside." He said and quickly went in. The girls looked and each other trying to interpret his action but shrugged and continued their business.
Muslim went straight to the kitchen but stopped at the door and he found his wife swaying, sashaying and singing while cooking.
Is she doing this to get my attention? I don't understand this girl seriously, he thought.
He hissed annoyingly and went in. "What are you doing?" He whispered through gritted teeth and looked at her, downward
"I'm cooking dinner." She whispered too, looking upward at him, having no idea why they were whispering.
"Why must you cook, I told you to rest." He whispered.
"Because we have to eat."
"You fainted earlier, you want to keep fainting so that the whole family will blame me right?"
She hissed and said, "whatever. So if I do not cook what will I eat?"
"Will order food for us."
"Oh my gosh. I have hands, I'm healthy and I can cook."
"But you're sick."
"I am not. By the way, why are we whispering?" She asked.
"Your sisters, the might hear us."
"But they are outside." She was puzzled.
"As if you don't know them, they may be around here, sneaking and overhearing our conversation." He said aloud, arms akimbo.
"So shh." She said and used her finger across her lips.
"You're behaving as if there are no maids. Let them cook please. We have nitpickers around."
"But I want to..." She was saying.
"Just this once Jaz. Please." although he used the magic word, audacity and power were evident in his tone. He was stern.
Jasmine hissed and said, "okay fine." Then left him there, mumbling what he couldn't hear. She went to the parlor and met her sisters back from their tour, they chitchatted and they left for there houses. It was just the couple at home...
It was after Isha prayer, Muslim was doing some stuff on his laptop and Jasmine was watching a Turkish series not minding what Muslim was doing. She really wanted to call Sadeeq but his phone was switched off for the past six days, the thought of him distracted her from her present world.
"I said I want bitter coffee!" Muslim yelled, making Jasmine to flinch and look at him, she saw him looking at someone behind her, she thought it was Nana, the maid, so she shrugged and paid attention to the TV.
"Don't you know what coffee is?!!" He yelled again on top of his voice, Jasmine turned back to see who was standing there and she saw no one.
"Hey I'm talking to you." He said and she turned again, then it occurred to her that Nana and Ummi went home in the evening.
Is he talking to me? Jasmine thought.
"Are you talking to me?" Jasmine asked in a calm voice and used he hand to refer to herself.
"Heck yeah!" He sounded pissed.
"So you want me to make coffee and you're talking to me like that, shouting on top of your voice who are you?" She chuckled. And he looked at her surprised, mouth agape.
"I really didn't think you were talking to me, I thought that it must be the maid." She rolled her eyes.
"It's okay now... Go get me coffee now." He said in a low voice but audacity still dripped with his voice.
"Mr, am I your daughter or what? Your wife?" She paused and laughed ghoulishly then continued, "well, I'm married to you but I'm not your wife. Get someone to make the sour coffee for ya." She said while picking her phone from beside her, she smiled sheepishly and stood up.
"Goodnight." She yawned and went to her room.
"Seriously?" He said when she left. "There's going to be war then."
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