..they finished their businesses and went to Fatima's house.
Fatima playfully scolded her daughter-in-law ere the little chitchats the girls and the elderly woman had with the girls shooting questions at Jasmine just to get her confess.
"Sister, you look kinda beautiful and fresh, as in you're glowing. Tell me the secret, which skin care plug?" Sa'eeda asked with a smirk.
"Pregnancy skin care plug." Aisha whispered to Sa'eeda and they both stifled a laughter. "Yes tell us sister." She said aloud and batted her eyelashes.
"You girls ask too much questions. She's just enjoying her marriage. Right daughter?" Fatima directed her last part to Jasmine and cocked a brow to who only smiled creepily in response.
"Hajiya, are you also supporting them?" Jasmine feigned hurt. "I wonder where I look fresh. The dark spots are still present."
"They added beauty to your face to be honest, especially now that they are slightly fading. Looking a little darker than your actual tone." Fatima voiced. Jasmine whined.
"I'm really happy for aunty Aidah. I can't wait for Jasmine's baby." Aisha shrilled and squished Sa'eeda into a hug and Fatima shot her a glare.
"Stop expecting anything anytime soon. After dwelling in happiness for aunty Aidah's baby for over a year, maybe that's when you'll expect one from me." Jasmine shamelessly said in front of her mother-in-law who has been friendly towards her even before her marriage with her son. She'd calculated that before that 'over a year' comes, she had parted her ways with Muslim in the name of divorce which she's going to make happen in less that a month or two. And that her family should be able to forgive her and get her married to Sadeeq in maximum of six months and she'll finally live in peace and neverending happiness, or so, she thought and sighed.
"Your mood just dropped. Hope we're safe." Aisha being the student nurse said. She knew it was mood swings.
Jasmine hissed and rolled her eyes. She also didn't know what just happened, she was feeling the urge to hit someone hard. She didn't even read the guidelines given to her at the hospital, neither did Muslim do.
"Sister? What just happened, are you fine?" Sa'eeda asked with great concern.
"You're talking too much and I don't like it. So stupid of you!" Jasmine howled and walked out of the living room, heading to Aisha's room.
"Don't." Fatima stopped Sa'eeda when she tried to follow her. "Leave her, it's natural."
"Natural? How?" Sa'eeda looked confused and Fatima chuckled while Aisha let out a shrill ghoulish laugh.
"What?" Sa'eeda eyed Aisha.
"Almost forgot that you're a Quantity Surveyor and you have nothing to do with human body. Look how worried you look already." Aisha said as he laughed died down slowly.
"Stop making fun of her and explain to her. One day, it'll be her turn to laugh at you for not knowing something." Fatima voiced and left the girls to the backyard to meet Muslim. Where he sits and relax his mind looking at nature and enjoying the cool breeze there that blows away his reverie and transform them into pleasant daydreams. She wonders what he would do without gardens!
She sensed that something was up since when he just greeted her and told her he'd be at the backyard.
"Something is wrong. Tell me." Fatima demanded in a serious tone after sitting beside her son who seemed to have not noticed her before she spoke.
"Hajiya. When did you come here?" He asked nervously.
"You were too busy with your thoughts to even notice that I came. I thought you're all happy but you being here proved otherwise." She voiced through the air without sparing him a glance while he was looking at her side view, wondering how she could read him like an open book, sometimes even more than he himself can. "You should be happy that your wife is expecting a baby. I noticed since yesterday how you looked when you came in from the doctor's office, don't you want the baby?" She asked in that motherly soothing voice. He wasn't surprised how she found out, he knew Jasmine wasn't the one to tell her though.
Looking away to face forward, he chuckled painfully and said, "that's not the case Hajiya."
"Is the baby not yours?" She asked as her face etched up in surprise.
"No!" He quickly said. "I mean the baby is mine of course." He hesitantly said, suddenly feeling shameful.
Placing her palm on his shoulder, she looked at him with proud. Indeed, he'd grown to even more that what she'd wanted him to be, more than she was expecting when she was struggling with them as a single parent. Usman offered his help but she rejected after much insistence from him and his wife, Nooria. "Talk to me." She whispered.
"I'm afraid that I can't take care of the baby, that's not even the matter. I sense something wrong somewhere but it's indecipherable, everything seems right in place but there's this feeling in me that everything in my life is about to collapse. A little part of me is telling me that even if anything happens, we're going to fix it, I feel I'm not strong enough to tackle whatever it is. I don't know why I have this weird instincts." He said as he felt pains striking his head. He spoke in a language only she, of all people would understand.
"Come here." She whispered as her vision got blurry, he leaned closer to her as laid his head on her thighs, she rubbed his face with her gentle palms, that was all he needed to clear his head and mind, that comfort he'd missed, that tranquil feeling that assured him safety, or so, he feels.
She was trying to keep her voice inside while warm painful tears fell from her eyes so as not to alert him of her condition, he needs her to be strong for him, especially that moment that he looked so vulnerable, in worry of what might happen in the future, with no hint of it. She was suddenly remembering her husband that died almost two decades ago, she'd missed him screamingly so much!. That feeling her son was having that moment was what triggered her situation. She also felt that it wasn't going to be good in the end, but the little part of him that was giving him hope gave her hope too.
"You always tell me that tears do not solve problems, mama." He said, he loves calling her 'mama' in moments like that.
She quickly wiped her tears, she didn't sniff. "Yes I did. What happened?" She asked, trying her best to sound normal.
"I can feel the way you're slightly shuddering, and your tears contacted with my skin." He said and waited for a moment before rising up to face her. She broke into tears as to how caring and matured her son had grown to be and that gave her high hopes.
He cupped her face with his both hands and wiped her tears with his thumb. "Seeing you cry makes me feel very weak mama."
She didn't say anything, she just cried into his chest as his large arms rounded her small figure, like a protective father would comfort his only daughter.
"Hush mama. If you can go through those days alive and healthy then this shouldn't bother you. It's just a minor instinctive feeling that may not be even true. We can't predict the future so we just keep praying, whatever He sends our way is a test and we'll pass it like we have the past ones." He told her what she was supposed to tell him and patted her back.
To her, it felt too wrong that she was the one being that weak and vulnerable in the presence of her kid but she couldn't do anything, she wanted to stop it but she couldn't. All that she'd been bottling up for a long time spilled themselves through her eyes right then, they came with full force that all her effort to stop them proved futile.
"Sister!" The duo heard Sa'eeda's screamed from the interior which startled them from their position.
"Hajiya!" Aisha called as she searched for possible places to find Fatima. She met her in the hallway that leads to the backyard.
"What happened to Jasmine?" Muslim's voice echoed through the passage as he came into view.
"I don't know, she's rolling on the ground, seems like her baby is paining her." Aisha said. Muslim and Fatima would've laughed if not for the situation at hand.
"Let's go." Fatima sounded worried as Aisha led them to her room. As they approached the room, they heard the sounds of Jasmine's groans intensifying.
The sight Muslim saw broke him, he was galvanized to even process anything. She was helplessly rolling as her hands clenched to her stomach but it wasn't easing the pain one bit, it was only intensifying. Her well tied and pinned turban was on the floor at the other end of the room.
"Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. La ilaha ilal-Lah." Jasmine kept chanting as she squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face in different directions. The pain was so unbearable to her that she wondered if she was really alive.
"Let's take her to the hospital." Muslim said and scooped her up.
"No we can't." Fatima said making him halt and looked at her with wrinkled forehead, puzzled. "It's normal to have cramps during pregnancy. Even though this is a kind of abnormal but keep her down first." She answered his unasked question. Jasmine's eyes widened in shock when she realize that they were aware of the pregnancy. She didn't want that to happen so that when the baby is being gotten rid of, they won't feel the pain as they didn't expect anything in the first place. Her bubble got bursted.
"This one is on another level Hajiya." Aisha retorted, seeing the piteous figure of her sister-in-law in her brother's arms. "Wait. Did she take bromelain brother?" The student nurse asked, to Sa'eeda, the word sounded familiar but she couldn't recall anything.
"Now what the heck is bromelain?" He furiously asked.
"Let me down." Jasmine said in between breaths and wiggled her legs for him to let her go. He did as she wanted. Fatima then went to get a heating pad in hope that the pains would subside.
"What's brolime or what did you call it?" He impatiently asked.
"Bromelain. It is the mixture of enzymes in food substances that that speeds up protein digestion, it can sometimes cause miscarriage. I can't really remember the foods that contain it." She said her last part in a low voice and bowed her head down.
"Damn! Let's take her to the hospital please where professionals can tell us the damn problem." He said to his mother as she placed the heating pad on Jasmine's bear skin, lower part of her belly.
"What did she eat recently?" Fatima asked.
"Just peanut butter sandwich and juice. Nothing's actually proteinous or anything with that." He stated quickly, more like asked.
"What juice?" Aisha asked.
"Pineapple juice." He replied, looking at Jasmine who was moaning and squeezing in pain on the rug.
"Pineapples contain bromelain!" Sa'eeda--who was since looking at them as they talked--finally said. Everyone kept quiet, looking at her in a 'duh' expression. "Yes I read it somewhere that pineapples, raw egg paw paw and even bee venom contain bromelain but I never knew they would cause miscarriage." She explained.
"Hospital?!" He exclaimed as he swiftly tilted his head to Fatima.
"Muslim. It's not when everything goes wrong that we go to the hospital, we can take care of some things at home by ourselves." She said to him and smiled, a smile that obviously showed that she cried.
"And I learned that it can be neutralized by creamy dairies. I think ice cream or yogurt will work." Sa'eeda said, almost saving the day.
Like a flash, Muslim went out to get yogurt. He opened the freezer in the living room before reaching the kitchen and picked three big bottles of yogurt and ran to Aisha's room.
"I'm here for you my love. You'll be fine and nothing will happen to our baby." He said as he sat and made her lean on his body. "Get me a cup Aisha." He howled like a madman that made Fatima want to burst into tears and went out. Her son hardly loves but when he does, he does it with all the fibre of his being, one would mistake him for a mentally unstable person, which he was.
Aisha handed him the cup and followed Fatima. He carelessly poured half the content of the bottle in the cup. Sa'eeda reluctantly followed the ladies too, thinking the young couple needed space.
As she was squeezing herself in pain, she didn't think of anything when she gladly gulped down three cups of the yogurt, she was halfway through the fourth the and the pain was reducing bit by bit just the way it started. She rested her back supine of his chest and took off the heating pad from her lower tummy. Not that the pains left entirely but she felt better.
"Take me home. I need rest." She said to him in a weak voice. He just nodded and picked her up and she clung to his chest.
Emerging from the corridor, he met their sad faces. "Where are you going?" Aisha was the first to ask.
"Home. She said she wants to." He replied numbly.
"Won't you at least rest here?" Fatima asked as she patted Jasmine's head.
Shamelessly yet weakly smiling, Jasmine said, "Thank you Hajiya, but I'm okay now."
"So shameless." Aisha whispered to Fatima and grinned, which was short-lived when muslim shot her a deathly glare. "I didn't say anything." She nervously added.
"Will come over tomorrow." He said to Fatima with a smile, who only nodded.
Sa'eeda also joined them after assuring Aisha that she would come back the following day.
On reaching home, Jasmine took a long relaxing bath then changed into a grey hoodie and grey sweatpants, she prayed Asr and hopped on the bed to sleep, Muslim cuddled her to sleep and drove out of the house to let her rest peacefully. She once told him that his piercing stares wake her up from sleep.
Opening her eyes and adjusting to the brightness coming from the lit lamps in the room, she yawned as she sat up and stretched her arms muttering dua. She looked around and admired the beauty of her room which was in white and shades of jade, seaglass and spruce green, just to her taste. She made a mental note to make Sadeeq paint and furnish their room green.
Checking her phone, she saw that it was almost time for maghrib so she went to her window and drew the curtains to one side, viewing the sunset--something she does frequently--which was making her more and more in love with the sky and the way it craves sunshine at dawn.
Looking back at the source of sound that jolted her out of her thoughts, it was her phone alarming that it was time for maghrib. She approached the phone on her bed and dismissed the alarm just when she saw something that caught her attention. Red stain on her floral lilac bedsheet, the stain was so visible because it contrasted the color of the sheet. She gasped and widened her eyes in fear before changing the expression to a satanic and satisfying smile.
"Finally." She said and took off the sheets, she took care of herself and the mattress ere washing the bedsheet and her sweatpants immediately.
With a satisfying smile playing on her lips, she excitedly cooked dinner with her sister who was asking for the reason behind that smile but got no meaningful answer.
Upon hearing the sound of the doorbell, Jasmine ran to the door with a wide smile on her face, she was finally going to broadcast the bad news to him. He was dressed in an incandescent blue shirt with azure pants.
"Hey, welcome back." She said with a genuine smile and did a short leap to hug his neck, having no idea why she did that.
"Missed me that much?" Muslim asked her, a bit fazed by her sudden act.
"Nope." She said and let out a chuckle, leading him inside. "Just that you went without notice."
"I've been in the garden till it was time for maghrib." He said to her as they sat on the two of the chairs surrounding the dining table, beside each other. Sa'eeda welcomed him and excused herself. Letting out an 'oh', she watched him serve himself and eat with an evil smile plastered on her face which he mistook for an affectionate and warm smile.
"Why are you looking at me that way?" He asked when it got so intense for him to handle and she rolled her eyes before saying "nothing".
"How are you feeling? Guess you're fine now." He said and shoved a spoonful of swallow into his mouth.
"Yeah I'm okay. I don't take too long to recover y'know." She said and batted her eyelashes.
"Open your mouth." He said and extended his spoon to her face. She did and he shoved the content of the spoon into her mouth.
"I took my time to--" she was saying with her mouth stuffed with food when she choked and started coughing. Muslim quicky fetched cold water from the jug on the table and gave her when she pushed his hands.
"I don't take cold water. It's not good for my health." She said in between coughs.
"Does it affect the baby?" He asked, sounding worried as he gave her a cup of lukewarm water, she gushed it down.
"No, not the baby. I'm on my period so it's bad for me as it causes cancer after years." She explained but instantly regretted.
"Oh--wait, what?" He said and his eyes were almost out of his sockets as he couldn't comprehend the information.
She sighed and started, "I didn't want to let you know now but I miscarried your baby hours ago." He looked at her and shook his head unbelievably as to how would a mother be perfectly okay after losing her baby?
"I did it intentionally. I intentionally bought a lot of pineapples to help me get rid of it so that I can finally file for divorce with you, and you helped me by processing the fruit to juice. I'm sick and tired of being with you." She said in her plain voice, not laced with neither anger, sadness, guilt nor anything else. "I love Sadeeq, not you." She finally yelled.
Shaking his head as if it would sweep what he was seeing and hearing. His muscles tensed and tightened his jaw as he pulled his lips back and he breathed heavily to calm himself in order not to do something he'd later regret. All in vain, he grabbed her by the jewel neckline of her shirt and squeezed it hard that she herself could feel the tension and was afraid of what he might do to her. He made her stand up as he also stood and dragged her up. She closed her eyes, waiting for the worst to happen, she felt them dangerously close to each other and could feel the heat of anger radiating from him with his breath fanning her hair as he was taller than her
"Why would you do this to me?" He said and contradictorily released her. His eyes yawed red as he shook his head in disbelief.
"No! I want to wake up from this nightmare!" He said and banged the table. "Why Jasmine? Just why?" He asked and sat down. He gulped down water to calm his nerves. He didn't know why he was angry or what he was angry at, he was just angry that he got broken for the second time and it felt like his health and life entirely were at stake.
He felt the urge to to pull her hair and hit her head on the dinning table to see it shatter and to see blood rolling down her face till it drip on the floor, maybe he should hit her continuously with a rod an get her bones fractured and dislocated. He didn't know what to do at the moment, with many evil thoughts running on his mind, he abruptly turned to leave to God knows where to suppress that urge.
"I'll get the papers tomorrow from court so that you can sign them." She said, making him stop right in his tracks.
Striding back to where she was standing, he looked at her from head to toe, before focusing on her eyes, he pierced into her soul through her eyes as the windows and what he saw shattered him the more.
"If you're not ready I'll make it next week, nothing more than that. When do you prefer??" She nonchalantly said even though she was nervous and scared.
"Muslim?" She called.
Silence..!
Silence..!!
Slap!!!
_______________
Salaam. It's been almost a week, I'm now becoming a good girl.
This chapter was so boring to write tbh. I hope you didn't find it boring though.
I don't know what Jasmine and I have gotten ourselves into but whatever, anyhow sha.
See ya in the next chap. I love you all.
Thank you,
Fatiimah.