Salaam 🙂
It's another school break and I just felt I should leave something for you guys before next year.
I might be able to update not more than 3 chapters. In Shaa Allah. I'm not promising anything though👀💔.
Shamsiya is dead? Any thoughts??
Let's get on with it then.
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Karim hadn't seen the baby since the hospital. That was two weeks ago. He didn't want to see her. He didn't hate Samia but a part of him felt she was to blame for him losing Shamsiya.
He knew that it wasn't sensible to blame a little baby but he couldn't help it. That's why he didn't want to see her. Even if she was his child.
He didn't want to talk to anyone. Not his father, not his siblings and not even his mother. He wanted to be alone. He was going mad slowly. Especially after the funeral when he had to wrap her up in the white cloth and be the one who helped to put her body into her grave. Something like that wasn't easily forgotten.
He was lying on the bed when he heard a knock. He didn't respond. He didn't have the energy to. The person would eventually go away. The knocking continued and stopped suddenly. That's when he heard the clicking sound of the lock.
Master lock...
He got up from his bed to see who it was. It was his mother. She looked sad but also looked thankful. Maybe because she had seen her son for the first time in a while.
"Karim. My little boy. How are you?" She abruptly went to hug him and with his height he looked like a giant compared to his mother.
For the first time, he didn't hug his mother back. She shouldn't have come to his room. She should have given him space. She cared too much.
Naima noticed how he didn't hug her back. She stepped back and looked at him. His face held no expression. It was blank.
"What's wrong, Karim?" She said softly.
"Nothing. I just want to be alone for the mean time." He replied.
"I know you do. But you have to come outside and see Samia. I know how it feels to lose a part of yo..." She wasn't even able to finish when Karim's expression fully changed to anger.
"No! You don't know how it feels to lose a part of you! You did that to yourself! You knew dad was alive yet you did nothing! You killed your own husband for yourself and killed my father for me! So don't you dare tell me that you know how it feels! You don't know anything about how I feel!" Naima's eyes were brim with tears and Karim knew he was hurting her feelings but he did not stop.
"You know how hard it was to deal with something like that?! Not having a father? Only to realize that he was alive all that time?! And you did it because of your own selfish needs! I forgave you back then but I can never forget, mama. I will always remember that you are the reason I never wanted to fall in love. I didn't want anyone to hurt me like how you hurt dad! I won't let anyone make me weak. I hate you and I will never forget everything you have done! I wish you were never my mothe..." Before he could finish his rant, Naima slapped him. He didn't even flinch. If anything he turned colder. She was crying fully now.
" I always did everything for you! EVERYTHING! " He didn't know the sacrifices she had to make just for him.
She wiped her tears roughly.
"Keep on thinking that, dear mother. It will make you feel better about yourself." Karim said with venom lacing his every word.
Naima looked at Karim. Even a blind person could tell that Karim was her favorite child. Yet he was the one person who could shatter her into pieces. She left his room. She did not look back. She just left.
~
"Where the fuck are you Karim?!" Karim heard someone who sounded like his dad say. He walked out of the bathroom.
He saw his dad who looked like he was ready to kill the next thing that moved.
"What do you want dad?" Karim asked simply. All he got was a glare from him.
"What the heck did you do to my wife?!" Tawfiq gritted out.
He had just finished having a shower when Naima came into their room. Her eyes were puffy. She had been crying and the second she saw Tawfiq, the tears started again. She had said that she would go to see Karim. He asked her what was wrong but all she did was cry. He hated it when she cried and this was the hardest she had cried in a long time.
"I didn't do anything to 'your wife' " Karim answered.
Tawfiq moved closer to him with so much anger in him.
"She's your mother! Explain to me why she is crying right after she came to see you?" Tawfiq glared at him.
"I didn't do anything. I just told her the truth. She knows it's true. That's why she is crying..." Before anyone took another breath, Tawfiq had Karim in a death grip.
He pushed him to the wall. His hold on his tight enough to keep him in place and squirm but not tight enough to knock him out.
" What did you tell her? " Tawfiq asked deadly.
" The truth. She doesn't deserve to be my mother and be your wife..."
Without a thought, Tawfiq let him go and punched him square in the face. Karim could taste blood in his mouth. He felt a cut on his lip.
"Why the fuck would you hit me! I just said the truth to her!"
Tawfiq glared at him.
"Sure, big man! I didn't make the right choice of women to be your mother. Come at me then! Fight me!"
Karim was good at fighting but he was taught by Tawfiq, which meant Tawfiq knew every single skill he had. He wouldn't even try.
"I won't fight you." Karim held a firm stance.
"I knew you couldn't. You were always too soft. You didn't deserve to even get a woman like Shamsiya in your life." Tawfiq taunted.
He knew it wasn't a good idea to fight with him but he had to teach him a lesson. No one made Naima cry and not pay for it. Even his own son.
" Don't bring her into this. She's dead." Karim glared daggers at his father.
" Even in death you still don't deserve her." Tawfiq was using Karim's words against him.
"She deserved more than you could ever give..." Karim came at him to throw him off balance but before he could push him down, Tawfiq used his elbow to hit against his back. Karim stepped back.
"You are going to apologize to your mother. And you have to mean it."
"I have nothing to say to her." Karim said.
Tawfiq walked steadily to him and before Karim could hit him, he had swerved his punch and hand twisted his arm behind him. Karim was fighting so angrily that he couldn't concentrate hard enough to get out of Tawfiq's grip.
Tawfiq twisted it further back and Karim screamed and Tawfiq let him go. He came at Tawfiq again who just knocked him on the ground and punched his face twice. It was enough for Karim to stay still. Tawfiq placed his feet on the back of his neck. Karim struggled to get free but his dad was way too strong.
"Are you ready to tell me what you told my wife? " Tawfiq gritted out.
"I told you already! She thinks she knows how it feels to lose someone you love so much! But she doesn't! She didn't lose you! She decided to let you go! She decided to make you dead to me and to her! She doesn't deserve me and I hate her for doing that to me. I don't believe in love because of her! She is always doing everything for her own selfish... "
" Shut up, Karim. And listen to yourself speak. The only person who would defend you even when the whole world didn't believe you. She does know how it feels to lose someone. And she has gone through worse than you ever can think of. She didn't mean losing me. Your mother lost her mother when she was 14. Her mother was shot right in front of her and she could do nothing about it. She watched her mother get murdered. She was separated from your Uncle Naim for more than 25 years. She was physically abused by her dad for years after she moved in with him. When I found your mother, she was broken from the inside out. She had phobia, she had scars. She wasn't the bright woman you know. She was just... broken. She had anxiety, PTSD, frequent blackouts. You name it. You know what your mother has been through for you? Just you alone? She wanted to face killers just to get you back after you were kidnapped. You know why she moved to UK? Away from her family, away from me? To protect you from the people sent to kill the next heir to the throne after me. She gave everything up. She gave up me, whom she loves more than anything ... for you. Because she is your mother and we always said 'Karim must always come first.' since you were born. Everytime I wanted to tell you no for something you asked for she'd always find a way for me to say yes to you. You just didn't know. She made sure to get you everything you ever wanted. Even if I didn't agree. You haven't noticed how she pampers you more than your siblings. I'm shocked that you don't see it. Even the twins can tell. If you don't believe in love because of her then you are really dumb. You don't know what love is. Because if you did, you would believe in it just by looking at your mom. I had the worst relationship with my mom for years and I hated those years. Because when we became okay again, she left me again. And for good. So yes I don't want that for you. "
Tawfiq removed his feet from his neck and Karim released a breath.
He didn't say anything. Just laid on the floor.
Abuse? Murder? Phobia? Lost twin?
No one knew that story. Only his mother and his father. Karim knew just a quarter of it and yet he had done the worst thing a son could do.
"You know where she will be. I won't force you to apologize to her. I want it to be genuine. But if she cries because of you... This beating would be nothing compared to what I would do to you. Never let a woman cry because of you. Especially when that woman is my wife and your mother. " Tawfiq gave him a last look and walked out.
He had lost one woman in his life and here he was, trying to lose another woman. A woman he could never replace.
~
The second Naima heard Karim's voice in her suite she entered into her bedroom and locked it. She didn't want to see him.
She heard a knock on the door.
"Mama? I know you are in there. Please come out. We need to talk." She heard Karim talk.
"Why? So you can disrespect me? We have nothing to discuss. If you want anything go to your father. I don't want to speak to you." Naima said simply.
"I know. You have all the right to do that but please hear me out. I was angry. You are the only one I don't want to be disappointed with me. I was just angry. I have never told you but I have photogenic memory. I can't forget. Even if I forgive my mind finds a way to never let me forget the pain. That's what happened. I felt all the pain I had forgiven today. It all mixed with me losing Shams. I didn't mean anything I said. I know that you have gone through more than the average person and I know that you are strong, and kind, and amazing, and caring. You are more than any mother anyone could ask for. I'm sorry, mama. I'm really sorry. Please come out. Please. " Karim went on his knees by the door.
His head was bent over. He heard a click.
" Who did that to you? " Naima asked alarmingly. She saw the bruises on his face and his bandaged arm which was in a cast. His dad had done damage.
" Don't worry about it..."
"No I have to. You are hurt everywhere. Who did this to you? I will let your father handle the person." She stated firmly.
"He can't." Karim replied.
"Why can't he? Your dad can handle anything. He isn't afraid of anyone...wait. Tawfiq did this to you?"
Naima started to understand it.
"Yes. He beat me up like no one as ever done. I think I need a new fight trainer." He chuckled.
He was still on his knees as Naima looked down at him.
"Photogenic memory. Why didn't you ever tell us anything about it. It means you remember as far back as your kidnapping?" Naima was shocked. She didn't know he even had memories of it because he never spoke about it.
"Way back. Even when you found out about dad being a prince. I didn't really understand it then but I understood it when I got older." Karim revealed.
"Oh Karim, you should have told me. Or your dad. I'm sorry that you went through everything alone..." Before she could finish, Karim went down further and held onto her legs.
" Please forgive me. I was stupid. I should never have done that. I'm so sorry mama. " Karim held on her legs.
He didn't want to lose his mother. He cared about her so much. For such a bright and positive woman, she had gone through too much.
" I promise to change my ways. I will do anything you ask me to do without complaining." Karim promised.
His mother didn't say anything. She just looked at him solemnly. Karim didn't know what he would do if his mother never forgives him.
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Tense.
Tawfiq beat Karim up real good.
He deserves it for being a jerk 👀.
Naima's gone through a lot though. I feel sorry for her.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
#VCS
CIAO💞