What's this noise?
The disturbance.
Coming from...
I furrow my eyebrows hard, turning on my side but quickly wince when minute pricks of hundreds of needles start up my numb arm that's been resting under me all night.
I hold it with my other hand and carry it, placing beside me at front.
A beautiful voice flows again.
A quran recitation?
I pat my hand on the bedside table blindly to turn off the alarm.
My hand meets the empty wood.
Wait...
I don't have my cellphone w...
"In them are maidens,"
My eyes flew open. And I squeeze them back shut when sun flares right inside them. As if searching for a buddy to play with.
"...restraining their glances,"
King?
I massage my eyes forcefully against the expanse of my palm and then look around.
A gasp escapes me as I'm ready to spring up when he holds me down by my shoulders.
Kneeling by the bed, he's looking right at me.
What a creep!
But why is he....
"Untouched before," he gazes right into my soul while his words pin me down clearing up the fog in my mind,"by any man or jinn."
All my instincts are locked up by his hypnotizing gaze. He leaned back, ran his both palms through his loose wavy bangs, effectively pushing them aside. Tilted his head. And leaned forward again. Resting his elbows on both knees.
Those eyes.
Still on me. All this time.
My God!
Did I just fall in love with those ey-
Wha...!!
I choked on my own breath and started coughing violently.
I wanted to turn around and grab some water from the sitetable on the other side. But no.
Shaking. All over I was.
"So," my cough died on it's own when he started again," which of your Lord's marvels will you deny?"
No.
The rest of the world died down. Only those distorted words coming from his lips left inside of me.
He was the one in the lead.
Me just a rock rolled away to the corner.
The more I looked in those eyes, the more those words haunted me.
I didn't know when that pull sucked me in.
When the numbness in my arms turned into a renewed life.
When I got up and held his cheeks.
"Faith..." warm hands shielded mine atop his cheeks and I blinked.
And blinked again.
"K-king?" I didn't realize my voice. Coming from a pitfall.
But he was there. Kneeling in front of me. Reciting-
"Did you-did you jus-" I stuttered unable to voice out what I feared had just been a dream. A parallel reality. My imagination. Delusion. Mistreatement of the nature to me.
I was delusional. Mistreated.
"I awaited so long," He mumbled out, stopping my own assault on me," to see the sun rays falling on a beautiful face. Sleeping beside me. Peacefully."
I was definitely delusional!
I opted to pinch my arm but he didn't free my hand to let me.
"So I wanted to gift something to that beautiful face." He finished.
If I'm not wrong...
Did he just say that he really actually recited those verses to me?
"Am I dreaming?" I asked blankly.
Silence.
"No." A blank response.
"You can't recite." I went on.
"I can't." He didn't deny.
"Then how did you?"
A sheen of sweat sparkled on his temple and before I could blink, it disappeared behind the curve of his slightly red ears.
Okay, what's happening??
"I-" he released his breath, suddenly his eyes were totally disinterested in me," practiced." He bit out forcefully as if constipated.
I scrunched up my nose, squinting my eyes in confusion.
"You're saying that you practiced those verses to uh-" okay, this sounds ridiculous to even say it. King would never do this. But I already started talking. I need to finish my sentence! I panicked inwardly,"recite to me on the first morning of our wedding?"
I squeezed my eyes shut in embarrassment.
My thoughts were spiraling on cloud nine. I needed to come back to earth now.
"No." Answer came way too quick.
I released my breath.
Ofcourse I was wrong.
I opened my eyes. Wide. And searched his. I couldn't capture his eyes. They were all over the place.
"Uh, king?"
Look at me!
He got up on his feet instead. Completely disregarding me.
I felt a pinch at my hard. A punch actually. But I squeezed that into silence.
That verse...
His distorted arabic accent...
What was he doing. I-
"Get up!" I jumped at his voice when he successfully made me loose the train of my thoughts.
He was looking down at me. Ready to pounce if I dared to defy-
A ping went off. He patted the sides of his sweat pants. Hearing a thunk, he fixed the fabric in place with one hand and pulled the cellphone out with the other. Tapping a quick password, he was quickly engulfed by what I assumed was a text.
I felt my weight on my elbows, oggling at him like a creep.
I bit my tongue hard and rolled my legs off the bed. I need a bath. Maybe throw myself in the coldest ocean waves. Just get my mind back in place.
"Wait."
I stopped, upright in the bed. Feet unable to touch the floorboards. Eyes too embarrassed to look up at him.
"She says your paps' arriving tomorrow noon."
I felt a constrict in my heart.
He doesn't have to know about it.
"W-who says?" Althoigh I knew pretty well who this person was.
"Your mom." His voice was as blank as ever.
I couldn't help but look at him, desperate to gauge his reaction.
A mistake!
I clutch my eyes shut. No!
I can't be weak. Not in front of him. Not anymore.
He changed the course of his feet. Instead walked back to me. My body stiffened. Hyper aware of his approaching aura.
He stopped short before me. Silence oozing out of his every pore. Empty silence.
My heart lunged forward to give him something. Anything. Whatever he needed.
But what about me?
Am I leaving?
My head dipped down and suddenly it felt too heavy on my shoulders. I just wanted to hold it in my hands and never look up.
He didn't say anything.
I didn't know what to say.
So many jumbled thoughts. Where to start? Where does it end? The end somehow terrified me.
"I can't." I whined out.
He was quick to pick it,"Can't what?"
God!
Why do I always end up in a pit!
Nothing ever goes my way!
I looked up at. His silhouette appreared two. I willed the haze to go away from my vision,"c-cant go."
Shock.
It was all I felt hearing what I just said. And for a fleeting moment I detected it in those mysterious eyes too. But it could be my own reflected in his. He was too rock solid to let that slip through. Never.
He smirked. That infamous smirk. Unstoppable. Everything about him was unstoppable.
"Hearing you can't go back is a first. I must admit."
His voice taunted. A bitter taunt. But something underlying told that it was much deeper than it was being portrayed.
Much heavier than the reality itself.
"They will kill me!" I whispered out. Inwardly panicking. My internal momentum slipping right through my trembling fingers.
He gauged my reaction. A constant tick visible in his left jaw.
"Who?" A very calm question.
So calm that I feared answering back.
So I didnt.
He raised an eyebrow. Awaiting the answer.
I jumped on my feet,"king please," I grabbed the hold of his shirt. The familiarity of the fabric oddly soothing,"don't let me go."
He exhaled.
I inhaled. Desperate.
"You don't have to go." He affirmed. Giving me more than just a voluntary breath.
My insides eased out at the aspect. Atleast I had somewhere to stay. Someone to stand by me.
But if they found out about that...
"No! I do have to!" I wasn't making sense even to myself.
He pried my fingers off his shirt and gently lowered my hands down on my sides," what do you want?"
What do I want!
I grazed my head. In hope of finding some answers. Legitimate ones.
"Look at me."
But nothing in my life was legitimate lately.
Oh my God!
I held back a sob forcefully with the plam of my hand.
If they knew that I'm in the nikkah of-
Somebody shook my shoulders hard. I looked up to find king searching for my lost senses. Creases apparent on his forehead,"calm the fuck down!"
"But king, they will know that I'm-uh," a sob escaped my lips uncalled for," I'm a married woman now and they will kill me-"
"Nobody can kill you!"
"-And I won't even have time to confess that I'm married to you." I looked up through teary eyes at him," that I'm in a invalid wedlock,king. And I-"
"-listen."
"No, king. Please, you can't let me g-"
"FAITH!" He shouted.
I flinched in his arms. Finally blinking. Looking at him clearly this time.
Oh god! I had been going on and on.
What was I saying! Did I tell him too much? What does he know now?
My legs gave out under me and my head became fuzzy within no time. Before I could collapse, I felt him tighten his grip on my shoulders.
He peered down in my eyes.
Look at me. His eyes commanded.
I am. I finally gave in.
Grateful of him to keep me upright. To prevent me from embarrassing myself in front of him.
"Now listen to me carefully." I took in his hardcore expressions. Dangerous shadows of his midnight bangs lurking under his pitch black orbs. Commanding respect.
The vigprupus tick of his jaws cut off all the bullshit in the surrounding. In the world around us. Leaving me and him. Just to business.
"Now I will tell you what you're gonna do."
With that he held my hand and steered me along, out of the room.
"Where are we goi-"
"Shhhh."
My feet pressed on each step down the stairs. Hesitant to go down. Away from the room. Away from my sanctuary.
Eventually he opened the door. I was pushed from the shade,out, under the scorching heat of the sun glaring down at me.
Like an outcast.
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