Chapter 20: B

Na im had noticed that change in her and he noticed it was since after he had said the name of her family members, but she did that too right? Was it because of him that she got remembered about her loss or what? He saw the time and decided it was time to go back to the Shehuri, so he stood up without a second thought, placing his phone back to it s original place.
He didn t speak to her, because her last action had somehow angered him in a way he wasn t ever going to be able to explain, he just knew he wanted to go back home too. To where he belonged and he was being accepted like every other human too. He realized the more he tried to be soft and comfortable with her, the more she pulled up her guards and make sure he was but doing something so useless that all never work. So why waste his time when he had a lot of things to take care of?
Maryam watched him walked to the door and from all indications he was going to leave, but to where? He was about to pull the door open when she spoke in a slightly pitched voice, "Excuse me!" He froze, not because he heard her voice but because he knew she was speaking to him. Didn t she act like she wanted nothing to do with him? What s with her calling him now? This had to be in some ways connected with having Bilkisu in the house and for once, he was going to ignore her. Damn promising her father.
He pulled the door and walked out of the house but if his ears weren t mistaken, he heard someone running behind him, yet he wasn't sure if Maryam could run after him. He knew even if she did, it must be because she was afraid of being alone with a stranger, even though he was no more than a stranger to her as well, but it felt good knowing she trusted him more. He was about to unlock his car when he heard the door got closed and there was someone panting behind him, but he acted ignorant and proceeded with what he was doing.
"Wait!" She called out, yet Na im was enjoying this too much to act like he knew what was going on. He decided that unless she called his name, which he was certain she didn t know, he wasn t going to turn or even act like she was there.
Maryam had tears already cascading down to her cheeks when she watched him got into his car. She saw him started the engine and knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he left the house and might never see him again. No, that wasn t her concern, not showing his face to her would ve been the best thing he would ever do to her but what about this human he had brought into the house? She d rather die than live with someone.
"Captain!" The name rustled through her mind, debated before she decided to call him that. She had heard him being called that, hell, wasn t he the Captain Bolori she hated so much? But the name fought so hard before it came out to her lips and even though she expected him to turn when she had called his name, Na im didn t bulge. He even closed the door and was swerving to get himself out of the house as the gateman was there, waiting for him to get close so he can open the gate for him.
Maryam really thought that he was going to speak to her, she had even called his name, didn t she?! But why was he acting this way, why was he ignoring her? She knew it, he was lying too when he said her eyes were beautiful! He was terrified and he was going to run away like everyone did. He thought she was a witch too that might get him killed. But please, even though it hurt like crazy and her tears intensified while her body shook with a new wave of agony-Maryam silently begged he would take that woman he came along with.
Na im had to muster everything he had in him to ignore her just like that. From his rear mirror, he saw her crying as she angrily wiped at her tears but from how she constantly did that, he knew more tears kept gushing down and her body shook with her cries. But he had to teach her something, that just because she had him readily available at her disposal didn't mean he enjoyed her company or the circumstances at which she got hooked with him...
His train of thoughts got into a halt just when the gateman was about to open the gate for him and he heard the way she screamed, "Na im Abubakar Bolori!" At the pitch of her voice and the guards almost immediately tried to rush towards her at once and he saw the way she stumbled backwards and fell on the floor, terrified.
Na im rushed out of the car and shouted, "Stop! What s wrong with you two? Can t you see that she s terrified?" He walked in a fast stride towards her and they all froze in their spots.
"She called your full name, Your Highness, this is an offense." Na im sighed, didn t he warn these people about not showing he was anything related to royalty?
"I know, but she s the one I brought you here for. She can do whatever she likes, I'm the only one that can punish her," his expression hardened, and Maryam had her eyes closed, her heart beating fast to even know what was going on. She knew she was going to die, that s if seeing those two men jolting fast enough at her didn t kill her by now. "Now, go back to your room!" He commanded and it only took a few seconds to have the place only to themselves.
Na im walked towards her, and that was when he was forced back into his mind and he wondered, wanting to remember how his entire name sounded on her lips. He crouched down to her level and she shivered before she tried to shift away from him, yet the movement couldn't be sustained by her already trembling body and she was about to lay flat on the ground when he held her arm and spoke before she panicked. "It s me, Hoor."
....
Even though her heart was beating so fast against her ribcage and she could feel her blood pounding in her ears to enable her to hear what he was saying, Maryam surprisingly heard that word. Or name, whatever it was. She squinted her eyes and stare at those calming eyes of his and for a moment, she thought-if only her eyes were like his and he wouldn t have run away from her. But why was he back now? Was it because she had called his name and those men were trying to rip her apart?
She shrugged his hand off her arm and tried to stand up, angry at both himself and her. Did he use those men to scare her for calling his name and more, for scaring him too with her eyes? He thought that if he did that she would run away from him too and never show her face again? She realized she was becoming more dependent on him and it hadn t even been a month since they met!
Despite the fact that she was tumbling on her way back to the living room as she was still being swarmed with too much fear, Maryam tried to get away from him like he wanted. Just that she knew she couldn t get away from him like he wished she would, which was out of his entire life. She knew she was a burden on him, he had said that. And she would try as much as she could to lessen this burden on him by not associating with him and damn the girl he brought, she was going to act brave and live with her.
She knew Intisar had always told her that there were situations that required for her to be strong and be brave, and when Intisar had casually mentioned that 'Maryam I won t be forever by your side to protect you, you have to learn how to do that yourself. Start by being brave and fighting all your fears, okay? Maryam knew Intisar had meant when she got married, because they had laughed after she made it clear to her that she was never going to leave her until that happened and even then, they would still be together just not live together.
Well, maybe life had a better plan for both of them. Because here she was, in an unknown area in Maiduguri, in a mansion that seemed too luxurious and magnificent to be real. And with the man that had took her sister away, yet she couldn t even ask him about her because she was terrified for both their lives. She trudged back into the house and Na im watched her do it. She hadn t even looked back even when she closed the door and he saw the lights got turned off through the glasses. He sighed, he didn t know what this girl meant or what she wanted from him. Wait, was she angry that he had ignored her?
Knowing so well that he might not predict what was right about her, Na im hissed and went back to his car. He had to honk at them before they came out and opened the gate for him. He had to stay away from this girl, he knew. Lest the sympathy he felt for her prompted him to do more things he shouldn t have done for her. And he didn t like the way he was getting accustomed to her, even though they were barely a week shy of reaching a month since they met, but Na im hated it when he got close to someone that he knew wasn t going to be there long in his life.
Maybe like Hafiz suggested, he wasn't going to wait until she was big enough for the university before he divorced her, not until she was leaving either, like he had thought first. He was going to divorce her in a way, after he was sure she turned 17 and might as well have added more senses to her brain. He drove into the palace with so much going on in his head as he thought about what he should do. Should he add one more year so that that way, she was an adult even in law? Maybe that would be right, and before then, he definitely needed to distance himself.
With that, Na im swerved to the lane that took him to his chamber and when he saw Sadeeq s car at the parking lot, he was furious by the time he walked to the gate, "What were you doing to give Sadeeq an access into my chamber? Didn t I warn you about that?!" This is why he wished he didn t take his royal guards to Maryam s house, they knew all his rules and wouldn t have broken them for anyone, well, maybe with the exception of Alan Gubro. As he turned to walk away, he muttered, "By morning, take yourself to the prison and tell them to have you locked up for a week. New guards should be replaced." He didn t stay there to hear their pleas lest they changed his mind, but he knew by only punishing them will the new guards be afraid of doing something he had told them not to.