Chapter 24: The Royal Triplets

Somehow, she had ended up falling asleep on his chest and after Na im had carefully tucked her to sleep in her bed, he moderated the temperature of the AC for her and stood there staring at her face. She looked so innocent to be going through everything that she was going through. He felt as sympathy for her increased tenfold in his heart and Na im wondered what would be like if he stayed with her for the day. Would he be able to make her feel better? Or it would only worsen?
He thought of his promise to himself before he shook his head silently and walked out of the room. He met Bilkisu on his way out, as he dialed Hafiz s number. "Good evening, Your Highness," she greeted, bowing her head down to show her respect.
Na im stared at her for a while before he spoke, "How s she doing? Not just for today, how has she been doing?"
Bilkisu shifted uncomfortably before she spoke, "She spends most of her days glumly, sometimes she even cries. And at night, she hardly sleeps. Yesterday, she had me watched a movie with her because she couldn t sleep, something about nightmares, but she didn t get into details with me." He knew she wouldn t, yet it was good to know that she looked for comfort in Bilkisu, instead of sucking everything herself.
"She also asked of you." That made him turn to her completely.
"What did she say?" He was curious to know what Maryam had asked about him. Whether he was dead or something horrible, right? Because he had never thought for a moment that she wouldn't be overjoyed over his absence in her life.
"She had a nightmare one day and woke up screaming. I went to her room and thought of a way to comfort her but she didn't seem herself. She kept crying and when I managed to get her to speak, she asked where you were. But I didn t know how to reach you, Your Highness, I don t even have a phone even if I have your number to call. It was so hard to get her back to her normal self, but because I stayed with her, I heard her calling your name while she slept."
It was too much to take everything in at once and Na im pushed it aside, deciding that he would think about it when he had nothing to think about. She looked up at him and he saw as tears glistened her eyes, "She s too young to be this sad, Your Highness." He only sighed as he took a step forward, his phone ringing, emanating that Hafiz was outside waiting for him.
"All you have to do is to continue taking care of her please. I ll do something about the phone part so that incase something like that happens again." She nodded her head as she wiped at her tears before he continued, "She s asleep now, but make sure you wake her up to pray and eat later, okay?"
"Yes, Your Highness." Bilkisu watched him left the house before she sighed and walked back to the kitchen as she wondered what was his relationship with her. She couldn t ask him, yet she knew if she asked Maryam there might not be an answer from her as well. All in all, she wanted happiness for the girl and nothing more.
Na im sat on the chair as he sighed while he buckled his seat belt. "What s wrong, Captain?" Hafiz asked, but he leaned on his chair and closed his eyes to suppress this surging feeling of guilt he was feeling. He didn t like it when he was guilty, and now he knew whatever happened was his fault because she was his wife! He could clearly remember how torn she looked today while she asked him to take her home and that seemed to have him battered.
"What do you think we should do about this?" He asked after he had collected himself and Hafiz sighed before he spoke as he drove effortlessly.
"First, since Captain Bolori had heard about her, we re all certain he isn t going to relent until he finds out everything about this. And if he does, we all know he s going to spill everything to everyone or he will keep on threatening you with the secret for the rest of your lives and she might not even be safe when he knows about her." Na im nodded in agreement as he curled his hand into a fist, "I suggest that we find out to what extent he knows. But as for now, I've went to that orphanage and spoke with the director. I had her name registered into the orphanage that even if he checks, her name will be there. But with the promise that I'll be providing them with 30 bags of rice each month for a year, and of course, that s on you, Captain." He grinned at Na im, who seemed too pleased and relieved at what Hafiz had just told him not to smile.
"I don t know what I would ve done without you, Hafiz. Thanks for saving my life for now." Hafiz chuckled as he drove into Shehuri.
"You wouldn t have gotten married without me, it s that easy. I was your wakil, remember?" Na im tried to punch him but he quickly dodged it as he laughed. "That reminds me," the solemn tone he had used made Na im turn his attention to him as he waited to hear. "Have you given her the mahr?"
Na im scoffed before he shook his head and turned away, "I haven't and I don t plan on doing that. I'm going to divorce her, Hafiz! Yes, I know I have to do that even if I'll divorce her but I'll do that before I divorce her. Having not giving her that mahr in some ways still makes me feel that the marriage isn t as valid as every other one in the world. So, I guess, I'm safe that way."
Hafiz only sighed and didn t make any comment. The way his voice sounded and how adamant he was sure he was about this thing was enough to show him that even if he tried to change his mind about this, it wouldn t work. Rather, he asked him after he had parked in front of his chamber, "What if Sadeeq finds out about the house? I know it might not be easy to do that since we have warned the agents never to disclose the identity of the owner, but chances are since he has his mind set into this, he d do all it takes to find out."
Na im palmed his face as he took a deep breath, it had never crossed his mind that it might happen and now that Hafiz had brought it up, he knew it was likely. "What can I do then? If he can track her down to that house, there s no where he can t track her in Maiduguri. And it doesn t feel right to take her to another state."
"To have you suddenly travel to another state to take her will pique yet again, his interest on you. I think there s just one place he would never imagine to have her hidden." Hafiz causally mentioned as he thought slightly about it.
"And where do you think that is, Hafiz?"
"Shehuri," he said, pointing at the vast palace that could as well be a town of its own. He watched as Na im s eyes bulged as though a saucer and he nodded his head, "The palace is the only place Captain Bolori will never imagine her to be, Na im. He knows that even if you re hiding a girl in a certain mansion in Damboa Road, you would never make the mistake of bringing her to the palace and that s exactly where you should keep her!"
Na im huffed out a deep breath as he shook his head, why was it that Sadeeq was always hell bent on making his life so hard to the extent that he d be out of things to do? He thought that everything was over when he took her to the house and seeing how she was easing up with Bilkisu around her, yet this came up and he had to find for another way out. "I can t bring her to shehuri, Hafiz, you of all people should know that. You might claim that it s the safest place for her, yet you know it s so dangerous even for a prince like me. How can she protect herself here?"
Hafiz smiled to calm him down a bit, "No one knows she s here to harm her, Na im. And even if something happens, god forbid, you re always there to protect."
"There s no secret building I could have her live in shehuri. This isn t a good idea."
"What about that apartment at the far end of your chamber, the one you wanted me to stay in when I first came here?" Na im nodded. It was an apartment that was far away from the one he lived in his chamber. His chamber was the biggest amongst that of the kings children and he got to have two apartments in it. It seemed like everyone had forgotten about the other apartment, himself included.
"You mean for her to stay in my chamber?"
"Why not? Unless one knows about your chamber so well, he or she wouldn t even be able to find the path that will lead to that apartment, right? We ve went there with you a few times yet I don t know which path you took."
Na im sighed and jolted out of the car while he slightly shook his head, "This isn t going to work. Let s think for a better solution. Or better, wait until we re certain he has found out about the house before we start looking for an alternative." He walked into his chamber and he knew that Hafiz waited for two more minutes before he drove off.
Na im hardly took what he had said off from his mind even though whenever he thought about it, all he could see was the ridiculousness of everything. How could he bring Maryam to the palace? He wasn t that stupid to do something so risky like this, please. He went to the mosque to pray isha and after they were done praying, he was walking back to his chamber when someone ran behind him until he matched with his steps.
"Yarima Na im," he turned around and saw his step brothers, three of them. They smiled at him and Na im slowly smiled back as they walked together. "We haven t been seeing you around lately. We thought you d be here today for the horse riding this evening." Oh, he had totally forgotten that every Thursday the princes went for horse riding together in the evenings.
He turned around to face them, they were all around the same age. And they all were in the university, just came back home for holidays. Their smiles were always genuine, even though Na im didn t bother about their mothers to know if they loved him genuinely or not, but he knew at least the boys truly loved him. "I totally forgot about the horse riding, boys. I'm so sorry. Can we do that on Sunday morning though? And maybe have breakfast after we re done?" They laughed while he mentioned that but he could see they were already excited about it.