Chapter 38 : Bigger Deed?

Hafiz walked in on them in that position and he quickly turned his back to them before he coughed to announce his presence in the room. Maryam gently lifted her body from his, she didn't think hugging a man was a sin and didn t even feel a bit embarrassed but Na im was. He knew he was going to get an earful from Hafiz when he got better or even before then. He was staring at him as Hafiz gave them more time before he walked and stood by the bed.
"I'm glad you re alive, Captain. I ve never been more scared in my entire life." He said with a look of relief and if not for the presence of Maryam in the room, Na im knew he would ve hugged him too. He only smiled and nodded his head at him, while trying so hard to keep the pain at bay.
"We have to go back, Maryam, like you promised." She looked up at him, agitated and began to shake her head when she turned to Na im and he nodded at her. "Alan Gubro said that no one should know about your wound or that you re in the hospital. But Captain Bolori might know and we re not certain if the news would be kept from the palace. He would do that to show a sign of your weakness and your family might even be here by morning."
Na im knew all that Hafiz predicted was the easiest thing to happen whenever Sadeeq was concerned and he knew it was only safer if Maryam was out of sight. Especially now with the case of this human trafficking to know he had a girl together with him will be a very big problem. "You should go back home, Mairam." He managed to utter. He wanted to go back to sleep right away but he was afraid that if he did without staring at her face enough, he might end up sleeping forever. He would wait until she left before he would sleep.
"I don t want to leave you. What if you sleep and never wake up, just like Mama did?" She had more traumatic events than what a 16 years old girl should suffer from and Na im knew she feared for death more than anything in life. It was the one thing that mattered most to her.
"I'll wake up, I might even be home in a few days. You just have to stay hanging there, okay? They ll take care of you while I'm away." She nodded her head reluctantly at him and stood up. She saw the look on Hafiz s face and knew that she had to give them some time to talk.
The moment Hafiz heard the door being closed by her, he rushed to sit on the chair she had left and Na im instantly closed his eyes. "I'm so sleepy, Lieutenant and this wound hurts like hell." He mumbled sleepily but Hafiz s laughter forced him to open his eyes. "What is it?" He asked at last, knowing so well Hafiz wouldn t still be sitting there and staring at him the way he did now unless there was something he wanted to speak to him about.
"Your relationship with Maryam, how far has it gone? I was startled when I saw you two just now, I thought you were going to divorce her, Na im?" He asked and sarcasm dripped from each word he had asked that Na im wanted to strangle him to death.
"She was terrified, I was only offering her comfort."
"Offering comfort to an autistic person that hates being touched? That s amazing. And just so you know it, I love that you finally have that someone that can comfort you as well, because you might not know, but she s doing a great job with you. You're slowly easing up and it s just so amazing, Masha Allah."
Na im hissed under his breath and closed his eyes, "What are you trying to say, Hafiz? And you shouldn t keep her waiting for long, unless you want Sadeeq to see her at any given chance." He didn t even want to know what that would hike in Sadeeq s mind and what he would do next if he knew that he was married to Maryam and was trying to hide her away from everything with everything; his life included.
"Yes, Your Highness, I should obviously be on my way. And for what I mean, maybe we can wait until you re back on your feet." He saluted him and with his eyes still closed, Na im heard the way he gently closed the door behind and he could hear him telling them to follow him so they could. He wished she would stay with him, he would have her tiny hands to hold while he slept and she would just be there, staring at him and wordlessly offering him comfort too, like Hafiz said. But that wasn t going to happen and this was the best way to take care of things.
Maryam was deep in thoughts when they drove back to the palace and when Bilkisu told her that they were there, she wordlessly came out of the car and started walking towards the path that would lead her to their apartment. She had heard Bilkisu and Hafiz talking or in better words, Hafiz ordering her and all that could be heard was her yes.
She waited by the door until she came and unlocked it for them to enter. The night seemed to move slower than she thought, she had never imagined she would be so worried and scared of death for someone apart from herself now that she had lost all her family members, but it turned out to Maryam that she had gotten herself another family member that might as well be the biggest of them all. In some ways, she was more afraid if loosing him than anything else.
She didn t know whether it was because she she had been given some time to think about it now. Because with Mama, they all thought she was sleeping and from then she was never given the chance to open her eyes again. And for Baaba, she had never imagined that such a joyous day would turn out as grievous as it did and what happened to Intisar all happened in a flash that she wasn't given any warning or time to get herself mentally ready as they abruptly happened. But Maryam knew it was for the best that way, because now that she was given such time, she was as terrified as she had never been in her entire life.
She got little to no sleep and by morning, she was up on her feet and was knocking at Bilkisu s door. It was still early in the morning and Maryam knew if it were on a normal day, she wouldn t have been awake in more than two hours to come, but she wasn t able to sleep yesterday at night and it was getting even harder now that she saw the sun coming up on the sky and she wanted to see him as badly as she wanted to breath freely without getting suffocated.
"Bilkisu, we need to go to the hospital, I want to see him." She didn't know how she was able to convey her feelings as frankly as she felt them in her heart now. It was easier living this way than staying hidden in that shell of hers that felt like an asylum with no end.
Bilkisu rubbed her palms on her eyes as she stifled a yawn, coming out of her room which made Maryam to take a step back. "We can't go out, Mero and you know it. Lets wait until his soldier friend is here, I'm sure he will come." Maryam groaned at that. She didn t like this soldier friend of his, he asked her to leave whenever she didn't want to.
"What if he doesn t come?" She asked desperately and Bilkisu walked towards the kitchen, forcing Maryam to tail behind her as she asked again. "Please, Bilkisu, I need to make sure that he has woken up today."
"I m certain he's alive, if not we would ve known by now. We re in his house, Mero, and no one is as important as he is here apart from his father. We should know if he s dead. And if he's alive, no one would ve woken at this time, please go back to sleep, I'll take care of the house."
Maryam wasn t convinced but she knew that as Bilkisu said, somehow his death wouldn't have been hidden from them even though no one knew they were there but his soldier friend. She went back to her room not because she wanted but because she didn t want to be sounding as desperate as she did just a minute ago. She wanted to see if she would be able to hold it in and act as if everything was okay. But with each passing second, everything was a torture to her and she felt like screaming at the pitch of her lungs. She wanted to see him, damn it!
...
He had a dream of her and when he opened his eyes, Na im thought he was still okay that he could instantly go and see her now. But the pain in his shoulder reminded him of what was at hand and he softly groaned, opening his eyes as widely as he could. He saw Hafiz sleeping on the chair beside the bed and softly tapped his hand.
Hafiz groaned sleepily before he squinted his eyes and when he saw that Na im was trying to sit upright, he helped him did that before he asked, "Do you need something, Captain?" He asked and Na im thought for a moment. Even though he was starving and needed to use the bathroom, he wanted to hear from her first. She might even be sleeping now, he thought but maybe before Hafiz reached the palace she would be awake.
"I need you to do something for me. I need some of my clothes from the palace and I'm starving. Also, I need to use the bathroom." He said instead of what he really wanted to say, even though he knew from the look in his eyes, Hafiz might be able to tell that he was hiding what he desperately wanted.
"I've heard you, alright. But what is it that you really want?" Even though it occurred to Na im that Hafiz knew the answer already and was just playing ignorant to have him say it himself, he played along.
"Can you please call me when you get there? I need to speak to her." He took his eyes off from his friend that turned to a brother before he saw the smirk that plastered itself on his lips as he took his car key and aimed at the door.