Chapter 39 : B

"Someone s heart might finally be at a risk, and certainly not because it had missed a bullet." He threw a bandage at him but he dodged and laughed before he walked out of the room, smiling. He sent Jafar inside to help Na im get to the bathroom and rushed outside to his car.
He was driving out of the hospital when he saw Sadeeq s car entering the premises and he thought, maybe what he had predicted yesterday was about to happen even though Alan Gubro had tried all he could to make sure no one knew, Captain Bolori would do everything he could to find out, and he did. He sent Na im text to tell him so he wouldn t see him unannounced and drove directly to the palace while he thought of what would be of Na im and Maryam.
Because, they might not notice it. Or in better words, Na im who was the oldest amongst them might not notice that their bond was slowly growing and if he really was on his decision of divorcing her later, this would be so dangerous to both of them. And nearly impossible to him, which was soothing if he were to be asked.
He was already in Na im s room as he took a few clothes for him when his message popped up that Captain Bolori was there along with breakfast and he shouldn't bother. It looked like Alan Gubro sent him himself. He only watched the message and looked away because he knew Sadeeq must ve shown him that he knew already for him to do that.
He walked to the apartment and had knocked while he waited when he heard her voice instead of that of the maid. "Who s there?" She asked with a voice so low that he figured out she might have spent an honorable amount of time crying.
"It s me, Lieutenant Hafiz." It took her only a few seconds to open the door for him and she didn t even give him the chance to walk into the living room when she fixed her inquisitive eyes on him and Hafiz figured it wasn t just Na im that was feeling what he was, this was mutual and he couldn t be more ecstatic. "Let me in first, Maryam. I'll even give you the phone to speak to him." He laughed at the shy expression on her face while she moved away to give him some space to walk into the house.
He sat down on the sofa and noticed how eager she looked before he spoke, "He asked me to come here and call his phone, he wants to speak to you." He said and slowed down a bit, "But..." He began in a reluctant voice and Maryam felt her heart sank. There shouldn t be a but, please. She was relived to know that he was alive to have even said he wanted to speak to her himself, but then what was the but?
"I'll text him first to see if he s available now. Captain Bolori is there with him, so it might not be convenient to speak to you in his presence." He said absentmindedly, totally forgetting that she was there and he was speaking out loud until he felt her eyes on him and he looked up a bit, "Is there a problem?"
Maryam was sure she had heard him said that yesterday. Something about one Captain Bolori. She was curious yesterday but the situation she was in had stopped her from asking him what he meant. And today he had said it in a way that confirmed her suspicions that there was another Captain Bolori apart from Na im. "Isn t he the only Captain Bolori?" She asked, her voice clouded with thousands of feelings she wouldn t have been able to voice out even if she wanted.
"Yes, he has a step brother named Sadeeq and he s a Captain too. Hence, called Captain Bolori as well." Maryam felt as though her heart had been ripped into two at that revelation. She gulped down a lump in her throat and tried so hard to stop her tears from cascading down her cheeks.
With a voice choked with emotions, she asked again. "Is he, the other Captain Bolori, I mean..." She couldn t continue because she just understood how crucial this was to her. If it turned out that it wasn t Na im all along that had taken her sister away, how would she have made up for how much she had hated him? And if it was him indeed, how was she going to forgive him?
"Is there something wrong, Maryam? What do you want to say?" Hafiz dropped the phone after he had sent Na im a message to ask him if it was okay if he called down and focused on her. He saw how she was battling with herself to say what she wanted to. "Talk to me, is there something wrong?"
"The other Captain Bolori, does he have a tattoo around his wrist?" She had seen Na im s hands but right now she couldn t remember what they looked like. The tattoo had just came to her mind now and she had never checked to see it on Na im.
Hafiz gasped, his eyes bulged out as though they were a saucer and he shook his head, not being able to know how Maryam knew about that. "How do you know he has a tattoo in his wrist, Maryam? Have you seen him?" She closed her eyes and there was an avalanche of emotions running through her mind. So, it hadn t been Na im all this while. He had a brother and oh god! She broke into tears without knowing how she had lost her control on them and Hafiz just stared at her as his heart pounded on his chest.
"Have you ever seen him? What has he done to you?" She could only shook her head amidst her tears.
"Can you please call him for me? I need to speak to him, please." She managed to utter and when Hafiz pulled his phone up, there was a reply that came from Na im telling him that Sadeeq had just left, he can call.
"Yes, a moment please." He dialed his number and Na im picked on the first ring and Hafiz handed the phone to her. He saw her reluctance and he said, "You can go to your room so you can speak comfortably with him." It was as if she was waiting for him to say that, for she rushed to her room and tightly closed the door behind her.
"Mairam," she heard his soft and sick voice uttered her name and Maryam didn t know when she broke into tears, before she found a seat on the sofa and sat down, bringing her knees to her chest. "Subhanallah, is something wrong? Did something happen while I wasn t home?" He felt himself getting panicked and she shook her head as though he was there to see her.
"No," she managed to utter after she had realized how bad it was for her to get him all tensed up when he was sick. She should wait until he was back home and she can ask him if he can help her find Intisar. "I've just...I've missed you." She blurted out the words she had been practicing all through the night yesterday and she heard the way Na im had sighed out of relief. "When are you coming back home? I can t come to see you again, right?"
Na im wished there was a way he could heal himself in a matter of seconds, he would have come to her. But he couldn't even properly move for him to do that. And he wished it was safe for her to be there, for him to see her and be able to console her. "I've missed you too, Mairam. Especially your eyes. And that s why you shouldn t be crying too much to tire them for me, okay?" She chuckled at that through the tears. She loved it so much whenever he complimented her eyes. She decided to stop crying since she wasn t going to talk to him about anything now.
"Now, that s more like my Yan Mata." She smiled, or rather, blushed at that and Na im could feel the way his heart was swaying with a feeling he didn t know and had never felt before. But one thing was certain, he wanted to see her.
"Can't you ask them to let you come back home please?" She whined and he shook his head as though she was sitting right in front of him.
"Do you want me to die? Because I will, the moment I leave this hospital now, Mairo."
"You should stop calling me that," she pouted her lips at him and he chuckled.
"Why? Am I not allowed to call you anyhow I want to?" She shook his head as though she was in his presence, not being able to contain that happiness of hearing his voice.
"It sounds better when you pronounce it as Mairam, because they don't say Mairo, it s Mero. You always don t pronounce it correctly but yours sound way better than theirs." She loved this new version of herself. This frank and truthful Maryam that didn't hide her feelings, especially from Na im.
Na im couldn t contain the mushiness he had felt in his heart when she had said that and he was smiling uncontrollably. "So, what can I get from saying them better? A gift, anything will do."
"I don t have money to buy you a gift. What do you want then? Something I don t have to use my money for."
"Ummm..." He let his words trailed off as he thought about what he wanted and chuckled when a thought crossed his mind. "I want a kiss, that s my gift."
She screamed lightly and the laughter that rustled out of Na im s chest reminded him of his pain and he resorted to chuckling. "We all know that s disgusting, Captain. Choose something else."
"But it s not disgusting to me, it feels great, trust me."
She grunted in annoyance, why would he even try to argue with her about that? "There s no way you re going to argue with me about this, Captain. No one will enjoy having someone else s lips on theirs. It s gross." She rolled her eyes involuntarily, "Choose something else."
"That s what I want, Mairam. And I'll get it, and I'm certain you'll love it."
"Then I'll report you to your Dad. Bilkisu said he s not someone I can see but if I tell him I'm your wife, he ll listen to me."
"He won t believe you until you have a proof to show. So, I guess I should do the bigger deed to provide a proof for you."
"What s the bigger deed?" She asked, confused.
He chuckled before he smirked, "You won t understand it now. But maybe later, you will."