Chapter 50 B

She thought he was going to comfort her and tell her that what she had said was wrong. He was never going to get married again in his life and when the time was right he will introduce her to his world, but it seemed like she had been right all along. He was going to get married and didn t want to say it out loud to her. And surprisingly, the thoughts of him being with another woman, especially if that woman would turn out to be Dr Nafisa, Maryam felt too much pain which she wouldn t be able to endure.
She might as well choose to be divorced, that way, she d know there were no strings attached between them.
?
Na im had thought that being comforted by her would be a good idea, if only he knew what it would feel like to be hurt by her again. He knew he didn t have the right to be hurt, she was the one that s supposed to feel the pain of everything, but he did. He knew that by now she had come to the conclusion that he was getting married and she wouldn t be wrong. Because Na im had found out that she was smarter than he thought she was and was no dull at all. A very keen observer, she was.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and when he looked up, it was Hafiz and beside him was another guy. He was about to ask who the guy was when he remembered that it was Maryam s tutor. He didn't know if she would listen to him now that he had hurt her, but if he had to resort to being the person he was to her months ago, then he would.
"This way," he said as he guided them to where Maryam s apartment was. He could feel Hafiz s eyes on him which emanated the thousand of questions he had for him but Na im wasn't ready to answer any of them, so he didn t even let him meet his eyes.
The two men waited on the veranda while Na im walked inside, "Where s Mairam?" He asked Bilkisu that had just gotten out of her room with a plate in her hand.
"She s in her room, Your Highness." The anger that loomed over his thick lashes didn't go unnoticed to her and she wondered what had happened between them. Because if everything was fine, he would have gone to her room to get her himself, yet, he stood by the door and asked her to get her.
When she entered the room, one would think that Maryam was asleep but Bilkisu knew better. She was on her bed as she stared at nothingness while she deeply thought. She did that whenever he took a few days without coming and she was missing him. Bilkisu concluded that maybe they had a fight, seeing the expression on both their faces. She cleared her throat, plastered a smile on her lips before she walked into the room.
"His Highness is calling you in the living room." At the mention of His Highness, Maryam had already jolted with happiness before she slowed down when reality hit her and she remembered what he had done to her. "He said you should wear one of those hijabs, he isn t the only one." She scoffed and yanked one of the hijabs she had been staring at.
"Bilki, please..." She began while she looked at the heap of clothes and Bilkisu cut her off silently.
"Don t worry, everything will be arranged even before you come back. You just have to stop scowling your face that way, okay?" Maryam managed to smile but failed wholly before she walked out of the room.
She found him in the living room waiting for her and none of them stared into each others eyes as he led her outside the living room. It was even funny to Na im, even though his heart that suffered the pain of everything clearly knew it was no funny. But how they managed not to even glance at each other s way amused him, so maybe finally, they had had a real fight that would take them maybe days to speak, right?
Hafiz spoke to her and she answered him with shortest words and from then he knew that something had definitely happened between them. He was the one that explained to her what the tutor named Aminu will be helping her with, because she was going to write her final exams in a few months and she had to be prepared. She seemed delighted, but not even through her peripheral view had she looked at Na im s way.
Na im managed to tell her he would come everyday in the evening and she had to come out on time and not keep him waiting. She acted as if she didn t hear him speak, yet whenever Hafiz spoke, she nodded or even answered with her mouth. She excused herself after everything was set and went back into the apartment while Na im finished everything with Teacher Aminu and he gave him some money to buy the books she needed and all the needed items. He warned him again about the privacy they had already agreed on before they walked back to his chamber along with Hafiz.
He had noticed how Teacher Aminu kept staring at her, not even minding the fact that the two soldier were there and she was obviously untouchable. Yet, one could see the desire in his eyes and how he hadn t even taken his eyes off her until she left. He wanted to ask him to stop coming but he knew it would take time before they could find someone they can trust. Even though at some point the way he looked at Maryam was understandable, maybe he still couldn t believe the color of her eyes, or it was something about her that excited him, even though Na im was disturbed, he decided to let it be.
They walked into his living room and Hafiz immediately went to the dining room and began opening the warmers he saw there. "I m famished, you left me all the paper work in that barrack that I didn t get to eat lunch and it s late in the evening already." He complained as he sat on the chair and began to eat his food, yet Na im said nothing. His heart felt heavy and he wanted to go back and reconcile with her but he knew this was for the best.
"Why are you so silent? And I'm certain I don t have to mention that I've noticed what's between you and Maryam. Is it a lover s fight?" He asked in a mouth full and Na im wished he could give him an earful for being too nosy but then, he needed someone to talk to.
"I asked her what she would do if I ever get married to another wife. The options were stay with me or opt for a divorce, she got angry at me and didn't even look my way since then." Hafiz gasped before he broke into a peal of laughter at the sadness that had lined Na im s face all over.
"Why would you do that, Captain? I told you to keep Maryam out of this marital issue of yours. She might hold a grudge against you that when you plan to finally divorce her, she ll say you re trying to abandon her because of your new wife."
"But she s bound to find out sooner or later."
"How? All you have is a year left with her as you said. She s shut out from the world, it s funny, yet real how she still didn t know you are a prince and that she lives in the palace. If she can t know these things, how do you expect her to know about the wife you obviously don t care for. And it s not like you take her as a normal wife, or do you?" He wiggled an eye brow playfully at him and Na im hissed under his breath. Hafiz will take forever teasing him if he knew about the kiss thing.
"But I don t plan on having two wives."
"Yet, your body needs a wife, doesn't it?"
"I hate you, Hafiz." He threw a pillow at him, which was caught immediately by a laughing Hafiz.
"I know, Captain, I love you too. And it s obvious that you re lovesick. I'm sleeping over tonight, those boys are having their friends for a sleepover in our house, get ready to be annoyed for the rest of your day." His laughter was made guttural when Na im aimed at him another pillow and it knocked the cup he had in his hand and the orange drink spilled all over his white kaftan. He shrieked in panic, making it Na im s turn to laugh.
...
Na im felt as though everything was a dream, yet it was real and he had to live with it. He had forced himself to live without going to see Maryam for two weeks now and those two weeks were the hardest weeks of his life. He always came up with excuses that will make him go and see her but at the end of the day, he knew it was better they stayed the way they were now, because getting closer to her just when he had taken a few steps away might be so hard for him at the end.
Like every other night of the day, he couldn t sleep without being ruminative enough about what he would do now. How he was going to deal with the matter of this marriage and if or not he had a chance of running away from it. A call came from his phone and when he stared at the caller, it was 28th December, just that this was no longer the date that was once again set with her name attached and this time, Na im knew there was likely nothing that will stop them from getting married to each other.
He picked the call not because he wanted, but because he thought that maybe he might be able to convince her or hurt her into going to her father to cancel whatever it was she had planned with him. He said no word when he placed the phone on his left ear and could hear her silently breathing as though she had just finished crying, but that was the least of his worries, Na im thought.
"I've been waiting for your call, Yarima. I guess I'm slowly becoming the man of this relationship." He wanted to smile at the way she had made it sound. As if he had been head over heels for her and they had a little fight that had prompted him to stop calling and she got tired of waiting for his call. He thought he had made himself clear enough for her that he wasn t interested in her but she found her ways of making him engaged to her forcibly? She would have to bear everything then.