Chapter 56: The Princes

"About the wedding, I think it s best if you just let it happen, Na im. You can t run away from this wedding like you did with the rest and the way Alan Gubro reacts to this wedding is enough to show you that he isn t going to relent. Your biggest concern at the moment should be Maryam, you ve told that guy that you re her husband and I'm rather terrified of who the information will go to."
"I did?" He began to rake his brain for the moment he had told that guy that he was her husband and when he remembered, he gasped and his eyes were wider than that of saucer. "No, I didn t! Hafiz, we have to take care of him in a way that he d rather die than say a word about that."
Hafiz nodded his head, "I ve told them to warn him about it but we all know how Captain Bolori always finds his way with people. Let s just pray that he doesn t get to meet him." Hafiz didn t stayed longer than ten minutes after they were discussing about that and when Na im was tired of sitting there alone as his thoughts were trying to bring an end to his life, he walked to his room and showered.
He only got himself into a jallabiya and rained perfumes on himself. He felt so sad and his heart weighed down to the point that whenever he breath, Na im could feel the weight of his heart and his lung that were trying so hard to make sure he stayed alive. He thought of what would have happened if they didn't hear Maryam screaming the moment they walked into his chamber, would Aminu have raped her then? She was powerless, he would have, Na im thought.
He heard her crying just when he was reeling with rage and rushed to her room. Na im found her seated with her knees brought up to her chest as she cried bitterly on the centre of the bed. Her eyes were clenched shut and Na im walked towards her and sat on the bed. She heard his presence and gasped while she shifted without looking up to see who it was.
"It s me, Hoor." He muttered gently and Maryam stopped crying for a moment as she opened her eyes. She found his concerned eyes staring right into hers and Maryam broke into tears as she lounged herself into his arms. Na im wrapped himself around her and she cried to her satisfaction.
"Take him away from me, please." She pleaded amidst her tears and he nodded his head at her, bringing her closer to his body.
"I've already saved you, Mairam. He s not going to see you anymore in his entire life, okay? Stop crying, My Baby." He lifted her face and began to wipe at her tears and Maryam nodded her head at him.
"He touched me everywhere. I asked him to let me go but he kept on touching me that I feel suffocated remembering it." That was when Na im noticed that her bra was still unhooked and the zip of her shirt was down. He felt more anger rose in him but he knew he had to take care of himself, she needed comfort now, he would have to personally deal with that pervert later.
"It s okay, Mairam. I'm here and he s not going to touch you again." He pulled her back into his chest and Maryam cried until she was silent for a few minutes. "What can I do to make you forget about the touches? Do you want something?"
Slightly, Maryam pulled her body away from him as she began to nod her head and in a moment, Na im had never thought that she d do what she was doing. Her hands were shaking as she undid her zip entirely and took off her shirt, throwing it over the bed. He gasped, because her bra was slightly loose and he could see the beginning of what he knew would never end well between them.
"Hoor!" He exclaimed and brought her back to his body, hugging her as firmly as he could while he meticulously, even though his heart was racing, hooked back her bra and she pulled her body away from his.
"I want you to touch me in the places he did, that s the only way I can forget about having his hands on me." Maryam took his hands and was about to place them on her bosom when he immediately rose to his feet, his heart racing as fast as it had never done before. He had never seen a half naked woman in his entire life, and seeing Maryam in just her bra while she looked up at him with those innocent eyes with a pout on her lips made his blood pump faster.
"Aren't you hungry? I'll go out to see what I can get for you. I bet you can t cook tonight, right? I'll ask the maids to bring us dinner." He was stammering as he spoke and Maryam broke into tears when she sensed that he was going to leave. Na im sighed and groaned silently, "Hoor, if you re determined on killing me, the words would ve been easier to say than this torture."
...
It was hard to console Maryam, or to convince her and run away without him doing what she wanted him to. First, Na im wanted to live, because he knew the moment he laid his hands on all the places she wanted him to touch so she would be able to forget about the touches of that pervert, nothing will stop him from getting her whole to himself and it was a promise he didn t want to break with his whole life.
She looked so innocent, still frightened as she sat across him on the dining table for the first time since they got married and Na im smiled at how she nibbled at the food. "If you want, we can eat on the floor, Mairo." She looked up at his voice and saw his eyes that stared back at her before she simply shook her head.
"No, this is your chamber and someone might walk in on us. Let s just eat here, I want to learn how to eat on this thing. It s a bit too high for me, but I'll learn." He loved that she was willing to adapt into the world she had found herself. It was a scary world, he knew. Because nothing beat having to hide from everyone and everything with the exception of people not over five. If it were him, Na im knew it would suffocate him to death.
"Okay, let s do that then." She was still afraid, he had noticed. Still not over the fact that some stranger had touched the places no one had ever touched in her body and from her expression, she was disgusted with what had happened.
He didn t say a word about that again, because he knew if he did, she d have to remind him that he didn t do what she wanted him to and therefore, he was secretly paying for the price. "He has been locked in the barracks and would be punished for what he did to you. Will that be alright with you, or there s something more you want me to do to him?" Na im asked, maybe talking about the punishment with her might ease the pain she was going through.
She slowly looked up from her plate and stared at him for a minute before she began to shake her head. "I don t want to see him again, he s not the one that s going to continue teaching me, right?" She asked innocently and he immediately nodded his head.
"I'd kill him if I ever saw him around you again. You re safe, I'll have Hafiz look for a female tutor this time." She nodded her head and stood up. But before Na im asked if she was already full or the fact that she still hadn t eaten anything, they heard a knock on the door and Na im felt a pang in his chest. He had totally forgotten that they were in his chamber and here, Maryam wasn t entirely safe. Someone was bound to come and even if he weren t at home, there were maids that take care of the chamber for him and what would they say if they saw her?
"Who s there?" He immediately stood up and cupped her wrist in his hand, walking her to the room that had now become hers.
"It s Captain Bolori, Captain! Your wedding is in three weeks, and aren t brothers supposed to plan each other s weddings? I came to do that." Na im couldn t take the next step because he knew, she wasn t deaf, so she definitely heard what Sadeeq had said and understood it. He stared at her face and saw that she had a numb look on it as if this wasn t the first time she had heard it just that she was more pained or reminded by what Sadeeq had said.
Gently, he pulled her to the room as he spoke a bit louder. "Hang on, Sadeeq, I'll open the door in a bit." He knew Sadeeq was already curious because he had never made him wait longer than a minute or two by the door. Yet, wasn t Sadeeq always curious and eager to find one s secrets?
He closed the door behind him and she looked up at him and was about to speak when Na im leaned down and merged their lips together. Maryam closed her eyes and just stood there, not kissing him back while her tears made a downpour on her cheeks. She was pained to the greatest order, she knew she had no right whatsoever and had seen this coming since, but she couldn t help being in this kind of pain.
Na im broke their lips slightly when it became evident to him that she wasn t willing to kiss him back. And he stared at her face with a pained expression on his, "I m sorry, Hoor. I'll explain everything later. Please, don t make a sound that will peak his curiosity, he s the person that you d have to do all you can to avoid meeting, please." She didn t speak, but the way she had walked to the bed and laid there, covering herself with the duvet made Na im knew that if they were going to spend over two hours with Sadeeq, she wouldn t make the sound he had asked her not to.
But her silence had killed him. He knew she had always acted this way the first time he had met her and even months after that, but this wasn't the Maryam he knew, his Maryam spoke to him, laugh with him, teased him. His Maryam even kissed him when she felt like it and she let him stared into her eyes because she had now believed his words of her eyes being the most beautiful he had ever seen.
But it seemed to him that Maryam had changed and she wasn t willing to come back to him. As if that Maryam that spoke loudly to him and didn t fret even if he touched her unannounced had been scared by him and she had crawled back to her shell. Na im didn t want that to happen, he wanted that Maryam to continue being there until the end of time.
But wasn t the end of time just a year for them? He thought as he began to shake his head. But he wanted more than just a year with Maryam, he wanted forever. And he would be damned if he wasn t getting one, damn it!
"Yarima!" His brothers exclaimed at the same time, bringing him out of his reverie and Na im smiled awkwardly at them. He had forgotten that they were still in the room, if not, he wouldn't have acted the way he did. Wouldn t have let her thoughts got to him to that extent.
"Sorry, I was a bit thoughtful. What did you guys say? And you triplets, I thought you ve already gone back to school? I haven t seen you for a while now." He wanted to take their attentions away from him or what he had thought about. But he could feel Sadeeq s eyes that were unwavering on him as if he was trying to put everything together in a puzzle and something was being too hard on him.