Chapter 89: B

They went back to the palace and Na'im asked some guards to take his luggage to his chamber while he walked, because he wanted to clear his mind. And even though he was certain about how chaotic it felt, he still couldn't find a single confused thought to thread through. He had the gate of his chamber opened and ready for him and just when he had placed his feet into the chamber, he felt someone rushed to him and hugged him.
Even though it felt so natural, and it was as though his entire body was expecting that hug, he quickly pulled the petite body that seemed to be pregnant aside and stared at her face. She looked so beautiful, that was the first thing he had noticed about her and she looked so innocent and there was abundance of happiness in her face. He didn't even need to ask for him to know that she was happy to see him. But who the hell was she and what was she doing in his chamber?
"Who are you, young lady?" He asked, even though her protruded stomach made it seem unfair for the name he had just called her with.
Maryam stared a him without blinking an eye lash, she couldn't believe the first thing that came out of his mouth was that question. Or was he trying to play with her? Maybe he was going to act as if he didn't know her so that he would be able to see the look she would have on her face. So, thinking about that, Maryam widened her smile and inched towards him, but he quickly took a step back.
"Stay where you are!" He thundered and she felt the way her entire body shook. He looked like the first shade of himself that she knew. He sounded exactly like the soldier that had yelled at her in the army van they took on their way to Maiduguri. Yet, even then, his eyes held a knowing look to them. He didn't look as though he didn't know who she was then. But today, there was too much coldness in those eyes that stared at her and she wondered what had gone wrong in his heart.
Her voice was shaking when she spoke and she was already fighting back her tears, "Are you joking? Because if you are, you should really stop here because it's so painful seeing this look in your eyes, Na'im." She didn't know why she had chose to refer to him with his name, even though he had done nothing good that required for her to hail or praise him. She just thought that calling out his name would give him an idea about how urgent everything was.
"Na'im? How did you know my name and who the hell do you think you are to call my name just like that?!" He was angry at the painful look she was flashing at him as if she had known him long ago and was even blatantly hurt that he didn't know her anymore. "Where do you live in this palace? Leave right now before I loose my temper."
She was staring at him, yet every word uttered from him felt like fire to her heart. What was going on with him? She couldn't remember them having a fight for him to treat her this way. "It's really painful, will you just stop acting like you don't know me?!" She stomped her feet on the ground and the tears she was trying to fight back came rushing to her. She felt an avalanche of pain in her soul. Maybe her tears would make him stop this painful game of his. They had spoken hours ago and he told her they were boarding their flight from Quebec to Lagos, then why was he acting this way?
"I thought you said you've missed me and can't wait to come back and give me...the gift?" She was hurtfully staring at him with her tears strained face, but it looked to her that Na'im didn't even bother about her tears yet, he was getting angry that she was crying to him. Just like the Na'im she had first known did.
"Young lady, I don't know what I should refer to you as. Get out of my chamber," he said as he turned to the gate, "I wonder how you were able to come into this chamber even though no one is allowed. You're pregnant, you should go back home as it's not safe for you wandering around..." He figured it was good if he was being nice to her, if not because of anything but the baby she was carrying. He wondered who was her husband to have his pregnant wife wandering at night the way she was, looking so beautiful.
He watched as she angrily turned and she was about to start walking the path that would lead her to the hidden apartment in his chamber when he yelled at her, "Hey! Where do you think you're going? What the hell is wrong with you? Is it because I'm trying to be nice?" He asked, anger flaring in his eyes and he wondered what he had done wrong to meet this weird lady the first thing after he had came back to Nigeria.
She turned to him with a pain stricken face, she tried to wipe at her tears but with the rate she was crying, her entire body shaking, she might pass out from the amount of pain she felt. "I live here, with my husband and my unborn child. If you'd excuse me." Maryam turned and she was about to leave when he yelled at her.
"Stop right there unless you want to loose both your life and that of your child!" He warned and she knew if he had indeed turned to the Na'im she had once known, then doing what he had just threatened would be so easy for him. She remembered how easy it was for him to kill. Even though later she had realized it was to protect her. Because once, she had heard a line that said; when a soldier loved, he killed to protect.
But her own soldier didn't love her anymore, he pretended like he didn't know her and it hurt like hell should. "Guards!" He called out in a roar and in came three royal guards that were staring at them.
"Good evening, Your Highness," Na'im watched as they greeted her and he just stood there wide eyed.
"Who's she that you're going to regard to her as Her Highness and what the hell is she doing in my chamber? I thought I have made it clear to y'all that not even maids should be here, didn't I?" He turned and took a slight glance at her panting body that was getting suffocated due to the tears she shed, "And she doesn't look like a maid to me, who's she?"
They were all looking at him, utterly confused. "She's your wife, Your Highness." Na'im staggered back a bit, what the hell did he just hear? His what? Wife?
"I don't think I've heard you right. What the hell does that mean? I wasn't married before I leave and even after the week I've spent in Quebec someone had gotten me married, my wife would never be this heavily pregnant, will she?" He was yelling at them, feeling as if his heart was being squeezed by powerful hands and not the strong emotions he felt.
He turned to her again when the guards had bowed their heads to show him that what they had told him was the truth. "Did you bribe them to say that you're my wife?" She was just looking at him as she cried so anguishly Maryam wished she would just pass out for the pain to subside in her heart. He really was hell bent on acting like he didn't know her and Maryam knew it would have been easier to be divorced by Na'im than be forgotten by him.
He hissed when everyone was silent and she was looking at him with that look that told him she couldn't believe what he was doing at the moment. "Make sure you get the hell out of my chamber now!" He turned and stomped to his chamber. Maryam waited until she heard the door banged by him before she turned to leave, aware of the confused looks that were on the guards faces.
She wished this was a joke. That before she went back to her apartment he would come running to her to tell her that he was just joking and he would apologize for making her cry. But up until she knocked on the apartment door, there was no one following her and she could only hear the echo of his words against her ears.
It was Intisar that opened the door for her and seeing the way she was painfully crying had her heart pounding and she helped Maryam into the living room. "What happened, Maryam? Did something happen to him? Were they not able to come back today and that's why you're crying this bad?" Intisar asked as she hugged her as tenderly, as she had always offered her comfort.
Maryam cringed at the words before she broke completely into tears. She was roughly shaking her head as she silently prayed that what had just happened was a bad dream and she was going to wake up from it. "He doesn't love me anymore, Intee. He acts like he doesn't know me." Her words were incoherent due to the amount of tears she was shedding.
Bilkisu ran out of her room when she heard Maryam crying and seeing her in that position instantly broke her heart, "What happened, Mero? I thought I heard you said something like a plane crash. Is he alright?"
Maryam broke into more tears, why was it that they wouldn't even understand what she was saying? She yanked her body from Intisar and stared at them with nothing but sheer anguish in her eyes. "He hates me now! He acts like he has never seen me in his entire life and before he left, he asked me to leave his chamber immediately!" Her words rang through their ears and she could so well hear the echo of her words in her own ears.
Well, now that she had uttered them herself, it became even more real and she wanted to end her life because of how painful it was.
...
She couldn't believe that it had been a month after they came back and Na'im was still into this painful game of his. She didn't know what else she would do. She had cried an ocean of tears, but it was still not enough to have him back to his usual self. It got to the point that he had two soldiers, not the ones she knew, right on the entrance to his chamber because she always went in even though he had never missed a chance to throw her out of the chamber.
It was becoming so real and even more painful that today when Dr Summayah called, she just broke into tears without even proper greetings. "I don't know what to do," she managed to utter, after she had cried to her fill. She knew Dr Summayah would always find a way out for her like she had always done, but it was just too painful and maybe this time, she wouldn't be able to think of a way out for her.
Dr Summayah sighed as she shot a soft motherly look. Over the past years and months she had known Maryam, it was such a tender experience for her that she loved her more than a Doctor would love his patient. She felt as though Maryam was her daughter and she took care of her like one, scolded her like one and advised her like she would advise her daughter; Fatima Zarah Tambuwal.
"What happened, Maryam? Can you stop crying for a moment and explain everything to me? I want to understand it." She said calmly and she had thought Maryam of how to calm herself at any situation and try to explain herself. She watched as Maryam used the mechanism and took deep breaths before she was able to stop herself from crying, even though her eyes were a shade of blood.