Against The Tide (Formerly Two Tribes)

1: The Covenant

Devastated and demoralized, Afrah Abdulmalik made her way along an unknown dark path.

As she walked alone in tears, it started to drizzle

Just a day ago, she had been over the moon about obtaining her certificate and graduating with a first-class. She thought everything else would finally fall in place for her, as she had envisaged, not knowing that it was just the beginning of her misery...

She crouched by the side of the road; her shoulders shuddering as she sobbed to her heart's content.

Satisfied, she wiped away the tears with her palms and checked her phone.

She wasn't surprised that she had twenty missed calls; ten from her mum, four from her immediate younger brother, Nazeer, and the rest from her sister, Jinan.

Afrah rolled her eyes. It baffled her how they pretended to love her when all they cared about was their reputation, regardless of their daughter's happiness.

Fake!

"No matter what happens, I'm going to get married to him and only him!" She vowed as she wiped away the tears on her face.

Right from childhood, Afrah had always gotten whatever she desired. 'Daddy's girl' was what her siblings called her because of the immense love their father always displayed towards Afrah. He loved her above her siblings because she was named after his beloved mother who passed away right after she was birthed, and to top it all up, she resembled her a lot.

He cherished her more than anyone else because felt as if his mother had returned to him in form of his daughter.

Because of that reason, Afrah always got whatever she requested. Her siblings would always go through her if they wanted something from their father because they knew he couldn't refuse her.

Rejecting her suitor came as a mega shock to Afrah. She had been confident that he would be accepted by her parents but her confidence came crashing when she got a blunt NO from her father.

Where are you? Come home right now!

Afrah read the message and heaved a sigh of exasperation. Had it been she had somewhere else to go to, she wouldn't have even considered returning home.

Standing in front of the gigantic brown gate, it had stopped drizzling, but Afrah's clothes were drenched and sticking to her body.

Hesitantly, she knocked on the door.

A few seconds after she did, the gate opened and her sister threw her arms around her shoulders, almost knocking her off her balance.

"Ya Afrah!" She squeaked. "Where have you been? We looked for you everywhere, but couldn't find you. We all thought something bad happened to you."

Afrah disentangled her sister's arms from around her and stepped into the house.

"Are you alright?" Jinan asked, trailing behind her. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Afrah snorted in response and advanced into the house.

Her parents, alongside her brother, were in the living room, obviously waiting for her.

Afrah frowned; she made up her mind not to speak to them.

"Afrah!" Her father, Dr. Abdulmalik boomed.