Twice His Age

8: Night Laundry

Life had been going on pretty bad for her. The only thing she did that was good for her in a day was when she met with Waleed when he was either going to school or after he came back. And their now daily midnight chat with Anas in the kitchen as he either cooked for her or he bought a takeout for them. Somedays, they didn't even stay in the kitchen, they sat in one of the huts in the courtyard and enjoyed the night view.

But whenever she remembered the kind of life she was destined to continue living now for as long as it would take, Sabeeha mostly spent her day crying alone. She would cry herself to sleep or just cry in her sujud until the adhan for Subh prayer had been called and then she'd be forced to spend the rest of her day yawning and being sleepy all over.

But she found peace in her prayers. And right now, she knew that the only thing keeping her sane was because she prayed and literally begged Allah to make things easy for her every blessed day.

Today, she woke up feeling under the weather and it was so hard doing all the things she used to. There were a bunch of room she cleaned everyday and not a single soul used them. And today, because she was sick and it was taking her forever to lift a limb, Sabeeha decided that she wouldn't clean those rooms, hopefully, Hajia wouldn't notice it.

She had been walking on eggs when she finished dinner and wished there was someone to take it upstairs to them. Because since Alhaji came back from his trip, she hadn't met him and she wished she wouldn't have to. Because as bad as Hajia was, she was much better than him as a person and she'd rather she stayed with her for years than have a single encounter with him.

She had always timed the times she finished cooking so she could take it to them without having risking herself on meeting him, but she was working lazily today and couldn't do that. Nevertheless, she whispered a silent prayer to herself before she walked to the stairs and was glad when she was done setting the table and none of them even appeared.

She wrapped up everything before she went to her room, sincerely hoping that Hajia wouldn't need her, because there was no way she'd be able to do the work she was sure they'd want her to do. She was fast asleep when she heard the sound of the Hajia's alarm in her room, but her entire body was shaking with the fever that had engulfed her to be able to get to her feet and go there.

So, she laid on the bed, crying while she begged for the intervention of the almighty. She knew this would make things so much worse for her, but wallah she felt like dying and simply needed to sleep. She was shivering, her teeth clattering while she pulled the blanket closer to her body-which felt as though she didn't have anything on her, by the way-when Hajia barged into the room, as angry as she had never seen her.

Sabeeha tried getting down from the bed but she stumbled and fell instead, her body still shaking. "I'm so sorry, Hajia. I couldn't come because I'm so sick right now." She whispered helplessly and wiped at her tears so she could be able to make out the look on her face.

"How dare you ignore my call when you've heard it ringing countless times? Are you trying to rebel me? Do you think just because Anas have gotten your back that you'd do whatever you want?" Hajia thundered and stormed into the room, making Sabeeha's heart to freeze. Because it seemed like it was even worse than she had initially thought it would be.

"No, Hajia, I dare not..." Her lips shivered when she spoke and by then, she had given up on wiping at her tears.

"I'm tired of keeping up with all that you've been doing to me in this house! How can you be seducing my twenty three years old son?! Ohhh, it's because I said that you're worthless because you aren't married that you think it was okay for you to follow my son? Eh! Aren't you even ashamed of yourself?! He's ten years younger than you!" She didn't know what was happening or how Hajia had walked closer to her until she felt the way she had banged her head on the metal of the bed and Sabeeha swore she had died and was instantly revived back to life.