Twice His Age

12: Rejected Proposal

Sabeeha watched as two days had passed and there was still nothing done or waiting to be done about this and forty eight hours from now, nothing could stop her from getting married to Idi. Or from being married to Idi already. She sighed, had already given up trying to talk to Anas about it. She had just decided that she'd have to live with this. Maybe, this was all part of the fate written for her and she had no other choice but to accept it whether she liked it or not.

She was in the kitchen, past midnight, as she thought about how she would have to get to accept this. No matter how much she tried to talk her mind into telling herself that this was the best and it was unavoidable, she still couldn't get it to sit right with her. She couldn't even imagine herself being married to Idi, not after what he had done to her.

There was a soft knock on the window and when she turned, she found Anas staring at her with a very serious expression on his face. She waved lightly at him, and turned her eyes away from him. She had cried an ocean of tears that her eyes no longer cooperated whenever she felt so sad. She had now resorted to taking huge breaths that had little to no help to her burning heart.

Anas silently walked into the kitchen and sat on his usual chair on the kitchen island. She stared up at him and smiled. This might even be the last time she'd have to sit with him in the kitchen and have those late night chats with him. Because somehow, she had figured out even the life she thought wasn't so good for her now, would get worse once she got married to Idi.

"I've missed sitting like this with you and eating junks," Anas whispered and Sabeeha chuckled softly at how their thoughts interceded.

"I was just thinking of the same thing. Funny how you thought the same as well." She smiled sadly and fixed her eyes on him for a moment. "What is it? It's like you've lost weight and there are bags under your eyes. Have you been getting less sleep, Anas?" She said thoughtfully and he looked right back into her eyes before he softly smiled.

"Says the person that looks worse than I do. What have you been up to? I'm sorry I couldn't get to talk to you for the last two days, will you forgive me?" She pouted her lips instantly and turned away. If she could be truthful, the silence and somehow avoidance she had gotten from Anas was what made thing worse for her.

"Come on, Addah, I'm so sorry." That was it for her, and damn him for knowing her so well. "Your little bro is so sorry, please forgive me." She didn't know when she chuckled and he stared at her with amusement filling his eyes.

"Oh come on, it feels good having you call me that. From now on, I'd never answer if you call me Beeha. Or when you're feeling disrespectful towards your elders, you're always like, Sabeeha! I sometimes want to punch you, honestly." She made a face that made him laugh and she smiled as well. She knew they were simply having these baseless conversations, avoiding the one and only that mattered.

"Addah, you want me to be calling you that?" He asked with a serious face even though there was joke laced on his tone.

"Yes, as it should be. I have a son that's ten years old. And also, I'm ten years older than you are. You really shouldn't even have the guts to be calling my name, don't you think?" She chuckled at how he rolled his eyes at that and looked away.

She was going to miss Anas. Because she hadn't forgotten how Hajia had warned her about their closeness with him and how if she wanted to live in peace, now that things were more complicated, she'd have to avoid him at all cost.

"I'll start calling you Addah then, but under one condition, and if you don't agree, you'd be the one to start calling me Hamma, what do you say?" She loved this. It had been long since she had her heart feeling such way. A light conversation that was solely filled with banter? She only had those with Anas, all her life.