iman | hakim ziyech

.10

please pray if you haven't already, and PLEASE remember me in your prayers

—

'you live here? and that too alone?' iman said as calmly as she could, but even she could not hold her surprise at bay. she wasn't about to get swayed by this man's clearly extravagant apartment.

hakim shrugged his shoulders, picking up her bag from outside the door to place in the hallway that was probably wider than her entire room in morocco.

wasn't the netherlands meant to be smaller and more crowded?

'mama comes around often, but she's staying with hachim for now.' she had to remind herself who that was. his brother. the one whose wife had just given birth.

she was surprised that she even remembered any of his family members names except his sisters and mother.

'what's the name?' she found herself asking, to which hakim turned around with a raised eyebrow.

'what's the name of what?'

'the baby.'

'oh, qasim ziyech.' she felt her head nodding, as if agreeing with the choice of name. she didn't even know who she was to be finding the name suitable or not, but she saw herself nodding and humming in agreement anyway.

it went silent after that, as if they didn't know how to continue the conversation and she didn't know if she should ask the more obvious questions. like where she was going to sleep and where the bathroom was and if she could cook something or if they were going to order from outside or the million other things to sort out at the moment.

instead, she felt like she was disturbing the space that belonged to him, like she was intruding. she didn't like the feeling. she guessed that he didn't like it either based on how aloof he was acting.

she hadn't even noticed that he was calling for her attention while she was still stood in that ridiculously grand hallway of his. he placed the second bag he came to collect to take Allah knows where in front of her, and clicked on it to catch her gaze.

she shook her head as if physically shaking the thoughts away when she caught him standing in front of her. he was looking down at her, and when her head snapped to catch his eye, he gestured his head in a direction.

this entire exchange could have been verbal, and a lot easier. was what she felt like commenting, but she just cleared her throat instead. the entire journey she had thought they had gotten a mutual footing, a glimmer of understanding between them seemed to have vanished since they step foot in the netherlands.

was it because of reem?

she wanted to hit herself for thinking about her husbands 'could haves' and being so obsessed with the 'other girl' but she could not help it. his mood had drastically gone down.

she was absently following him, not even bothering to look at the apartment anymore since her mind had suddenly become so occupied. she didn't realise he had come to a standstill in front of one of the many doors littered along the apartment.

she let out an 'oof' as she bumped straight into his back, the action stiffened his posture as she awkwardly shuffled back, not knowing what to say except the obvious.

'sorry.' she said as clearly as she could, but what came out instead was a mutter. he seemed to have taken that as an opportunity to look at her before he turned around and reached for the door handle, twisting it down and opening it.

'this is our bedroom.' her mind zeroed in on the pronounce. she didn't know why she was so surprised to the extent that it showed physically on her face. her eyebrows had almost raised to her hairline.

he either didn't notice, or didn't care to comment on it.

'that's the bathroom, obviously if i'm taking a shower then there are other guest bathrooms here.' he pointed at the bathroom door, which was an ensuite connected to the room. she finally seemed to have woken up from her mini heart attack at the word 'our bedroom.'  she started looking around the room and noted that it felt way too expensive and minimalist for her liking. she personally didn't like clutter and cluster of colours either, but this was far too black and white for her to live peacefully.

'is there not another room?' she cleared her throat before asking. he paused midway through his mini tour of the room to look at her with a monotonous face. his previously parted lips seemed to have formed into a thin straight line.

'there's more than just one other room.' he replied with a strange tone.

'do we have to share?' she tried not to sound so repulsed at the thought.

'is there a reason why we can't share?' he replied with a cautious tone.

the tension between them thickened, and she reached her hand up to her head, loosening her hijab from the journey. she fidgeted with the pins because she didn't know how she was going to say the rest of what she wanted to say.

he doesn't even like me like that. he married me out of moral obligation. why was he insisting on sharing a room?

'look, iman, i'm not forcing you into anything. you're more than welcome to take the guest room if you like.' she was ready to get her bags and go the second he said what he did, but she sensed that he wasn't finished yet.

'but frankly i don't think it's the end of the world if we share a bed.'

she almost shouted 'yes it is!' but controlled her tongue since he was being calm. she didn't want to be the shouter if he wasn't egging her on.

'you don't understand. i'm just not comfortable like everything happened so fast and i don't even know you properly. yani, i feel so young and immature and you're old-' he began laughing once she started rambled on veering at his age. he was only 5 years old than her, but she didn't need to phrase it as such. she was 22 and he was 27. no where near an astronomical age gap.

'it's okay.' he conclusively said as he realised that she was waiting for an answer.

'huh.' she didn't hide her surprise.

he shrugged his shoulders. 'you said you're not comfortable so i'll leave it at that.' she was surprised that he wasn't being adamant. she had heard that these western boys were very stubborn, and while hakim showed glimpses of this quality it certainly wasn't present before her now.

'my point was that inevitably we are going to share this room so i didn't see a reason in delaying it.' he explained himself, putting his hands in his pockets.

she was blushing far too deeply for her to conceal, realising that the outburst was not necessary in any way or form. he would agree letting her sleep in a different room.

he showed her to the other room quite promptly and without much conversation, only reaching for his phone to order some takeout because neither of them could be bothered after the hustle and bustle of the days that had passed.

iman passed out on her bed that looked identical to the main bedroom with a lot less personal touches consisting largely of a lingering cologne and watches on the nightstand.

how on earth was this going to work?

—

sorrryyyyy for the late chapter!

please show some love

mwah x