Tied By The Beast (girlxintersex)

Chapter

Chapter 17

Inaya POV

Flashback

I blew in my air through my hawk-like nose. I wiped away my flood of tears, knowing that it may be the last time I saw Karib.

We went on a date just yesterday, and I was ecstatic that I got away with yet another date without my mother noticing it and just being around her. There I was, laughing to myself as the prospect of another date filled my mind. But that all came to an abrupt halt as my feet drew brakes like a bicycle paddle, and my eyes widened in dread.

"Hi, mom." My voice faltered as I climbed the steps to her.

"How long have you dating behind my back?"

"Wha—"

"I want to meet you. Tell him to stop by for lunch..."

She gives no opportunity for me to lie or make up an explanation. As I was there, I had to phone Karib and have her come here. Both were taken aback since I had not told my mother that I was seeing a woman, and I had not told Karib how much my mother regarded me like a high schooler rather than an adult.

I gently opened the door, lowering my head to avoid meeting Karib's delighted look. She was ecstatic about meeting my mother and, if she was unfortunate, my sister.

"Hey, I've brought flowers for your mom and a bottle of wine." She intended to enjoy that bottle of wine, so she created a good first impression.

She gently tilted my chin up, her brow wrinkled in response to the mope I couldn't disguise. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Does it appear that something is wrong?" I attempted to grin, putting aside my great huge worry that this meet and greet would end in black, dense smoke.

"Perhaps a bit anxious." She bent down, ready to kiss, but as I heard my mother's bed slippers sliding across the floor, I pulled her away, nearly knocking the wine and flowers from her hands.

My eyes widened, and I could see more, including how well she dressed for the part.

My mother cleared her voice, but her presence was already apparent. Karib flashed a beautiful smile as I gently turned in my course, like the aged hands of a clock.

"When I say that you would let me meet him, I meant a man. Not one of your buddies, Inaya." My mother sneered. Karib Tates was the man. The dude I'm banging. Okay, the lady. But the man who my mother was presumably seeing was standing right in front of her.

"She's, umm..."

"You did not inform her." Karib murmured, followed by a sorrowful, disappointed sigh.

"I know." I groaned, on the edge of crying, like a baby. She took a step forward, toward my mother.

"Hello, my name is Karib Tates."

"Hello..." I stood back, clumsily swaying my body. I wasn't sure what to say. If I didn't say it now, how would I say it later?

"I've brought you these."

"Thanks... it appears as if you are the one dating my daughter with all the supplementary stuff." She giggled, grabbing the flowers and sniffing them. Karib smirked as she looked at me. I assumed she was going to tell her right away, but she didn't, and I wish she had. Get it over with already. But perhaps she wasn't bold enough, either.

We have moved our setting in the living room. Karib and I sat near together. My mother sat across from us, staring between us. I wondered whether she knew and simply wants us to say it.

Karib and I both looked at each other. We were both pressuring one other to tell. To be fair, this was my fault. I cleared my throat. "Mom, I need to tell you something."

"How long have you been friends? Inaya never returns home with friends or a friend." Her eyes narrowed.

Wouldn't she have interrupted me when I was about to disclose something that would definitely get me tossed out?

"Just a few months." Karib replied, then took hold of my hand.

My head pulled back as her gaze focused on our entangled hands. I was ready to shove it away, but decided against it. I need to be serious. I wanted something serious with Karib, and running about wasn't ideal.

"Very close buddy, I assumed." My mother mumbled.

"We're not friends, mom." I exhaled. "We're dating."

"What are you trying to say? That my 25-year-old daughter is dating a woman. My daughter is a dyke?"

"Yeeee-ah," I said.

"I want to marry your daughter." Karib grinned.

"Marry my daughter?" Yeah? Marry me? We're barely dating. Okay, so perhaps we've moved past the dating stage, but it still amazes me that I allowed her to touch me after just three dates.

At first I felt low, like it was just the third date, but as I realized she was treating me seriously and didn't ghosted me the other day, I couldn't help but feel elated.

"I want her to be my partner in crime. In my industry, I can scarcely trust anybody, but with a woman, a lady, and a wife at my side, everything is possible.

My eyes expand, precisely like my mother's. But suddenly my mother's eyes clouded. "Did you say business? Her legs crossed, and she became curious. I assumed she swallowed all of the horrible things she was about to say.

"I own the Swissland Mall."

Her mouth plummeted to the floor.

"Whatttt! Are you referring about the Swissland mall, which is just down the road?"

Karib chuckled. "A lot of people do not believe. But it does require a lot of—"

"You are rich?" My mother muttered, but Karib didn't hear since she was discussing how she came to be the owner of the largest shopping mall. I could see my mother fawning over the notion that I was chatting to someone wealthy.

"When are you planning to marry my daughter?"

"Really soon." Karib responded, her hand now wrapped around me.

"I hope it is very soon. Time waits for no man."

"Well, you know, Mom, we just started dating. So we'll do that more often—"

"There's no need. You may marry her now."

"As your lovely daughter mentioned, we need to get to know each other." Since we've been dating, Karib has learned more about me than I have about her.

It was agreed upon, but she did not follow through...Wow, she didn't give me her name till much later.

"Well, you have both mine and the family's blessings."

"So, you're not mad?" I queried my mother, skeptically. She shook her head, as if it were ready to slip off her body. "Not at all. I am proud of you for dating her.

"Great. Wonderful." Karib spoke. She was unaware of the misfortunes that were ahead, but I could smell them from a mile away like rain.

She is not prideful; she viewed anything as a chance for herself. I could see the gleam in her eyes altered, like that of a weredog, when Karib said she was 'wealthy.'

"It seems to work in our advantage." Karib muttered and kissed me on the cheeks.

It did not work in our advantage. It works in my mother's advantage.