𝐴 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒

'You have got nothing to lose, for Allah is the best of planner. Everything happen in his perfect knowledge and timing'.

Rahma had never thought she could sleep to the extent of getting tired of the sleep. She thought she was dreaming, so she woke from the dream and the first thing her eyes landed on was the wall clock on the opposite wall of the bed.

8:05

'Did I pray subh?'

She thought, ransacking her brain if she lost her memories after 5, maybe she enjoyed the sleep too much or maybe her eyes were betraying her, she didn't read the time well. But the light escaping the curtains that concealed the balcony told her she really did read 8:05 and not 5:08. She jumped out of bed, muttering a du'a for Allah to forgive her lateness. She went into the bathroom and performed then returned to the room, contemplating going to her room to get a hijab to pray then she saw one of her hijabs neatly folded on the couch. Dawud probably brought it for her.

She prayed the missed Salah then went out of the room and headed for the stairs. She thought maybe Dawud had gone to work but she saw both his cars in the lot. And surely, when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard sounds coming from the kitchen and a sweet aroma hit her nostrils.

She opened the door and found Dawud in front of the gas cooker.

"Good morning". She greeted catching his attention and he turned to her.

"Did you sleep well?".

"I'm sorry, I overslept. You should have woken me". He smiled and walked to where she stood.

"Forgive me". She looked at him confused.

"I gave you sleeping pills last night, they worked fine".

"What? Why would you". He heard and saw the annoyance on her face, just like the times she'd greet him and he'll ignore. He wanted to smile, but refrained from doing so. He held her shoulders.

"You have not been sleeping well for a while now, and I figured with last nights' events it'd be harder. Don't be annoyed, please".

"But you drugged me". He smiled at her apologetically.

"I wonder what the headlines would say if I reported this, 'Army officer drugs his wife, claiming that she was insomniac'. Sounds right?".

"Too much. I made you breakfast for a change". He pulled her to sit on a stool and served her the food.

"I was thinking. We're not even sure it's Ali". She said quietly.

"The tech guy called, he traced some IP addresses or whatever he called them and I assure you, it's him". She nodded.

He came behind her and held her shoulders, leaning down so he could speak in her ear.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him, you will not have to encounter him ever". She laughed lightly.

"You sound like you're going to kill him". She teased but he didn't reply, so she turned slightly to look at him.

"You're joking right?".

"I never even mentioned death, so no I'm not joking. I'm going to make sure he regrets ever meeting you".

She sighed and leaned into him. "Thank you, Dawud". She said sincerely.

"I'm going to take a bath, when you're ready we'll leave. Some security are coming to clean and sweep the house". She nodded and he pecked the side of her head and left her in the kitchen.