MAKESHIFT HUSBAND (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Maryam looked up when the door was pushed open. She smiled faintly when her mom walked in with a tray.

"I'm not really hungry Mamie.." She protested lightly.

Amina smiled and set the tray down. She felt Maryam's neck with the back of her hand.

"How do you feel? Are you okay?"

Maryam's lips twitched at the question.

Was she okay?

"Mom" she started but burst into tears.

Amina signed and embraced her daughter tightly.

"Maryam" she patted her back gently. "Honestly, I want you to have a life of love and care so you can have wonderful memories and have the time of your life" she paused and raised Maryam's tear stained face.

With her teary eyes, she looked at her daughter and felt even more heartache.

"It's all my fault you're in this situation and I am very sorry" she hugged Maryam's hands and kissed them. "I'm begging for your forgiveness."

Maryam shook her head fervently. Her tongue felt like it'd been stuck and she found it hard to speak.

She knew if anyone was to blame for her current predicament, then she had only herself to blame.

She couldn't even blame Yaks. They'd met in her second year of uni, him being a third year law student.

Theirs had been a story like novels and they hated each others guts for a while.

By the second semester, she started to notice that beneath the rude, arrogant and spoilt Prince, there was another side of him that was untapped. A side he let only her see

Maryam squuezed her eyes tight. Her heart felt like it was going through a marathon as conflicting emotions ran through it.

Did she still love Yaks?

Or rather, the proper question to ask would be if she would ever stop loving him completely.

"Maryam..." Amina tappee her daughter who was lost in a trance and even more bouts of self pity overwhelmed her.

"I don't want you to live the life I lived. I'm really happy and I don't regret having you and your brother at all but I also don't want your child to grow up asking questions." Amina sighed and served her some food.
"I've seen the look in Kamal's eyes. It doesn't look like he doesn't love you but more like he's not sure of his feelings for you. Maybe with time, you guys could cultivate feelings for each other and...and if things don't work out, then it wouldn't be too late to find your way out."

Maryam exhaled and pushed all thoughts away. Her mom was right, it wouldn't be too late to leave if things didn't go well.

"Okay Mamie" she forced a smile on her face. "I'll listen to you"

Unlocking her phone, she sent Kamal a message.

They needed to talk urgently.

Her finger hovered over the number Yaks had used to contact her for a second. She sighed and locked the screen.

It's better to cut off branches that wouldn't grow fruit as soon as possible!

***********

Kamal's phone tinged and he unlocked it. His eyes lit up when he saw the sender's ID.

He unknowingly released a sigh after reading the contents of the message.

Maryam would stay!

A voice sang in his head.

"Is she the one?"

Zainab sniffed and his temporary happiness came crashing down. A throbbing ache immediately assaulted his head.

They'd been having a cold war since Yaks' outburst yesterday.

Kamal was shocked at tgr level of calmness that Zainab displayed. If not for the fact that she refused to talk to him or let him touch her, he wouldn't suspect that his revealed secret bothered her at all.

This behavior of hers was exactly what bothered him. He wasn't used to a Zainab who hid her emotions and kept her problems inside her.

"Does she want to see you?" Zainab probed again. Her voice hoarse and thick. She had been crying, but not a single tear roamed free.

Her heart hurt so much she felt being able to breath was a huge achievement.

"How...how far along is she?" At Kamal's silence and suspicious eyes, she laughed humorlessly. "Are you worried I'll go do something to her?"

Kamal lowered his head guiltily. He indeed had been worried that in a fit of anger, Zainab would take some drastic steps especially since she'd refused to listen to him.

Zainab had never felt like an outsider as she did now. Although she had indeed harbored thoughts of dealing with her, she'd stopped herself midway.

"You want to go see her don't you?"

Kamal looked up and Zainab barely stopped herself from cringing when she saw the undisguised happiness in his face.

She forced herself to look away and blinked back the tears.

"Sweetheart" he walked to her and reached out a hand to hold her. "I'm very sorry baby. Wallahi I had no intentions for things to end up this way."

Zainab kept mute and as she allowed him to hold her, she wondered if he would ever hold her like that again.

Kamal apologised over and over, until his mouth was dry but Zainab didn't say anything.

"You..." She sniffed and removed herself from his arms. "You have to go."

Kamal sighed and stood up. He rubbed his face, frustrated at everything that had been happening.

"I'll be back soon. Do you want me to get you anything?"

She shook her head lightly.

Kamal sighed again and slowly walked out the door.

As soon as the door closed, Zainab's tears burst open and she buried her face in her arms.

A few minutes after his Kamal's depature, someone knocked on the door and she walked lifelessly to open it.

"Ukhti" she crumbled to the floor and sobbed as Husna held her tight.

Husna felt pain but she couldn't bring herself to cry. Zainab, their last born had always been emotional and sensitive even though she might not look or act it.

"Let's go" Zainab wiped her face. "Let's go please I don't want to stay here anymore."

"What do you mean? You want to go home for a break?"

"Yes" Zainab smiled. "I'm taking a long long break"