Scarred For Life

Chapter 55

*

720 hours later, Afrah had drawn up a schedule which detailed every single detail of how Adnan spent his day.

4:50am - Wakes up from sleep.
4:55am - Slides off the bed after staring at the wall for five minutes straight.
5:00am - Sneaks into Afrah's room and wakes her up for Fajr.
5:00:44am - Kisses Afrah on the forehead.
5:10am - Prays Fajr with Afrah behind him.
5:20am - Showers and gets ready for work.
5:30am - Sits on the balcony and reads until the sun rises.
6:30am - Has breakfast with Afrah while holding her hand
7:00am - Stands on porch and kisses Afrah on the forehead again. Waves goodbye before leaving.
1:00pm - Calls Afrah to ask what she's up to.
4:00pm - Calls Afrah to ask if she wants him to get anything on his way back.
4:01pm - Asks if she's sure she doesn't want anything.
5:30pm - Drives into the house.
5:31pm - Opens the front door, says "Assalamu alaikum" before yelling "Marco!"
5:31:23pm - Smiles when Afrah replies "Polo!"
5:32pm - Follows the sound of her voice to find her in the kitchen/bedroom/living room/study.
5:33pm - Hugs her and asks "What's for dinner?"
5:40pm - Showers.
6:00pm - Drinks tea in his study.
6:30pm - Prays Maghrib with Afrah.
6:50pm - Sits in the living room with Afrah to watch a movie, while he tells her about his day intermittently.
7:45pm - Prays Isha with Afrah.
8:00pm - Eats dinner with Afrah while he asks her about her day.
8:45pm - Returns to the living room while holding Afrah's hand to finish the movie.
9:50pm - Heads up to bed after kissing Afrah on the forehead.
10:00pm - Prays Nafil.
10:30pm - Crawls into bed.
10:45pm - Listens in the dark to hear Afrah entering her room.
10:50pm - Raises his voice to yell "Goodnight."
10:50:19pm - Waits for her reply before smiling and turning over.
10:59pm - Out like a light.

The routine never changed, except during the weekends when he would be home all day. They would sit by the pool and talk for hours before going out for dinner in the evening. On Sundays, they binge watched Grey's Anatomy or Keeping Up With The Kardashians, depending on who woke up earlier to claim the remote.

For some unexplainable reason, Saturdays became Afrah's favorite day of the week. It was on a Saturday that Adnan pulled her into the house with an eager look in his eyes.

"There's something I want to show you," he said, grinning like a toddler at a candy store.

"If this is another one of your attempts to scare me, it might very well be the last thing you do," she said. Adnan was fond of sneaking into the kitchen whenever she was cooking, so he could jump out and scare her when she least expected it. Afrah would jump whenever he did that, a look of terror on her face while he doubled over and laughed loudly. She would stop talking to him then, until he came to apologize a few minutes later. But that wouldn't stop him from doing it all over again. In fact, he did it so often that Afrah found herself looking over her shoulder whenever she was working, sometimes even when he wasn't home.

"I promise I won't try to scare you," he said as he pulled her to the third bedroom downstairs. It was the farthest down the hallway, directly beneath Adnan's own bedroom. Afrah had never been into the room, as her movements were very limited. She was never one to explore. Not even in her own house.

Adnan paused at the door, turning to face her. "Close your eyes," he said. "It's a surprise."

Afrah did as she was told, forcing her eyelids to stay shut even as they fluttered desperately for the light. As an extra measure, Adnan placed his hands over them to make sure she wasn't peeking.