Scarred For Life

Chapter 60

*
Afrah had never been a nag.

Throughout her childhood, she'd seen her mother constantly become the stereotypical nagging housewife. There was always something to complain about. It was either the fact that their father came home an hour too late, or he had forgotten to buy something she'd told him about in the past. Sometimes she even nagged over trivial matters, like the way their father chewed his food, or the way he couldn't seem to drink water silently.

Either way, she had witnessed firsthand just how much her mother's nagging had ruined her relationship with their father, effectively pushing him away and putting a damp on their marriage. She had sworn an oath one day, in the confines of her bedroom, that she would never become a wife that nagged. No matter how bad things got, or how awful she felt, she would never complain about something indirectly rather than confronting the problem head-on. She had always been proud of that particular decision, and throughout the years, she'd taken active steps to make sure she was as un-naggy as a person could possibly be.

Which was why she found it supremely annoying that Adnan was causing her to nag.

He had no right to act so casually even after learning what she had learnt. Granted, he wasn't privy to the conversation she'd had with Chris. But it was still unsettling the way he looked at her in no less the same way that he usually did. He still held her hand with a casual ease that put an assortment of knots in her stomach. He still grinned at her every few seconds, and he still spoke to her like nothing had changed.

They had taken an Uber to Fifth Avenue, and all through the car ride Adnan had pointed out several places he was particularly fond of. There was a fast food restaurant he always came to on the weekends, a library where he used to spend most of his afternoons, and a dingy old apartment complex where he'd stayed for a while. He even pointed out a curb where he'd once tripped and skinned his knees. He talked about all this fervently, his eyes lit up like a child at a candy store.

Afrah simply watched him, vaguely aware of what he was saying. When he turned to ask her if she was okay, she tried to keep the anger out of her voice.

"I'm fine," she said, a little too calmly. That wouldn't do. Somehow, she would have to squeeze in just the right amount of irritation into her tone so he'd know just how angry she was.

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, turning away from him. That would certainly do it.

Adnan fell silent, even after the car pulled over right next to the famous Sax building.

Fifth avenue was as crowded as they'd expected, being a weekday and only a few minutes past noon. Most people were either returning from lunch, or they were tourists just like themselves. Adnan held Afrah's hands as they walked along the sidewalk, a heavy silence weighing down on them.

"Should we go to the Apple store first?" he asked after over five minutes of nothing but the sound of cars honking and their feet pattering along.

"No," Afrah said.

"Okay, where do you want to go first? There's an H&M up ahead. Or we could go to Zara."

"I want to go back to the hotel."

"What?" Adnan said astonishingly.

"I said I want to go back to the hotel."

"We just got here, Afrah," he said. "We should go sightseeing if you're not too keen on shopping just yet."

Afrah pulled her hand away from his and turned the other way.

"Look," he sighed, rubbing his thumb on his temple, "if I did something wrong, I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I beg for your forgiveness. But today is meant to be a good day. I want to make it feel special for you. Tell me what I can do to make it better."