Scarred For Life

Chapter 70

*

For three glorious days, all was well.

Adnan never spoke a word about his confrontation with his father to Afrah. He'd gotten a decent 3-bedroom apartment in Life Camp for his mother and siblings, and Afrah never heard anything concerning the matter.

All was well.

Until the day she came to his room.

Ever since their return home, Afrah had slowly begun to move into his room. Her toothbrush was the first item to migrate into his bathroom. When Adnan saw it the first morning, he smiled warmly at the sight. He pretended not to notice when the rest of her toiletries made the journey as well, even making space for her by removing some of the things he didn't really need.

Like the extra bottles of shaving cream which were never used.

Her shoes came next, and again Adnan moved some of his out of the way, giving a few to Junior while he kept the rest in his study downstairs, tucked away in the little shelf behind the door.

When her clothes started to move in however, that was when he decided to speak up.

"Afrah, my shirts are starting to get cramped," he said over breakfast.

"You have too many," she said, stabbing her eggs with a slight smirk. "You should get rid of a few."

"I'm not going to slim down my wardrobe because you're moving into my room, Afrah," he said, trying and failing to glare at her.

"You should have thought about that before you asked me to," she said. There was a noticeable change in the way she sat now. She was more at ease with herself, and there was a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before. She smiled more often, and their conversations were longer. Adnan wasn't about to complain.

"Perhaps we can expand the closet a little bit more," he suggested. "I can call someone to have a look at it."

Afrah simply grinned.

It was late at night when he returned, fully exhausted with his tie undone and his shirt untucked.

"Marco?" He popped into the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe when he saw her standing by the fridge.

"Polo," Afrah replied, setting down the knife. "You're late."

"I know." He sighed. "Work was awful today."

"I suspected," she replied. "That's why I thought about making some orange juice for you." She stepped aside so he could see the sliced oranges on the counter.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" He walked over and hugged her, kissing her cheek. Afrah relaxed into his chest, sighing contentedly.

A quick shower and a hearty meal later, Adnan began to doze off on the couch. They were supposed to be watching Inception, but his eyes began to droop just as Leonardo Di'Caprio began to explain the concept of a dream within a dream.

Afrah woke him up when she noticed, switching off the TV and leading him upstairs herself. She tucked him in, while Adnan mumbled about how pretty she looked in her nightgown.

He'd thought that was it when she turned to leave the room. The lights were off, and the room was cold. The only source of light was the faint glimmer of the lights in the courtyard from the drawn curtains. He was just about to fall back into his peaceful slumber when the door opened again and Afrah stepped in.

Adnan peeked one eye open, drawing in a breath at the sight of her hair let loose.

"Hey there new roommate," she said, smiling at him. "I suspected you'd still be awake."