When a God-fearing man loves, he loves differently.

—H.

❥⁠˙⁠๑

Her

"So how are things between you two, hm?"

Evalena's eyes are on her friend Reumah who is sipping on her coffee while shutting down her mobile to give her some attention though she never desired.

She absent-mindedly plays with a wisp of her hair, twirling it around the pen in her grip. It curls, loosely hanging but her mind is all set on her husband since she has nobody else to think about.

"Between us? Quite fine."

"Wow," Reumah exclaims, putting down her cup, "Sorry, Lena, but I had no expectations."

"You disappoint me," Evalena's answer is sharp, her eyes narrow at Reumah who laughs, throwing her head back. Evalena scoffs, putting the pen inside her breast pocket.

"Come on, I still remember what you told me after your marriage. His answer on your wedding night."

Evalena sighed, because somewhere she too lost her hope. Not because he answered her that way. But because she broke his trust. He trusted her so much. More than anyone, excluding his wife and mother. Perhaps he put them all together and such a place she reserved but lost in the blink of an eye.

And how delicate is trust that it broke all in a moment? Instead of cherishing it, she became careless.

And after that all, she too had no expectations yet she cried before God, thinking what she couldn't do maybe will be possible for Him and she was right. He made it possible.

However, her lips curl into a soft smile as she recalls that night. It became memorable for her. Those tears she shed before her God became memorable for her because now things are mending. She is seeing it all happening with her naked eyes.

You can't expect a broken person to hold you. You can't expect for the thing you have crushed under your feet recklessly but despite this all, she is receiving this all. That hold, that trust, she is getting back and here, don't say it's a coincidence. No, she can see His hand in everything beautiful that is coming into her life.

"Though somewhere I too was pessimistic, I can see us getting closer."

Reumah wiggles her eyebrows and a giggle escapes Evalena's lips. "Then why were you sad this morning?" She asks, wondering all of a sudden how she received her this morning.

"I didn't pray last night." Evalena shrugs. "He waited for me."

She means both her husband and God. They both wanted her and she is guilty of breaking their expectations.

"But then, I realized that He's forgiving. He has forgiven me and my guilt can't be greater than His forgiveness and so you see, I'm happy."

"I thought the arrival of that girl in your house was the reason for your distress?"

Evalena bites her bottom lip as suddenly the image of Nicole comes before her mind. That pleasant woman! She is such a beautiful woman with a sharp tongue who doesn't hold back from spreading her opinions before anyone and something that's true in her mind. Her dark eyes hold mirth when she talks, her smile is pleasant, her figure is light and attractive and her walk is elegant. Surely, she is indeed Nora's sister but her eye color differentiates her. Nicole has dark brown eyes and they are indeed attractive, framed by inky eyelashes. But what's the use of such heavenly features when she is such a woman who promotes strife? Especially between a husband and a wife.

Evalena can't help but recall the morning as she found her holding her husband's arm.

"Not distress, Reu. Surely, not distress," Evalena repeats as soon a knock on the door interrupts them.

They find a servant with a tray in his hand, bearing a cup of coffee. He enters and puts the cup on Reumah's table. He leaves, bowing slightly before them and once they are again alone, Evalena continues;

"One thing about Adam, you know, that he is the man any woman would ask for yet fall short before the stability of his character. He's such a perfect guy and a true man. And you know you can trust a true man," she says, holding the cup of coffee.

Arising steam fuses into the air while Evalena traces the rim of the cup with her fingertip.

"But Nicole?"

"Yes, she seems like a threat. Not to Adam but to our relationship."

Reumah raises her hand, showing her palm which is slightly pink. "Don't tell me she's here to avenge her sister's death though it wasn't your fault!" She exclaims dramatically, widening her eyes. "She'll be the reason for my disappointment and I may do something very nasty with her if she tries to eliminate you from the frame of your lovely family!"

Evalena chuckles at her friend's possessiveness.

"After I have asked God to bring us together, you think a mere mortal can ruin my Lord's perfect work?"

Reumah falls silent, nodding her head at the logic Evalena has given her. She is right! Who can oppose the Lord Almighty?

He says He counts on your tears. So aren't there possibilities that He might bless her for each teardrop that she has shed and He has collected? Evalena is favored in His eyes and she can see the results—how she is getting closer to her husband.

"She can't do anything," says Evalena with boldness, taking a sip. The taste is pleasant upon her tongue and she smiles.

"Adam doesn't even know and he has brought me closer to God. My primary desire, wish, and reason for prayer was only Adam but I never realized when God pulled me closer to Himself through Adam." She takes another sip, looking straight at Reumah who has her eyes set on Evalena. She speaks differently and more pleasantly. Reumah loves her words.

"He is bringing you closer to God? That's... that's beautiful," Reumah mumbles, both in amazement as well as joy. Evalena nods.

"When we were getting married, I got to hear so many things about Adam. In my state of despair, I was listening to them and getting more and more hopeless. They said; 'Adam is broken,' 'His heart is broken,' 'His heart has died along with his wife,' 'He can't be mend easily,' and all, and all..." She leans back, continuing after a taste of another sip, "Instead of encouraging me, they all discouraged me that I'll never be able to take Nora's place. But thanks to my mother-in-law who was such a ray of hope in my life."

"I love her. She's an inspiration," Reumah agrees, getting another smile on Evalena's lips. This one is brighter.

"But as I started living with him, I realized his heart isn't broken beyond repair, away with Nora or this or that. Those surmises were cruel," she shakes her head, "Adam's heart is safe; with his Lord Almighty in whom he put his trust more than us."

Evalena suddenly puts down the cup, leaning closer. She preaches her elbows ahead upon the glass table, seemingly interested more than before. Her emerald eyes twinkle as she recalls her husband who is the reason for her bright smile and more than that is the manifestation of her prayers.

"Instead, his heart is so much hidden in his Lord that to seek his heart, I had to search for his God first, and while doing it, I discovered the true meaning of love."

Just there her lips don't stop adding to what she has discovered along.

"His heart is safe with his God. Doesn't matter if it's broken there many times, every time God has repaired it and it has beatified his heart. Everything about Adam is beautiful. The most beautiful of them is that he's God-fearing, and it has been beautified to the point that he forgave a betrayer like me, gave me a second chance, and after all this, he treats me with honor and respect."

Reumah is wordless, listening to Evalena praising her husband along with God, and this gives peace to her heart. She only read about such wives in books but seeing such a woman in real life is what amazes her. And how did it happen? Just because she followed God.

"Adam is a gentleman. He seeks to please me. He learns from his mistakes and..."

"And maybe he loves you?"

Lifting her eyes gently to acknowledge her friend who interrupted her so softly, Evalena shrugs because she is not sure about love yet. But she has an answer to give;

"Pyaar bhi ho hi jayega."

Reumah bites her bottom lip, trying to contain her smile but fails. So is with Evalena.

"I'm jealous of you, Lena."

"Bless me if you want such a man," Evalena says playfully, holding her cup and continuing to empty it.

"Of course. If that's the way I'm getting a man like Adam, I'm doing it every time." They laugh but Reumah is sincere. "But you too deserve him or else God wouldn't have given you each other."

"You think so?" Evalena chimes in, looking surprised.

"You forgot how you used to admire him in your childhood?"

Evalena looks down, nodding her head but that's not enough to prove her love for him. She accepts that her love at that time was so overcome by her obsession that she ignored everyone on the way. Even her family! That was wrong. But her knowledge of God has given her an understanding of true love. Because on her way of making Adam fall for her, she fell in love with God, and she now knows how loving God first has enabled her to love others selflessly.

"No, I remember everything," she answers quietly, not wishing to discuss her childhood. "Let's keep it aside," she adds, putting the empty cup.

Reumah hums, putting her cup, too. But as they have gotten this time for a tete-a-tete, she doesn't want to waste it by sitting silently beside her friend. Also, being a doctor, her life is full of stress. So in the midst of all this, she seeks a single chance.

"Well, I didn't know that Nora's sister would be this crafty. Nora left a good impression."

"I don't think Nicole is Nora's own sister. Maybe Nora's uncle's daughter."

"How?"

"Their eye color, of course. Nora had blue eyes like her mother, while Nicole has brown eyes."

Reumah rolls her eyes. "Such haughty eyes, I despise so much. I've met her already but you were busy that evening. That woman doesn't seem good to me at all. Always prejudiced against everyone."

"I guess your first meeting wasn't likable."

"You don't even talk about it. I wonder how you're tolerating her in your house. Isn't she clingy to Adam like I've noticed already?"

Evalena bites her bottom lip, nodding her head. "I see her holding his arm every time. This morning, too, I saw them together. I think she's trying to make me jealous," she says with a little confusion because she is not sure if Nicole's motive is to make her jealous or something more than that. However, she can't ignore her trying to get close to Adam whenever she is around.

Because she is not some other crafty woman who is always eavesdropping on other's lives, she is unable to understand Nicole's main motive.

"Well, are you jealous?" Reumah pokes her friend, leaning back as she rests against her comfortable revolving chair.

A smirk forms on her lips as she watches Evalena growing at her as she asks, "What does it mean? Of course, I don't like it when she's around my husband."

"Means you're jealous." Reumah rolls her eyes, enjoying the movements of her chair.

Evalena remains silent, not accepting anything, and so this way their time passes. Soon after a few minutes, she was called out by another doctor, leaving Reumah behind. She got a patient to attend and Reumah also continued her duty.

Finally, as the day passes, she is relieved to find that she can go home and take some rest.

As she comes out of the building to the parking lot where her husband would be waiting for her like always, she finds him leaning against his car with a bouquet in his hand.

He watches her coming to him as confusion masks her sun-kissed face. Her gaze lingers upon the violets in his grip and as soon as she is near, he gives it to her, saying, "For you."

She raises her eyebrows in surprise but takes it anyway, asking, "Something special today, Mr Dawood?"

Adam purses his lips for a second before answering her. She doesn't know how her calling him 'Mr Dawood' is like a pang in his chest because he knows all too well that she does it when she is upset.

Along with the way she ignored him this morning all the time, he doesn't entertain her behavior towards him. Not when she has become a habit of his. He admires her eyes on him. It is a pleasant feeling for him. He has gotten used to it and now it is way more precious than other things he has gotten used to already.

"Nothing special," he shrugs, "Can't I give you flowers anytime I want?"

She hums, gazing down at the flowers, and slowly a smile forms on her face, and that's what Adam admires secretly in his heart; her lovely smile. She has gotten an idea why he has given her flowers. Because of the morning, right? Yeah, she has caught something in his eyes which tells that the flowers he has given her mean something.

His way of making up to her?

Yeah, that's it.

Though it wasn't his fault, he found it was his responsibility to make her happy again if she was upset with him. Doesn't matter if it wasn't his fault at all.

"Thanks," she says, lifting her gaze to smile at him more brightly. And even the dusky sky matches the lilac purple flowers in her possession.

He smiles back, falling into the depths of her eyes. They are way more beautiful and mesmerizing when doused by the glow around, credited by the setting sun. Her freckles are precious. They make her look adorable, like a nymphet of paradise. The way she smiles is like a flower that blooms in spring. Oh, he is hypnotized by her.

Unable to contain himself, he puts his hand on the lower of her back and pulls her closer.

Amazed, she holds his shoulders. The bouquet in her grip collides with his arm and she gapes at him, wondering what he wants. In a fleeting moment, his touch, the proximity and the hazy look in his golden eyes have her blushing like a tomato.

Her mind is unable to form anything. Each second that passes between them is tangling the sanity in her head and by the time he is close enough to let others know what he is going to do is so intimating that even the sun hides itself and the sky blushes, she is like a melting cotton candy on his tongue.

Heat covers her face as it blooms like a rose. Her grip becomes lethal around the flowers and her heart! Oh, it thuds inside her chest like it has run a marathon. It beats so loud like wanting to come out of the ribcage.

And all that's because of what?

He leans in and kisses her forehead.

She takes a deep breath and watches him withdraw as he lets go of her and opens the door of the car for her.

Absent-mindedly she enters the car and puts the flowers in her lap. He sits beside her and turns on the engine. They sit in silence as Adam drives the car but he doesn't like it so he asks anything that can make her speak so he can just hear her voice.

"Do you like violets?" Amid smooth and soothing silence, he asks her to get her attention. Like he admitted long ago, he loves it when his wife's attention is only him.

"Of course, I like every flower," she answers, smiling at him. But in a moment, she gradually starts realizing something that she can't help but put before him, "You already know that, don't you?"

He chuckles, nodding his head. Evalena admires his handsome laugh, forgetting everything.

"I don't like silence between us." He shrugs, telling her one of the sweetest confessions of his heart that is like a reason for her heart's content.

But she shums, unable to form a sentence for a response. To her, it was so sweet and lovely that she fell silent before it because sometimes words are too few to describe how you feel.

Another attempt, but this time, by her side, as she asks about Barak.

"He's doing pretty well in his school. His teacher praised him today for his changing behavior in the class."

"When did he misbehave in his class?" Evalena wonders, asking in concerned confusion.

"Not with anyone but that one girl in his class. He quarreled with her a lot. Before you, they even fought. His teacher once called me because he pulled her hair and called her 'wild cat'."

"I never expected such," says Evalena, a little surprised. Adam hums and she takes it as a chance to continue, "But I wonder who that girl is. I know my child is such a sweet boy."

"I taught him well, but that girl brings out his bad side. Well, she's Aaron's daughter."

"Aaron is married?" She exclaims, full of amazement because she knows Aaron. He is Adam's childhood friend, well acquainted with her as well but she doubts if he has those memories in his mind yet.

"What were your expectations with him?" She makes him chuckle. "He got married before me and now has a lovely family. His wife longs to meet you."

"Does she?" She turns to him, excited like a child. "I too wish to see his wife. Last time I saw him, it was your farewell at school. And now he is married and has a daughter, too."

"It is," he kills the engine as the destination has arrived, "He invited us a few days ago but I declined the invitation at that time."

"You should say yes now." She moves to unfasten the seat belt before they come out of the car.

"I will let him know." He nods, coming to her side and smiling down at her. The genuine excitement suits her and he is so glad to see her this happy.

She holds the bouquet close to her chest, ready to go ahead when he holds her hands, taking her by surprise. But he doesn't pay any attention to her amazement. To him, the touch feels necessary. He is getting used to it. The feel of her warm skin, kissing his skin is such a bliss that he can't miss.

He intertwines their fingers, pinching her sweet shyness that can't hold back whenever he is around, closer and unknowingly romantic.

"Let's go," he says before taking a step and Evalena follows her, loving the change in him. It's been more than a month only and she can already see the work of the Lord in their lives. This is His perfect will. 

❥⁠˙⁠๑

As past scenes comes, they're not necessarily memories, okay? I need to share some of it so you get the idea of whole concept.

Hope you liked the chapter, by the way.

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Thanks for reading.
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