Their laughter subsided and she stared at him with the remains of a smile on her face. She looked relaxed with the clothes all over her as she fondled the clothes that were laying on her laps and for a moment, Na'im thought about how it felt to rest his head on those laps with her voice ringing slowly through his brain. He wondered where she had learnt to do that, not the recitation, but how to calm someone the way she did, because it was damn effective.

She slowly took her eyes off him and he watched as she pulled her guards back around herself. He acted as if he didn't notice the change in her, "Where's the food he has sent along with the clothes?" She looked at him for a moment, then at the other nylons she hadn't even touched.

Na'im realized that was her way of showing him where they were and he took them wordlessly, found the one that had the meal and he walked to the kitchen to see if there was a microwave he could warm the food for them. It happened that the house wasn't just furnished, it was well equipped that if he were to live in the house, he would need title to no more than a few appliances. That justified the price he had paid for the house, he mused as he warmed the food and when he got back to the living room, she was folding the cloths she had scattered around.

He walked over to the dining table and placed down the food before he looked at how she worked. She was slow in a way that one would think she had no energy in her, yet from the way she had focused earnestly on the work, he knew this was her best and she thought she was doing everything so fast and at a pace everyone would appreciate her. "Look," he called out, and she instantly lifted her eyes to look at him.

He walked over to the sofa she was now sitting and took the abaya from her hand, "That's not how you fold clothes, okay?" She was silent, yet the way her furrowed brows were staring at the way he folded it, he knew she had her entire attention on him and she was willing to learn. He placed it down on the other side and pointed at it, "That's how you do it, doesn't it look good?" He asked and she stared between him and the folded garment before she nodded her head.

"I told you to be answering my questions with you mouth, not by your head, okay?" His voice came out a bit edged and she seemed to have been slightly frightened, even though he knew she ought to get used to him by now.

"It looks good." She managed to utter and he walked back to the dining table. "Come, let's eat." She didn't argue, because she was so hungry that she might as well eat nothing if that was possible. Maryam watched him sat on the chair and she wondered if he meant she ate on this huge table? What happened to the floor?

He had already served two plates and she took the other one that was meant for her as he had already dived into his plate before she found a space on the carpet and sat down. He nearly choked on his food when he saw what she had done, "Why aren't you eating here?" His voice was muffled with the food that was in his mouth but he still couldn't help but ask her. He wished he would be able to pay no attention to all she did and even if he noticed, he wouldn't talk about it, but he just couldn't.

Maryam looked up at him with a confused look, wasn't eating what he wanted her do and she was doing just that? Why did she have to eat where he was? She had never eaten on something like that and she was more comfortable with eating on the floor. She shook her head and turned her attention back at her plate before she continued to eat. Silence prevailed in the living room as the only sound that could be heard was that of the clatter of Na'im's spoon against his plate.

His phone rang for a while and he didn't pick, ignoring whoever the caller was because he didn't want to speak and if it were Abba, the ringing tone would've been different. It rang for the second time and he thought maybe it would be something important whether from work or at the palace that he pulled the phone out of his pocket and when he saw that it was Ya Gumsu, he wanted to throw the phone away, but he had to pick.

"Good evening, Ya Gumsu," he greeted, waiting to hear whatever it was she had called to tell him because she had never done anything good or wished good for him. It might sound that she cared, she might even fake it to the world that she did love him. Sometimes she even claimed she loved him more than she did Sadeeq, but Na'im saw past the skin of deceit she had covered herself with. And he only had to associate with her because it was something that couldn't be avoided.

"Oh, my prince has finally picked the call. I was worried about you," she made a dramatic sigh that would've shown her relief that he had picked the call, but Na'im knew her better than anyone.

"That's so sweet of you, Ya Gumsu. I'm in the middle of something, I'll call you back when I get the chance to." He had never given her the chance she wanted. He knew she might be in the presence of Alan Gubro and she wanted to show him that she truly cared about his son, but the two men knew better and Na'im knew his father must've been smirking at his actions now, so he ended the call after that, not giving her a room to say or do something.

The rest of the night went as a blur, the last time he saw Maryam was when he had asked her to take her clothes to her room and she hadn't been out since then. It looked like she was glad that he had finally asked her to leave and Na'im wondered what was going through that clouded mind. He wanted to get a doctor for her, a psychiatrist or something, just someone that would look into her brain to see what was wrong with her, because Na'im was certain something was wrong with her.

He just wished whatever it was, it wouldn't get him tied to her when he found out. And when he went to sleep in his room at midnight after he had watched the repeat of a show he used to love, Hafiz's words came back to his mind and he couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head at how irrational Hafiz could be. How would he think of something like that? He would never imagine doing something like that.

As he closed his eyes and tried to drift back to sleep, the echo of melodious recitation came back into his ears and he didn't try to fight it off. It helped calm him and drift him to a slumber easily.

•

Captain Bolori slide the answer button as he walked away from all ear shots, he placed it into his right ear with a grin. "Okay, the girls have been delivered safely? That's so calm to hear. I told you that you wouldn't have a problem with me..." He waited to hear what was said at the other of the phone before he nodded his head, his smile widening. "Sure, no problem. I'll make sure their number have doubled when next I'm shipping some to you. Make sure the payment is done tonight, I've got my men to pay as well." They both laughed at the same time before they spoke some more about the kind of girls they wanted next and when they were done, he ended the call, satisfied with himself.

He double checked to see no one was hiding to listen on to his conversation before he walked away. And on his way back to his office, he heard a woman's voice crying and begging for help and it was no doubt coming from one of the cells they had. He walked there and when he met the soldiers guarding the cell the cry was coming from, he asked. "What's wrong? Have we caught a woman somewhere? What's with the cry?"

They saluted him before one of them answered, "She's here due to Captain Bolori's order, Sir! An order has been sent for her release early tomorrow morning, she's just too loud but nothing is being done to her tonight."

He stared at him, wondering what was wrong between Na'im and this woman. "How long has she been locked?" He couldn't help but ask, and he was certain his curiosity had reached its highest that he just wouldn't pass away without hearing the whole story. He had to!

"Two days ago with moderate punishment for an older woman, Sir!" And older woman? Now, this was getting more interesting. He knew the kind of heart Na'im had, and for him to have an older woman locked up while being punished for two days only meant something had happened which he couldn't control himself and he wouldn't want someone to find out either.

"Release her for me then." His voice carried the air of command and order than when one of them started to argue, it only took a look before he silenced him. They did release her to him and Sadeeq helped her into his car all the while smiling kindly at her.

"I'm sorry, Inna, on my brother's behalf." He said, knowing so well she would be surprised to the fact that he was his brother and would want to spill more beans to him. "I don't know what happened between you two but I've begged him and he allowed them to release you."

She cried and wiped at her tears but more gushed down to her cheeks. "I did nothing wrong to him. He brought this girl..." She began but immediately closed her lips, remembering the warning one fo his men did to her and unless she loved the army barracks so much to come back, she would dare say something to this man even though he claimed to be his brother.

Sadeeq chuckled to ease her mind, yet he wished he can yell at her to tell him the story at once. Na'im and a girl? Well, this was getting more interesting and he knew he just had to be patient and play his cards well to get something from her. He had something to discuss with Ya Gumsu today and it indeed would be an interesting story.

"Come on, Inna, I told you he's my brother. Isn't his name Na'im Bolori? My name is Sadeeq Bolori, see!" He pointed at his name tag on his chest but all she saw was Captain Bolori. Yet, she had heard those men referring to him as Captain Bolori, and she knew his face enough to know he didn't look like this which only meant this guy was telling the truth. "Tell me, what happened?" He asked when he saw her face relaxing and she stared at him.

He casually asked her where she lived, reason was because he wanted to know her location so that if need arouse, Sadeeq knew where to find her. Not because he was nice enough not to drop an elder woman by the road at night, like she pathetically thought.

"On Eid day after Magumeri village was raided, she was the last girl to arrive and they were together..." She told him everything that had happened and the bits and pieces she knew about Maryam, but what got the most interesting to Sadeeq was the fact that he had taken her away, and now, he would begin his hunt!

•

The two days had passed with nothing significant and the only time he saw her was when he took food to her room. It was as if whenever she saw him, she recoiled back into her shell and hide everything about her from him. Something was wrong with the girl, he knew. And he couldn't wait for tomorrow to ask Hafiz if he knew a doctor to recommend to him. He had slept early today and it felt as though he was dreaming when he heard the sounds of someone crying.

It kept persisting when he had turned with the hope that the cries will subside and whoever it was would go back to sleep as well, but the cries were turning to screams and it seemed the person was in pain. In his mind, her thought flashed through his mind despite him being asleep and he wondered if someone had known about their location and was there to harm her? Na'im bolted out from his sleep at once and it didn't take him a minute before he found himself walking towards her room, where her cries were becoming even more prominent as he held the tip of his gun.

He slowly opened the door and turned the lights at once, a pair of eyes looked at him frantically and when she saw the gun he had aimed at her, she threw the blanket she was holding dearly to her body as she screamed at the pitch of her voice. Na'im looked around the room and when he found no one and realized she might've had a nightmare. He kept the gun away and walked to the bed, but she kept shifting as he approached until she was about to fall down from the bed when he leapt to her and held her in place.

She wriggled out of his touch, closing her eyes as her body shook with fear. She seemed to be going crazy, her breath coming in pants as she tried so hard to stay alive and sane, her entire body shaking with nothing but fear and agony. For a moment, he wondered what was wrong with her. "Look here," he spoke, but she didn't even seem in the right sense to listen to what he was saying as she kept on shifting back away from him. He hissed under his breath, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He yelled as he pulled her back on the bed, seeing as she was yet again, going to throw herself down.

But instead of her to tremble in fear, she pushed him away from her with both hands as she screamed. "Don't come near me! Go away!" Her words were incoherent but he heard the anger, the hatred and the fear in them. It sounded as though she was holding a grudge against him for doing something so bad to her that she was finding it emotionally challenging to forgive him, bad enough to have her heart abhor such hatred for him.

"What's wrong with you?" He tried to ask, all his attempts were to stop her from falling on the ground but instead of her to do what he simply wanted, her chaotic brain urged her to do what would relieve her of the anger she felt. And first, she slapped him when he was about to touch her shoulder, her voice coming in hiccups as she yelled at him. "Don't touch me! Don't speak to me either! I don't want to see you!"

It was the world had stopped moving, his heart practically went to a standstill because what the hell was that?! Did she just slap him or it was merely a dream? Yet, all the excuses he was trying to bring in her favor so he wouldn't do what his mind was telling him to were brought to a halt when he felt the punches she was laying on his broad chest.

"Go away!" She cried, punching him so hard that she might as well wish to rupture his chest with those tiny fists of hers.

"Stop," he managed to whisper amidst the anger that was simmering in his heart and the rage that had already clouded his sense of right doing. But she didn't seem to care, didn't seem calm enough to even hear him and when he thundered the next "Stop it, I said!" He had his gun cocked to her head, the sound of the trigger he had already pulled poured a shower of snow to her entire body.

It was as though the bullet had passed through her head and she was no longer alive to scream or punch or declare her hatred for him. She looked at him with a look that he knew if he screamed at her again, nothing could stop her soul from leaving her body even before his bullet did the job for him. "Listen to me, and I'll have to say this just once." He began, bringing the gun head closer to her head and he watched the rise and fall of her chest increasing while she closed her eyes and tears rolled down to her cheeks.

"You are in no position, and when I mean no position; in no way do you have the guts to slap me! I'll have to make myself clear and you have to answer to everything I'll ask you now, unless you want my bullet right into your skull, I might as well kill you to get rid of you!" His tone was barely above whispers due to the anger he felt. "Do you understand?" He asked and slowly, Maryam began to nod her head but he yelled at her once again, "Speak to me with your mouth! Weren't you speaking just now?!"

"Yesss..." She stammered, her lips trembling as she clutched her eyes even more tightly with more tears still finding their ways out of her lids.