Maryam didn't know how she was able to live in that house, alone, with that girl that seemed to be too friendly for her liking. Before, she was terrified of her, but now...well, she didn't even know what she felt about her. But yesterday, they had watched a movie together and Maryam didn't seem to be terrified for a bit. Rather, it felt nice to be in a company of someone else apart from herself.

No matter how she didn't want to, she kept thinking that it was Intisar. Because Bilkisu did things to her that Intisar did. She cooked for her, she made her bed, she made sure she wasn't bored or sad. She spoke to her even though she knew that she might hardly get even a nod as a reply, but she had never been angry. She asked her to pray whenever it was time, just like Intisar did. And she scowled her face whenever Maryam did something wrong like throw the pillow away before she placed it back to its place. It was too much that Maryam couldn't help but ask her of her age and when she said she was 19 years old, same as Intisar, she felt a part of her opening up for Bilkisu.

She was seated on the kitchen island as Bilkisu moved around the kitchen while she made dinner for them. Today was the first day that Maryam come to the kitchen when she was in here and from the look in her eyes, she was so thrilled and happy that she was getting closer to her. She was cutting the onion for her just like she did to Intisar, as she tried not to cry again like she did last night.

So, he was really not coming back again? It had been two weeks already, she counted the days until she added up to fourteen and she didn't know if he meant this to go forever. She was furious at him, but then a part of her still wanted him to come. She wasn't going to speak to him even if he did, she just wanted to see him in the house and that would cajole her mind that she wasn't abandoned by him.

The onion was hard for her eyes that they began to water, and when Bilkisu turned and saw that she was crying, she panicked. "Your Highness!" She exclaimed and went up to her. Even though she knew her name now, she just couldn't bring herself to call her name despite the age difference between them. "Please let me do it, you can go back to your room or watch the tv." Maryam collected back the knife from her as she tried to shift, and when Bilkisu saw that movement, she knew she had come closer than she should, so she took a step back.

"I'll bring a tissue for you then. But please, oh my god!" She sadly shook her head as she went out of the kitchen. She had taken the tissue from the dining table and was about to go back to the kitchen when she saw them walking into the living room. Na'im along with his soldier friend like they called him in the palace, herself and the other maids.

She immediately bowed her head and spoke, "Good evening, Your Highness." She greeted and he only nodded his head, angry at Hafiz for forcing him to come here out of his will.

"Evening, what's your name?" It was Hafiz that answered her and Na'im found himself a spot on the sofas and sat down. When she told him, Hafiz sat down too before he spoke, "Well, Bilkisu where's Maryam?" Na'im turned to him with a look that was curious about how he knew her name and he laughed, "You don't expect me not to know her name just because I don't call her with it, right?" He joked and whispered, "Or would you have preferred it if I call her your Baby Bride in the maid's presence?"

Na'im only shot him a glare and he laughed it off. "She's in the kitchen," Bilkisu answered.

"Ohh, I think she's getting along fine here that it would be so sad to have her leave. What are you doing with the tissue then?" He wanted to find an excuse to send her to her room and when she told him what she was going to use it for, Hafiz gladly told her to give him the tissue and she should just go to her room, she can come out when they left to continue cooking. Bilkisu did as ordered and he placed the tissue on Na'im's laps.

"What's the meaning of this?" Na'im asked as he pushed the tissue away. "You told me that unless we come to this house, you aren't going to speak about the solution you've thought for me. I'm not here so you can play matchmaker, Hafiz."

"But you just heard what she said, that she's crying because she's cutting some onions. Just take the tissue to her and ask her to stop cutting the damn onions, turn the gas off because we don't know how long we will stay, lest their food gets burnt."

Na'im just stared at him with a hard look that would've made Hafiz went to the punishment cell himself without being ordered if they were in the barrack. But here, he smiled cockily, "I'm here as your friend, stop giving me those army glares, Yarima Na'im." When he heard him referred to him as prince Na'im, he knew it was over for him. And Hafiz stood up after a moment of silence, "But it seems like I'm not needed here, so I'll gladly take my leave." Na'im was on his feet even before he closed his lips and he begrudgingly walked to the kitchen, leaving Hafiz in a pool of smiles.

As he approached the kitchen, he heard the sound of her cries. And he knew there was no way an onion would make someone cry no matter how harsh it was on one's eyes. He walked into the kitchen and her back was at him, she had the knife placed on the table as her body shook that he wondered what she had thought about to make her cry this badly while she was working. If it was him she used to cry for and he was the one she had said she hated and wanted out of her sight, didn't he give her that space to breathe she so badly wanted?

He walked deeper into the kitchen and she didn't notice he was there until he sat down on the chair facing her. The way she looked up with, "I wasn't crying, it's just that the onion is too harsh," on her lips as she tried to stand up made him believe that she thought it was Bilkisu. "I'll go back to my room." She turned to leave when Na'im abruptly held her wrist and the gasp that escaped her lips while she yanked her hand away prompted him to release her almost as abruptly as he had held her.

Maryam just stayed there, still, as she watched him. She didn't believe what she was seeing. Once, that doctor had told her that there were things she was imagining when she told her that she heard the sounds of gunshots in the house at night and sometimes when she walked to the bathroom, it felt like she was walking in a pool of the blood that had drenched Magumeri that day; but she told her that she was hallucinating. And right now, after she had explained over and over again until Maryam understood the meaning of hallucination, Maryam thought she was doing that again.

She blinked her eyes twice at him, hating herself for crying over him just because he had himself out of her sight and life, like she had always dreamt of. And even though she had told herself that she won't ever cry again because she wanted to see him, she found herself crying again today when his thought crossed her mind and she wondered if the husband Baaba said she had had run away from her because he too, thought she was a witch.

Na'im just sat there, staring at her as she cried, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something while she kept blinking her eyes to see if what she was seeing was real. He knew she would think this way, that he was never going to come back to her life and that was exactly what he planned on doing until Hafiz decided that he might as well change his profession into a matchmaker. He stared at the way she shook her head before she turned and walked out of the kitchen.

He just sat there, motionlessly. He didn't think he would feel what he felt upon seeing her after two weeks. She seemed to have grown up in those weeks, she had changed a bit and he knew it might be related to having Bilkisu around her. Na'im waited for a few minutes even after she had left the kitchen to recollect himself before he stood up and went out as well. He hated it whenever he felt guilty, and right now, he felt guilty for not checking up on her, not even once.

Na'im was surprised when he found her seated in the living room even though he could tell from where he stood that she was terrified and when she saw him walked into the living room he saw it from her eyes, yet again, what Nafisa had told him she did that day. She seemed to relax a bit and finally was able to focus on what Hafiz was saying to her. "Over here, Captain!" Hafiz waved at him and Na'im knew he just had to be patient until he got everything he wanted out of him and from then, he would be able to do whatever he wanted to him. And Na'im felt like keeping him in the guardroom for a week just that he knew he might need him.

He walked over to them and sat on another sofa, acting as though he didn't know they were there. "I was just asking her why she was crying and it seems like she doesn't want to speak." He ignored him, knowing so well what Hafiz was trying to play at.

"It's him, right?" He asked her while he pointed at Na'im and Maryam had just nodded her head when he looked at her, wanting to know what her answer would be-when their eyes met and she quickly turned away from him. She had made it mandatory upon herself never to let him see her eyes again. "I knew it!" Hafiz exclaimed and that took Na'im's gaze from her face. He listened, even though he had his phone with him and acted as if he didn't know what was going on around him, as he heard Hafiz asked her questions that he only got a nod or a head shake as a  reply before she got tired of hearing his blabbers and she silently left to her room.

Na'im was about to speak to him when they heard her scream and stood up at once. "I'll go and check to see what's wrong with her. And you better get ready to be killed, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Captain. I'll make sure my will is written in the next hour I'll come back to get you." Hafiz was already by the door when he said that and Na'im didn't know where he should head to. Aim for the door before Hafiz left him in this house or go to check up on her? But the latter won even before he was done deciding.

He rushed to her room and the door was even slightly ajar when he got in. She was kneeling in front of her bed as she cried silently even though he doubted if she was crying for what had just happened to her. She was just taking every excuse she could to cry whatever it was that was bothering her out of her chest.

He closed the door behind him before he silently walked towards her and crouched down to her level. Maryam took in a deep breath when their knees touched and she shifted a little before she sat down on the carpet and he didn't know how he followed suite. Her eyes were still fixed on her toe even though he saw no blood on it but maybe she had it hit by the bed frame.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He asked, reminding himself of all that Dr Nafisa had told him. Even the last time she came, she called and told him the situation at hand. He knew that she was just using Maryam as an excuse to always speak to him, but he didn't care. It was good knowing that she was slowly opening up to her and to Bilkisu as well.

She shook her head, remembering his gun to her head as he told her his rules clearly. "I'm fine," she muttered amidst the emotions that we're trying to choke her.

Na'im sat even more comfortably on the carpet and he was aware that his movement made their knees to brush even more and she slightly gasped. "Then why are you crying? You've been crying since I saw you today. Did something happen?" He silently wished his voice was soft enough to make her trust him to her emotions, that she hadn't forgotten how she used to be at ease whenever he used to be this comforting.

"Nothing." She said but when she tried to stand up, she was pulled back on the carpet by the pain she felt on her toe.

"But you just told Hafiz that I was the reason you're crying, what did I do?" He asked again when he saw her settled back on the carpet, facing him.

Maryam thought for a moment, so he had heard their conversation? She thought he was so busy with his phone to even bother about what they were saying. But this time, she stayed mute and from her expression, Na'im knew he wasn't going to get an answer from her. He stared at her a minute longer before he sighed.

"Well, I thought you had something to say, that's why I even followed you to your room. Maybe I did something that you need an apology from me, but since it looks like everything is okay, I'd take my leave." She was silent when he stood up, silent when he took five steps closer to the door, silent when he turned the doorknob and he was sure the sound had got to her ears and Na'im was about to walk out of the room when she broke into tears.

"I want to go home." She blurted, her words coming in hiccups as she cried.

Na'im closed the door he had just opened before he walked back into the room. He retained his spot on the carpet opposite her and watched the way she was crying so hard, as agony dripped along with each of her tears. "Which home?" He silently asked.

She looked up at him, this time not bothering if she had scared him again with her eyes, she didn't care as long as he would take her home. She knew she wouldn't find Baaba or Intisar there, but living there would be more comforting than here. "My home, our village; Magumeri."

Na'im sighed and with his eyes fixed on hers, he tried to take her hands in his and was surprised when she gasped slightly but didn't try to take her hands away from him. He held them softly before he spoke, "There's no one left in your village, and even if there was, you have no family left, or do you?" She shook her head before he continued, "Do you not like living here? Is it Bilkisu that does something you don't like? I can punish her if that's the case." She shook her head again and Na'im wondered if it was indeed him. "Then what's wrong, is it me?" He asked and she was reluctant before she nodded her head and her tears intensified.

"Just take me home, I'll live in our house." The way she was crying as she said the words broke his heart and he wondered the hell she was going through in her mind. Nafisa had told him about her hallucinations and could only imagine how terrifying that would be.

"Don't fret," he said softly and she felt his hands on her body as he lifted her up and placed her on his laps. Maryam gasped, but there was a strong hold of his hand around her body that even if she wanted to, she can't slid down. "So, you want to go home?" He asked and that seemed to take her mind off the fact that she was now sitting on his laps.

She nodded her head and wiped at her tears but more rushed down to her cheeks. She ducked her head down as she cried even harder. Even though she knew going back home was nearly impossible, but she still wanted to do that. To get away from him since that seemed to be what he wanted. "Mairam," he called out, and not just her that was struck with a lightening of how her name sounded on his lips or the fact that he had known her name all this while but only referred to her as 'Look here' or 'Hey' was transmogrifying-he too was surprised at the name that slipped out of his tongue for the first time.

Nevertheless, Maryam looked up and their eyes met. "Who am I to you?" He asked and she just sat there, staring at his face with her mouth not being able to say a word. He repeated his question again before Maryam grasped what he meant and decided to answer him with the fact.

"You're my husband." It was wonders how she still hadn't forgotten about that, but it seemed to be just what Na'im wanted to hear.

"And what did your father told you about me that day? You still remember, right?" She slowly nodded her head and he watched the words battling before they came out.

"Baaba said that you're my husband and you'll take care of me. That I'm safe with you and should trust you."

"Then, do you think I'll ever hurt you?" Even though the image of his gun pointed to her head had flashed through her mind, Maryam shook her head. Because for a reason unknown to her, she knew he might never actually hurt her.

She was still crying, but she seemed calm for a moment. "You're my wife, Mairam. Like he said, you're safe with me and I'll take care of you. But I can't take you back home, okay?" She nodded her head as the hard reality hit her and she nearly collapsed with her tears.

Na'im slowly pulled her to his body, he hugged her to his chest and unlike he had predicted for her to yank herself away from him, Maryam tightly held his shirt as she cried even harder. He just sat there, holding her to his body as he hugged her as tightly as he could, while she cried.

He slightly lifted her face to his when he felt as her cries subsided, she fixed her eyes on his, even though a bit teary. He was silent as he stared into her eyes, this time, the blue and green color rather calmed him down. Her eyes soothed something that seemed to be hurting in his heart.

"Whenever you want to go home, come to me, Mairam. I'm your home." He said with the softest voice possible and he had never meant something like he did now. He was her home and for her? He was yet to know what she would be to him. But one thing was certain, he knew when he found out about what she would be to him, she would be more important than a home.

Alhamdulillah, as promised; the 15 preview chapters have ended. There's 45 more chapters to go and y'all know it hasn't even started yet. ❤️

Head to OkadaBooks Or Selar to purchase the book at 1000 only. I'd appreciate your reviews! Thank you so much for your support so far❤️

With love,
Aishatuh M🌸