Arranged Marriage With Adnan

Chapter 20

David walked me home and made sure I got back safely. He hugged me before leaving. At home, Adnan was waiting for me. He was sitting on one of the stools at the counter. His head shot up when he heard the front door close. I took off my shoes and sat next to him.

"What did you do with Dave?"
"Oh, he just took me for a walk. We talked and caught up with things."
"Ok... That was it though, right?"

Was Adnan jealous? His voice and face had jealously written all over it. I couldn't understand why he would be jealous. He knew that David and I were only friends and, plus, David already has a girlfriend! I thought about asking Adnan if he was, but I decided not to call him out on it.

"Yeah... That's all we did," I replied to him.
"Uh, so... What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Changing the topic was probably best.
"Not too sure."

We were interrupted by my phone ringing. I checked to see who was calling and my lock screen read: Mom. That was weird. I couldn't think of any reason why she would call me, today. Nervously, I picked up my phone.

"He- Hello?"
"Scarlett, honey. Your father is ill. He's very sick and I need you to come home. I need your help."
"Um, mom, this is kind of sudden, but ok, I'll do it."
"Thank you so much!" I could hear her sobs from over the phone.
"I'll be over soon."
"Thank you, really. I need to go to you father now, bye."

Adnan looked at my worried face. He was concerned.

"Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, I just need to you drive me to my parents right now. My dad is ill and my mom needs help taking care of him."
"Is he ok?"
"I don't know, that's why I need to go."
"Ok, I'll take you there right now."

Adnan grabbed his keys and went out the door. I didn't know how long I'd be staying there, so I packed a bag of clothes, my toothbrush and toothpaste, and a hairbrush. I didn't want or need makeup. I grabbed my wallet and the house key, on my way out. He had started the car, so after I locked the door, I got in and we drove away.

He sped down the roads and got to my parents house quickly. I knocked on the front door and my mom greeted Adnan and I with a big hug.

"Scarlett! You're here!" She hugged me, "Adnan, nice to see you," she hugged him, as well.
"Mom, how's dad?" I asked, stepping inside the house.
"Not too good. Adnan, thanks so much, you're free to go back home now."
"I can stay and help."
"Uh, no that's not-"
"That would be brilliant!"

My mom didn't even let me finish what I was saying. She pulled him inside and gave him another hug. She thanked him and I for staying over and helping. Then, she rushed back upstairs, probably to dad. How was Adnan going to stay over? He didn't have anything packed or a place to sleep.

"Um, Adnan? You don't have anything packed to stay over?"
"That's ok, I'll borrow something."
"First of all, you can't just invite yourself over and second of all, I really don't think you want to be dressed in skirts and skinny jeans the next few days."
He laughed, "Oh well."
"Let's go to my old room, I'll see if I have anything, but first, my dad."

We walked up to the master bedroom where I found my dad in bed with my mom laying next to him. He didn't look too well. He shifted in his bed and looked uncomfortable. He coughed into his arm and my mom rubbed his shoulder.

"Dad..."
"Scarlett," he coughed.
"Are, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, don't you worry."
"What does he have, mom?"
"It looks like bronchitis. I need to make sure it doesn't turn into something worse like pneumonia... I have some medicine that was prescribed, so he should be fine. He needs to just rest," she placed a hand on his forehead and checked his temperature, "Looks like the fever's gone."
"Ok..."
"Why don't you two go to you old room, Scarlett. Set up a place to sleep. There's a mattress downstairs in the basement that you could bring up."
"Ok, mom. Take care of dad."

Adnan and I went downstairs, all the way to the basement. We switched on the lights and found the mattress propped up against the wall. It was a double, so it was a fairly large mattress. It was going to take both Adnan and I to carry it to my room. He picked up one half and I picked up the other. I climbed the flights of stairs with him at the bottom, pushing the mattress up. Finally, we made it up and set the mattress on the floor, in my room.

"There."
"So, I guess you're sleeping there," I said.
"No, I'm sleeping in your bed."
"No, I am."
"I know. Me too. I don't even know why we brought this up."
"Um... Adnan?"
"What?"
"Don't you think it'd be a bit awkward if my parents found us sleeping together..." I just felt like I had to put that out there.
"Oh... Well were supposed to get married, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but don't you find it the slightest bit weird?"
"I guess."
"I'm just saying I would prefer for you to sleep on the mattress because my parents are in their room just across the hall."
"So, what do you have for me to wear?"

Did he just change the subject? He didn't even give me an answer! Ugh.

"I don't know, I brought most of my clothes when we moved. Check in the closet."

He went into the closet and disappeared. I sat on the edge of my bed and scrolled through my feed on Instagram, liking random posts. Later, Adnan came out wearing a sweatshirt. I remember that sweatshirt...

"How is it? And, is this some kind of school logo on it? It's nice, I have to admit. It'll do for a bit, where did you..." He stopped going on about the sweatshirt when I didn't respond. I just dropped my phone on my bed and covered my face with my hands, "What? What's wrong?"
I swallowed hard and tried to find the words, "That... That was my ex's sweatshirt, I didn't know I kept it..."
"What..."
I let everything out and explained, "I secretly dated this guy, Ian, in high school... And that was his sweatshirt. When my parents found out, they got mad and warned me about him. They were right. He made fun of me, called me names. Worst of all... He kissed my best friend. Well, now she's not anymore... Oh and yeah, that was our high school's logo or whatever..."

He looked shocked.