The Sultans

Chapter Nine

It was nightime when Nyla finally woke up. She pulled the comforters off of herself wincing when she had to bend the raw exposed flesh. She pulled her sleeve back examining her hand. The scrape was still fresh and tiny dots of blood were scattered her and there. The top of her knuckles had it worse and had stained the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

She decided she'd have to show one of her brothers in order for it to be wrapped properly. She opened her bedroom door and shut it behind her before making her way down the stairs to the dining room where her brothers were eating dinner. She sat down in her usual spot next to Anwar who shifted over to make room for her.

She pulled back the sleeve and showed him the large scrape that ran down her hand. His eyes widened when he saw it, and he stood up immediately to get a first aid kit. The rest of her brothers stared at it also except Asad who continued to eat his food as if he hadn't seen her, and that stung her more than her cut did.

"What were you doing in there?" Haaris asked nodding at her hand. "How on earth did that happen?"

"It was the shark." She said.

He laughed lightly. "No really, did you jump in on purpose?"

Everyone looked up and Anwar stopped wrapping the gauze around her hand for a second as if to wait for her answer.

Asad also stopped chewing and he looked at her, his eyes clouding over with wisps of grey tendrils in his irises that reminded her of smoke. He scrutinized her face, and she looked down fidgeting with the gauze on her hand. She couldn't tell them what happened, she couldn't bear the embarrassment. She took one look at Asad and decided to tell the truth. She took a deep breath, and then sighed, "I fell in."

The triplets snickered and Anwar shot them a look. Aliyaar raised and eyebrow and whispered something to Zain and his face changed into an angry one.

"Did I not tell you to stay away from the pool?" It was Asad who spoke, his voice calm although she knew he was anything but.

Nyla fingered her necklace nervously, "I know, but I never was going to go into it, I just wanted to sit outside."

"You could have sat in the balcony, you could have sat anywhere, why did you choose to sit by the pool?"

Nyla lowered her head, not knowing what to say. "I didn't think of it," she said still not looking up.

"Well then, next time you do think of going outside, you will have to take permission." Asad said.

***************

The next morning, Nyla was sitting in the dining room eating breakfast when she began to feel the onslaught of a headache.  She put down her slice of half-eaten toast and leaned against the wall behind her where she sat.  The rest of her brothers were eating their breakfast, talking about some upcoming party that was supposed to be a really big one. None of them noticed and continued their conversation laughing at a joke Deen had made. It was Zain who stopped halfway as he reached for the salt. His eyes flickered toward her and he nudged Asad who was stirring honey into his tea. He nudged him a bit too hard and Asad dropped the spoon from his hand which hit the rim of his mug before falling onto the tablecloth. 

"What?" Asad asked.

Everyone paused when he spoke. Zain said nothing but he nodded over at her. 

"What happened?" Anwar asked kindly.

"My head hurts." She groaned.

"What do you expect to happen when you decide to fall in the pool in freezing cold weather." Aliyaar said annoyed.