Against The Tide (Formerly Two Tribes)

28: Perfect Imperfections

Jameel couldn't take his eyes off Afrah as she lay her head on his chest, his arm loosely around her shoulder. She looked so angelic. He still couldn't believe she was his. Every moment he spent with her after their marriage felt surreal. He had them all captured in his memory where they would forever remain.

"What's going through your mind?" Afrah asked, snuggling further into his body. "Hmm? You're looking at me but it seems your mind is somewhere else."

Jameel smiled, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I was thinking about how lucky I am that you're my wife. I," he chuckled. "Still can't believe you're mine. I had no doubt you'd be my wife, but I didn't know it'd be this soon, especially after you visited me at the office..."

Afrah hummed.

Jameel wondered what was going through her mind, but he didn't dare to ask. The last thing he wanted was to spoil the moment. She didn't look like she wanted the conversation.

"But," Jameel wrapped both of his arms around her petite figure. "That's all in the past. We should live in the present. I just want to focus on keeping my promise to your father. I want him to fully accept me."

"Trust me, daddy has accepted you. He wouldn't have given me to you otherwise. Do you know how protective he is of me?"

Jameel shrugged. "I still need to prove myself to him. I want us to have a relationship, so I'm going to treat you so good that he doesn't have a choice but to become a second father to me."

Afrah hummed again.

"Are you feeling sleepy?" Jameel asked, raising her head. "It's just 9 PM."

She shook her head and rested it back on his chest."How can I sleep when you haven't even told me how your day went?"

"Boring. Absolutely. Believe me, you don't want to hear it."

"I want to hear it."

"You want to hear how hajiya nagged me about not calling our relatives or visiting them throughout the drive to Abuja?"

Afrah sat up "So Hajiya is like that too? I honestly thought mum's the only one who likes to nag me about that thing. She practically forces us to call them almost every week. It's annoying, really."

Jameel grabbed her hand, pulling her back to her former position."I think it's annoying too, but I understand why they do it. You do too, right?"

She shook her head. "I don't understand why they do it. I never want to understand anything. I don't like being told what to do. Whenever I'm compelled to do anything, it always ends up bad. Terrible even."

Sensing Afrah's agitation, Jameel rationally changed the topic. "I have shown you how much I missed you, now it's your turn."

"I missed you too."

"Didn't seem like you did. You only called me twice."

"That's not true. I called like five times but you didn't answer and that got me so worried. Why weren't you answering?"

It immediately occurred to Jameel that Afrah had called when he was in Najah's room. He had fallen asleep unplanned. "I didn't hear my phone, I fell asleep."

"Asleep?" Afrah looked up at Jameel. "You fell asleep while driving?! How could—"

"I arrived home earlier, knocked on your door but you didn't answer. I went to freshen up and change my clothes but ended up falling asleep in...my room." Jameel intentionally didn't mention Najah's name because he knew Afrah would make a mountain out of a molehill and become moody through the night.