Twice His Age

5: Bromance

She was clearing the room while she cried so hard. At some point, she felt suffocated while she worked and cried so hard, clearing the things that were in her room. The room that had basically been turned into a dump yard by Minal. She knew she had to act so fast if she wanted to beat time on making the dinner Hajia asked her to.

She hadn't been in this house since the day she got married to Dahiru five years ago, and she had no idea how she'd be able to get herself through things now. Yes, nothing had changed in the building but it all felt alien.

Not even that, what bothered her was that Waleed wouldn't be able to stay with her. He was going to stay with the gateman and she didn't even know how she'd be able to take that information. Deciding that she'd take care of the room later on, Sabeeha quickly wiped at her tears and walked to the kitchen.

She saw that the cook had already started making preparations for the dinner and even though she felt like fainting due to the hunger she felt and the emotional distress threatening to take her life at any given chance, she knew she had to do this. More was to come.

"Ummm, Hi." She greeted with a wary smile. "My name is Sabeeha and Hajia said that you shouldn't bother making dinner tonight, I'd do it. And if you can please tell all the other workers that she needs to have a word with y'all." She spoke tiredly, constantly wiping at her tears so she'd be able to see what was in front of her.

The cook turned with a calm smile on her face. "But you look tired...Sabeeha, you said? I can take care of it, please go and rest. About that, I'll tell them all."

Sabeeha began to shake her head and before she uttered another word, Anas walked into the kitchen with a solemn look on his face. She had left him with his mother in her living room and was sure he might've tried to persuade her about what they both knew was going to be happening to her from now on.

"Mercy, please cook the dinner. Beeha, can I have a word with you please?" He asked, and from the look in his eyes she knew not to argue with him. Like, she didn't even have the emotional strength to do that.

She simply nodded her head and walked out of the kitchen together with him. They walked to one of the huts in the mansion and she sat down almost immediately, she was feeling dizzy. He sat down beside her, keeping a very reasonable distance between them.

"I've managed to convince Mommy and she'd let Waleed stay in my chamber." Sabeeha didn't know when she heaved a sigh out of relief and she wiped at the lone tear that rolled down her cheeks.

"Thank you, Anas. That was so helpful of you." She whimpered and wiped at her tears, but more kept rolling down painfully.

Anas heaved a sigh and palmed his face for some minutes before he opened them and placed his eyes into hers. "I know this is going to be a hard time for you, Beeha. But there's nothing I can do about you being in this situation. And I still don't regret the fact that I've broken the shackles that man has on you."

"You'd never understand, Anas," she lamented and he nodded his head at her.

"I know that you've had it pretty bad. I mean, I grew up seeing you living in so much pain caused by my family and trust me, that's paining me too. I mean, I love these people and I love you too, and I hate to see them treating you this way, I swear. But I promise you that things will change this time."

She scoffed softly and chuckled humorlessly. She had managed to stop her tears from cascading but one look into her eyes would be enough for one to know what she was painfully going through. "And how will they change? Can't you see the how our first encounter went with Hajia? It's going to be so hard and the worse thing is that Waleed is now old enough to know when things aren't right, he's the one I'm most worried about , not even myself."