Embraced (#2 Natives series) #ProjectNigeria

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

              "YOU REALLY DIDN'T HAVE to do this," Fatiha mentioned the second Nooriya dashed out of the car to get something from a pharmacy.

The white boxed building that stood alone in the street was the only pharmacy around the area, thus it was always open till late. They had only driven a few minutes away from the building when Noor remembered that she urgently needed to get something.  Without looking, Fatiha knew it would take Noor a bit of time to get back, so she used the opportunity to remind Munir, again, that driving her had not been necessary.

"Do you hate me that much to keep on reminding me that you don't need me? I think you've established that fact already and I understand. You don't have to repeat it like I'm daft." Munir stated, his voice low as he spoke. His eyes never leaving the street before him.

Fatiha's full lips thinned at the word hate. Sure she had used it a lot back when she was younger, and recently, but she really didn't mean it. Now they were two grown ups. She wasn't saying she had forgiven him for what he'd done, but she didn't hate him. Maybe extremely disliked him, but not hate.

"I don't hate you," she told him.

"Sure you do, you say it all the time and sometimes you don't even need to say it. Action speaks louder than words, you know?"

"I don't hate you, Munir." Fatiha sighed. "But I really don't like you and let's be honest, what do I need you for? We're not friends, so I don't think you need to go out of your way for me."

The question hung in the silence of the car between the two occupants as deep and dark as the night ahead of them. Fatiha licked her lips when Munir didn't say anything. She was wondering if she had perhaps been too harsh with her words when he finally asked a question of his own in reply to hers.

"Is it because of him?"

With furrowed brows, she queried, "What?"

"Faisal." He bit out, the single word harsher than any other Fatiha had ever heard from him. He swallowed severally and hard, the movement causing his Adam apple to bop up and down. "Is it because of him? You crying all day and locking yourself indoors." He looked at her. "It's because of him, isn't it?"

Confused about why he would bring up Faisal, Fatiha tried to charily ask what it had to do with him, but the question, sadly, came out with a bite.

Munir nodded. "You're right. It has nothing to do with me." He conceded before going silent, but Fatiha could see a tick in his jaw and that made her wonder why he appeared so terribly vexed.

He must have felt her staring into the side of his face because Munir suddenly turned to her, locking his gaze directly with Fatiha's who startled by the sudden intensity of his gaze. She faltered but instantly steeled her mind when he opened his mouth in readiness to lash out if he did the same. Whatever it was she had been expecting, Fatiha hadn't expected to be at a loss for words when he asked if she was okay rather than chastising her.

The light from the lamppost in front of the pharmacy bounced off one side of Munir's face, causing him to be drenched in both darkness and light. His light eyes appearing lighter than it seemed.

Fatiha who opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say or how to react glanced out the window to the drug filled store, watching from her place in the passenger front seat as her best friend moved from one end of the counter to the other in a red blur while trying to converse with the workers.

"You're going to get sick, Fatty." Munir's softly spoken words pulled at her, but Fatiha didn't look at him.

"I'm fine." She told him instead. It was a lie and they both knew it, but Fatiha wasn't going to spill her problems to him. Even if there was no one else to talk to, she would never go to him. Not again.