ENSHROUDED

24

Abba took his time staring at her while she ate and cried at the same time. He smiled to himself and wondered why she was crying. Being such a baby was her problem, he knew. She didn't take more than ten spoons of her food when she stood up and walked towards the basin, he watched as she drank water and silently made her way towards the exit when he called her again.

"Aisha, I'm not done with you, yet." She walked back to the kitchen island and stared at him. "Sit." He ordered and motioned for the chair opposite him, yet again.

Aisha sat down with her heart pounding in its ribcage. She kept fiddling with her fingers and that's when Abba caught a glimpse of her ring. "You have a nice ring." Quickly, she hid her hands away from his sight and looked up; their eyes met and Abba smiled at her.

He looked the way she acted when she was with him, and it had never annoyed him. To him, she looked at own kind of beautiful, and cute as well. "Is there anything you need for the wedding?" He asked, and Aisha shook her head.

"Talk to me, Aisha. You can't be acting all you want around me, you know? Or is it because I said I love you and I'll get married to you in a week that you can act al you want with me?" It irked him now. He had seen how she interacted with Nasir, this wasn't the real her. Or did she preserved only that side of her for Nasir and not him?

"I don't need anything, Ya Abba. Can I leave, please?" She looked up at him and immediately ducked her head down. He had his eyes fixed on her and was staring at her, intently.

She wanted to shout at him, Stop looking at me that way, you don't own me! But she knew better not to. Instead, she looked down and gave him the satisfaction he needed. He wanted to feel superior over her, and she was giving him that. He can have only the title of her husband, but in her heart, she knew she can never love this man.

"Will you please escort me somewhere?" He asked, this time with a polite tone and a soft voice. She looked up to make sure if he was the one that spoke. The way he talked, he sounded just like Nasir.

Nasir. He had been on her mind ever since he left and not for once had he called and asked for her. She often heard them talking with Mama on the phone. Most of the times it was Mama ranting off his ears about how stressful it had been. How she had always been tired and drained about the wedding. Even though it Pianed, Aisha sometimes laughed at Mama, she could imagine how Nasir was feeling. Being updated about the wedding every blessed day. But on rare occasion, Mama was trying to pursue him to come to the wedding, his excuse always worked.

She had missed Nasir so much that it hurt. She sobered up her thoughts and looked at Abba. She might as well see him as Nasir, right? Even though he can never be Nasir, but a little fantasy won't hurt. "Yes, I'll get ready in ten minutes." He nodded his head at her and she walked into her room.

She stood in front of her wardrobe and the mustard coloured abaya Nasir loved the most caught her attention. She slipped it on her body and looked at herself in the room. She heard his voice calling her name from the living room and that too reminded her of Nasir. He had a lot in common with Nasir. But she knew Nasir was different. She slipped her bag on her collar bone and walked out. He didn't spare her a glance when he walked out of the living and she followed behind him in halting steps.

As they sat down, he turned to look at her and Aisha swore she saw something struck through his eyes. Abba silently wondered why everything she had on her made her looked beautiful. He ignited on the car and drove out of the house as he dialled a number on his phone. The phone was on speaker mode and Aisha heard Mama's voice booming through the speaker. She felt relieved. Because it was not until she entered his car and they drove out of the house that she felt frightened. This man looked everything sort of dangerous. She wanted to break out of the window and run back to the house. Lock herself in her room as she reread Nasir's letters.