All For What!

5

As usual, Sa'eed and Maryam woke up very early the next day for work. She did all she had to and within thirty minutes, she was all set for work.

"I will drop Manal off at school today." She offered.

"Alright." He replied, putting on his tie.

Maryam rushed to the kitchen and prepared some instant noodles for breakfast. She went back to Manal's room and got her ready in fifteen minutes and they were set to leave the house. She had totally forgotten all about Nafisa and was about to leave the house when all of a sudden, Manal yelled;

"I forgot my drawing book in my room, ummi." she whined.

Maryam sighed. "Go quickly to your room and get it, we are both waiting for you here."

Without replying, she began to run upstairs to her room. It wasn't long before Maryam and Sa'eed could hear Manal's agonising scream from inside.

"Manal," Maryam panicked and ran to into the house with Sa'eed trailing behind.

He walked passed her and picked Manal who was lying on the floor up.

Maryam gasped as her gaze met Nafisa - she had totally forgotten about her.

"Who are you? Why are you in my living room? How did you even get in?" He boomed.

"I...I am..." Nafisa trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say.

"You what?" He yelled.

Maryam's eyes grew wide - how could she have forgotten to inform her husband about Nafisa earlier. She knew Sa'eed was angry, but it was mainly because his daughter fell.
"

Habibi, please stop yelling, can't you see she's frightened by your tone? It was clearly an accident, it wasn't her fault Manal fell."

Sa'eed averted his gaze to her. "I wasn't asking about that, the question was 'who are you and what are you doing in my house' that's what I'm interested in knowing," he repeated. For some inexplicable reason, he didn't seem to like her at first sight.

"I...I hired her as the new maid." She stuttered. She knew she made two mistakes both at the same time; the first one was not telling her husband before hiring the maid and the second was for not telling him earlier after she had hired her.

Saeed threw her a look of disbelief.

Manal had stopped crying and was now lying her head on her father's shoulder.

"What do you mean by that? You hired her without informing me beforehand?" He queried.

"I didn't mean to, I wanted to tell you yesterday when you came back from work, but I completely forgot," Maryam tried to explain.

"You forgot? That's okay, but you will have to rectify the mistake now." he stated.

"What do you mean habibi?" She asked. She knew what he was implying, but she wanted him to say it straight from his mouth for confirmation.

"Send her back to where she came from." he confirmed her hunch.

"Habibi?" She called.

"I mean what I said, do it before I come back from work today." he stated in an authoritative voice.

Nafisa who had been standing there all along, listening to their conversation with unshed tears in her eyes, ran to the room allocated to her.

"You know we have been looking for a house help and now that we've found one, you want me to send her away? What has the poor girl done to you?" She asked.

"Send her away," he repeated, before walking out with Manal in his arms.

• • •

"Are you alright, baby?" He asked, while he was driving her to school.

"Yes," she answered, but he knew her arm was bruised a little. He stopped by a pharmacy and had it cleaned and bandaged.

Saeed contemplated on Manal going to school or not, but he later settled on taking her to school and keep her under her teacher's care. It would be better than leaving her at home with a stranger.

"Remember big girls don't cry," Saeed used his trick to make her stop crying and it worked. She wiped her tears immediately and stopped crying.

"I'm a big girl abee, right?" She asked.

"Yes you are," he chuckled.

By the time they got to her school, Manal was already late. Saeed explained the reason to her teacher and kept Manal under her care. He thanked her for obliging, then went straight to work afterwards.

He had an argument with his wife for the first time in a while and no one was to be blamed, but Nafisa. It was not even up to a day and she was already causing trouble.

• • •

Maryam went to Nafisa's room and apologized for the way her husband spoke to her.

"Are you sending me away right now, ma?" She asked, with trembling lips.

"No! I won't do that, I will talk to my husband when he comes home and convince him to allow you stay for the sake of Manal," Maryam assured.

"Thank you so much ma, may Allah reward you,"

"Ameen," Maryam replied, smiling.

"Are you going to work now?" Nafisa asked.

"Yeah. Do you mind staying here alone?" Maryam asked.

"Not at all, ma," Nafisa replied.

"Alright then, Manal will be back before the both of us. Prepare a meal for her before she returns," Maryam instructed. She before leaving the room.

"This is all that little brat's fault," Nafisa remarked, gnashing her teeth.