When Stars are Hidden

Chapter 8

Naima didn't turn to see Tawfiq's face.

She was sure her words might have hurt him. But that wasn't the main problem now. She could always apologize later.

Her father had anger issues which would somehow end up being her fault because it was always her fault.

She was basically shaking now but still said her salaam before entering the house.

Aunt Faiza got up with a relieved smile but before she could get to Naima, her father's voice boomed in the hall.

"Faiza, get back to your seat. This is my house and she is my daughter so I decide how we welcome her."
He looked at her like she was an in intruder in his home.

"Abdullah. . ."
Aunt Faiza became short of words but reluctantly sat back down. She couldn't do anything.

Abdullah got up from his single couch and walked to Naima.

Her eyes were trained on the ground.
She could feel her blood racing.

"Where on Earth have you been?!"

"Baba I'm so s-sorry, I di-didn't think it was going t-t-to ra. . ."

Naima was cut short in the middle of her explanation.

"Shut up! I never asked for any explanation! I asked where you were at this time of the night!" He shouted.

Naima trembled.

She felt like a mouse in a cage.

Cornered.
Trapped.
Scared.

"They gave m-me d-detention." Naima answered without looking up at him.

"So that is the excuse you are using to cover up the fact that you are slutting around with that boy outside?" He fumed.

Naima was not shocked.
Anytime he saw Naima with a boy, that was his first assumption.

"I didn't do anything wrong. He just offered to send me home because it was raining and I was tired waiting for a car. I couldn't walk from school to the house. That's the truth Baba, why do you never believe m. . ."

Before Naima could end her sentence, she felt a sharp sting on her right cheek which had the brute force to make her fall back.

But before she felt the ground, Zain appeared from nowhere behind her and held her to him.

"Baba, don't you dare hit Naima again! I'm sick and tired of how you treat her like a worthless paper. She's your fucking daughter! I respect you, Baba but Wallahi if you hit her again you will have to deal with me."

Zain had never gone against their father before but today Naima saw something he had never seen in his always bright eyes.

Regret, fury and pain.

Well her mind decided too much information was going through it so it did what it could do best in the most inconvenient situations. She blacked out.

⚜️

His mother had called to tell him that his Baba had come home, earlier than expected.

Zain wasn't scared of him. He just gave him the respect of being his father. His father was all talk and no action especially with him.

Naima on the other hand, he definitely despised. Everything wrong was somehow her fault according to him. And she always got hit for it. At times, Zain couldn't believe that Naima was his father's daughter. Real fathers treated like daughters like rare pearls.