The difference she made!

Trust

أنت تقسو، وعيناك تعتذر

You get cruel and your eyes apologize!

Since last night, they didn't exchange a word. He walked in the kitchen and saw her almost done preparing breakfast. Fajr kept her head lowered to avoid his gaze as she started putting the dishes on the table. Her soft hair pulled back at one side of her neck.

He sat down at the table observing her constant movements, and waiting for her to join him. Once she filled their cups with hot tea, she sat down opposite him and both began to eat in silence, the only sound was a munching until Khalid could stand the oppressive silence no longer.

He finished eating, and let out a heavy sigh that caused her to look up at him. Only for a moment, before she looked down again and resumed her eating.

"I think we need to talk."

"about what?" her head remained lowered, her voice croaky.

Her emotions seemed cold and he could not figure her out, he thought she would raise her head, but she didn't. Again he broke the silence and abruptly looked away; "about what happened last night of course." She had better not try to test his patience by ignoring him like this.

Suddenly, her head shot up; "first of all, you need to tell me the real reason, the reason you decided to marry me and please stop beating around the bush and don't you dare tell me a lie?"

It took him too much time before answering her that she furiously stood up and started gathering the plates from the table.

He watched her as she cleaned the table, then instead of answering her question he asked her; "can I ask you the same? What made you accept my offer when you already told me you didn't agree?"

In a sharp manner and without looking at his direction, she replied; "because this was my father's wish." "I didn't know this could be the stupidest decision I took in my life!"

She said the last part, more to herself than to him, but she hadn't realized how sharp Khalid's hearing was. He nodded disappointedly; "I see."

At that, she turned and stepped near putting her both hands on the table in front of him; "you see?" what do you see? If you're still in contact with her and you want to mend what had been broken between you then why on earth did you marry me?"

This really surprised him; "you think I am in contact with Reem?" he added with a mischievous smile; "this is crazy!"

She didn't know why, but this rubbed her the wrong way; "you mean you didn't text each other on our wedding night?" She snapped at him.

He shot back; "I can't believe you are too narrow-minded that you let her get into your nerves like this."

"did you text each other or not? Because if you're willing to solve your problem, just tell me I can help you do that." Her voice raising in anger although she tried hard to look calm.

On the contrary, suddenly he felt so relaxed; "oh really? You don't mind being a second wife then?"

She couldn't believe that he could be this careless; "no I have a better solution which is stepping away from your way and let you two live your life!"

Whatever stupid words she said recommending parting, bothered him no end, ok he got that this marriage was not her choice, still this didn't mean she had to remind him of that every single minute from now on.

So smoothly he let the truth come out of his mouth; "She messaged me and I replied."

"And you replied?! That's nice" Fajr repeated in a sarcastic way.

Slowly, he took his phone out of his pocket, opened it and stretched his hand towards her to take it; "Here... check it if you don't trust me." His dark eyes focused on her face.

This was unexpected! In hesitation, she took the phone and reflected for a moment before averting her eyes from his face to the phone...  she badly wanted to know what kind of messages they had shared, but the way he said that if-phrase alerted her. If she read it, this would make him think she didn't trust him, and she didn't want this to happen because she knew very well, trust is the most important factor in a relationship.

After a long minute of thought, she gave the phone back to him, looking away without opening the message;"I do trust you." She uttered in a low voice.   Although that meant she would probably never know what they talked about.

She didn't surprise him, his judgment was right but he wanted to make sure. He bet that she wouldn't read it and thanks to Allah she didn't let him down. He was glad that despite of their disagreements, they were of one mind. He remembered how he suffered with Reem from the lack of trust when she used to keep track of his phone, and investigate about every single detail related to him, she was driving him crazy.

He opened the messages and stood to face Fajr, then raised the phone to the level of her eyes so she could read; "read it!"

She couldn't believe what he was doing and on what purpose he did this.

Reem: I can't believe you could move on this easily and forgot everything about me! This is the next time you broke me apart, Khalid.

Khalid: It is over, never contact me again.

That was it. Nothing more?

As if he read her thoughts, he added; "And I blocked her number." Their gaze met as a sense of relief flowed through Fajr. She felt happy, not realizing why.  She wanted to apologize but under his steady gaze, nothing left her mouth. She just looked away and headed to the sink where she had put the dirty dishes.

she tried to  busy herself with washing the dishes, but as disconcerted as she was, she couldn't see the sponge which disappeared under the stack of dishes.

Building up to the last part of his speech, he followed her steps and continued: "and regarding your earlier question..."

She waited attentively to hear his response, he folded his arms on his chest and replied with amusement; I prefer to keep that for myself.

Soon she recovered, still searching for the sponge, she said; "I requested you to stop beating around the bush."

At that moment she heard his chuckle; "there is no bush here!" Then he stepped closer, picked the squared sponge from under the plate and offered it to her; "here."

Despite of himself he could feel the edges of his mouth tilting up. That was the first time she saw him smile at her directly. It transformed him from someone arrogant to someone you would love to get along with. maybe his smiles were hard to come by, and often so quiet but the way he cared seemed too loud. She couldn't resist returning his smile in embarrassment.