If I Take a Chance [Unpublished]

|2| Three is a Crowd

Nadia was livid, putting some distance between the two of them hadn't worked at all. Her hands shook as she tried to even her breaths, fumbling with the tap.

Her back was to him, watching the crimson droplets trickle down into the sink as jets of water began to sprout out of the tap. She watched as the last evidence of the blood wash off her hands before she spun around and discarded the blood soaked wool into the dumpster.

She picked up a spatula to check the sauce brewing on the stove, not meeting his gaze. "Will she be joining us?" she questioned, stirring the sauce.

"No," he shook his head even though she couldn't see him. "She's busy."

"Of course." A smile lit up her face but it was quick to die down when she remembered that she was still angry at him. Saturday night dinner was their thing, even though Khaleed was dating Benazir, she still couldn't envision her in their dinner. It was a family thing, just the three of them and she didn't want Benazir's presence to taint it.

It was hard for her to accept that she now had to share him with her. It was a little bit of a reprieve to know that Benazir didn't share their love for the Saturday dinners, she always had an excuse for every week since the first disastrous dinner they had together.

"Are we going to talk about this?" he questioned, wincing as he pressed the bag of frozen peas onto his swollen face.

"Talk about what?" she shrugged, dropped the spatula then spun around to face him, her face a mask of indifference.

From the way he squirmed in his seat, one could easily believe that he was the younger brother getting reprimanded for being a nuisance but alas, that was not the case. He was four years older than she was but sometimes, he let her get away with scolding him like she was the eldest because he needed someone to do it for him and he knew that she needed to vent sometimes. Nadia was a caretaker, taking up the role of being a somewhat motherly figure to both him and Noor even though he should have been the one taking care of them.

"You know what," he sighed in exasperation, glaring at his vibrating phone as if it had offended him.

"No I don't know what," she narrowed her eyes at the name flashing on the screen of his phone. "You should take that," she pointed at the phone which began to vibrate again as soon as the screen had blacked out. "It seems important."

"Nad..." he began but she cut him off, smiling brazenly.

"It's okay," she waved him off. "Really," she added when he gave her a disbelieving look. "You did it again even though you promised me time and again that you wouldn't. But hey," she laughed bitterly. "How important am I to you that you'll have to keep your promises right?"

"Blood," he kept the pea bag on the counter then strode towards her, shaking his head with a pained expression. "Never say or think that again okay? You are important to me more than you can imagine. Everything that I do is for the sake of both you and Noor. After what he did to her," he shook his head again, cupping her chin with his palms. "I can't just let it go. But this time around, I promise you that I'll let it go. I won't get into or pick up fights with him anymore."

"You promise?" her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I promise."

"Aww," Noor cooed from behind, shoving a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into her mouth. "You two are so adorable."

"Get lost," Nadia sniffed, putting some distance between her and Khaleed.