The Trust She Broke

37. Strangers.

It's been fifteen days since Ilyas had pronounced the talaq(divorce), and ever since, the couple have being leaving together like strangers, even though they stayed under the same roof, they barely say a word to each other, other than the occasional 'good morning' and 'goodnight' and that too only happened on days they actually get to see each other.

Ilyas had his head bent on the desk, he felt tire and was trying to catch some nap which he was praying fervently should actually come. Over the days, he had lost his sleep, his peace of mind and even his sanity. His brain just refused to comprehend the entire situation.

'How could she do this to me?' This was the only question that kept running in his mind. He couldn't believe Ruqqoyah lied to him and even more, he couldn't believe he is already a divorcee at such a young age.

He sometimes wondered if he was too harsh with his judgement on her, but he couldn't think of any better method of handling the situation. Having lost his sleep again due to over thinking, he decided to went back to the work he had pending on his system, when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." He responded to the knock.

The door opened and Khalid entered saying the teslim. "As salamu alaykum."

'What could he be doing here? What has he come for.' Ilyas mind went in a frenzy on sighting who his visitor was. 'Could it be that Ruqqoyah had informed her brother of everything? No she couldn't have.'

"Waleakum salam." He replied the teslim. "You didn't tell me you will be visiting." He said gesturing to the seat.

"Sorry about that, I have something to do around this area, just decided to branch here and say hello."

"Oh, what do you want me to offer you?" Ilyas asked.

"Not today maybe later, I want to discuss something of importance." Khalid said nervously.

Ilyas' heart went into a semi coma for a brief a nanosecond, but he maintained his stance as if his heart wasn't beating erratically beneath his rib cage. 'Here comes the question.' "I'm all ears." He said.

Khalid swallowed roughly before talking. "About Yasmin" He paused. "Have you relay my message to her?"

Ilyas heaved a sigh of relief. "Yes, I have talk to her, she's yet to give me a reply though, let's just hope for the best."

"Okay." Khalid said not satisfied with the reply. "Do you perhaps know if she has someone?"

"No, not that I know of." Ilyas said. "She would have told me if she's involve with anyone." He added as afterthought.

Khalid beamed inwardly, more satisfied this time. "Thank you in-law." He joked.

Ilyas smiled halfheartedly at him. If only he knew, he wouldn't throw the words 'in-law' around like that. For how long would they actually remained as in-law for? 'And if Yasmin should agree to his proposal? How would the situation be within the family?'

Ilyas was so lost in thought that he didn't notice that Khalid was already on his feet, until the later called his name to have his attention.

"Are you alright?" Khalid asked out of concern.

"What?" Ilyas asked dazed.

"I said are you okay?" Khalid asked again.

"Yes, yes I'm good, why did you ask?"

"You look out of it for a moment, I said I'm leaving but you didn't hear."  Khalid explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry just lost in thought for a moment."