THE TIMOROUS DUNYA✅

THIRTY-ONE

I am not a therapist, so forgive me if you detect anything out of the place in this chapter.

Eid Mabarak!🎉🎊❤

Comment please!

*****

It will have never occurred to Maryam that Sufyan might be eavesdropping in their conversations with the therapist. Mrs Sabeeha had patiently waited for Maryam to calm down. It took alot of her time. Maryam thought at a point if the woman ever got inpatient. She will have stick with no as her answer.

First, Mrs Sabeeha had confirmed the name. A character in the victim's past. A possible reason behind her mental condition. Zeenah. Call it whatever you like. It took a curt nod from Maryam before the woman scribbled it on her little notepad.

That's it? Maryam thought. Did this woman think writing in her little book is supposed to make her feel better? Will it erase all that she had gone through? She had the urge to laugh, for it seemed like a joke to her.

"Maryam, I want to know more about Zeenah. What does she look like?" Mrs Sabeeha had asked. Maryam glared at her. Now, she was starting to piss her off. But she answered nevertheless. Because it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes and imagine Zeenah was close to her, chirping about when she got her new phone, rolling chocolate balls in a pancake, giving her a warm fuzzy hug or simply just flashing her that assuring smile.

"Zeenah was dark, just like the chocolate she had once offered me. She has a set of dark irises, dark as the midnight. I remember when I first met her, my first thought was that I've never met someone with such dark irises. Zeenah was bubbly and caring. She knew if I missed a meal and she would paster me till I eat. Zeenah smiled alot." Maryam found a smile threatening to break in her own lips. She missed Zeenah, so much.

"You must have been really close, haven't you?" Maryam nodded.

"Tell me about the first time you met. Were you happy then, or was something bothering you?" Maryam remembered the day. The day she got married. Or she believed so. It was one of the most horrible days of her lives. So many things had happened within those twenty-four hours. So much that it made her heart hurt to even think about it. Perharps it was her fault for believing Hajiya Bilki and her so called brother were nice, or maybe all this wouldn't have happened if she had run away sooner.

Carefully, Maryam had chosed her words. "I got married that day." It came out as a shock, both to Mrs Sabeeha and the person hidden just around the corner. Sufyan choked on his own spit. The cup containing orange juice in his hands has almost slipped off, but he held it firmly before it could. Now, the contents are shaking vigorously.

Maryam continued to relay the events of that day, albeit how much it hurt to do so. She left out a few things, like the part where she was exchanged for money, when Bilki had slit her face with a knife and licked her blood. But everything else in between, like the long road trip, her encounter with Zeenah, how they had stayed at an old house in a forest and finally to the second trip to Porthacourt.

Mrs Sabeeha listened earnestly. Maryam wondered if she was really interested in her life, or she was just pretending to. However, that marked the end of their session. Mrs Sabeeha had gotten enough information for one session, she wouldn't want to overwork the victim. Afterall, slow and steady. They'll get there.

*****

A few days have passed, but that did nothing to erase what Sufyan had heard. Maryam's words were constantly ringing in his head.

I got married that day.

Was it karma getting back at him for hearing something he shouldn't have? He thought so too. He couldn't get the words out of his mind, no matter how much he tried to.

Late on a Tuesday night, Sufyan couldn't sleep. His hands gripped a pencil, which he used to attack a once clean page. His hands moved around it, leaving thick, thin, dark and light strokes. He didn't pause for once to think about what he was sketching. For all he knew, it wasn't him drawing. It was  his mind trying to get out the image which has been etched in his brain ever since he heard those words.

I got married that day.

His hand stopped moving. He kept the pencil aside. It was a rough sketch yet it conveyed the message clearer than the midday sun. Sufyan had drawn something like that. Two hands, entwined. His and Miriam's. Just the way it was supposed to be. But now as he stared at the second version of the drawing, an updated version, he couldn't help the sinking feeling in his stomach. It was dread. At the thought of loosing her.

In the picture, there is Miriam's hands held by an unfamiliar one. Not his. Someone's. Her husband's.

He crumbled the paper and threw it in the bin.

In life, there are certain things that tend to happen which are beyond our control. In Sufyan's case, walking up to Miriam's room is something he couldn't control doing. The door wasn't close, it was left slightly ajar. It remained like that every night. Maryam looked deep in thought as she folded some clothes on her bed. She stared at them with distant eyes, her hands moving slowly to get the work done.

Sufyan waited till she was done with it before he knocked on the already opened door, pretending like he just got there and hadn't been watching her.

"You haven't sleep." He stated. Maryam nodded her head. He opened the door a little wider but still maintained his position at the door's entrance.

"I overheard your conversations with the therapist. I'm sorry." Sufyan added. He knew what he did was wrong, but nothing can change the fact that he heard something that was meant to be confidential.

Maryam gasped, but she didn't say anything. Her mind raced back to all the things she said and it felt akward thinking that he heard all of it.

"You said you left your friend. Zeenah was it?" He asked, although he could remember everything she had said clearly.

He received a second nod.

"Can you remember the place?" He asked. Maryam gazed at him with surprised eyes.

"No...Yes... I mean... I'm not sure... I think I can. If I am taken to Jane's shop. I'll be able to know the place from there." Maryam rambled.

"Well then, first thing tomorrow, we look for Zeenah!" And he shut the door, just after seeing the joy break out on Maryam's face.

At that moment, Sufyan realized there's one more thing that is out of his control. His feelings for Maryam.