THE TIMOROUS DUNYA✅

THIRTY-THREE

Maryam recalled how she wept when they got home. It was an out-of-breath, heart clenching and nerve wrecking cry. It was like the old wound she had been nursing has been ripped open again. The pains and  heartache hitting her supremely this time.

Sleep followed directly afterwards. A sleep which lacked nightmare yet still wasn't sound. Maryam missed Subh and almost Zuhr salat the following morning. She woke up around 12:51pm, with swollen eyes that refused to open and pounding headache. Her mind was slow to process her surrounding and even slower to recall what had happened the previous day. But when she finally did, Hajarah was there to calm her down and prevent her from ruining her life there and then.

Therapy with Mrs Sabeeha came to a standstill. Maryam refused to go no matter the pleas from Hajarah and Sufyan.

The shock at not finding Zeenah had hit her harder than she had imagined.  It has made her stop believing in everything. Especially the cure that came with therapy.

Days which were spent gazing through the window had slowly gone by. At last, everyone in the Sudais household had agreed to give her the space she needed. She wouldn't want to have it anyway different.

Those days morphed into months. Months which also passed by in a blur. The Sudais household became cold and silent. Everyone avoiding the huge elephant that occupied most of it's vastness.

Then, a day came. A day Sufyan marked with an 'enough' in his calender, with a red ink in bold, capital letters. He didn't knock on Maryam's door, he simply pushed it wide. She was on her chair, her back facing him and her distant eyes glued to that godforsaken window. Sufyan spoke, not minding how rude his words might sound.

"Enough is enough Miriam! I'm not going to watch you everday sit in your room and wallow in self pity. Zeenah was not found, she's not there! So what? That does not mean your life has come to an end. Living without Zeenah will not kill you Miriam. It's high time you forget about her and move on."

Sufyan waited for a reaction from her, he got nothing. Not even a twitch of a finger. Not even a blink of an eye. It's like her soul is in another world entirely, only her body is there with him.

Sufyan knelt before the chair she's sitted on. That made her eyes take a blink. She turned, slowly, watching him with confused eyes. Sufyan bacame awared of how hollow her eyes had become, a prominent bag surrounded them both. Her body had become scrawnier, so much that he could outline every bone in her body.

"I know it is hard Miriam. It is hard letting go of someone who has played a significant role in your life. But please Miriam, I beg you, try. Not for me, for Zeenah. I bet she wouldn't want you to be like this. She wants you to be happy, right? That's what friends wish for eachother. Please, for Zeenah, try."

Maryam did not reply him. The next day, nothing changed. So did the day that followed it. Sufyan realized he needed another approach. So on the third day, he asked Hajarah to get Maryam ready. By 2pm in the afternoon, he reversed out of gate with Maryam beside him in the passenger's seat. He tuned-up the radio, such  that a warm song was playing lowly.

The fifteen minutes long drive was occupied with nothing but silence. Well, except the sound of music coming from the radio which Sufyan switched off subsequently.

Up-to-date, a year later, Maryam will still remain grateful to Sufyan for taking her on that ride. And the thousand more that followed suit. It became like a regular course every evening or night. Mostly to the ice-cream parlour and a quite spot close to a river. It started of as just a change of environment for Maryam. No words were spoken, they just sit down quietly and observe the distinct scenarios around them.

Gradually, it has began to heal Maryam. Just like the therapy she didn't believe in.

*****

"Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullah." Maryam uttered with a low voice, her head positioned to the right. Then she rotated it, so that it is now facing the opposite direction and she repeated the same thing. She said her dhikr and folded the praying mat neatly along with her hijab.

Her phone dinged with a notification. She picked it up, a Samsung galaxy A5 Sufyan had brought her a few months ago. And taught her all that she needed to know in operating it. Maryam found pleasure in playing cooking games on it. Infact, it was the only thing she did with it. Except the occasional calls from Hajarah when she's out and texts from Sufyan.

Sufyan had moved out of the house six months ago. But that did not stop him from coming over every day to take her out after work.

"I'm downstairs." His text said, with a smiling emoji at the end.

Maryam didn't reply back. She draped on another hijab and sauntered out along with her phone.

Just like his text said, Sufyan was perched on one of the plush couch in the living room. He was clad in a white kaftan with a matching black cap which he had removed and kept on the armrest. It looked like he changed into them from his work attire hurriedly, yet he still managed to look unforgivingly handsome. His two legs were placed lazily on the centre table. The phone held by his right hand yearned the attection which the television stole from it.

Maryam stood for a minute, just watching this specimen before her. Had she been blind all this while? She must be to not notice how attractive this man before her is.

She put on a small smile as she descended the rest of the stairs. She arrived just in time with Hajarah, who came in through the kitchen door.

"Ah ah! You look beautiful darling." Hajarah gushed, placing both her hands on Maryam's shoulders. Sufyan's attention left the t.v. to them. He shot them a look.

"You too babana, but of course not as beautiful as my daughter." Hajarah said and Maryam giggled.

"Whatever." Sufyan feigned annoyance as he placed his cap in place and stood up. But deep down, he knew Hajarah was right. All his life, he had never seen someone as breathtaking as Maryam. If perfection existed, she would have been the most accurate meaning of the word.

"Shall we?" He called. Maryam glanced at him, nodding. But just as she did, her eyes caught something on the functioning t.v.

Maryam gasped. Her grip around the phone in her hand loosened and it fell to the ground with a loud thud. Hajarah and Sufyan's calls were faint as she stared at the television with her eyes wide as saucers.

It couldn't be! That was her last thought before darkness was all she saw.

*****

What did Maryam see?!

Many of you wanted Zeenah to be found in the last chapter. But please be reminded that I have this book planned from beginning to end and I have to stick with the plot. No worries! We have alot more revelations coming (shall I say, shocking? :D ) Stick along as we continue the journey together haha

But for now, what did Maryam see that made her faint?! Must be something really bad, don't you think? Next chapter dedicated to anyone who guesses the answer right.

Assalamu_Alaikum!

Aeeeshatuhx