Chapter 14 14: A Curious Captain

She slowly took her eyes off him and he watched as she pulled her guards back around herself. He acted as if he didn t notice the change in her, "Where s the food he has sent along with the clothes?" She looked at him for a moment, then at the other nylons she hadn t even touched. Na im realized that was her way of showing him where they were and he took them wordlessly, found the one that had the meal and he walked to the kitchen to see if there was a microwave he could warm the food for them. It happened that the house wasn t just furnished, it was well equipped that if he were to live in the house, he would need title to no more than a few appliances. That justified the price he had paid for the house, he mused as he warmed the food and when he got back to the living room, she was folding the cloths she had scattered around. He walked over to the dining table and placed down the food before he looked at how she worked. She was slow in a way that one would think she had no energy in her, yet from the way she had focused earnestly on the work, he knew this was her best and she thought she was doing everything so fast and at a pace everyone would appreciate her. "Look," he called out, and she instantly lifted her eyes to look at him. He walked over to the sofa she was now sitting and took the abaya from her hand, "That s not how you fold clothes, okay?" She was silent, yet the way her furrowed brows were staring at the way he folded it, he knew she had her entire attention on him and she was willing to learn. He placed it down on the other side and pointed at it, "That s how you do it, doesn t it look good?" He asked and she stared between him and the folded garment before she nodded her head. "I told you to be answering my questions with you mouth, not by your head, okay?" His voice came out a bit edged and she seemed to have been slightly frightened, even though he knew she ought to get used to him by now. "It looks good." She managed to utter and he walked back to the dining table. "Come, let s eat." She didn t argue, because she was so hungry that she might as well eat nothing if that was possible. Maryam watched him sat on the chair and she wondered if he meant she ate on this huge table? What happened to the floor? He had already served two plates and she took the other one that was meant for her as he had already dived into his plate before she found a space on the carpet and sat down. He nearly choked on his food when he saw what she had done, "Why aren t you eating here?" His voice was muffled with the food that was in his mouth but he still couldn t help but ask her. He wished he would be able to pay no attention to all she did and even if he noticed, he wouldn't talk about it, but he just couldn t. Maryam looked up at him with a confused look, wasn t eating what he wanted her do and she was doing just that? Why did she have to eat where he was? She had never eaten on something like that and she was more comfortable with eating on the floor. She shook her head and turned her attention back at her plate before she continued to eat. Silence prevailed in the living room as the only sound that could be heard was that of the clatter of Na im s spoon against his plate. His phone rang for a while and he didn t pick, ignoring whoever the caller was because he didn t want to speak and if it were Abba, the ringing tone would ve been different. It rang for the second time and he thought maybe it would be something important whether from work or at the palace that he pulled the phone out of his pocket and when he saw that it was Ya Gumsu, he wanted to throw the phone away, but he had to pick. "Good evening, Ya Gumsu," he greeted, waiting to hear whatever it was she had called to tell him because she had never done anything good or wished good for him. It might sound that she cared, she might even fake it to the world that she did love him. Sometimes she even claimed she loved him more than she did Sadeeq, but Na im saw past the skin of deceit she had covered herself with. And he only had to associate with her because it was something that couldn t be avoided. "Oh, my prince has finally picked the call. I was worried about you," she made a dramatic sigh that would ve shown her relief that he had picked the call, but Na im knew her better than anyone. "That s so sweet of you, Ya Gumsu. I'm in the middle of something, I'll call you back when I get the chance to." He had never given her the chance she wanted. He knew she might be in the presence of Alan Gubro and she wanted to show him that she truly cared about his son, but the two men knew better and Na im knew his father must ve been smirking at his actions now, so he ended the call after that, not giving her a room to say or do something. The rest of the night went as a blur, the last time he saw Maryam was when he had asked her to take her clothes to her room and she hadn t been out since then. It looked like she was glad that he had finally asked her to leave and Na im wondered what was going through that clouded mind. He wanted to get a doctor for her, a psychiatrist or something, just someone that would look into her brain to see what was wrong with her, because Na im was certain something was wrong with her. He just wished whatever it was, it wouldn t get him tied to her when he found out. And when he went to sleep in his room at midnight after he had watched the repeat of a show he used to love, Hafiz s words came back to his mind and he couldn t help but laugh as he shook his head at how irrational Hafiz could be. How would he think of something like that? He would never imagine doing something like that. As he closed his eyes and tried to drift back to sleep, the echo of melodious recitation came back into his ears and he didn t try to fight it off. It helped calm him and drift him to a slumber easily. Captain Bolori slide the answer button as he walked away from all ear shots, he placed it into his right ear with a grin. "Okay, the girls have been delivered safely? That s so calm to hear. I told you that you wouldn t have a problem with me..." He waited to hear what was said at the other of the phone before he nodded his head, his smile widening. "Sure, no problem. I'll make sure their number have doubled when next I'm shipping some to you. Make sure the payment is done tonight, I've got my men to pay as well." They both laughed at the same time before they spoke some more about the kind of girls they wanted next and when they were done, he ended the call, satisfied with himself. He double checked to see no one was hiding to listen on to his conversation before he walked away. And on his way back to his office, he heard a woman s voice crying and begging for help and it was no doubt coming from one of the cells they had. He walked there and when he met the soldiers guarding the cell the cry was coming from, he asked. "What s wrong? Have we caught a woman somewhere? What s with the cry?" They saluted him before one of them answered, "She s here due to Captain Bolori s order, Sir! An order has been sent for her release early tomorrow morning, she s just too loud but nothing is being done to her tonight." He stared at him, wondering what was wrong between Na im and this woman. "How long has she been locked?" He couldn't help but ask, and he was certain his curiosity had reached its highest that he just wouldn t pass away without hearing the whole story. He had to! "Two days ago with moderate punishment for an older woman, Sir!" And older woman? Now, this was getting more interesting. He knew the kind of heart Na im had, and for him to have an older woman locked up while being punished for two days only meant something had happened which he couldn t control himself and he wouldn t want someone to find out either. "Release her for me then." His voice carried the air of command and order than when one of them started to argue, it only took a look before he silenced him. They did release her to him and Sadeeq helped her into his car all the while smiling kindly at her. "I'm sorry, Inna, on my brother s behalf." He said, knowing so well she would be surprised to the fact that he was his brother and would want to spill more beans to him. "I don t know what happened between you two but I've begged him and he allowed them to release you." She cried and wiped at her tears but more gushed down to her cheeks. "I did nothing wrong to him. He brought this girl..." She began but immediately closed her lips, remembering the warning one fo his men did to her and unless she loved the army barracks so much to come back, she would dare say something to this man even though he claimed to be his brother. Sadeeq chuckled to ease her mind, yet he wished he can yell at her to tell him the story at once. Na im and a girl? Well, this was getting more interesting and he knew he just had to be patient and play his cards well to get something from her. He had something to discuss with Ya Gumsu today and it indeed would be an interesting story. "Come on, Inna, I told you he s my brother. Isn t his name Na im Bolori? My name is Sadeeq Bolori, see!" He pointed at his name tag on his chest but all she saw was Captain Bolori. Yet, she had heard those men referring to him as Captain Bolori, and she knew his face enough to know he didn t look like this which only meant this guy was telling the truth. "Tell me, what happened?" He asked when he saw her face relaxing and she stared at him.