Chapter 9 9: Let's Pray

They heard a scream coming from the room and instantly, Na im stood to his feet as he looked between the door leading to the room and Hafiz that was looking expectantly at him. He was about to go back to the sofa when a loud thud came and this time, he knew he had to go and check if she was doing okay. He was there in the living room all long for him to say that someone had came in and was hurting her. She might as well done more damage to herself than someone ever would. "I'll better go and check." He said softly and Hafiz only nodded his head while he walked into the room. He hated the knowing look he was seeing in Hafiz s eyes, but this wasn't the time for this. As he walked into the room, he found that she wasn t there and he walked directly to the bathroom. He stopped by the door and knocked, "Hey, are you alright in there?" Well, congratulations, Captain, you ve resorted to being a baby sitter now. There was silence all over as he began to wonder if she was fine, "Hey! Talk to me, are you alright?" He didn t want to deal with a dead body now of all things in his life. And if she dared die on him, Na im knew that would be the end of him and the so called feasible problem would be huge. He turned the doorknob and was glad she didn't lock it like he had said. He found her laying on the bathroom floor as she winced in pain and cried. At first, he didn't notice what she was in until he rushed into the bathroom and realized that the towel she had on was so small, yet it was even falling off from her body with the shower raining on her? He didn t know when he took a step back and rushed out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He walked to the living room and found Hafiz expectantly staring at him. "What's wrong with her?" He asked almost as immediately as he appeared into the living room and Na im pushed his fingers roughly into his hair. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Like, he knew she needed his help, obviously, but not to that extent, please! Why did she have to be making his life so hard?! "She might as well be dying!" He said, clearly frustrated as he slumped back on the sofa. "Na im! You have to go and see if there s a way you can help. What are you doing here while you ve said it yourself that she might be dying?" He sounded worried and Na im shot him a glare. He was certain that if it was Hafiz in the dilemma he was in, he wouldn t have been so optimistic about it like he was now. "She fell in the bathroom and she s in there crying! But, she s half naked and I can't walk in on her that way. Maybe she ll gather herself around and help herself, but certainly not me." He turned away from Hafiz because he knew what his next words would be. But no, he wasn t going to do anything about this. It was a good thing that she wasn t dead, and he knew she d be fine after resting on the floor for some minutes. Instead of what he had expected, Hafiz laughed before he stood up. "I might as well take my leave then, Your Highness." He slightly bowed, and Na im knew whenever he referred to him as that, as the prince he was, he meant to mock him over something Na im certainly didn t find worthy of laughter. He flashed him a hard glare, "And where do you think you re going? We re not done with that conversation, are we?" Hafiz shook his head but he had his phone already in his hands and was slipping his feet into his shoes. "We re not, but I'm certain what I've said had sit with you alright. What s left now is the house, and I'll look around and see the available ones so we can choose and see if the deal could be closed as soon as possible. I'll keep you updated." He walked towards the door and Na im was silently pleading with his eyes for him not to leave him alone, but he knew this was amusing Hafiz to the point that he could even dance with utter happiness. "And I suggest that you really check up on her before she actually dies. Goodnight, Captain, and take care of your not so little bride." He chuckled and was out of the door in what seemed like a breath and Na im hissed under his breath. He wanted to act nonchalant to the fact that what Hafiz said might actually be true, she might actually die if he didn't help. She might be in a critical condition and all that he saw was her lying on the floor. What if she needed a doctor? She was already weird as it was, and he didn t know if a single hit-the-floor scene wouldn t cost her life. He groaned painfully and walked back into the room, only to find her on the bed, the blanket all over her as she cried. He thanked god that she was able to gather herself like he had predicted she would, but he didn't know if she was sick or not. He sat on the edge of the bed, making sure there was enough space between them. Tapping the space beside her, he called out, "Look here," he said, and she seemed to stop her cries. "Sit up, you have to eat before you can fall asleep. Have you even prayed?" He couldn't help but ask, because this girl seemed to be getting even worse than he imagined she would be. An even greater load on his shoulders. She was still laying on the bed and he saw the way she had clutched the blanket and instead of her to answer him or try to do what he had asked of her, she pulled the blanket all over her face. He sat there amused at how her childish brain thought it could outsmart him. Did she think that doing this will have him think that she was asleep and he would leave her alone or what? She must be joking. "Unless you want me to beat you more than that woman did, get up right at this instant!" He thundered, angrily at both himself and her. He wasn t here to babysit some 16 years old girl that answered the name of his wife and why the hell was she acting as though she was only 6 years old?! She sat upright, clutching the blanket to her chest and her shoulders were revealed to him. So that meant she went straight to bed after she came out of the bathroom without getting into her clothes or covering that hair of hers? He didn t even take a second glance at the hair while he stood up from the bed. "I'll give you five minutes to get into one of these clothes, I'll be back in those five minutes and if you didn t do what I've told you to..." He made a grunt that showed how angry he was and Maryam thought what he would do was easy, he would kill her since its obvious that she was now a burden to him. Like he said, he was back in the room in five minutes and found her in the abaya he had bought with its veil wrapped delicately around her hair, while she fidgeted with its embroidery. He sat on the only sofa in the room and stared at her, he wanted to yell at this girl until all the frustration he buckled within him was out, but he couldn t be as cruel as his heart was telling him. She had problems of her own, she had her personal healing to do and he wouldn't add more salt to her wounds. "Have you prayed?" She looked up at him with an inquisitive look and Na im found himself deviating his eyes away from her face, he couldn't stand staring at those eyes and not feel intimidated. At first, he wondered if they were real. That maybe his eyes were showing him something that wasn t real, but then he kept on seeing her and those eyes were becoming even more real. When she still had her confused look on her face, he softly hissed and stood up, folding the hands of his kaftan. She thought he was going to beat her and began to shrug back on the bed while she panicked. He just stood there, looking at her, a chuckle nearly rustling out of his chest. "I'm going to perform ablution, if I want to beat you, I'd take you to the barrack and have my soldiers hold you up for me in the sky, and then I'd beat you in a way that you d have broken bones all over your body." She bulged her eyes out at him and he nodded his head, forcing a solemn expression on his face, "That s why you have to listen to me and reply me whenever I ask you questions, okay?" She nodded her head and he repeated what he had asked, "Have you prayed?" "Up to Asr, yes. Maghrib? No." She nodded and shook her head in collation with her answers and he walked up to the bathroom. "Wait for me to perform my ablution and we d pray." He realize he had lost the congregation somehow and when he closed the bathroom door behind him, Na im couldn't tame down the smile that stretched out his lips. She looked to have believed his words, since he was able to force those words out of her. He found her seated where he had left her and wordlessly, he took the prayer mats he had seen in the room and laid them out for them. He began to pray after he had motioned for her to join and she did. When they where done, she sat on the mat while staring at his back as he said his azhkars while she said hers too. Intisar had taught her all the things she needed to say whenever she prayed and she had read about some in the books Baaba bought for her, glad that she was able to read and write, Maryam had mostly spent her days in those islamic books of hers. She silently prayed for them and closed her eyes to stop her tears from coming back. She knew it would take a lone tear to anger him, and in the next minute, she would have him yelling at her for crying while she disturbed the peace he had. He turned to look at her, and she seemed rather calm as she rested her head on her brought up knees and looked into space. There was a look of longing in her eyes, and what was unmistakably sheer agony and the urge not to cry.