Chapter 17 11: B

He tried to act casual when he walked back into the room, "Can I please talk to her for a minute? It might help make her open up more." The way he had looked at her was enough to make her give him her world and it wasn't until then that Nafisa realized how she had been chanting to herself that she wasn t in love with him anymore-had been the greatest lie she d ever tell herself. "Sure, I'll be outside the door." He waited until she closed the door behind her before he went to take up her seat and Maryam shifted even farther away from him as if there wasn't enough space between them. The body trembling was back and it was only till then that he realized she was sitting normally when Nafisa was there, which meant she was only terrified of him. "Look here," he said with a very cold and harsh tone, realizing that he didn t have time to waste for her to gather herself around enough to understand him. She turned almost immediately and it was a good thing that she didn t forget all that he had said to her, "She s a doctor, she s going to help you not harm you, okay? You can speak to her, tell her everything you want to know or say. But there are two things you can t tell her," Maryam looked up at him to be able to concentrate on what he was going to say when their eyes met and they both looked away, "Don t tell her your father is dead, okay?" She was about to nod her head when she remembered what he had said and she heavily opened her mouth, "Yes." Okay, this yes was beginning to get him on his nerves. "And don t ever tell her I m your husband." And now, when she looked up into his eyes, she didn't take them off. It felt as though she was speaking to him through those eyes that unnerved his soul. It was as though she was asking him that he still remembered he was her husband? "Answer me, you can't tell her I'm your husband." He repeated, because a staring contest while what he had to stare into where those two universes was something he wasn't capable of doing. "Yes, I won t tell her you re my husband." There was disgust etched in her tone. As if she was disgusted with the fact that he was her husband and she would ve loved it more if he wasn t. "Good," he said as he stood up and the only thing she was left to stare was his retreating back as he walked to the door and closed it behind him. Maryam let out a breath she didn't know she was holding before she broke into tears, she had been holding it in for long. But she hated this man and everything he was! ? Na im was seated in his car as he was about to leave work when he remembered that he had told Dr Nafisa he was going to call her. He left the car on and pulled his phone out of his breast pocket as he dialed her number. It rang for the first time and on the second ring, she had picked the call as if she had been waiting for him to call. "Good evening, Dr. I'm sorry, I got hooked with lots of paperwork to get time for a phone call and it s even dark now." He sincerely apologized, for he truly hated it when he promised something and he wasn t able to fulfill his promise like he said. He could hear the sound of her smile through the phone, "It s no problem, Captain." Nafisa had realized that when she called him Captain, he was more free with her and she decided to do that, just for the time being, at least. Before she reminded him of her love and they would rekindle their relationship like she earnestly prayed. "I was just getting off from work as well, let s talk." "Yes, what have you realized about her? Please don t hold back anything from me." He was skeptical when he said that because somehow, Na im felt like Maryam would open up more to Dr Nafisa than she would ever do to him and besides, she was a psychologist and her job was making people trust and open up to her. He wanted to know if there was something wrong with her or there was something she wanted for her to be acting the way she did. Nafisa sighed before she decided to do what he asked because if she kept everything short of professional, their phone call might be short and she wanted to keep on hearing his voice for as long as she could. "I think she s autistic, from the little things I've gathered from her, Captain. I'm not an expert in that field so I'll just keep on taking notes and when I feel its enough, I can refer her to another doctor that will help her with therapy and everything. But apart from that which she was born as, there seems to be a problem with her, and that problem is you." Na im was taken aback by her words. He was her problem? Well, he was just speechless that he didn't even know what he was say and he knew he wasn t going to argue with that. "How am I her problem?" He couldn t help but ask. Because if anything, she was the one being his problem and not the other way round! Nafisa chuckled softly, "Okay, calm down first. It s nothing as bad as you re trying to make it seem. She s afraid of you, Captain, terrified would be the better word. She panics whenever she sees you and seem to be relaxed when you re out of her sight. So I asked her a few things about you to see, so we can see if the relationship between the two of you might help her mental health. "First, the insurgency that happened in their village was traumatizing enough to have her this way even if she wasn t autistic in the first place. But another event has occurred more than that, and it seems she s sticking to it and whatever it is, you re connected to it. And when I asked her what she feels about you, upfront, she said she hates you. And I'm sure she hates you for that thing. What do you think it could be?" Na im had never been dumbstruck like today. She hated him? Woah, he had never seen someone so sharp and bitter tongued like this girl. She even had the guts to say that she hated him? He should ve been the one to say that before she did. But he lied to her, because there was no way he was going to tell her that he had her at a gunpoint just last night and if there was anything that Maryam would hate him for, it would be that. "I think the only thing that would be the reason for her hatred towards me is when her father was leaving, I had to be a bit harsh at her because she insisted that she followed him. Maybe she held a grudge on me because of that." He lied instead, because what would he have told the woman he wanted to hide everything from? Nafisa sighed, "Maybe you should try and be soft towards her, Captain. She might really lose her mind at this rate. And even though I m sure there's something more going through her mind, you might even get her to open up more to you than me. Because even with how she claimed to hate you and all the fear she has for you, there s a way that her body changed when you came in, her eyes to be precise and it was only possible when one felt safe and easy around another person. She trusts you more than she would trust me, get her to talk to you." They spent over an hour with Nafisa telling him how he was supposed to treat and speak to Maryam as that would certainly improve her mental health. Na im was just listening to her, not that he knew if it was possible for him to do any of the things she had mentioned. She promised to be back to check up on her in a week after he told her that she couldn't be brought to the hospital for a session and she gladly accepted the house consultation again. Na im drove back to Shehuri as they called their palace in Maiduguri, with his mind clogged with different thoughts. He drove directly to his chamber and got into a shower, even though she had promised him that she would forward everything pertaining Maryam s autism to a professional, he silently prayed that it wouldn t be as serious as she made it sound. He took his bathe and ate the dinner that was brought to him and when he asked them to come and pick it, Na im was seated in the living room when a maid walked in with her eyes fixed on her feet as she walked towards the dining table. He could remember seeing her in his chamber for some years, maybe three years to say the least. She was about to take the tray out when he spoke, "Hey, come over." She dropped the tray with her hands shaking as she walked back to the living room. She knelt far away from him and her whole body shook for she thought she had done something wrong to him. "What s your name?" Na im asked, he was thinking that she would be the perfect maid he was looking that would take care of Maryam. "My name is Bilkisu, Your Highness." She bowed and her voice trembled. "How old are you?" He asked again, because he thought the age gap shouldn t be big between them for them to be friends. "I'm 19 years old, Your Highness." Perfect, Na im thought as he smiled. "Be at ease, Bilkisu. I have a work assigned for you but it s outside the palace, will you be able to do it? I'll pay you ten times your salary but you have to live in a house everyday." She looked up at him with a terrified expression and he slightly shook his head, "You have someone to take care of, not a child but she s nothing less of a child. Will you be able to do it?" That seemed to ease her mind and she frantically nodded her head. "With utmost joy, Your Highness." He stood up, "Good, get your things ready, I'll take you to the house in fifteen minutes." He walked to his room to get ready and didn t wait to hear her answer and he heard when the main door was closed in a rush. Na im wondered how Maryam was able to live in that house alone for all these hours and she had nothing to do. He doubted if she could even turn the TV on for her to get things out of her mind.