BY ZEE ASLAM
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Farida quietly walked behind the driver as he led the way to Didi’s chamber. She felt like things won’t go the right way.
She didn’t feel this way when she was meting Bello’s family for the first time. Why does this strange feeling keeps running down her spines.
Should she turn back and later apologize or keep going to face what lies in between the lines. The sound of the driver’s knocks at the door reflected her back to reality.
The door opened and she came face to face with Khaleel. Seeing him with smiles written all over his face assured her that they were in this together.
The driver excused himself and she walked in. All eyes were on her. She bent her head down and kept playing with her finger nails.
Didi was the first to stand up from her chair to catch up with her. She has anticipated alot and couldn’t wait any longer.
Khaleel sat beside Hajiya while she sat close to Didi after they exchanged pleasantries.
“You are welcome my daughter, how was the journey, hope it was not stressful”? Didi bombarded her with questions ignoring the fact that she had asked her before.
“Alhamdulillah” she replied.
The door opened showcasing his siblings.
“Didi has she arrived”? Rayhana bagged in with a question but stopped halfway when her eyes met with that of Farida.
Wow! She exclaimed and ran to her embrace. “Boss man, you’ve got eyes, you know”. She said and winked at him.
Sadiq and Ramlat also greeted her with respect and soon the room was filled with discussion and laughter. Most of the discussion was to tease Khaleel.
Rayhana went ahead to introduce everyone to Farida and they all had one or two thing(s) to say to her but Hajiya only smiled. Boss man just proved to be a man.
Farida couldn’t bring her eyes to fall on Hajiya, her soon to be mother in-law. If only they knew how this started, they wouldn’t be smiling exposing their teeth.
The atmosphere was normal and favorable until Didi got an anonymous message from a number. She stared at the content of the message continuously after the beep sound.
Despite the AC being on, she was sweating profusely. ‘Excuse me’, she said and stood up gesturing Hajiya to come along.
“What is it, why the sudden change of expression”? Hajiya asked her while they got into the inner room.
She did not respond verbally rather, she opened the message and showed her.
“SubhanAllah” Hajiya exclaimed. She went through her phone and placed a call to Khaleel.
“Boss man, I need you here right away”. She ordered and hung up.
Khaleel was not at ease with the tone she spoke to him but since he couldn’t figure out what had happened, he excused himself and went inside.
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He met them both wearing worried and anger filled faces.
“Didi what is the problem”? He asked her as soon as he noticed their moods.
But before Didi could reply, Hajiya gave him a hard slap across his left cheek.
“Haba Hajiya did you have to do this to him”? Didi asked her confused.
“Allow me to slap some sense into his brain, for how long will he continue to behave childishly” she said ferociously and turned to face Khaleel.
‘How dare you belittle us this way’? She asked him.
“Hajiya I don’t know what you are talking about, am in the dark here”. He managed to croak out but she interrupted him………….’a word from you again would make me slap off your 32 teeth’s’!. She retorted.
“Calm down sister, this isn’t the right way to tackle this issue. Let the men handle this and not us”. Didi convinced her.
“Boss man, take Farida home first, we will talk about this when you get back”. Didi said to him.
He took a glance at Hajiya before stepping out.
“So tell us how did you meet boss man”? Ramlat popped out a question at Farida.
“She will answer that question some other day, as for now we need to go”. Khaleel interrupted their discussion.
Farida heaved a sigh of relief, he had just saved her or else God knows she would have messed up.
‘Haba boss man, she just arrived an hour ago ai and besides Didi said she was going to spend the half of the with us’. Rayhana complained.
Khaleel held himself together to avoid the transfer of aggression and said ‘I will be outside’ then left.
Farida knew something was definitely fishy, he was in a good mood awhile ago but now it’s obvious he suddenly experienced mood swing.
They exchanged contacts and walked her to the car. Khaleel did not allow her to sit well before he zoomed off.
“What’s wrong with you”? She asked concerned.
“It’s personal” he replied and focused his eyes on the road.
There was silence in the car, she could hear as his heart beat increased rapidly.
“I know we’ve promised not to interfere in each other’s personal affairs but you are beginning to scare me. You know what! Bring the car to an halt, I would do the driving”. She said and he did just that without dragging issues with her.
She opened the door and they exchanged sitting positions. He rested his head back on the seat as she drove.
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She didn’t drive home directly. She drove to the beach she had gone to the day she found out about Bello’s condition.
In the car was a square shaped rug. She brought it out and spread it on the green grass under a big tree and assisted him to come out of the car.
Farida sat beside him and put her hand on his shoulder “stop thinking this way, I don’t know what the problem is but I want you to know, I will always be there for you no matter what”.
For the fact that we are going into a contract marriage doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. She calmly said to him.
Khaleel’s attention was on the river bank where families were having fun. If only he knew what the problem was, if only he knew why his mother had raised her hand on her precious son!.
They remained there till he had calmed down and was back to his normal self before they left.
This time around, he did the driving. He drove back to the palace after dropping her off at home….
