Against The Tide (Formerly Two Tribes)

43: Battle Of Nerves

Afrah heaved a sigh of relief as she got into her room. All that she had on her mind, she was able to convey to Najah. One thing she hated the most asides from sharing her husband was pretense. If she didn't like someone, she would let the person know that she didn't like them. Her body language alone would speak for her.

The ringtone of her phone startled her a little.

She rolled her eyes when she saw Jameel's name as the caller ID. "Why is he calling now? He shouldn't have even bothered." Afrah watched as the call ended but the second after, his call came through again.

She received and waited for him to speak first.

"Afrah..." He called. "I have been calling you for a while now and you haven't been answering. I was worried. Is something wrong?"

"No," she replied flatly. "nothing is wrong."

"Are you sure? You sound—"

"I'm alright, Jameel." It cut him off although it wasn't her intention but he was annoying her further with his soporific questions. "You don't need to worry about me."

"I don't need to worry about you?" Disbelief dripped off his tone.

Afrah suppressed the urge to scoff as Amal's words flooded her mind. She suddenly lost all interest in talking to Jameel. She just wanted to be left alone to wallow in regret. If she could turn back the hands of the clock and remake certain decisions, she would in a heartbeat.

"How can I not worry about you?" He asked. "You know I can never stop. I'm even more worried about you now because of your condition...and you didn't even call to know if I had arrived safely."

Afrah wanted to tell him that she had called but he was on another call for almost one hour but she decided against it. She saw no point in doing so. "You speak as if you've been calling and I've been purposely avoiding your calls. I only missed two of your calls," she pointed out. "and the reason was because I wasn't close to the phone."

"Alright," Jameel replied. "I'm not blaming you in any way. Let's put that behind us, okay? I don't like it when your tone is like that."

"I was only answering your questions."

"Since you don't want to ask me, I'll tell you instead; I arrived safely. I got here about four hours ago."

"And it's now you deemed it fit to hear from me," she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"It has not even been a day yet and I'm already missing you so much. I wish you were here with me."

Afrah hummed. "How's Hajiya?" She asked, ignoring his confession.

"She's fine. I can pass the phone to her if you wish to speak to her."

"No, it's fine. I will call her instead."

"That's fine...did you hear what I said?"

"What?"

"I miss you already."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I miss you too. Or something else...I definitely wasn't expecting an 'Oh' from you."

"Okay."

"JaFrah."

"What?"

"Okay, something is definitely wrong. Can you tell me what's bothering you?"

"I have already told you that it is nothing. Do you want me to create a problem when there is none?"