BETROTHED ✓

23°

Larai's eyes fluttered open and memories of what Mr. Kasim had attempted to do to her flashed back in her mind.

She rose to her feet and ambled towards the mirror. The reflection that stared back at her, wasn't hers—it was a sad girl, with red and puffy eyes. Her hair was disheveled and she had a runny rose. She used to be happy. She wished she could go back to her childhood. As a child, she had always looked forward to being an adult, but as an adult now, she wished she had not grown up. To her, adulthood was overrated and childhood, underrated.

Larai knew the best thing to do was to tell Yusuf about his father, but by so doing, she could ruin his family. She didn't want that. Yusuf didn't deserve to have his family broken because of her. Yusrah and Yumnah would hate her as well. She didn't have it in her to cause havoc in their peaceful home. She had no choice, but to keep the sacrilege buried deep within herself.  
She walked back to the door and opened it to take a peep in the room and find out if Mr. Kasim was still in the room. Seeing no signs of him, she emerged from the bathroom and rushed to the bedroom door, and secured it with locks.

The sound of her phone ringtone startled her. She hurried to the bed, where the phone was kept, and picked it up. Her heart plummeted at the caller ID—Yusuf. He traveled all the way to her village because of her and instead of calling to check up on him, she didn't. She had completely forgotten about it. She felt embarrassed and wondered what he must be thinking of her.

With a trembling finger, she clicked on the receive button and placed the phone against her ear. "Assalamu'alaykum."

"Wa'alaykum salam." Came his voice.
"How are you?"

Tears slid down Larai's cheeks. She was tempted to tell him all about his father's disgusting acts. It took almost all of her willpower for her to be able to push back the words. "Have you arrived there yet?"

"Almost. I'm already in Niger state. Is everything okay over there? Your voice—"

"Yes." She gulped, cutting him off. "I'm sorry for not calling to check up on you, I fell asleep and—"

"That's not a problem. It's even a good thing. At least you've been able to recover the rest you were supposed to have last night. I know you couldn't sleep.

"Hmm."

"I want you to be rest assured that everything is alright. I will see you when I return."

"Safe journey. May Allah protect you." Larai prayed. 

"Ameen." He responded. "I will call you later."

"Bye." Larai ended the call and let out the sob she had been repressing. Mr. Kasim deserved to be exposed and on the other hand, was poor Yusuf, he wouldn't be able to take the news. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

•

The evening arrived at a slow pace. Larai was still in her room. She couldn't leave even if she wanted to, for the fear of Mr. Kasim. She feared he was somewhere around the corner, waiting for her to leave the room, so he could take advantage of her.

She took a glance at the wall clock and realized it was 7 o'clock already, then ambled to the bathroom to perform ablution for maghrib prayer.

Larai didn't get up from the mat until she had offered her night prayer.

Amidst tears, she prayed to Allah to protect her from all harms—seen and unseen.

Larai didn't realize she had begun to doze off on the prayer mat until she heard a knock on the door.

She sprung to a sitting position and placed a hand on her thumping heart. "Who's there?" She forced out the words, even though she already had a hunch who it was.