Mending You And I

Chapter Twelve

Third Person's POV:

It suddenly hit Abdullah what he had done. When he saw the look of anger, hurt, and disbelief on Maryam's face, he took a step backward. "I-uh..." When he stuttered, Noor shot him a glance that reminded him that he had to be ruthless. But, the guilt he felt was too much that he couldn't quickly cover it up.

"I'm leaving. If you called me just to give me this present of humiliation, then I think this is enough for today." Though the tears collecting at the brim of her eyes threatened to fall, Maryam kept up a tough face. She turned around to leave before Noor or Abdullah could see her weakness.

"You deserved it, Maryam." Noor was quick to speak which made her stop in her tracks. "Noor, I swear if you say another word, I won't be able to tolerate it," she warned her, her voice breaking. She wanted to yell at them, curse them, hit them, and show them that she wasn't a weakling. But, she felt scared.

Abdullah had slapped her hard and she knew that if she fought back, he might do it again. She wasn't stupid to engage in a physical fight with him. But, she had another way to take her revenge.

"This is between you and me, Maryam. Noor has nothing to do with this." Abdullah finally talked. She bristled at him in reply. "Then why is she here? I'm not going to stay here another second if she's going to sit here and watch the show."

Maryam didn't yell at him because she knew that very soon, he was going to regret even touching her. She was giving him the benefit of the doubt that she was just a helpless little girl.

"She needs to be here because she's the one who told me what you did." his tone had gotten a little softer than when she had entered and she guessed it was because even he wasn't expecting himself to hit her. She frowned at his words because, at that moment, she felt nothing but hatred for him.

"What did I do? What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?" she folded her arms over her chest and challenged him. His expression changed and he returned to his cold, deadpan self again.

"Did you sleep with the Principal?"

It seemed like that sentence hit harder than the slap that he gave her, adding to her mental and physical pain. She lost herself for a second, still in denial that she heard correctly. "What?" she blinked twice, forgetting what Abdullah had done.

As expected, her weak tone gave Noor and Abdullah the chance to take advantage and Abdullah came closer to her with a darkened expression. "He asked if you were intimate with your principal or not," Noor repeated for him, using the kind of language that Maryam did not like.

She glared at her. "Can't you shut up for a few minutes?"

Then she turned to Abdullah. "I don't know what you're thinking but I'm not that kind of girl—" but she was cut off by him, so very rudely. "That's exactly what I thought! I thought you were a person with good moral values until Noor told me about what you did."

As much as she wanted to be totally unaffected by what he thought, she couldn't help but feel worried about her ruined reputation. Yes, he slapped her. Yes, she hated him. But, she didn't want her character to be spoken of with such disappointment and disgust.

"Are you going to believe Noor just because she said so?" Maryam demanded, pointing at the girl her age who stood with her arms folded over her chest. Abdullah got quiet for a second but fortunately for him, he was quite prepared. "Noor, tell her what you heard."

Maryam didn't like that Noor was holding such a role in her personal matters but to clear the confusion, she was going to let it happen. Even if Abdullah was a bad man, she didn't want her respect and honor to be tainted. She looked at Noor, challenging her to say what she had to.