Mending You And I

Chapter Twenty

——Maryam's POV——

For a second, it felt like it was just my imagination but when Abdullah held out his hand with a small smile on his face, I couldn't help but confirm it. "You mean...you and I... Dancing together?" I raised an eyebrow at him as I asked him that, half expecting him to back out of it.

Instead, he nodded. "Is that so hard to believe?" his tone was light. I stared at his hand weirdly, nodding slowly. "Umm...yeah." I said in a 'duh' tone but he looked like he had already predicted it.

His hand scooped down and took mine, the feeling of his rough skin against my soft one returning. He started walking and I followed him, thinking about what had gotten into him. Not a few minutes ago, he was getting annoyed over Noor's unwanted appearance but now, he was playing husband and wife with me again.

I was starting to suspect he was bipolar or something.

"You've never danced, I'm assuming. It'll be a new experience." Abdullah replied to my previous statement which knocked me out of my thoughts. My eyes traveled from our hands entwined, to his back. For some reason, it hit me that it was the third time he had so confidently held my hand and I couldn't help but blush.

"Dancing isn't such a good thing. Not very appropriate. And to do it in front of all these people..." I stopped in my tracks. He looked back at me and I noticed the look of confusion flash on his face. "Sorry but it's not very Islamic." I looked away, unsure of how to properly reject his offer.

I could hear him sigh almost in annoyance, making me looking back at him. "Not very Islamic, huh?"  then his eyes stopped looking around as if they had caught something. They narrowed and he didn't finish his previous sentence before saying the next one. "Noor's already found a partner." His expressions darkened and his hands curled into a fist. My gaze shifted to where he looked and sure enough, Noor was holding another man's hand, laughing, chatting, and overall trying to flirt with him.

"That was fast," I commented to which he nodded. I saw Noor's eyes meet with his and she just glared at him with a lot of complaints written on her face. "She's doing it to make me jealous." He said.

Suddenly the dimmed lights started moving and a different song started playing. I could hardly see Abdullah in the dark but thanks to his stronghold on my hand, it wasn't hard to find him again. The hall, though dark, looked beautiful. After all, the expensive diamonds on every woman's dress in the room sparkled and it looked as if the gems were moving on their own at first glance.

My own heels stole the spotlight as they shimmered and glowed in the dimness of the ballroom.

"Maryam, the dance has started." Abdullah began. "No one here is looking at us. It's going to take hardly a few minutes. We'll be done before you know it."

He sounded so convincing that it was hard to say no again but I didn't want to seem so easy to get. "I don't know—" I was cut off by him when he started leading me into the dance area where people had already started to gather. "It's going to be fine." He assured me quickly and with his hold still on my hand, he twirled me around like a doll until I faced him.

I almost gasped, startled by his sudden move. "W-wait!" but he didn't listen. He sneaked his arm around my waist and pulled me close. At that moment, my heart almost fell out of my chest and the lump in my throat made it hard to breathe.