Mending You And I

Chapter Twenty-Eight

——Maryam's POV——

Noor tapped her long, neon green fingernails on the wooden table. She stared at me with an apparently bored expression but her eyes held a lot of questions and a hint of irritation. "Well?" she asked coldly. I looked at my phone placed on the table and revised my words in my head.

I was waiting for that moment but weirdly, had my tongue tied when it actually came.

"I wanted to meet you, Noor." I started after taking Allah's name and quickly reciting the dua:

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

“O, my Sustainer! Open up my heart and make my task easy for me, and loosen the knot from my tongue so that they might fully understand my speech.”

I felt much better after that as if a wave of newfound courage had overcome me. That Du'a always helped me when I was nervous and couldn't find the right words to express myself correctly.

"I wanted to tell you something that might be helpful to you. Trust me, it's worth all the trouble you went through to get here." she raised an eyebrow at me as if totally unconvinced. "I don't believe it." she declared after thinking for a moment. "You can never think of helping me. There must be a catch."

I couldn't help but smile with amusement. "You know me, Noor. I'm not that selfish. But, you're right. There is a catch." she snapped her fingers in triumph. "See! I knew it!" she exclaimed. "Well, go on."

I nodded, clearing my throat. "You see, Damian is back from Turkey and you'll be happy to hear that he's not very far away from here," I told her. Looking at her, it seemed that she had switched personalities. At the mention of the name she so loved, she sat up straight and widened her eyes. No trace of irritation or annoyance was visible on her face anymore and it started to glow with joy and surprise.

"And how do you know this?" she quickly re-adjusted herself and put on her aloof expression again. "Are you still in contact with him despite the fact you're married? Something I'd expect exactly from a person like you."

My hand curled into a fist under the table but I maintained my cool and calm along with the fake sweet smile on my face, although my eyebrow twitched a little.

She just had to hit a sore spot, the wench.

"You're one to talk. But it seems people of your level think everyone else is just like them so I wouldn't be surprised." I somehow said that through gritted teeth and a forced smile. Noor's expression changed but she didn't say anything in reply.

"Anyway, I didn't call you here to fight. We can do this later. What I wanted to tell you is; Damian is going to meet Abdullah in his office today in the evening. And he's probably leaving for Turkey again tomorrow after his problem is solved. Don't ask me how I know this." I paused to look at her for a short second before continuing again.

"What will be very useful to you is to know that Damian seemed very interested in meeting you this time. And he even offered to plan a hangout again." hearing my words, Noor looked extremely pleased. She looked like she couldn't contain herself in her seat and would fly away to cloud 11 any time now.