Nilefa: The Union

CHAPTER 34

Knowing what was right was a burden, it kept haunting her how she'd kept the trip she was planning, to herself. She held on to the pink towel she had on, which had now stained yellow from the dilke she was being rubbed with. She hated the smell of it, she hated the whole procedure. Kolo had said it would make her skin look better, but she it was a futile attempt to make her stop complaining about it. She could only see a yellower skin, nothing better than than the original, she'd said, while Aishe spent a fortune on the ingredients. She had her eyes on Yasmeen, making sure she adhered to all the instructions Kolo had given and done the routine unfailingly. No long baths and no scrubbing, Kolo had warned, hence her ruined towel. She could have gone to the spa like aunt Ruwaya had suggested, but her mother was adamant. ' Yasmeen is just too pale' she'd said. 'One would appreciate her complexion only from a fair distance.'

Her mother also never forgot to repeat the speech about how sorry she was for herself that she only had one daughter who unfortunately was Yasmeen.

She felt bad that her mother thought she was being obedient, letting go of any grudge she'd had towards the alliance and as any mother would, began preparing for the wedding. Her mother had bought a ton of kitchen items, as Yasmeen had expected. She bought some for herself too, the exact same type and color with the ones she'd brought Yasmeen. When aunt Ruwaya asked her why, she said she wanted a mum-daughter matching home items, that way Yasmeen would not miss home very much. But Yasmeen knew her mother just came up with that to cover up the fact that she might end up keeping some of Yasmeen's items for herself.

The entire Mai kura family didn't have many daughters, so it was a big deal when there was a girl's wedding around the corner. Her cousin Raihan, had called her a few days ago, saying she would be back from Cyprus in two days to attend the wedding, so would the rest of their friends and relatives all round the globe.

Her thoughts drifted back to Abdulsalam. Although it all had started with both of them trying to get their parents off their backs, unlike her, Abdulsalam didn't have two ends to the marriage happening.

There was no better way to get through it than to face it she decided, calling him and telling him right away was the only way to prevent herself from contemplating what his response would be.

Meanwhile

Abdulsalam rocked back and  forth in his chair trying to fathom the situation he was in. His wedding with Meena was in a few days, that of Khadija he didn't even know. His mother had prepared everything for the latter,and it scared him. She could come up to him anytime like she had done the last time and tell him he was married.

What frightened him the most was how Meena would react if she found out. He couldn't bring himself to tell her. He knew he had to, since there was no way out of it. His father appeared to turn a blind eye to his mother's doings as she had vowed not to associate herself with anything that had to do with Meena as well.

Abdulsalam bit hard on his lower lip as if that would gather him all the courage he needed to tell Meena he was marrying Khadija in a the least destructive manner possible. He would need her to understand that he was entirely against it. Then he stopped. He didn't need to explain himself because to Meena, he was in love with Khadija, and hers was a forced marriage. He knew, to him it was far from forced but he'd rather she perceived it that way.

It was time to leave, but he didn't want to go home. That house was no longer the place he went to find peace. His room was filled with stuff that reminded him of the very thing he was running from. The fact that his mother treated him different now, incessantly talking about Khadija and how much she would love to have her in the house. She had long made it clear to him that Khadija would be the one to live in the house with him, since the alliance with Meena was still on, and his father wasn't backing down neither.