Heartless Love

Chapter 15

ZAHRA—

I'm in our room, curled up in a ball clenching onto my stomach on the bed and groaning at the pain.

Why do period cramps have to be so painful?

I hear a few light knocks on the door, "go away" I say already knowing it's Bilal.

He continues to knock, "go away! " I demand already fed up. "I'm coming in," he says with a softer tone than usual which I find quite odd but that thought doesn't stay for long, and it gets pushed away by the pain in my stomach.

He opens the door and takes 2 steps in before stopping.

I sit up straight, not wanting to, but I do anyway

I notice he has a tray of food in his hands.

"You missed breakfast so I got us food to eat here"

"Us? "

"Yeah, I felt bad if I ate without you," he says and I'm quite shocked that he actually felt bad if he ate without me.

"You, feeling bad about something? " I say teasingly while giggling a bit. He smirks holding onto his laughter and grabs a pillow near him and throws it towards me while holding on to the tray of food in the other hand. I catch the pillow right before it hits my face with one hand as I continue to giggle.

He looks at me impressed by my reflexes and all I could do is shrug.

"Shall we? " he asks as he lifts the tray a little, gesturing that we should eat.

"We shall," I say, my smile still plastered on my face revealing my dimples and he gives me a small grin in return.

He sits down on our bed and puts the tray between us. Bilal pours some tea into a cup and hands it to me, "Be careful, it's hot" he says, his voice soft.

I raise an eyebrow at what he said, taking the cup from his grip into mine, "the heat of the tea is nothing, I won't feel it" I say, stopping, regretting what I said, and not wanting to say more because I know he'll ask about what I meant.

The thing is... Because of amount beatings I got from my father, I became numb; I can't feel the pain anymore because my body is just used to it... It's normal to my siblings and I at this point.

"What do you mean?"

And what did I just say...

"Nothing," I say quickly, not wanting him to bring it up anymore but he does anyway... again, " Zahra, what do you mean" he demands that I tell him. "I'll tell you later, it's not that big of a deal" my voice sounds cold with the slightest bit of annoyance

He finally gives in and believes that I will do as I said.

*****

I notice that Bilal has been staring at me for what felt like 3 minutes straight without looking away

Creepy much

"What? " I ask innocently.

"What" he repeats my question

"You have been staring at me for the past 3 minutes"

"Oh... I have? "

I nod answering his question.

"Oh-uh... It's just that I've realized that you aren't really acting like yourself lately"

"What do you mean? "

"You've been acting cold and... grumpy"

This guy is so clueless

"If you don't want to die, keep your mouth shut," I say playfully, holding onto the butter knife with two fingers, making it seem like I'm threatening him.

He throws his hands in the air in surrender," Okay, okay, calm down" he says and laughs as he understood that I was kidding

I feel a sudden sharp pain in my stomach, feeling like I'm being stabbed in the stomach repeatedly.

I wince at the feeling of my cramps, clench onto my stomach and lay down in the bed curled up in a ball.

Bilal looks at me with concern, " Zahra, what's wrong? "

This guy can't be anymore clueless

"It's cramps you idiot! " I yell at him and immediately feel bad for doing so, "sorry for yelling, but still" I apologize for screaming at him and he smiles.

"Don't apologize," he says  "Stay here, love, I'll be back"

He leaves the room, leaving me here on the bed trying so hard to ignore the pain but I can't.

He comes back a few minutes later with a heating pad and hands it to me, "use this, I'm not sure if it helps but I google searched it, and it said that it helps," I smile taking the heating pad from his grip and place it on my stomach above my shirt.

"I got you some snacks too, they are in the kitchen if you need them"

I realise that my smile is still plastered on my face.

I honestly can't understand why he so nice to me but cold and cruel to others.

We used to hate each other so much and now I can't even remember the last time we were mean to each other.

*****

Bilal left for work and I'm here bored and alone at home.

To distract myself, I decide to do some cooking.

When I need to distract myself from something, I usually do something I love and cooking is one of the things I love.

I decided to cook Bilal's favorite Lebanese food because I thought that it'd be nice to do something for him.

I heard my phone ring and it was Bilal calling I washed my hands and answered the call, "Asalamu Alaikum Bilal" I say "waalaykum Aslam, love. I'm about to finish with work, do you need me to get anything on my way back home? " he answered and I'm surprised that he replied to my Salam because he usually doesn't... I guess he's in a good mood today. "Uh- yeah, I've had a migraine for a while, can you get me some medicine? "

"Okay, I'll be there soon"

"Thank you, bye"

"Anything for you, love" and he hangs up.

I have this feeling every time he says the word "love"... it makes me blush and makes me feel like someone actually acknowledges me for once and loves me. It may just seem like a 4 letter word to some people, but it's more than that to me.

*****

Asalamu Alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakato 🤍
Thoughts?
I am so sorry it took so long to update, and I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't the best. Personally I didn't like  it myself, but I published it bc u guys rlly wanted me to. I swear I'll try my best next time in sha Allah
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your day😊
Thank you all and Ily all sm<3
Allah Hafiz 🫀