2 weeks later.
To Muhammad, these past weeks have been the best days of his life. He got to spend every single moment with the love of his life, his favorite person. He prays and thanks Allah for all the blessings in his life. He believes no one is as blessed as he is at the moment, it's like a dream, too good to be true.

There wasn't a day that passes that Maryam wouldn't feel her heart beating even faster for her husband. She falls more in love with him every day. She was glad she asked him to marry her and if she could go back in time, she wouldn't change a single thing other than making it happen even sooner.

Muhammad came back home after a little reunion with his friends. Maryam had to force him to go because he didn't want to leave her. Even though she loves having him with her every moment, she still thinks he needs to not be isolated all the time. He has friends and responsibilities that he needs to attend to.

He pushed open the front door and entered with a salam. "Babe," he called. He glanced at the paper bag he was holding grinning. He couldn't wait to show her what's in it.

When she didn't answer, he headed straight to the living room where she usually lazes around watching her all-time favorite films on repeat. She was a diehard fan of dance movies and watches them on repeat.

He didn't find her there. She must be in the toilet or something. He thought as he headed to their room. Just as he was about to enter the room, he heard her voice singing from the kitchen. He couldn't help but laugh. He remembered one time she woke him up from sleep with her horrible singing. She sulked all day because he told her how much of a terrible singer she was.

He walked to the kitchen and found her standing by the island, her back to him, chopping fruits on the chopping board. She had AirPods and was swaying her hips and following the song. She looked pretty dressed in a blue top with mom jeans.

He silently kept the paper bag on the counter and tiptoed to where she stood and wrapped his hands around her. She stiffened and yelped out loud. When he started laughing, she instantly recognized him and visibly relaxed. "Muhammad, don't scare me like that!"

He chuckled and placed a kiss on the side of her lips, "I'm sorry, couldn't resist." She rolled her eyes but smiled and leaned back her head. He placed his lips on hers, enjoying the comfort of their daily routine.

He pulled out and smiled watching her dazed expression. He hugged her, rocking their body from side to side. Maryam closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his torso. "Ya...," she started. The look he sent her got her chuckling "Oh Muhammad I've got to finish this," she motioned at the fruits. "Finish it now, I'm not stopping you." His arms were however still wound around her waist.

She smiled gazing into his brown eyes, the eyes that she got fascinated with when she found out that they were a light shade of brown, not the usual normal one they all had. He was wearing a gray tee with black slacks. "Yes, you are."  "I don't want to let go." He whispered blowing air into her neck to make a fart sound. "Ya Muhammad!" She chuckled. He snickered and pulled away to let her get back to her thing.

"You still call me by name," he pointed out making his way to the counter where the paper bag was. Maryam glanced at him and just smiled without saying anything. It took about 5 days to get her to stop calling him Ya Muhammad and will probably take more than that to start calling him any pet name. She went back to chopping the pineapples. He loves pineapples, so she makes sure it is always available for him in the fridge.

He didn't want to pester her because he knew very well how women get when you annoy them so he threads carefully around that line. "Do you need help?" He asked taking a seat on one of the bar stools. She looked around the kitchen and shook her head saying, "not currently." He sat there and watched her work, talked about his day with his friends, and listened to her rant about what Yasmin did to her.

Once she finished cutting the fruits, she put them in Tupperware and kept it in the fridge. She rinsed the board, and everything else and finally turned to him. That was when she finally noticed the bag in front of him. Her eyes widened at first then her mouth went slack. "Is that..." He nodded, grinning.
She squealed, her eyes twinkling with delight. "You were listening to me?"
"The whole time." He added. Her love language was receiving gifts. He figured that out earlier this week when he surprised with a bunch of flowers and thanked her for allowing him to be a part of her life.  She got all teary eyes and couldn't stop talking about that day all week.

There is this online shopping website that just opened and she scrolls through it every single day listing everything she was going to buy and how she's going to style everything. She assumed he wasn't listening but turns out he was indeed listening. He even writes down everything she says on the note app on his phone.

She grabbed the bag and opened it. "Oh, Allah!" She placed her hand over her mouth. She looked up at him, her heart swelling with emotions. He was just standing there looking pretty with arms folded. He nodded and gestured for her to have a look.

She pulled out the first item. It was a brown Allsaints Harley Eel leather crossbody bag. Her eyes widened. She squealed as she raised it to examine it. She has wanted the bag since forever. She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear as she excitedly pull out the next item which was a OneStep+ Polaroid camera. "Oh my God," she gushed. "For your vlogs," Muhammad whispered. She looked at her, eyes filled with tears. I love you she whispered.
"I love you more."
She kept the camera by the side and pulled out a cropped cashmere hoodie, then a boyfriend bold chain mejuri necklace, then one C.E.O. glow vitamin C and turmeric face oil. "Thought of your position when I saw that." He said pointing at the face oil. C.E.O.

She took a huge gulp of air to calm her raging hormones. He opened his arms and she walked towards him and hugged him muttering how thankful she was. Muhammad felt pleased with himself. He pressed a kiss on her forehead and wiped a tear that fell from her eyes.

She smiled and ran her fingers over the dark stubbles on his face, "now I feel bad, I have never gotten you anything and you have bought everything I've requested." He shook his head and rubbed his face over her palm, seeming to enjoy the touch. "Being with you alone is a gift for me."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. "I wanted to do a lot with you, I know how you wanted your wedding to be a grand affair and how much you wanted to go for a honeymoon, but all of that didn't happen because of how fast the wedding happened and my work. I'm sorry." He said. Maryam shook her head smiling. "I swear I wouldn't ask for anything other than this. I love how everything turned out more than anything."

He wrapped his arms tighter around her, "come, I want to see how good It looks on you." She nodded and packed the stuff, before heading to their room.

                         ——^-^——
S a t u r d a y
     Maryam woke up as early as 11:30 am, took her bath, and got ready. She was visiting her childhood friend whom she had reunited with over the past few weeks. They had lost contact with each other but got reunited through social media. She asked Muhammad if she could visit her about 2 days ago, the day her friend Halima invited her and he said yes.

Muhammad was in the kitchen making a cup of green tea for himself. He got up way before she did at 7:30 am to get some work done, that was when he usually gets it done. During the day, Maryam is all over the place and he just cannot concentrate with her around. (His words, not mine.)

He resumed work on Monday, that was 5 days ago. It has been a real struggle for the both of them, being away from each other for a long time. So when he isn't working he tries to make it up to her as much as possible.

She sat on the dresser chair in their room humming as she puts on a golden-rimmed earring. She was so excited for the day, they planned to go to one art and spill program that Halima's sister was holding, and then head straight to Bleu cafe.  She picked her gold chain mejuri necklace and wore it over her black long ballon sleeved dress. She smiled at her reflection and got up, adjusting the black oversized belt she wore over the dress.  

She sprayed perfume and stepped in front of the full-length mirror, smoothing out wrinkles from the dress. Muhammad walked in, muttering a small salam. He was holding a tray of tea and a plate of toasted bread. He stilled in the doorway when he saw her. "Wow!" He murmured, his eyes shining with admiration. Their eyes met through the mirror and a soft smile spread across her lips.

"Ah, ah!" he kept the tray on the dresser and walked towards her. She spun around and faced him a smile playing in her eyes. "Whose wife is this?" He whistled. "Now I just want to stand still and look at you." He rubbed his chin staring down at her. She grinned then twirled in delight the side of the dress lifting around her.

"And when you smile like that, my world stops." She chuckled and reached taking his hand in hers. He pressed his face to her neck, deeply inhaling her scent. "You smell like baby powder and maple sugar," he muttered. Maryam furrowed her brows in a what does that imply kinda way. "Never thought they'll pair well together, but I don't think I like anything better than this. It's addicting." Maryam chuckled and detached herself, or at least tried to, from him saying, "ya Moha you'll drop me at Habiba's house, you know I still can't drive." He drew back and fixed her with a confused look. "You're going somewhere?"

She knit her brows together, and her smile froze. "Yes, what do you mean?" She stared at him. She was pretty sure he had said yes that day. "I don't remember giving you the permission to go." Her eyes widened and her heart slammed in her chest, "I . . . I don't understand, what are you trying to say? I asked you the day before yesterday if I could hang out with Halima and I clearly remember you saying yes before I even went ahead and told her." Muhammad shook his head and turned to the dresser. He took his tea and found a place to sit all while Maryam's eyes was following him, waiting for him to say something.

"I do not remember you asking me anything of a sort." He took a sip of the tea. "Seriously I did." She went and sat beside him. "Please ya Muhammad stop joking around."
He raised one eyebrow at her saying, "Do I look like I am joking?" His face had turned serious and she knew deep down that he was not joking. As much as she hates to believe that.

"When you came back from work that day, I told you I reunited with my childhood friend and wanted to meet her and you said ok." She tried again. He looked at her from the lid of his cup, "You didn't say today."
She stared at him mouth hanging open. "Ya Muhammad . . ."
The next thing he said shocked her to stillness."You're not going." The way he said it nonchalantly angered her. A lump formed in her throat as she stared him down. "But I promised her . . ."
"Maryam," he interrupted fixing her with a stare, "you are not going."

"Why?!"
"Didn't you go out yesterday? And the day before it?"
"I went to Aunty harissa's house yesterday to return her food warmers she brought food for us in," she said slowly trying to reason with him. "And the day before that I went to your friend's wife's house for her naming ceremony. It's not like I went out for myself, I had to."
He took another long sip of the tea and just looked at her, without saying anything. And he didn't have to, his eyes conveyed whatever he wanted to say to her. She wasn't going anywhere.

Her eyes filled with tears. He was exercising his power over her. He was showing her that he was in control. He was showing her that he had a right over her. Muhammad looked away and fixed his eyes on his phone. She stared at him for a long time, fury spread through her but she shoved it down, her blood boiling, and hand shaking. So this was what Aunty sabeeha meant when she said one day he will exercise his power over you, just to show you that he is your husband.

She wiped the tears that escaped from her eyes and got up. Without another word or even a look at him, she walked right out.

Muhammad watched as she left the room and headed to her room then closed the door after her. He dropped the cup and massaged his temple. Why did he do that? He hated seeing her cry, and to add more to it, he was the cause for it, and man if he didn't feel bad about it.

                             ~~**~~
Heyyo my people!
How are you? I'm sorry for the late update, I am at school and it has been hectic. So please bear with me.
Thank you
I love y'all❤️
With love Fatima🥂