Maryam came out of her room squeezing water out of her hair with a towel. She was dripping wet from head to toe. Muhammad followed after her shortly sporting a massive grin. "Let's go and dry the hair." He said holding her shoulder as he tried to push her back to her room but she resisted. "No, thank you, mister. I will not let you do anything for me again. Just because I let you wash my hair now I am dripping wet. I don't even know how you did it. Look fah." She motioned at the now-wet carpet where she stood. 

Muhammad laughed. "Haba mana you know I just wanted to help. There's no use of you going to the salon when you've got a highly skilled husband." She eyed him saying, "Toh Sannu mage of Jeongjingak."
"Jang Uk ba." He teased wiggling his eyebrows.
She shook her head and couldn't help laughing. They binge-watched Alchemy of souls last night and are obsessed. "You're not serious." She looked at the wall clock and turned to him. "You should go and get ready, it's almost 2. You are going to be late."

Muhammad looked at the clock also and said, "Subhanallah, time moves so fast now." He quickly went to his room and entered the bathroom. Maryam followed him with her eyes and laughed. Suddenly She remembered that she has left food on fire,   "Oh my God!" She shrieked and ran to the kitchen.

"Baby, are you okay?" Muhammad asked from the toilet. Maryam shouted, "yes. I forgot the soup on fire."
"Oh."
Aisha was in town, and she's coming to visit. Maryam was so excited as it's been long since they last met.

Thankfully, nothing happened to the food. She ordered Masa from a local restaurant and was making the soup herself. She turned off the heat and proceeded to pour it into a food warmer. Once she was done, she took everything to the dining table and kept hers and Muhammads' in the living room on the carpet.

They eat together when they are at home, on the carpet in the living room. She brought the zobo and kept it also.
"Darling, food is ready! Come and eat before you leave."
She went and changed into a chiffon top and paired it with a nice turban. Once she was done getting ready, she went to Muhammad's room and found him seated on his bed, putting socks on. "Be fast please, I'm hungry." She squeezed her face. Muhammad looked at her and laughed saying, "Okay, okay I'm coming."

He got up and adjusted his shirt then turned to Maryam. "How do I look?" Maryam looked at him from top to bottom then gave him a thumbs up. "Handsome as always."

He smiled and came and pulled her to him, hugging her by his side. "You look so pretty." She looked up at him and battled her eyelashes, "don't I always?"
He chuckled, "yes, of course. For a moment I forgot who I was complimenting."

She laughed and rose to her feet and pecked him.
They walked to the living room and sat down, had their lunch then Muhammad left for the hospital while Maryam washed the dishes they had spoilt. After she was done, she burnt incense and watched a movie while waiting for Aisha.

About 30 minutes later, Aisha knocked on the door and was welcomed in with a huge smile and a hug.
"Aisha, how are you? Long time no see." Maryam held Aisha's hand and pulled her with her into the house. Aisha smiled, "I know right, it's been how long? 4 months now or so." Maryam nodded. "I've missed you guys so much."
"We've missed you as much. We were talking with the girls that we should all find a particular week to come up here and spend some time with you. But everyone has been so busy."

Maryam pouted, "Wallahi I would love that. It'll be so much fun." Aisha nodded and pulled her veil off. "Insha Allah we'll come when everyone is less busy."
"Amin to that."

Maryam's eyes followed a sweat that dripped down Aisha's face. "Is it that hot outside? See how you're sweating." She took the remote of the air conditioner and increased the temperature. "Sosai fa. If I was a block of ice, I'll have melted completely." She chuckled. Maryam laughed. "Allah sarki, sorry. Then you must be hungry and thirsty, come I made your favorite meal."
"What? Masa?!" Aisha squealed. Maryam nodded. "Come on, let's go."

"By the way, your house smells so good, I'm sure this is why Ya Muhammad is always at home when he's not at work." Maryam looked down and blushed but didn't say anything. They went to the dining area and Maryam served Aisha. When she was done eating, Maryam asked her to follow her to her room, that she wants to show her some skincare stuff that she'd bought.

After she'd shown her, they both sat on the floor and talked about different things. From their lives, to work, friendship, and more. Whatever came up. "You know when you and Ya Muhammad got married, I thought it was because of what I'd told you, his illness." Maryam's eyes widened but she quickly regained her composure. Please, not this again. How many times are they going to talk about this?

"You were never the secretive type, you always told us when you were in a relationship, or if something had happened to you or anything. But none of that happened. We didn't hear a word, not from you or him."-"and suddenly not long after I had told you about it, your wedding to him was announced and you say you guys have been together awhile." Aisha stared at her.

Maryam shook her head and started to say something but was cut off. "The day it was announced, I stayed up all night thinking maybe I made you do something that you didn't like, or maybe I had influenced your decision in some kind of way. Already we know you are a softhearted and kind person, and you care about literally everyone in our family, and coupled with the knowledge of his illness, I thought maybe you were getting married to him to save him." Maryam shook her head as her eyes filled up with tears. She had no idea why she was feeling emotional at that moment.

Aisha hugged her as her eyes also filled with tears. "But now I know because I've seen it. You guys got married because you love each other and you seem so happy. I am so happy for you guys. I pray to Allah to keep your marriage safe and away from harm, evil eye, and whatnot." -"I pray that you'll be his only wife because we'll not accept anybody else. We love you and only you." Aisha chuckled and held Maryam's hands. Maryam found herself unable to speak and with a good reason. As if she was to say something now, it will come out with the tears that she was trying so hard to hold.

She felt so guilty for not telling, but she was afraid people will say she only married him out of pity and not love which was not the case. And she doesn't feel the need to prove herself to people when she knows why she married him. Affection.

A knock on the bedroom door broke her out of her reverie. Her head jerked to the side, her heart slamming in her chest in the process. Muhammad salaamed and pushed the door open. Maryam looked at him, eyes wide. Have they been heard? The possibility of that being true made her knees weak. Cold sweat dripped down her body and she stumbled as she tried to stand up. Muhammad was quick to grab a hold of her before she landed on the floor. "Careful, we don't want you stumbling and ruining your pretty face." He said with a smile. Maryam felt her heart calm down a little, ok perhaps he didn't hear them. He helped her to her feet.

He turned to Aisha who was looking at them lovingly and said, "hi Aisha." She went and hugged him. "Ya Muhammad I have missed you so much." He chuckled and hugged her back. "I have missed you too. Ya su mama?"

"They are all fine, same as always. I had already concluded that I wasn't going to meet you today, how come you are back?" Aisha asked. Muhammad walked out of the room saying, "Wallahi even I thought I wasn't going to meet you, I forgot an important document on my bed and I had to come back and get it."

"Oh, Allah sarki."
Maryam followed Muhammad to his room and found him putting the document in a bag then he went to his document drawer and began searching for something. She wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. So she just went ahead and hugged him from behind, "as if you knew I was starting to miss you when you came back. I think we have some kind of couple telepathy."

"Indeed?" He said, gently removing her arm from around him. He moved around her and walked away without as much as a glance her way. Maryam looked at him dumbstruck. This has never happened before. Sure they have had their fight here and there but they never walked away from each other like that.

She quickly shook her head. Perhaps he has had a lot of things to worry about and it was getting to him. He was stressed about work, that must be why he even forgot an important document at home. Yes, that's it. She didn't want to accept that he might have heard them.

But he was ignoring her.

Her eyes welled with tears as she followed him with her eyes as he did whatever he was doing in the room. "Toh, till I come back." That was all he said as he walked out of the room. He didn't even wait to hear her reply. He went to her room and spoke with Aisha before he left.

Maryam stood there for what felt like an hour just staring into space. What was she going to do? "No, he'll come back to me in a better mood Insha Allah." She nodded at that and pushed back her tears and went back to Aisha. They continued chatting for about an hour before Aisha left.

Then Maryam was left all alone with her thoughts. "Oh Maryam, please stop imagining things, what's the worst that can happen even if he had heard us? I'll just explain everything to him and we'll be just fine. He didn't even hear us." She smiled and brought out her phone and called her best friend. They chatted for about 30 mins before she went and prayed.

After isha, she prepared dinner for them. Muhammad didn't have night shift that day so they'll get to have dinner together. She made stir-fried pasta with shrimp and minced meat. He loves that.

She sat in the living room watching 'Big mouse' a new Korean series while waiting for him. About an hour later, she checked the time and groaned, "when is he coming back now?" She got her phone and tried to call him but his phone was unreachable. "He must be busy, let's wait for an hour longer then I'll just go to sleep." She thought to herself. She picked a remote and dimmed the light in the living room, adjusted her position, and continued watching the film.

Before she knew it, she fell asleep.

                           ••**••
Maryam woke up to the sound of the adhan for fajr. She rubbed her hands over her face to clear the sleep from her eyes, as she searched for her phone. She found it on the floor and took it hoping to find missed calls from her husband. When she didn't find any, she groaned and got up.

She went to Muhammad's room and knocked, only to be met with silence. "Wait what? Has he not come back yesterday? And he didn't call me?"  She thought as tears filled her eyes. It is clear then, Muhammad is mad at her and he most definitely heard them.

What is she going to do now? And the thing is she misses him, badly. She pouted and went to her where she prayed, took her bath, and got dressed. She couldn't wait for the sun to rise so she can go and find Muhammad, wherever he was. She wasn't about to sit like a damsel in distress and wait for him to come back whenever he wished to.

"I hope this food has not spoilt," she whispered to herself as she opened the food warmers on the dining table. She smelt it and tasted it and thankfully it was fine. "That man!" She growled, anger building inside of her. "How could he not come home yesterday and didn't even bother to call me? Just you wait, I'll find you and then...then ... oh God! What if something happened to him on his way home or... or he was kidnapped!" Her mind screeched to a pause at that. "Oh God, there's that possibility. Or he had been in an accident." Tears filled her eyes. She kept the warmer aside and grabbed her phone. It was already 8 am, so she could call his work friends, couldn't she?

She didn't think twice before dialing the first person's number. He picked up on the second ring. "Hello?!" His voice sounded a bit gruff, as though he had just woken up. "Hello Abdulsamad," she answered enthusiastically, eager to find out the condition of her husband. "Oh, Hajiya Maryam?"
"Yes. Wait... did I just wake you up from sleep?"
"Well yes..."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I'm going to hang up now." She said hurriedly.
"It's fine since I'm awake already. What is the matter?"
She pushed back her glasses. "I wanted to ask if you know where Muhammad is, please. He was supposed to come home yesterday but he didn't and I'm so worried, I'm scared that something bad has happened to him." She ranted in one breath. Well, she didn't need to say that much, but...Whatever.

Abdulsamad cleared his throat and said, "first of all you need to calm down. Muhammad is fine. I...yes he was supposed to come back yesterday but he requested a night shift all of a sudden. He didn't tell you? " Her eyebrows almost reached her hairline. "Oh really?"

Abdulsamad continued without suspecting anything, "yes. We were a bit surprised also because Muhammad is usually the type who leaves work immediately after work. He says that he doesn't want to leave you at home alone. Anyways, he's at the hospital right now." He yawned completely unaware of the storm that he had just risen.

Maryam's hands were shaking. "Ok, thank you so much."
"Is everything ok?"
"Of course, what could be wrong? Now that I think about it, he did call me last night and tell me but I wasn't exactly paying attention as I was sleepy." Her voice sounded off. 
"Oh, Toh Alhamdulillah. Anything else?"
"No. You have done more than enough. Thank you."

She hung up and stared at the phone for a long time and it was as though she had turned into a standing statue. Then she turned and ran to her room, grabbed an abaya, and wore it over her sleeveless gown. She put her phone and everything in her bag and sprang out. Making sure that the house security was set, she made her way to her car, and drove directly to the hospital; Muhammad's workplace.

                            ~~**~~

The storm is yet to come!
Hy guys🤐
How are you all? How is everything? Finally, after many requests, I have written another chapter. Honestly, I thought I had finished the novel, but I guess not.
So what do you think of this chapter?
Yay or Nay?
I love you all💗
With love, fatima🥀