The other woman's DAUGHTER

Chapter 26

Noorie giggled at what a friend of hers was saying. It turns out that coming outside had been her best decision ever. She had successfully buried the thoughts of Iman deep into her soul, he merely peeks out and she had been able to ignore the need to think of him.

Soon, Maryam came to her table with a pad and immediately dampened Noorie's spirits with her presence. It irks her so much that Maryam was always going right by her family. It made her wonder what Maryam was made of, how could someone be good?

How could anyone just swallow everything and pay back in kind. The moment Maryam picked up the stupid book, decided to take people's order for this event had put her in a bad light. Her mother has been shooting daggers at her, and for that reason she had turned her chair away from her mother's view. She wasn't going to stand up and help even if the world would blow up into pieces.

"What would you like to eat?" Maryam had asked and Noorie's friends quickly stated what they wanted. It wasn't Noorie's turn yet but Maryam felt the need to serve her sister's friends first, for her reputation. Though her intentions were clean, turns out Noorie felt she was being hypocritical. When Noorie did not say anything, Maryam turned to her. "Aren't you eating?"

"Is it any of your business if I and my friends eat or not? Did I tell you, I had no legs to go get our food?" She spat back making Maryam cower. The friends shifted uncomfortably, one of them even tried swatting Noorie but ofcourse it did nothing to Noorie's raging spirit. She hissed angrily and shooed Maryam away like some fly. Maryam felt her eyes blur with tears, but she did not allow it drop. Infact she had swallowed it and went ahead to go serve others.

This had happened moments before she moved to Iman's table where Ya Tahir's dumb friend agitated Iman.

Noorie noticed a small crowd dispersing, and the place was eerily quiet. One of her friend who had entered the building witnessed what had happened, so she had swiftly moved to her own friends who had waved her over. They all waited expectantly for her to tell them why a crowd was formed.

"Your sister's fiance is the coolest guy ever!" She squealed and all the girls giggled. They all moved closer to her to listen. Noorie felt a pang of jealousy stab her heart, knowing they were referring to Maryam's fiance. She sat admist the girls and started relaying what had formed the crowd.

Apparently, Mama had saved the day seconds away from them engaging into a fist fight. Actually when Maryam had ran away from them, Mama had been kind enough to notice the guys, she had walked over to them and asked them to move away from each other. The dumb guy had successfully irritated Mama when he talked back at her. Tahir and the other guys had removed him from the vicinity seeing he had no iota of respect.

The girls fanned themselves as soft giggles escaped their mouths. And then the praises about how lucky Maryam is to have someone who stands up to any of her oppressors. Noorie gripped the handle of the chair tightly, as anger clouded her vision. She hated how the conversation had taken a turn to how good Maryam is, it made her feel incompetent. The girls continued talking in hush tone, giggling as some of them wished they were her.

Once again for Noorie, Maryam has successfully outshined her.

Meanwhile, Tauhida and the other girls had seen everything that  had unfolded, they each started staring at Tauhida skeptically, seeing she's been telling them all that Iman could not seem to leave her out of his sight. She had been telling the girls how they had met at the airport, and how he calls her often. Tanzeel used the opportunity to seal the deal when one of them had asked why he had called Maryam his wife.

"You guys don't know?" Tanzeel had stated eagerly, forgetting how Tauhida had always been there for her, forgetting how Tauhida would stand up for her. A fight with Tauhida today had suddenly clouded her judgement and she needed to be the alpha of the group. Tauhida must stay a beta, talking back at her and conniving with others to desert her during the preparation had done it it. She was going to get to the top even if it meant sacrificing a friendship that was supposed to mean so much to her. "He's engaged to my sister Maryam, they have actually been engaged for quite a while now"