Affianced By Force

CHAPTER FOUR - Driven

Faisal returned to a sleeping Umamah sprawled carelessly across his bed. Their bed. Her shoes were placed neatly at the foot of the closet. He found himself smiling. She had not changed at all. Years back, he remembered checking up on Sulaym and finding Umamah arguing with her brothers about arranging their shoes neatly by the door.

It was not his habit to share spaces. Aqeelah's complaint had fallen on deaf ears every time. Actually, she had complained of a lot of things. Women always did. But Umamah made it easy to cohabit with. She never moved a thing from where it was and in fact, unless you saw her going in there, you would never know she was in the place after you.

It was one of the reasons he found the kid's attributes both conflicting and exceptional. She was always so determined to act like a grown up that she never wanted to let out any sign that she was not one. She never complained of anything. And that was literally never.

He mentally rolled his eyes as he tried to shake the thoughts off. He has now lost count of the times he has caught himself comparing his ex-wives with Umamah. They were absolutely nothing alike.

Watching her sleep, he found himself smiling again. She looked so at peace, a reminder of her youth, of how young and different she was.

She always looked like she was calculating her next biggest achievement. He wished she would let herself be the kid she was, even for a day. He wanted her to break down. To scream and play and show her expression as every kid her age. But not Umamah.

Faisal was not ignorant of the fact that she was not happy in this house. He was well aware that she was not happy with this marriage. Generally, he would not have cared. That was his personality, but he did. Umamah had always made him do things he ordinarily didn't do. The height of it all was sharing a room.... And a bed.

He sighed and moved her to her side of the bed as he moved the sheets up to her chest. She was a heavy sleeper. That was the first thing he had noticed about her the first night she spent in his -their- room. She made noises in her sleep as well. Most times, they were inaudible, other times, he heard them. The whimpering of a child calling out to her father not to go yet. Yet when she was awake, all she ever did were greet him, answer his questions politely and move on.

It left him conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to let her have her way and on the other, he wanted to hold on to her until she bended to his will. Bending to his will. How interesting that would be. To have her do his bidding, not because she felt like she had no choice, but because she wanted to, and in fact, loved it.

He has given himself many reasons to not get attached to her. He told himself that she was his daughter. Not in the actual sense of it, but similar. He told himself, she hated him for accepting this and forcing himself on her. He told himself that once she was well on her feet, he would set her free. Grant her the freedom she so ached for. But none of these helped to ease the attachment that was fast growing between them, at least, on his end. It worried him beyond his comprehension.

He took off his clothes and went into the bathroom for a quick shower.

***

Umamah woke to the sound of running shower. It had not been a dream. Faisal had actually been standing by the bed and watching her, he had actually lifted her up and covered her up with the sheets.

What did he want from her? When will he stop being so caring towards her? It was becoming increasingly difficult to dislike him.

Quietly, she rose from the bed and straightened it's sheets. There, like she was never there. She did not want him to meet her in the room, so she found an escape route down stairs. She knew she should have a shower, but she wasn't going to stay there and wait for him to come out of the bathroom. They had had enough awkwardness for one day.