The princess of bloom

27. Sowing doubt.

Two days back,

Abdul received a call from a female who introduced herself as Gulay. The woman they met the other day. Abdul had even forgotten about the incident until she called just now.

"I knew that if I asked for a meeting, you would decline it, so I got your number. You don't need to know how." She said, making him raise his eyebrows.

Gulay was unfazed as she got no reply and continued, "Even though our meeting was brief then, I consider you my friend."

"Why do you think I would want to be friends with a woman?" Abdul frowned.

"Relax Abdulmumin. I have no bad intentions towards you. I know that you are a married man and I shouldn't be bothering you but as a concerned friend, I worry about your well-being and reputation." Gulay responded. Abdul had a deadpan expression, wanting to know where she was heading with this conversation.

"You just took over your father's company and any slight internal or external drive can bring you problems and the problem I cited is closely linked to you." She said.

"What are you getting at?" He asked squarely.

"I am speaking about your wife Zahra. From what I have heard, you just met for a short time and got married. Just how much do you know about her?" Gulay asked.

Abdul was clearly upset by the statement. "Who gave you the right to speak about my wife?"

"Calm down will you?" Gulay chuckled behind the phone. "I don't care if you believe me or not, but I am not the only one suspicious. Your wife isn't a woman who deserves your family, Abdulmumin. Not only is she a school dropout, but after that, hmmm. Just find out."

Abdul tightened his jaws as he kept quiet. It was true that he hardly knew of Zahra's background, besides what he had seen and heard, but her character and Deen explain a lot that even the misconceptions he had about her before were wiped out.

"Don't just believe what you see or hear Abdulmumin. Women are very deceptive and cunning just to get what they want. Be careful." Gulay added and ended the call.

Abdul rubbed his temples and tried to keep everything behind him but the next day, posts started alerting him on the media. What he saw astonished him greatly but he didn't jump to conclusions yet.

……

'According to the neighbors, Othman was forced to leave his family because his wife, Hazaan tried killing him with her troubles. She gave his children poor upbringings and was greedy and selfish. She collected debts under his name whenever he traveled and let him be chased by the creditors.'

'Fatmah Zahra, despite being a woman, started working in every place she finds herself in. She was fond of seducing men just for money and someone was willing to testify. Just like the hypocrite she is, she loves covering her face with a mask. Having known of the family's character, her uncle stayed away from them.'

'Fatman Zahra finally hit a jackpot by seducing the young and promising CEO of KT company, into marrying her. Many voiced out their disagreement about this marriage and some have faith that it is false.'

'She will just ruin the Kareem Taj's family good reputation. They shouldn't be blinded by this.'

'Everything is false!'

Reading through the post and comments, Zahra looked calm but she boiling in anger. She won't care if she was only targeted, but they just had to involve her mother and paint the black monster of a father, white. Not only will this affect Abdul and his mother, but it will affect her brother too. If this keeps on, he won't be able to graduate. This filled her with dreads.

Abdul was pleasantly surprised at Zahra's calmness but he knew she was angry. No one will stay calm when their family is insulted. Zahra was a woman who could hide her feelings well

"Who started this?" Zahra looked up at him and asked placidly.

"I don't know." He shrugged and collected his phone. "It started from the net and then some entertainment news. I know that reporters will start visiting me soon." He didn't tell her about Gulay yet because he had his suspicions and wanted to investigate it.

Zahra stayed quiet and looked through the window, remembering the name of the page clearly.

"Ameerah," Abdul called out and clasped her hand, making her startled. She glanced at him with a frown but he ignored it and said, "Someone actually dared to insult my wife's character and her family. Heh, I really wonder who. Just don't leave the house and stay indoors in the meantime. I'll take care of it."

"What are you going to do?" Zahra scoffed and pulled her hand out. "Are you going to deny it before everyone and then what? Do you think that they will stop just like?"

"I will deal with whatever comes, Ameerah," Abdul said and stood up. "I am just reminding you to stay in the house. Don't go out. It's an order." With her character, he was sure that she would want to retaliate.

"You are not the boss of me Khaleef!" Zhata stood up too and returned.

"Last time I checked, I am your husband and my words are final. Don't go out, so do it." He added and walked away.

Zahra harrumphed and sat back down as she clenched her fist. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes but she held them back. She didn't care about people saying that a low-class girl like her didn't deserve Abdul, but they insulted her mother and her training. This was unacceptable. She wasn't going to let it slide just like that.

That day, Abdul came back home early after Isha and was relieved that Zahra was at home. Fadilat still hadn't found out about the posts but she did realize the stillness in the two couple's relationship. As she asked them, Abdul said he was tired while Zahra said she was out of the weather and needed just a rest. Even as they went to the room, they didn't speak to each other. It was almost the same every day, but today, Zahra was clearly avoiding Abdul. He also stayed nonchalant, choosing to act as if nothing happened.

The next day, Abdul reminded Zahra not to leave the house before going to the office. After her breakfast, Zahra immediately called Firdaus on the phone. After they spoke for a while, she went downstairs to Fadilat and told her she wanted to visit he mother. Fadilat was inquisitive about why she wouldn't wait for Abdul so that they could go during the weekends together but she said, she felt like her mother needed her right now. Fadilat agreed and Zahra left the house.