2 Chapter 2

"Oh, she was going through all your stuff when I got here!" She complained like a police officer who had just caught a thief. "And look at what she has done! She broke that new chandelier which I gave you as a gift when I returned from Dubai just two days ago. What kind of a child is she?"

Hisham felt his little daughter's small heart beating hard against his own as if pleading him to forgive her. "It's okay, honey." He whispered into her ear and gently rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. No one can hurt her while she was in her father's arms.

But this didn't please Sulaiha. She felt as if she had been ignored.

"What is the big job she has to do in your desk at this time anyway?" She asked flatly. "And why is she out of her bed in this early morning? Is this the way you've brought up your children, Hisham? Doesn't your pretty wife teach them good manners? Oh, how would she teach them while someone else has to teach her in the first place? See, this is why I and Mama begged you not to marry that orphan girl! But you never listened to us. You_"

"Enough of this nonsense!" Hisham burst out loud suddenly, startling both Sulaiha and Maryam. And Maryam looked up at him with shock, she had never seen him fierce like that before. She wished she could get down from his strong arms and hide somewhere else, but she didn't dare to move. Instead, she hanged on to him more tightly, at least his anger was not directed at her.

His shaggy dark brows narrowed towards Sulaiha as he said sharply, "I don't have to answer your silly questions. And you don't come to teach me lessons about growing up my children. I know what is good for them better than you do. And if you keep talking rubbish about my wife, you'll have to end up regretting yourself for doing that! This is the last time I warn you."

Sulaiha stood still for a moment, but she was not someone who gives up easily. "So she is more important to you than your family, isn't she?"

"She is my family." He replied firmly and saw his wife Afra approaching the room with a confused look on her face. She had probably been praying her fajr prayers in the prayer room all this time.

'What's going on?" Her wide dark eyes asked him, and he shook his head as he wondered how much she had heard from their conversation.

Sulaiha threw a hostile look at her sister-in-law, who switched on the main light to the room and stood aside in silent. The mess on the floor had caught her attention. The colourful broken glass pieces twinkled and sparkled in the bright light like diamonds.

Maryam was however relieved to see her calm mother. She slowly got herself loosed from her fierce father's grip, slid down from him to the_ now glistening and glittering _floor, and headed towards her mother like a small kitten.

Afra suddenly got alarmed when she saw her coming. "Look out, honey!" She cautioned her. "You might get yourself hurt!". Hisham became alerted at once at her voice and Maryam's attempt failed, because he bent down quickly and picked her up from the floor, and held her protectively in his firm grip again.

"It's your honeysuckle who made up this mess," Sulaiha explained to Afra shortly with a scowl, as if telling her it was her fault. "I told you not to fondle the kids too much, and not to be too lenient to them, or you'd injure their characters. But I see it now that you've already spoilt them enough! It's been only two days since I arrived here, and this is not the first time I've seen one of them making this kind of disaster. Yesterday your other brat broke the side glass of my new car!"

Maryam remembered how her sister had broken the car glass accidentally while they were playing with their ball.

"I'll pay you off for that!" Hisham said through his gritted teeth, and Sulaiha gave him a wry smile. "I don't need your money, my little Hisham." She said rather proudly. "I have more than enough money to live a wealthy life, alhamdhulillah. My husband can afford to give me a luxurious life than our father did. You know that, don't you?"

"Then why are you so much worried about those broken glasses?" Hisham asked with a smirk and saw his other daughter walking into the room sleepily. She wakened from her sweet sleep and was driven out of her bedroom by the noises coming out from her parent's room. And now she silently stood behind her mother with her dark eyes wide open as she curiously looked at the glimmering pieces of glasses on the floor. No one noticed her standing there except Hisham.

"I'm not worried about the broken glass pieces, Hisham." Sulaiha protested. "I can replace them at any time if I wanted to. Don't you see? I'm worried about your children's behaviours. They are spoilt. You can't correct them later if you don't correct them now."

"What makes you say that?" Afra asked angrily. She loved her children very much. And she knew that they are good and innocent. After all, they are only five years old. How can they do something that bad?

"Haven't they done enough damages within two days to make me say that?" Sulaiha said and shot her a look with hatred. "Your Neem darling bumped into me so suddenly with a cup of lemonade when I just got here, and soaked me through with the lemon juice!! And that was how I met her here for the first time. I just can't believe it! Was that the way she welcomes her visitors? Or was that a kind of joke she played on me?"

Afra and Hisham exchanged glances at this because they both didn't know about this until now.

Hisham looked at Thasneem who stood behind her mother innocently. Her cheeks had turned faint red as she felt uneasy by this unexpected blow of accusation.

She had just tried to give her aunt a welcoming hug while holding on to a cup full of lemonade. The cup was heavy with the lemonade, and unfortunately, it had slipped out of her little fingers. And the juice had spilt all over sulaihas' fine dress. Thasneem had muttered an apology to her fierce aunt and ran away out of her sight. Others haven't been in the hall at that time. So nobody knew that incident until this moment.

Thasneem anxiously looked around at everyone in the room as if she expected them to blame her for that now. But no one saw her standing there except for Hisham, who caught her eyes and winked at her as a sign of saying, 'It's okay Neem. I understand.' She smiled at him feeling relieved, and dimples appeared on her rosy cheeks.

"I'm so sorry about that, Auntie Sulaiha" Thasneem said politely, breaking the silence, and stepped in front of her aunt. She was a little girl who had lots of confidence. But fatefully that's what got her into troubles many times. Sulaiha looked at her with surprise as if she had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"I didn't mean to pour the juice over you." She continued, looking up at Sulaiha with her wide gleaming black eyes. "It was just an accident. And I promise you that I'll never drop another cup of lemonade over you again. I will be very careful when I have to give you a welcoming hug next time, and I won't hold anything in my hand then. So please forgive me this time, please....."

Thasneem looked piteous and very innocent as she said this, and Sulaiha was pleased with her apology even though she didn't want to show that in her face. "Alright, I forgive you this time." She said strictly. "But you should be careful in the future not to make this sort of accidents to anyone. Because people might hate you if you go knocking things over them like that."

"I understand," Thasneem said politely, looking up at her with concern. And for the first time since they had met, Sulaiha thought that she looked so cute and lovely with those beautiful dark eyes and dark hair, even though it had been cut short. 'Just like her mother, except for that dimple falling cheeks.' Sulaiha acknowledged in her mind.

"Alright then," Hisham spoke coolly, still holding Maryam who was now concentrating on her well-behaving sister. "So it was all just a few mistakes and misunderstandings"

"Not really," Sulaiha said arrogantly, turning to look at Maryam. "What was she doing in your room at this early morning?"

Maryam glanced at her once and quickly turned away, feeling uneasy. Hisham smirked at his sister. "You never give up anything easily, do you?" He asked as he tried to calm Maryam by patting her shoulder. "It's okay, honey. Tell her why you were here."

"I came here to show you that swan," Maryam said and pointed towards the clay swan which was sitting alone on the edge of the bed.

"And why were you out of your bed so early?" Sulaiha questioned Maryam like an investigator, and both Afra and Hisham frowned at her angrily.

"I just woke up, and I couldn't go back to sleep," Maryam said without looking at anyone in their faces. She felt guilty for breaking the magnificent chandelier. 'what have I done?' She thought gloomily looking at the broken pieces of glasses. 'I didn't mean to break it. It was beautiful.'

"What you've been doing on your father's table while he was asleep?" Sulaiha asked her, and it was Hisham who replied her this time, not Maryam.

"It was none of your business!" He said recent fully, and Maryam looked at him with relief. "She is not in your custody, Sulai. She is in my home. And she has all the rights to meet me anytime as my daughter, and I have given her every right to go through my stuff as her father. If that's what bothers you, you needn't be worried about my kids. I can look after them better than you think. And what if I ask you the same question? What were you doing in my room at this early morning? Have you been spying on my child all this time?"

Sulaiha fell silent at this. She felt embarrassed and enraged. "She is not yours," she said slowly and sharply, looking into his dark eyes as she tried to take in his facial expressions change.