is my love enough?

Malik didn't bother to stop the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. He dropped the file he was holding, held his face in his palms and sobbed hard with reckless abandon.

He sobbed because he knew he was going to go home to beg his cheating wife not to leave him.

He'd have lost track of time and probably weep for hours if not for the loud knock on his door, which brought him back.

Swiftly, he wiped his tears away and cleaned his face, then managed to answer the person at the door.

It was about an urgent work, and with that, he was able to hold in his tears and grief, and buried his soul in work till the end of that day.

"Asalamuailekun waramotullahi!(Peace be unto you) how has my angel been?" Malik said as he entered his house and lifted his daughter in his hands. As usual, the latter was waiting by the door, to welcome him with a beautiful huge smile.

He hugged her and her warmth made his grief and worries vanished for a moment.

Who would be waiting for him like that if they should divorce? How could he let go of that happiness? He wondered sullenly and walked into the living room with his daughter warmly in his hands.

His wife, Joyce was standing in the middle of the room with a spatula in her hand. She had been working in the kitchen and had come out when she heard the horn of her husband's car.

She was dressed in a figure-hugging red gown which accentuated her hourglass figure seductively and her face was baked lightly with makeup.

She knew exactly how her loving husband loved to see her so she was using it to her advantage.

Malik narrowed his eyes as he took in her appearance. He was confused. That was not what he was expecting to meet at home.

What about the divorce she talked about? He wondered.

"Hey babe..." Joyce called out to him in her adorable voice that always seemed to caress him.

Then she walked behind him with her signature smile which usually made him fall for her all over again, everytime, and without saying a word, she hugged him from behind.

Malik nearly jumped out of his skin. Her warmth felt heavenly but foreign.

"I trust you had a great day at work today...? I have been cooking your favorite food since three hours ago. I bet you're really hungry right now." She sang into his left ear and he wouldn't lie that, that actually tickled him.

He wanted to relax in her warmth like nothing had happened but when the nude pictures she had sent to other men on WhatsApp flashed before his eyes, he jolted back to reality and moved out of her hold.

He dropped their daughter, Fara to sit on a sofa and turned to face Joyce.

"You..." Malik had only opened his mouth to talk but she didn't allow him to land.

She felt to her knees, suddenly and he flinched away from her a bit. Her reaction was sudden.

Joyce crawled to where he was and held his legs firmly before he could move away further.

"I know what you're going to say, so you don't have to say it, my dear husband. I know I have offended you, my dear husband and I'm apologetic. I didn't know what came over me, it was as if I was possessed. Somebody out there is after my marriage, our peace, our happiness..."

"I just found myself doing that nonsense without realizing. Babe, I swear to you, I have never met any of those men. We don't even know one another. Our faces aren't included in any of the shared stuff. It was just from one silly app that I was trying out, out of boredom that I met them. You know I'm always bored at home since I'm a full housewife while you're always away for work, and i only wanted to while away time. That was how I got hooked up in that nonsense. I didn't realized what I was doing until you knew." She maintained, sullenly.

Malik gritted his teeth, painfully.

"Have you forgotten you're a married woman? What kind of boredom would push you to turn to such dirty thing for solace?" He asked her with a painful countenance.

"What if you haven't met them physically? What if you don't know each other at all? What has that changed? Nothing! You allowed other men to see your nakedness, do you know the gravity of that sin? And when I confronted you with the evidence, what did you say to me? You asked me whether I'd be going for divorce without any remorse!" He added and winced sadly.

Joyce shook her head regrettably.

"I swear, I didn't know what came over me when I uttered that. How could I possibly say that in my correct senses? How could I throw away what we share and opt for divorce? I can't do that, my love. I wasn't in my right senses, that was how and why I concluded that somebody evil is out there targeting my marriage. They're mad that I'm happy in my marriage and want to ruin it for me, for us but my love, don't let us allow them." She stated.

Malik was forced to scoff at her ridiculous statement firstly before he could reply her.

"An evil doer is targeting your marriage and pushed you to be sharing your nudes online to random strangers? Stop being ridiculous, Joyce. You're the one that wants to ruin your marriage, not anybody." He lashed at her.

He was becoming angrier and Joyce realized just talking to try to justify her action wouldn't yield the result she wanted, so she decided to change her approach and went for the last resort.

She burst into hot tears.

"It's the devil, my love. The devil used me. I can't wish to ruin my marriage. I can't ever wish for that. What will happen to our daughter, if I ruin my marriage? What will happen to my life? Please forgive me, my love." She pleaded amidst sobs.

Seeing how her mother was crying bitterly, Fara, their one-year-old daughter walked with uncoordinated steps to her mother, hugged her from behind and started crying as well.

Malik's soul was shattered.

"Da... da... da..." Fara cried harder.

"Please think of our daughter and the unborn children we plan on bringing into the world together. Please, my love." Joyce wept harder.

She knew it was a matter of very short time for Malik's mind to be calm. She knew his weaknesses.

One of his weaknesses was seeing tears on his loved ones. Especially on her and their daughter.

So, she wept harder. Her tears even got mixed up with her mucus and were on their way to her opened mouth, with full determination. Her whole body shooked and she tightened her grip on his legs.

Malik's legs weakened and couldn't hold up his weight, anymore so he sank onto the floor, in front of her.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw Joyce's tears' stained face. Her eyes were getting red.

He forgot about his pain and started feeling pity for her.

There was his beloved wife, wallowing in misery. How could he not feel bad?

How could he not forgive her of her wrongdoings, especially when he still loved her?

"I'm going to be a better wife and mother, I promise you, my love." Joyce vowed, amidst sobs.

"You promise?" Malik asked meekly.

She nodded repeatedly.

"Fine, now it's okay. Stop crying!" He said to her, then removed his handkerchief from his pocket and started wiping off her tears.

As his right hand wipe off her tears, his left hand was patting Fara's head and cleaning her teary face.

Joyce stopped crying so as her daughter, Fara.

Then she threw her arms around his neck, and smirked discreetly.

She knew he'd forgive her, no matter what she did.

Meanwhile, Malik relaxed in her hold and allowed her warmth to calm his soul down, persuading himself that as long as he loved her, she was going to be the perfect woman for him and everything was going to be fine.

He believed his love was enough for her...

But was it really enough for her?