Chapter Ten

Layla woke up in leaches. Her wounds had been treated but she was chained to the bed. She couldn't help but begin crying. She cried for a long while before the door to her room opened revealing a smirking Mika'il.

"What's matter baby? You don't like the leaches?" He asked wickedly.

She gulped and begun crying once again.

"P-Please don't do anything to me. Please. I'm not going to irritate you anymore. Just please don't hurt me " she pleaded.

Mika'il was touched by her plea. He felt pity for her. For the first time in history, he felt pity for someone and that was his love.

He walked towards her and gently released her of the leaches and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry girl. Forgive me" he apologised.

She didn't flinch for the first time. She actually nodded her head and said

"I forgive you Mika'il"

The way she spoke his name made him super excited.

"Say my name again?" He pleaded.

She said his name once again as he hugged her.

"I'm sorry for hurting you baby" he apologised once more.

She nodded as she asked him to let her go and take a shower and say her prayers.

He let go of her immediately and stared at her while she struggled to get up to the bathroom.

"Have you already said your Salat?" She inquired surprisingly.

He pretended not to have heard. He knew that he hadn't said his prayers and in fact hadn't said his prayers in 13 years.

She knew better. She turned away and walked to the bathroom. She toon a bath, while thinking about the man she knew as Mikail. Fear came back to her. Was he planning something? She couldn't tell.

She finished up her bath and performed wudhu before she prayed. As she finished praying, she sat down to ask God for her needs.

After praying, she walked downstairs to get something to eat. Mikail was there serving food on plates.

She unconsciously smiled at him.

"Come over Layla" she heard him say. He was not looking towards her direction but he knew that she was there.

She walked slowly to him as he pulled a stool out for her.

"Thank you" she said with fear in her voice.

He smirked and gave her a plate of food. It was her favourite pancakes and strawberry milkshake.

"H-How did you know that I loved these?" She asked meekly.

He smirked and answered.

"I asked your mom about everything you like and dislike. That's how I got to know" he explained.

She smiled softly and nodded. Her eyes had become deep red from constant crying and having nightmares.

"Can we go visit the parents now?" Layla asked him shyly.

"Of course hun" he said nicely.

"You've not touched your food yet" he said.

She sighed and said

"If you stop starting at me, maybe,I'll be able to eat".

He grinned widely and asked

" You're shy of me???"

She nodded coyly and he couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Tell me about it, I'm shy of you too" he said.

She looks at him perplexed and smiled a little but quickly changed her expression to a blank face.

He smirked and said.

"It's alright, eat up. I won't stare at you"

She nodded and took in the first bite of the pancake after saying 'Bismillah'(In the name of Allah)

She knew that he was staring at her but she just shrugged if off.

"I know you are still staring at me Mikail" she blurted.

He smirked and said

"For God's sake, I can't help it"

She laughed a little at that and recomposed herself. He smiled at that and waited for her to finish up her plate. She wanted to wash the dishes, but he said he would do it.

She only watched him and shook her head.

She said mentally

'If only he wasn't abusive, he would have been a good man'

She sighed and begun thinking about how her life would be for the next year.

She just prayed that, he changed for the better.

After he was fine sashing the plates, he took a bag from the kitchen cabinet, it contained her medicines.

The bag looked too flashy to be kept in a kitchen cabinet.

Suddenly his phone started ringing.

The person on the other side sounded anxious. I knew something was wrong. Mika'il's facial expression said it all.

He hunged up the call and stared at Layla for a long while before holding her hand gently and ushering her out of the house.

"What's wrong Mikail?" She asked him.

He didn't answer. He frowned and ordered her to sit in the car, which she did.

His mind was not on her. His mind was in what was happening in the Sheikh mansion. An important person was losing his or her life.

Within 10 minutes, he pulled up in the mansion and opened up the door for Layla.

The first words that escaped her was 'Mom'

She could sense that something was wrong with her mom.

She rushed into the mansion, with Mikail behind her.

Lo and Behold, there lay her mother on the floor convulsing.

"Mom!!!!" She screamed a big too loud for her broken voice box

She rushed and knelt beside her mother.

"I'm sorry Layla, I didn't want to break you more than you already are. Forgive me if I wasn't a good mother enough. I love you baby, always have and always will." her mother said with her last few breaths.

"Don't say that mom. Don't leave me mom. I can't do this. Please. I need you mom. Please the world is too cruel. Please mother. Hear me out Ummi?? Ummi?? Mother?? Mom??" She spoke to her mother's lifeless body.

Her mother was dead!! She had no one else. Her only anchor was gone. Her mother died in her arms.

She couldn't cry. There were tears in her eyes but they refused to come out. The whole world became too big for her. She had become too small.

The mother she knew and loved, was no more. Her mother was dead!

Layla kissed her mother's forehead softly and said a little prayer for her mother and without saying a word or looking at anyone, she walked out of the mansion.

She walked far and far and far away. She didn't stop. She knew Mika'il was following her. She could smell his cologne. She got to a small pond and sat beside it.

"My mom, used to being me here when my father had travelled, when I was younger. She would tell me all the stories of her life and how she expects her life to be . Now she's gone and has left me alone in this world." Layla said as she reminiscend about those times.

"You have me hun" Mika'il cooed into her ears.

She turned to him and begun laughing.

"You? I've got you? The man who forced to marry me without my consent, the man who threatened to destroy that poor family I was helping if I didn't marry him, the man who tortured me everyday, irrespective of the fact that I'm emotionally weak.

Hahaha don't say such a thing Mika'il. Just don't. I don't wang to talk to you and I don't ever want to be with you!" She spat at him.

For some reason, he didn't react, instead he looked sad, as she walked away from him back to the mansion.

Her mother's body had been taken away for burial. She couldn't be there, if would affect her. She only imagined how her mother would feel like in heaven. That made her smile.

She walked to Munaiya's room to find her crying.

She couldn't help but join in. She shed out all those emotions she had kept hidden. She didn't realise Mikail starting at her through the open door.

After a few more minutes of shedding tears, gheh stopped abruptly, stared at each other for so long before bursting into laughter and tears at the same time.

Layla was ready to let go, since her mother led a good life.

"How's Mika'il treating you?" Muna asked.

Layla sighed and angrily said

"Mikail is just an egocentric,domineering and uncivilised man, who has no thought on how to handle an emotionally scarred girl like me" Layla said angrily, entirely oblivious of his presence behind her.

His heart broke when he heard that.

This man always got what he wanted, he made sure of it! But this doll-like girl was a conquest he was her to succeed in. If he was congenial to her, perhaps she would submit and return back his love.

Sorry for hurting you, it hurts me too. But I don't know anyway else to make you mine "