The Slave Quarter

"What do you mean she is gone?" Maryam questioned, staring with disbelief at her brother; she knew Jamal well enough to know he could have done something terrible to the girl.

"You are not deaf now, are you?" Jamal questioned, not looking up from the file in his hand.

"But I thought you were in love with her; that is so low of you, Jamal, so low; how could you let her leave without saying goodbye?" Maryam murmured, chastising her brother.

Jamal raised his head and stared at her with that look that made men tremble, his green gaze piercing, and Maryam knew she had done enough.

"I will leave you to it; I will come back later when you are less indisposed," Maryam said, moving with deliberate slowness out of the ultra-modern office decorated with dark upholstery and the glass wall directly overlooking the compound.

Jamal had been staring into that compound as Sabrina had been led out of the main building and accompanied to the mine, and even in that maid uniform, her elegance could not be denied, not by him or any other man in his security personnel who had pretended like they did not see her, but he knew very well, they were sneaking peeks at her.

"Do not come back; I don't want you back here," Jamal called after her; he didn't have to yell; he knew she could hear him clearly, but she ignored what he said and stepped out of the office, turning back to give him a wide smile.

After she was gone, Jamal read the line of the same paragraph twice without understanding anything; then, with a groan, he dropped the file on the table and let his mind be flooded with images of Sabrina.

Her fiery red hair, her bow-shaped lips, the fierce glare of her eyes, her up-tilted nose, and her small but curvaceous figure.

How foolish of his sister to assume he could be in love with a girl he bought with his own money, he doesn't even know what that word entails.

It seems his pain-in-the-ass sister is the only one who still thinks he is humane enough to fall in love.

___________________________________________

"Chica, the day is over, you should go back to your residence," A voice called beside her, and Sabrina looked up from the pieces of rocks she had been packing.

Standing beside her is a man who looks old but fit, he could have been as old as her father, and he has this fatherly aura around him.

"Thank you, I will do that now," Sabrina replied, smiling gently at the man.

The man nodded and returned to the other men, it seemed they had all gone to bath and changed their clothes while Sabrina was engrossed with the rock she was packing.

Now that they are all dressed up, Sabrina realizes that the men are not slaves; they look well-dressed and healthy, and they must be getting paid for the manual labor.

They all seemed to be talking about her as they whispered words in their language while throwing glances at her as they headed out of the mine and walked toward the palace grounds.

"Who says you are done for the day?" Marco's voice called from behind her, and she looked up at him, standing like the devil's own syndicate and glaring down at her.

Sabrina did not offer any response; this is her retribution; she deserves everything she is getting, and she will do it with pride.

So she picked up the shovel and started shoveling the broken rocks into the wheelbarrow before pushing it toward the other side of the hill.

Sabrina stumbled in the process and fell hard on her left knee, the pain radiating through her entire being, but she stood up and continued wheeling the barrow towards the hill.

Sweat dripped down her face, and the yellow sun cast a shadow over her in the evening light, but she concentrated hard on getting the rocks to their destination.

Ignoring the pain in her leg, while her mind filtered through her memories to find a happy one to hold onto, all the while, Marco stood there staring at her, his face expressionless.

When she had poured the rock into the barrow, she wheeled it back to where the broken rock lay and started packing again, her mind holding on to her mother's smile and her father's warm hug, all these memories of her early teenage years.

Without warning, Jamal's cold face grazed the edge of her mind, and she stopped dead in her tracks, the shovel dropping from her hand, as she tried to will the image to the back of her mind.

"That is enough for today; it is getting dark; I will escort you back to your residence," Marco said, surprising Sabrina with the last part.

But Sabrina discarded the wheelbarrow and the shovel, straightening herself and trying to get the dirt off her body as she removed the tattered gloves from her hands, ignoring the bleeding in her palms.

"You are wasting my time. Do you want to go on by yourself," He called in a warning, and Sabrina hastened her movement as she rushed to meet up with him together; they headed out of the mine and towards the palace, and Sabrina realized that it was fastly becoming dark.

They had walked for a while when Sabrina noticed that this was not the route she had taken when she was coming to the mine, but she said nothing; when they finally stepped into the palace ground, it was as bright as daylight, and everywhere seemed to be buzzing with activity.

"Hey you, come here," Marco called one of the maids as Sabrina looked around, finding it strange as this was another part of the palace that she had not seen before.

"Yes, sir," The young girl replied, curtsying to the bodyguard and awaiting his instructions.

"Accompany this young lady to your quarter; that will be her residence from now on," He instructed, and the young girl nodded in acknowledgment, curtsying as Marco walked away.

"Hey, good evening," Sabrina said as she followed the girl who seemed very familiar to her, but the pain in her leg could not let her process the information.

"We will soon be there," The girl replied, noticing Sabrina's distress, and true to her word; they only walked for a few more minutes before they got to the place where Sabrina would come home for the unforeseeable future.

The residence couldn't be mistaken for another; the structure and the average decorations and flowers make it so obvious that she had been brought to the slave quarter.

The girl escorted Sabrina inside while the other maids stared at both of them; Sabrina had no idea the reputation she already had within the wall of the slave quarter.

They had always referred to her as the foreign dog whom Prince Jamal had brought back on one of his voyages.

Sabrina was still staring around, leaning heavily on the girl who was helping her, when one of the maids walked directly towards Sabrina and the girl and collided with them.

Sabrina fell hard on her butt at the contact as the girl who had deliberately pushed her to the floor glared down at her, daring her to say a word.