LIVING NO MORE THAN SIMPLE FLAT MATES.

While the parents were making plans for their children's wedding,Leylah and Suraj were at the hospital ignoring each other.

Suraj got a call from his mother,she begged him to go have a talk with Leylah and settle all their differences since they'll soon become husband and wife.

Suraj was surprised, "what are you talking about mum? Is this a joke or what?"

"I know you are surprised but this is no joke. Leylah has agreed to get married to you. Your dad,Aunt and I have started making plans already".

"Why are you even acting surprised?,didn't you both agree to get married yesterday?. You should come home early today because we have a lot to discuss" Mrs Najma finished and hung up the phone. Suraj was astound.

Days flew by quickly and the day of their wedding arrived. Leylah told her mother that she didn't want to have a grand wedding but rather a small and quiet one.

She knew Ibraheem hadn't been able to tell his family about their break up and now he is in a coma. She didn't want his parents to think that she went from being their son's fiancée to someone else's bride.

She also asked Suraj not to let anyone at the hospital know because,since ibraheem's family are mostly in the hospital,they might get to hear the news. Or the director might tell them since he is Mr Omar mustapha's close friend.

Suraj was so happy,he felt he was dreaming. He is going to be married to the love of his life,the only woman he has ever loved,his childhood friend,his soulmate. He was going to get married to his beloved Leylah,his happiness was knew no bounds. Although he felt sad that he couldn't tell the whole world that he was getting married to the love of his life but he was still very happy.

Since Leylah wanted an intimate wedding, they just got married according to Muslim rites in the mosque and organised a small walima(party). After that Leylah was escorted to her husband's house.

"We got married because of my mum. we may look like a married couple in the eyes of our family but no one outside should know that we are married", Leylah said as soon as everybody left and she was all alone with Suraj in their new home.

"Okay",Suraj said simply.

"I just pray Ibraheem wakes up soon,so I can end all this",Leylah said,frustration evident on her face when she saw Suraj's nonchalant expression.

"You don't have to worry Leylah, We are doing this for Aunt. Soon she'll realise that we cannot be together and then we can get divorced and go our separate ways" He said looking at her straight in the eyes.

"Oh yeah,I pray she realises soon because I don't want to be with a man like you"

"Me neither,am ready to divorce you whenever you want so you can go be with your fiancé"

"Yes and you with your girlfriend"

They argued on their first night as a married couple and slept in seperate bedrooms.

The apartment Mr Al-kaseem got for them was a nice one in one of the estates in Ikeja. It was close to their work place.

It had 2 bedrooms,a sitting room,a nice big kitchen,a store and a balcony.

They had already agreed to sleep in separate rooms. They might live in the same house,share the same kitchen and sitting room but they'll be no more than simple flatmates.

One day Suraj arrived home from work,he saw that there were more securities at the estate gate. They were doing a stop and search for anyone entering the estate.

When he got to the gate,they asked for his identification,which he showed them and they checked if he was truly an occupant in the estate in their system.

When they were done checking,they returned his ID and Suraj asked, "Did something happen here?"

"Yes sir,there has been a kidnap here just few minutes ago"

"Some armed men shot two of our colleagues here and took a lady who was just arriving in her car and left" the security man explained.

"Goodness! I pray she'll be returned safely. Good work guys let me not keep you from your work. Good night" Suraj said as he drove inside the estate.

"Good night sir".the man replied and continued his work.

Suraj arrived home,and he couldn't find Leylah,he didn't see her car outside either. They always leave and arrive home from work together in their separate cars.

Leylah had told him that she will go home early that day, since she was feeling unwell. He was expecting to meet her at home but he didn't see her.

He called her severally but she didn't pick any of his calls,he left her a bundle of messages but still no response.

He started to get worried. Thinking about the kidnap case and his wife not been home now worried him.

"did she stop by somewhere? Maybe she went home".

He mumbled to himself, then he decided to call Mrs Karina.

He called Mrs Karina to ask if Leylah was there at their house but she said Leylah wasn't there and that they agreed that she'll come visit them during the weekend.

"Son,what happened? Leylah isn't back home yet?"Mrs Karina asked with a troubled voice on the phone.

"Yes, Mother but don't worry yourself. I just remembered she told me she would get some groceries before coming home earlier. Sorry for disturbing you Mother" Suraj said.

Now that he was married to Leylah and had become her son in-law,Mrs Karina asked him to address her as mother and not Aunt again.

"Okay son,its feels good to hear you worry about your wife. May Allah bless your marriage. Good night son".

He just didn't want mrs karina to get all worried,so he made up the grocery issue. He had no idea where his wife has gone but he just prayed she was safe. He thought about calling his mum and ask if she had seen Leylah.

"Salam mu alaikum(peace be unto you) mum"

"wa'alaikum mu salam(peace be unto you too) my son,how are you?"

"Fine,did Leylah come see you today?" He asked making his voice sound less worried and disturbed.

"No,we just talked on the phone today. Why?" Mrs Najma said a bit worried.

" Nothing,I just wanted to confirm something". Suraj said assuring her.

"Good night mum I'll just go to bed now" he added.

"okay son,my regards to your wife. tell her I'll come visit you both soon okay"Mrs Najma said feeling at ease when she heard everything was okay.

"Okay mum". Suraj said and hung up the phone.

If Suraj was worried before now he was scared. The thought of the kidnap case kept drumming in his head.

He called the hospital again,even though he saw her leaving earlier today. he thought maybe there was an emergency and she went back to the hospital.

But still they told him that Leylah wasn't in the hospital and that she left earlier .

"No,leylah is fine. She wasn't kidnapped. Maybe she stopped by somewhere".

"but where could she be at this time? Its almost 11pm and she's not home yet. Did she have a new friend that I don't know of?" Suraj wondered.

"Ya Allah! Please protect my wife and bring her home safely to me today" Suraj prayed.

"Where do I start looking now?goodness Leylah you will be the death of me" he mumbled to him self as he took his car keys,changed his shoe and opened the door to go outside.

He was just out of the door when he saw Leylah come out of her car. He rushed over to where she was and asked worriedly "hey,are you okay? Were you hurt? Why didn't you pick any of my calls? I was worried sick Leylah" Suraj said as he held Leylah's arms.

"Am fine.why were you worried for me? Am just your wife in paper and nothing more right?". You should be worried about your pregnant girlfriend now and not me" Leylah said nonchalantly as she walked out of him and went inside the house.

Suraj was stunned. What is she talking about? He followed her and as soon as he got inside the house, he banged the door loudly which got Leylah to stop in her tracks.

"Really Leylah, you just arrived home now and you're acting as if everything's normal" Suraj said and sighed heavily as he tried to controlled his anger.

"I called you severally today,but you didn't pick my calls,I even called home to know if you went there and they said you weren't",he pointed out calmly.

"There was a kidnap case earlier and I come home to not find my wife or even know her whereabout and you ask why I am worried?" Suraj finished and looked at her with a grim expression.

"What kidnap case? Who was kidnapped?"Leylah asked,surpried.

"Where were you Leylah?you said you were coming home earlier, so where did you go to instead of coming home?" Suraj asked her ignoring her question.

"I had some errands to run",Leylah said looking away from him. he won't like it if she told him where she was coming from now. so she prayed silently in her mind that he doesn't ask her.

"For who?" Suraj asked putting his hands in his pocket and stared at Leylah.

"I had to run some errands for Ibraheem's mother. She got sick staying at the hospital all day,so I went to take care of her today" Leylah said calmly and hoping Suraj wouldn't get mad and misunderstand her intention.

"Oh now I see,so because you were taking care of your fiancé's mother,you couldn't pick up your husband's call right?" Suraj asked amused and at the same time angry.

"My phone was on silent,I didn't see it ring. I didn't want to tell you about it because I know you will get mad".Leylah explained.

" I don't even understand why you're getting all worried and worked up because of me,when you should be worrying about your pregnant girlfriend. Time is running and her pregnancy will soon start showing. What will you do about it then?" Leylah shouted at him angrily.

"What? this joke of your's isn't funny any more. What the hell are you talking about Leylah?"Suraj shouted back at her,he was starting to get tired of this accusation of having a pregnant girlfriend he abandoned from her.

"Don't try to deny it because Nabeela told me herself,she told me everything about your plans and your pregnant girlfriend" she glared at him.

"Wait,Nabeela told you what? Unbelievable. and you believed her?",Suraj asked in disbelief.

He rubbed his beard and stared at Leylah,he wanted to say something but the words just lingered in his tongue. he closed his eyes seemingly calming his nerves before he spoke again

" Out of all the hurtful words and insults you've said to me,this one is just too much. I wonder how is it that you've known me for so long and you still don't know what am capable of" Suraj shook his head.

He let out a deep breath then looked at Leylah in the eyes and said, "there has never been a time when I felt disappointed in you Leylah but today, I am so disappointed in you".

And immediately the words left his mouth,he walked out of Leylah and went to his room. He wanted to call Nabeela and confront her about what Leylah had just told him. But when he saw it was already late in the night, he decided to go to sleep and talk to her about it the next morning.

The next morning,Leylah woke up and decided to make breakfast. she realised Suraj was hurt by her words last night. But what could she have done? Anytime she thought about Suraj having a baby,his first child with another woman,it really pains her. And she feels she is been unfair to Zara too by marrying the father of her baby and taking him away from her.

The hurt in Suraj's eyes last night when he told her he was disappointed in her really made her feel miserable.

So she thought of making him some breakfast and then maybe they could talk .

Maybe there weren't just meant to be together. If they couldn't be husband and wife, they could still be good friends like when they were little.

She gets sad anytime she thought about this but it seems to be the honest truth.

She went to his room after making the breakfast to call him but he wasn't in his room. She knocked on his door a few times and then opened the room but she didn't find him inside.

She checked the whole house and when she was certain he wasn't at home,she called his phone a few times but he didn't pick.

" jerk,is he trying to take revenge on me because of yesterday?" She scoffed.

"Okay have it your way my dear husband. You just missed a nice breakfast,your loss". She said to her self as she ate her breakfast. she got ready and left for work.

Suraj couldn't sleep all through the night,he kept recalling Leylah's words. 'Nabeela wouldn't come up with such a story, why would she even do that?'.he thought inwardly.

Leylah has been talking about him having a pregnant girlfriend right from their wedding night. he didn't really take her words serious,he just thought she was trying to upset him because she was stuck in this marriage with him.

But the way she said it today with so much anger and hurt,he just couldn't ignore it. 'She even said Nabeela told her about it'.

'I'll have to hear from Nabeela before I make any decision'

'This marriage is causing Leylah so much pain,maybe I'll talk to mother about it'.

Those were all the thoughts that occupied his mind all night. When it was day break,he quickly took his bath,prayed and left. He wanted to go see his sister as soon as possible and clear his mind.

When he arrived at his house,his mother who was in the kitchen,came out and was surprised to see Suraj so early in the morning.

" What happened son,why are you here so early? Is everything okay with Leylah? "

"Yes mum,good morning. everything is fine, I just need to have a word with Nabeela" he said and went up to Nabeela's room.

Nabeela was still sleeping when she heard a knock on her door,she sighed annoyingly and said "mum what is it that you have to wake me this early in the morning?"

"Its Suraj sister,am coming in" he said after waiting for a few minutes before entering the room.

"Morning Suraj,what brings you here this early,Nabeela said rubbing her eyes and moving her self to a sitting position on her bed.

"am just going to go straight to the point sister" Suraj said as he sat down on the sofa in the room and took a deep breath. Releasing it he asked, "Did you tell Leylah that I have a pregnant girlfriend?"

Nabeela became scared,sweat beads started to form on her forehead. her palms became sweaty and she wiped them in her pajama. she looked at her brother and slowly got up from her bed.

"Answer me Nabeela,did you?"Suraj asked impatiently.

Nabeela took a deep breath,she knew this was going to come up soon but she didn't know how she could avoid the situation. She stood up and walked to the sofa her brother was seated on then slowly she answered "yes".

Suraj was puzzled, he was taken aback by her response, " Wh...what?,why?" Suraj flared up and stood up from his sitting position.

Nabeela quickly stood up with him and started to explain hurriedly, "am sorry Suraj,I thought I was doing the right thing that time. I thought Leylah was only going to hurt you again". She took a deep breath before she continued.

"I couldn't bear to see you miserable again. so on the night when you said you were going out to dinner with her,I went with Zara to pay her a visit and I told her that". she paused and looked at Suraj who was looking at her in disbelief

"I swear I just wanted to protect you...."

"Protect me you say.....I am so happy to hear that" he laughed sarcastically.

"Well if you must know my dear sister,you have just succeeded in tearing me and my wife apart. And even if this issue gets resolved and she finds out it was all a facade,it won't still fix our relationship".

"Henceforth, you shouldn't do anything for me,don't interfere with my life or anything that concerns me" Suraj warned.

"Am sorry Suraj please forgive....." She said as she blocked his way and wanted to hold his hands.

"Don't you dare touch me again,and please leave my way. I don't even want to look at you,you are so despicable" he said and left her room.

Nabeela fell numb on the floor and started crying uncontrollably, Her brother has never spoken to her in such a harsh manner before.