Unedited.

~~~

Days passed by and Maryam's attitude towards her husband had not gotten any better, in fact, it had only gotten worse. She neither cooked for him nor talk to him and when he talks to her, she would reply him curtly or ignore. His home was slowly turning into a house for him. Manal was the only person who was eager to see him whenever he came back from work.

Sa'eed couldn't concentrate well in the office and thought of ways to bring Maryam back to her old self. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was more than willing to give it a try. He decided to invite his sister over to their house since their university was on vacation and hopefully, Maryam wouldn't be so lonely and sad anymore. Zainab would even be of help to Maryam in regards to some household chores.

Fumbling for his cellphone on the table, Sa'eed suddenly remembered he promised his wife to be early today. He drew in his breath and found his cellphone laying just beside his briefcase on the table. He picked it up and dialed his sister's number. She picked at the second ring.

"As salamu'alaikum." Came her voice from the other side of the line.

"Wa alaikum salam, Zee. How are you?"

"I'm fine, alhamdulilah. How's ya Maryam and my cute little princess, Manal?" She inquired.

"They're both fine. How's mum?"

"She's okay, but as we speak, she's scolding Hassana and Hussaina for breaking her most cherished vase."

Saeed chuckled. How much missed having his nieces and nephew around. He couldn't believe the twins were still up to mischiefs. "Ya Ahmad and his family are there? Wow! I had no idea. For how long have they been around?"

"Almost a week now."

"And no one told me. How are the children, Faisal and the twins?"

"They're all fine."

"Ma sha Allah."

"Is ya Maryam close to you? I want to greet her. I miss her so much."

"I see. That's the reason you call her frequently." Sa'eed remarked, sarcastically.

Zainab chuckles was very audible to Sa'eed's hearing. "I do, but these days, her number just isn't going through. Is she close to you right now?" She asked again.

"No, I'm at the office."

"Oh! I will just have to keep trying her number and hopefully, I'd be able to get through to her."

"Alright. Manal misses you."

"Really? I miss her so much as well."

"Since you miss them so much, why don't you come to visit?" He offered.

"I'd have loved to, but-"

"Maryam is pregnan-"

"REALLY! I WILL BE IN ABUJA TOMORROW. MUM! MUM! have you heard the good news."

Saeed heard his sister squeal before apparently running to their mother to spread the news. Knowing his sister, she'd want to come and stay for a really long time since their school was on vacation. Maryam would no longer feel so lonely anymore - this thought brought a smile to his face. He was sure his sister would remove all traces of boredom from his home. He trusted her.

• • •

Sauntering into the house, Saeed met with an unexpected scene unfolding in the middle of the living room - Maryam's grip was around Manal's fragile arm tightly and she was yelling at her.

"You're going to be punished for this." Maryam raised her hand and was about to hit Manal.

Saeed dropped his briefcase on a nearby couch before hurrying towards them. He detached Manal from Maryam's hold and hid her behind him. "What's all these?" He asked, trying his best to keep his anger at bay.

"Why don't you ask your daughter?"

Saeed averted his gaze from Maryam to a crying Manal before averting it back to Maryam. "I'm asking you."

"Since you don't want to ask your daughter, fine, I will tell you." She paused and sighed in exhaustion. "When I went to her school to pick her up, her home teacher complained to me about her misconduct in school today. Can you imagine?"

"What did she do?"

"She got into a fight with one of her classmates."

"What!" Saeed turned to Manal. "Is this true?" He couldn't believe Manal could so much lay a finger on someone in a violent way. "Is this true?" He asked again. This time, more sternly.

Manal didn't reply and kept on crying.

"She won't reply because she knows she's done something wrong. To indulge in a physical combat with someone? Unbelievable!"

"Manal, go to your room right now." Saeed commanded pointing a finger towards the stairs.

Without wasting a second, Manal ran to her room with tears running down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"Why'd you tell her to go to her room? I was not done reprimanding her?" Maryam remarked.

"Reprimanding her? Is that how you reprimand a child? By yelling and even attempting to hit her?" Saeed asked in disbelief. He had never for once lay a finger on his daughter and he would never tolerate anyone doing that. Not even his wife - her mother.

"Because she did something uncalled for! I will discipline my daughter the way I see fit. This is not the value I taught her."

"And you think the way you're going with it, is the right way? By yelling and hitting? I accept she did something wrong-"

"Very wrong." She interrupted.

"But the way you're handling the situation isn't the best at all. You're allowed to scold her the way you want, but have you ever seen me lay a hand on her no matter what offence she commits. No one has ever laid a hand on her."

"There's a first time for everything. And just like you forced me to resign for the first time, I can also do things for the first time."

Saeed heaved a fatigued sigh. "So this is still about that." It was a statement and not a question. "You're doing all these because you're mad at me."

"You should talk some sense into her." Maryam said dismissively and walked away.

Saeed knew she intentionally waved his statement aside, because she knew he was right. For the nth time that hour, he sighed - Maryam's anger towards him was now rubbing off on their innocent daughter. He had to do something about it and quick, but before that he had to go talk to his daughter first.

Manal was seated on the floor with her head in between her folded legs when Saeed entered. He walked closer to her and found out she was still crying. Her face was stained with dried tears and more poured from her eyes. He sat down on her bed and made her sit on his laps, pacifying her.

After he was done pacifying her and she had stopped crying, he asked in a gentle voice. "What happened in school?" Sensing, she had no plans of answering, he emboldened her to speak up. "Come on, baby. I won't yell at you, I just want to know why you did it. I know you're not the kind of a person to get into random fights."

"I..." She trailed off.

"You can be anything, remember? I won't yell at you." He reassured, stroking her hair.

"She attacked me first." She finally started to speak up.

"Who? And what did you do to her?" He inquired. He needed her to elaborate further.

"My classmate. I didn't do anything to her."

"Manal?" He called. "Have you forgotten what I told you about liars?"

"No, abi."

"Then tell me exactly what happened. Don't omit a thing."

"I attacked her first." She confessed with her head hanging low.

"Subhan'Allah! Why'd you do that to your classmate?"

"She provoked me."

"Provoked you? When did you start getting provoked and where did you even learn that word from?"

"Nafisa." She blurted without thinking.

"Nafisa?" Saeed asked, confused. Why would Nafisa use that word on his daughter if she wasn't maltreating her. "Tell me, did you use to provoke her?"

"Yes. That's what she always says."

"And what does she do to you?" Saeed dug further. Something was definitely not right and if his hunch about Nafisa was right, he would find her no matter where she hides and make her pay for what she did, by handling her over to the police's custody.

Manal seemed to be in deep thoughts.

"What does she do to you afterwards?" He asked again, drawing back her attention.

"Nothing."

Saeed released the breath he didn't even know he was holding. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Now tell me, what did the girl do to provoke you?"

"She said my drawing is ugly."

Saeed looked at her in total disbelief. "You attacked her because she said your drawing is ugly? What's wrong with you, Manal? You weren't like this before. Where has this temper of yours come from?" He asked, his voice laced with calmness.

"But she started it."

"Even if she started it, what gave you the right to hit her?"

"But she kept telling everyone in class how bad I was at drawing."

"Enough of the excuses. You should have reported to one of your teachers. Violence is never a solution to problems. You should know that." He paused and taught of an instance. "When you do something wrong, do we use violence to correct you?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Then why'd you think it's okay to use it on someone?"

She remained silent.

"What you did was very wrong. You should have reported to your teachers or alternatively, make her understand she's doing the wrong thing and should stop and if she doesn't stop still, you can go ahead and threaten to tell the teachers."

"I'm sorry, abi. I will never do that again in shaa Allah."

"It's okay, but tomorrow, you will have to apologize to the girl as well as to the teacher for disrespecting her."

"But I didn't disrespect the teacher."

"You did. By fighting with a pupil while she was in class, that was disrespectful."

"I will apologize to her as well tomorrow."

"Good. I don't want to ever hear any complaints about you anymore. Is that clear?"

"Yes, abi."

Sa'eed planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving for their room. He knew for sure there was going to be an argument waiting for him in his room. He shook his head and puffed out air from his mouth.