Inline comments are very much appreciated.

Dedicated to my sister, Eshaal_sid

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"Abi! Abi!! Abi!!!" Sa'eed could hear his daughter's voice calling out for him from outside her room. He sat upright and heaved a sigh - due to how much he missed them, he had started hallucinating. He chuckled and went back to want he was doing on his cellphone.

"Abi!" He heard again. This time, louder.

Lifting his gaze, Sa'eed's jaw dropped - it was Manal standing right in front of him. He couldn't believe his eyes. Perhaps they were deceiving her. He blinked once, then twice to make sure he wasn't indeed hallucinating. "Manal?"

She smiled and ran into his waiting arms.

Sa'eed couldn't contain his happiness, relief and most of all, surprise. He wasn't expecting them to return today. He kissed her on both cheeks. It had only been a day, yet he missed the both of them terribly. "Where is ummi?" He questioned, his gaze trailing to the door.

"She's not here." Manal replied nonchalantly.

"She's not here?" Sa'eed asked disappointedly. He sincerely wished she had return with Manal instead, but apparently, that wasn't the case. Perhaps Maryam had sent Manal back home with someone else. "Who are you here with?"

"Ummi." She shrugged.

Sa'eed's eyes lit up. "Where is she?" He questioned solicitously.

"She's standing outside the room." She replied.

The side of his lip curled up into a lopsided side. "And you told me she isn't here." He remarked, poking her nose.

"Yes, because she's not here in the room." She whined.

"Right." He agreed, hugging her tighter to his body. "I missed you so much. Do you know that?"

"Yes." She giggled.

"How's grandpa, grandma and aunty Sumaiya?" He inquired. "I hope you were obedient and nice to them."

"Yes."

"Good." He caressed her cheeks and handed his cellphone to her. "I have downloaded new games for you. Take it."

"Really, abi?" She exclaimed. "Thank you." She collected the cellphone and clicked on My talking Angela.

While Manal was engrossed with the game, Sa'eed sauntered out of the room in search of his wife. She wasn't outside the room as Manal had told him.

Walking along the hallway, Sa'eed spotted Maryam by the door to their room. Immediately their gazes met, Maryam hurriedly walked inside.

Sa'eed chuckled - it seemed she was in the mood to play hide and seek. Apparently, she was nervous of meeting him again after what transpired between them yesterday, but what she didn't know was that, he wasn't mad at all. In fact, he was delighted to have them back. The building was a house yesterday, but today, it had turned back into a home due to her presence. He followed her.

Stepping a foot into the room, he met her by the window side, staring lovingly at nature - the blue sky and the chirping birds that flew about. His presence was not even noticed by her.

He walked closer to her in taciturnity and wrapped his arm around her from behind. She tensed up immediately, but relaxed after a minute or so. The sent of her hair surged into his nostrils and he felt intoxicated by her love. How much he missed her. In just a day, he missed everything about her. He missed her beautiful, mesmerising smile, her immense love for him. He missed her reminding him of his salat. Surprisingly, he missed their little arguments as well. He was not used to her being nervous around him - he did not like her silence at all. His gut feeling told him something wasn't right, but he spurned the thought - what could possibly be wrong? She was back and between his arms. "Game over, habibty." He kissed her temple. "I have finally got a hold of you."

"I...I'm sorry, habibi." She apologized all of a sudden.

Sa'eed's brows furrowed. Turning her around, he fixed his gaze in hers. "What for?"

"I have so many things to apologize for, but I will start by apologising for the decision I took to leave for my parents' after the argument we had. Please forgive me for that, habibi." She pleaded, looking everywhere, but him.

"I don't hold a grudge against you for that." He placed some fingers underneath her chin, raising her head and making their gazes meet. "I understand why you were angry. Why you were disappointed. I shouldn't have done that - I know. But I couldn't see any other way to convince you otherwise. I was at fault too."

"Why do you understand me so much?" Her eyes glistened with tears. "Please don't always be like this. I need you to not always understand me when I'm wrong. If you do, then how am I going to realise my mistake and apologize for it?

"I really want to change, Habibi. I want to be the ideal wife for you. I know I haven't be one in the past few years. My job always got in the way. We rarely had time for each other. I even failed to notice the changes in my daughter and when you made me quit my job, I became worse. I gave you the cold shoulder and I got angry for every little thing you did. I also went to the extent of leaving the house, when I found out you weren't actually getting remarried." She choked on a sob. "Listening to myself, I now realised how bad a wife I was to you. I'm suppose to support and encourage you in all of your endeavors, but I barely even do these. I have so many flaws and you seem to have none. You're too good for me. Why do you even love me?"

"Sit down." He motioned towards the bed and when she did, he sat beside her and took her hands in his. "I will be honest with you. I do get disappointed in you at times, but I never let it last for too long. Your flaws, they're a part of you and what makes you special to me. It may sound ridiculous, but I do love everything about you, including some of your flaws." He emphasised. "Also, I have many flaws. You mentioned one just a moment ago and there are still hundreds of them. We're both humans and are bound to make mistakes and having flaws is one of our characteristics. Never, ever think you're not good enough. You're one the best things that ever happened to me and I love you. I made the right decision by getting married to you. I have no regrets at all." He brought her hand to his lips and placed a lingering kiss on her knuckles. "And to answer your last question; I love you for many, many reasons. You're the mother of my children. I can't even begin to mention the reasons for it might take up the whole day, but the most important reason of all; I love you for the sake of Allah." He smiled. "Why do you love me in spite of my flaws?" He returned her question.

Speechlessly, Maryam threw her arms around his shoulders. "I love you so much, habibi. Allah has given me the best husband in the world, now I will work hard to be the ideal wife you deserve."

Sa'eed kissed her hair before disentangling his arms from around her. "Just be yourself, okay? You're already the best wife I could ever ask for from Allah." He appreciated her effort to become a better wife and mother, but he also didn't want her to go out of her way to make that possible.

"No, habibi." She shook her head. "I want to do this for you. Until now, you've been the only one taking care of Manal's needs despite your busy schedules. I also had busy schedules, but that wasn't reason enough for me to neglect our daughter. I should have done better. If you could create time for her, then I definitely could as well. I regret my actions now and I want to make up for it."

"Ma sha Allah." Sa'eed felt really happy hearing those words leave her lips. More than himself, he wanted Maryam to take care of Manal instead. Their daughter was going farther away from her mother by each passing day - he wanted that to be rectified. Indisputably, he knew Maryam loved her a lot and would do everything in her power to make up for lost times - he trusted her.

"Will you help me?" She inquired.

"We will do it together." He smiled reassuringly. "Now, let's talk about your sudden return. Why made you decide to return today? It was supposed to be tomorrow."

"I couldn't go another day without being with you." She replied, her gaze never wavering from his. "I missed you very much and Manal missed you as well. She wouldn't have allowed me be if we didn't return today."

"Really?" He asked teasingly. "You couldn't go another day without me?"

"It just came out." She smirked. "I didn't miss you at all. Why would I even? You wanted me to leave. You didn't tell me to stay back. I felt hurt." She admitted sadly.

"We've talked about this over the phone." He chuckled. "I really didn't want you to leave. You should have seen me yesterday. I was very lonely staying here all alone."

"That reminds me. Where is Zainab? I haven't seen her since we arrived." She voiced.

"Immediately you left yesterday, she got a call from one of her course mates. Her lecturer wants her to be in school on Monday to submit her seminar project, so she had to leave." He explained.

"Oh! She didn't even tell me." Maryam sounded disappointed.

"She was in a hurry, otherwise, she would have remembered to give you a call." He assured. "By the way, who brought you back?"

"I boarded a cab." She blurted.

You should have informed me you were coming back today and I would have picked you up."

"I know. I wanted to surprise you and I did." She chuckled.

"You sure did." He agreed. "But wer-"

"Don't worry, I boarded the whole taxi." She interjected.

"But still. Haven't you heard of the news going round?" He reprimanded.

"I have. Just let it go already, please. I won't repeat it next time inshaAllah."

"Alright." He smiled.

"Why haven't Manal come here yet? That's unlike her." Maryam voiced.

"Don't worry about her." Sa'eed remarked. "She's busy playing a game on my phone."

"No wonder! She loves playing games."

"She took after me. I used to like games a lot."

"Why don't you like games anymore?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, because I am already old."

Maryam laughed. "Maybe."

"Have you two had anything to eat?"

"No. I was even about to tell you how hungry I am."

"What would you like to eat?"

"I'm craving spaghetti."

"Alright. Wait here. I will have it prepared for you."

"No." She refused. "I want to be the one to cook it."

"Don't worry my cooking skills has improved." He chuckled. "But if you really want to, then we can make the food together."

"Alright." Maryam smiled. "Let's go."

Sauntering toward the kitchen, Sa'eed noticed the front door was wide open. "Why is the door open?" He questioned. "Did you leave it open?"

"I came in after Manal and I don't remember leaving the door open. Maybe I did after all." She shrugged.

Inexplicably, Sa'eed felt strange. If Maryam said she didn't remember leaving the door open, then who did? The gatekeeper wasn't even around and he was sure Manal hadn't come downstairs yet - he spurned the thought from his mind immediately. Perhaps it was just him being paranoid. "Okay." He plastered on a smile and shut the door.

~~~~~~

Few minutes later, the spaghetti was ready. Maryam insisted on cooking and he ended up giving her a helping hand instead. With Sa'eed's help, they carried the dishes to the dining room.

"It seems Manal is really engrossed in whatever game she's playing. She's not coming out of the room." Maryam remarked.

"She is. I downloaded new games for her on my phone." He replied.

"Well, she will have to keep the phone aside right now. It's time for her to eat. I will just go and call her."

"No." Sa'eed stopped her. "I will go. Sit and have something to eat. Quit starving my baby." He pointed an accusative finger at her, feigning anger. "I will be back with Manal."

Maryam's lips curved into a smile. "Alright." She replied and took a seat on one of the dining chairs and served herself some food.

Sa'eed was about to leave the room, when he heard muffled sounds coming from Maryam as she began to gag. He hurried towards her and poured her a glass of water. "Are you alright?"

"No." She shook her head vigorously. "I feel like vomiting. Please take this food away from me. I don't feel like eating it anymore. The aroma is horrible."

"But you wanted to eat it so badly just few minutes ago." He reasoned.

"Not anymore." She cringed in disgust. "Please take it away or I'm going to throw up all over this table."

"Alright...okay...fine." He remarked and put the food away. "What are you going to eat now?" He questioned worriedly.

"I'm not hungry anymore." She replied.

"That won't do. You will have to eat something, if not for yourself, then for the sake of our baby. Please." He beseeched.

"Alright. I will have some mangoes then. I've been craving for them for a long time now." She voiced.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He queried. "I will go get you some from the fruit market right away. Call Manal downstairs. She must be very hungry."

"Okay."

"I will be right back." He said before turning around and walking out.

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Entering into Manal's room, Maryam met her absence. "Where is she?" She asked herself. "Manal?" She called, but no reply. "Manal!" She called louder, but the result was same. She checked her bathroom, but she wasn't there as well. She couldn't fathom what was happening - why wasn't she in the room? - Sa'eed had told her he left her in the room. Perhaps she went looking for them in their room - she reasoned.

Emerging from the room and heading to theirs, she bumped into someone, making her almost lose her balance. "Habi-" raising her head, her gaze met with that of someone who wasn't Sa'eed, nor Manal. Her eyes bulged and she took in a sharp, sudden intake of breath. Every single word Sa'eed had said about her, resurging into her mind. She gnashed her teeth as her gaze trailed the bag she was holding and Sa'eed's cellphone in her other hand. "Nafisa?"

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Ghen! Ghen!! Ghen!!!

Cliffhanger!!! Sorry guys 😂

Who expected Nafisa to be in the house stealing from them?

What will Maryam do to her?

Is this the time we've been waiting for? Has Nafisa finally been caught?

Where is Manal? 🤔 any guesses?

I'm not going to update soon, unless I get many comments and vote on this chapter. I'M SERIOUS!!!

Follow my account deey_jah for updates ❤❤