Chapter Two

Third Person's POV:

To Maryam, the grand mansion was not a very surprising sight. Her foster parents were well-off too and she wasn't much interested in the splendor and luxuries of money. However, it did make her feel a little giddy.

The interior was even more beautiful than the exterior. Maryam looked around the house as Amna led her to Abdullah's room which was now hers. "I hope you like the decorations. I've been working on them for the past week." Her mother-in-law asked her sweetly when they entered the room.

Maryam smiled approvingly with a nod upon looking at the bed filled with roses and all the ceilings covered with LED lights. The furniture looked completely new and the king-sized bed was prepared as if it were waiting for just her.

"It's wonderful. Thank you," she replied. Amna took her hands in hers and came a little closer which told Maryam that she was probably going to say something important. "From today onward, this house is in your care. You know that I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow for Turkey and it makes me feel very guilty to leave you here all on your own but I can't help it." she squeezed her hands once.

"I hope you'll take care of Abdullah with patience and perseverance." She smiled a bit sadly as she continued; "He's a nice guy but he's not very used to sudden changes. I know he'll try his best but if he ever hurts you, please forgive him for my sake. I know it's even more selfish for me to ask you to ignore his mistakes but I'm helpless being his mother."

Maryam didn't let the light-haired woman continue. She put an assuring hand on her shoulder and gave her a bright smile.

"Don't worry, mom. I'll try my best to never let you down." it was as if those words were enough for Amna, who had a gut feeling that Abdullah wasn't one to step down so easily, especially since he was blackmailed into accepting the marriage proposal.

But Maryam didn't need to know that. She was pretty, young, sensible and most of all, a pious girl. Anyone could fall in love with her. Marriage was a bond that found a way to love no matter what and many people had arranged marriages that turned out to be best for them.

That was how Amna assured herself that everything would be alright. Besides, her long prayers and dua's had yet to bear fruit and she was sure Allah would never leave her empty-handed.

"Am I supposed to change... Or what?" Maryam's voice made Amna snap out of her thoughts and she gave the nervous girl a little laugh. "Oh no, not yet. Wait for Abdullah here. He still hasn't seen you properly yet." she gave her a wink which made Maryam feel nothing mainly because Abdullah wasn't nothing but a stranger for her, but for good manners' sake, she averted her gaze to the ground shyly.

After adjusting her on the bed, Amna left the room with a wave and high hopes. 

Maryam looked around the room, trying to figure out what Abdullah's taste was but the decorations hid everything that had been personally designed by him. She didn't know how to feel about her husband because she didn't know what he was like. She had good expectations from him but the thought of being alone in a room with him scared her. 

She recalled what happened when he sat next to her in the marriage hall. She had never felt so scared of being near to a man before. Her thoughts were disrupted by the sound of the door opening. As soon as the person set foot inside, it was like Maryam could smell out the familiar scent of cologne from afar. 

She froze in her place and tried to look at nowhere but her henna-filled hands and painted nails. Cold sweat collected on her palms as the heavy footsteps neared her. She tried to inhale but forgot how to. 

The movement of the bed caused by his weight when he sat on it, made her want to crawl under the bed and hide herself from him. Fine, he was handsome and overall looked like a person with an amazing personality but, he was still a man! One that she didn't have to cover herself from. 

Expecting him to start asking her about how her day was, like any normal person, she was a bit surprised when the first words that he spoke to her were nothing like that.

"Sorry to say this, but you're not the one for me."

That hit Maryam like an arrow to the heart.

With widened eyes, she turned to look at him finally. That time, she was least concerned about his looks or his personality or the fact that she was alone in the room with him without her hijab.

"What?"

He looked away from her, clutching the small jewelry box he held in his right hand. "You're not the one for me," he repeated, sending another bomb to fall on her. "Before you think it's because you're not pretty enough or not good enough, that's not the reason. You're just not my type. It's also because I'm in love with someone else and I can't leave her for a stranger like you."

For a second, Maryam tried to digest his words but then she was confused whether to feel angry at the fact that he was so full himself to think she would not consider herself equal to him or at the fact that he had that annoying expressionless face as he casually said those words to her. She decided that both things were unacceptable and not to mention, annoying as hell.

The cold sweat that was making her shiver a while ago had disappeared and now, Maryam's body was fired up from the immense fury she was feeling. She looked at him–no glared at him as if that would make him understand what in the world he was actually saying to her.

"Then why are you here?" she asked in a low voice because she was afraid that she would not be able to control herself if she exploded. For a moment, he looked confused by her question but when he understood what she meant, his expression turned aloof again. 

"I was forced into this marriage. I did all this just to maintain my position as the Saleh company's CEO." He looked at her. "Do you know how hard I've worked for this position? I couldn't let it go just like that." then he held out the jewelry box he had been clutching on to. 

"Anway, this is your present. Mom told me to give it to you. Please wear it so she doesn't know that we're not planning to take this marriage seriously." he sounded like he didn't think of her as anything worthy of respect as he tossed the box at her. It fell right beside her knee on her spread-out lehnga. 

She didn't bother picking it up, still unable to believe what was happening. Abdullah stood up and walked over to the mirror to look at himself, leaving her on her own. "You look pretty but you can change out of that now. It looks like a big problem to deal with and it's all fruitless when you have no one to show it to. The bathroom's right there." 

Maryam just looked at him in shock and flabbergast. She was still trying to make herself believe that she was really hearing those words from him. Could anyone be that obnoxious?! 

But she decided there and then. She wasn't taking it anymore. She got up from the uncomfortable position she was sitting in on the bed and grabbed her pajamas from her bag. Storming past Abdullah who was still checking himself out in the mirror, she hissed at him before walking away to the washroom. 

"Well, thank you for the suggestion, you jerk. I don't want to wear this stupid dress for a person like you anyway." 

With that, she slammed the washroom door behind her and quickly changed into her comfy clothes. She couldn't help but swear at him in her head. 

If he didn't like her, why did he say yes? Why did he have to ruin her life? He was a sissy who couldn't say no to his parents and stand for himself. A coward! 

But Maryam quickly took it all back. 

She glanced at herself in the mirror, all her heavy jewelry and extravagant clothes replaced with her pajamas that had an irregular pattern of small yellow dots all over. Her wavy hair fell to her back and she tucked a few strands behind her ear. 

In a way, it was a good thing he wasn't interested in her. She could just live there with a big status as the daughter-in-law of the house and go about her own business without having to fulfill her duties as a wife and taking care of him. 

She would just separate herself from him and construct her little world in another room. After all, the main reason she had agreed to get married was to escape her foster family and their bad behavior towards her. 

Yeah, she could do that. 

With a satisfied smile, she walked out of the washroom, making up her mind to tolerate being in the same room with him for a night until her parents-in-law left for Turkey. 

"You can sleep on the couch there," Abdullah said to her, pointing at a fancy couch that was on the other side of the room.  Seeing the dissatisfied look on Maryam's face he added, "It's comfortable. Besides, you don't really have a choice." he sounded a bit annoyed by her probably because of the nasty words Maryam had said to him before going to the bathroom. 

But, she didn't mind that. It was worth it. 

"I'm keeping this up just for tonight," she replied, walking over to the couch after grabbing a pillow from the bed. "After your parents leave, I'm not staying here a moment longer." Abdullah looked more happy than angry at that. 

"Fine by me."

"And if you think I'm doing this to hide your secret then you're completely wrong. I'm doing this just because your parents would be hurt to find out that their son is actually a coward." she sneered at him, taking him by surprise at how quick she could change personalities from being a shy bride to that. 

But he narrowed his eyes at her. "How dare you call me a coward?" 

Maryam did not want to continue it further. She could've been a bit accepting if he wasn't so arrogant and full of himself. But, because of his nasty attitude, she didn't want to have anything to do with him. 

"I'm going to sleep. Please make this easier for yourself and me by being quiet for the rest of the night."