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“Jade and I are real; I assured my father that I wouldn’t date Jade while she was a teenager. She’s an adult now and you cannot stop me from seeing her, if she wants to see me.”
“I don’t care if you think you love her or she loves you, I want you to end this relationship now or I’ll tell your father.”
“My father is aware, I’m dating Jade.” She gasps and squeezes her husband’s hand hard; his squashed-up face expresses the pain she’s inflating as he remains quiet, watching us throw daggers at each other.
“You do realize that you are putting Jade in danger or are you so selfish that you can’t see what you are doing to her?” she looks like she would kill me if it would get me away from Jade. Weirdly, Jade looks a lot like her when she’s upset.
“I assure you; no danger will come to Jade and I’m not breaking up with her because you blatantly or forcefully requested.” She’s got it twisted, if she thinks Jade is in danger by having a relationship with me.
“Fine, I’ll tell her to end it, she won’t disobey me.” She proudly says I can tell she’s going to exert her power on Jade, that would put a strain on our relationship. Instinctively, I block her path as she attempts to head towards Jade’s room.
“You can’t do that to her, that’s not fair to her.” I snap at her as she gives a sad chuckle.
“Fair is me keeping her safe from your family, especially the wrath of your father.” she snaps back at me. This woman is feisty. I know she’s right about my father, not wanting our relationship, though I won’t admit it to her. It would mean I’m aware Jade could be in danger, which she isn’t because I’ve already crushed my dad’s thoughts on getting between us.
“Please don’t ask her to choose sides, you’ll only be hurting her. I beg you, please don’t do that to her.” I plead. I know how Jade has struggled with breaking her promise to her aunt. I’m a good boyfriend, at least, I like to think that I am. I should’ve left and continued to remain a secret, but I needed her family to know so she could be free and stop lying. We both maintain our stance, in our battle of will.
“He’s right, Lara” her uncle finally speaks “I don’t like this any more than you do, making Mariam choose is not fair to her either.” he squeezes her hand.
“You can have any woman, why did you have to pick Jade?” she shouts “Why! Why Jade!”
“She’s the one I fell in love with, and she loves me too. It’s just that simple.”
“It’s not that simple.” she snaps “Because you can’t see your forbidden love is doomed. I don’t want this for her. She deserves better, for now. I won’t ask her to choose but don’t expect me to champion your relationship, every opportunity I get, you can be assured I’ll convince her to break things off with you.” she forcefully states pointing a finger at me.
“Long as you don’t ask her to choose,” I retort.
“Fine” she snaps, and I move out of her path. I find a chair and exhale. And let my anger dissipate. It would seem, there’s a fight at every turn for us. Palms to face, I heavily sigh. Our relationship is a challenge enough without external forces putting additional strain.
I feel the presence of her uncle next to me. “You know my wife is only concerned about Mariam’s safety. Your father made it clear to us that you and Mariam will never be a couple and she’s unworthy of you. He told us we needed to keep her away from us or we could expect consequences. As soon as we sent her to Texas, we started making plans to leave Rhanaz, we liked it there but with your father’s threat, we had to take the jobs in South Africa.” He sighs, just surprised to know my dad has been spinning wheels long before now to separate Jade and me.
“My wife now feels like it was a mistake bringing Jade over to Rhanaz, with all that we’ve experienced in the last few years, as challenging as they’ve been I still think it was a good idea to bring her to Rhanaz, that girl lost her parents in a very tragic manner, she needed to be with family not alone in some boarding school.
When she first arrived in Rhanaz, she used to cry every night and would stare at the walls or her books for a long time. It didn’t help that the kids at school refused to be friends with her. Your sister was the only one kind to her, then she met you and somehow, she started laughing again and stopped crying. That was why we didn’t stop her from coming to see you, spending time with you gave her purpose, not even in our wildest dreams did we expect you two to become lovers.”
If only he knew, we gave each other purpose. It didn’t have to be in their wildest dream. It was in our dreams, and it became our reality. The few hours Jade and I spent together daily while I was healing were not mistakes. It was the foundation for our future.
“I’m in love with Jade and I’m not ashamed to say it.”
“I know and I’ve known since the day you came on crutches to see her and sat with me for hours waiting for her to come home. I honestly thought it would fade but you proved me wrong when you kept calling for her Texas number and wouldn’t let me rest. I couldn’t tell my wife that I gave you the address in Texas and please don’t tell her. I’m not ready to sleep on the sofa.” I chuckled, after having a standoff with Aunty Lara I can empathize with him.
“You know, I’ll never leave Jade,” I state.
“I know, I also know your father doesn’t understand or care how you and Jade feel about each other,” he replies.
“He will, he doesn’t have a choice. Jade and I are inevitable.” he chuckles at my reply.
“I hope you can convince him for both your sake.” He leaves without looking back. I notice Rilwan hasn’t said a word since.
“What do you think Ril?”
“He’s right, the person that needs convincing is your dad. Not them”
I remain in the waiting area until they leave before returning to Jade. She’s no longer sleeping. I can tell she has been crying. I pulled her close to me. “I’m sorry, Jade.”
“My aunty has never been upset with me before. This is the first time she is angry with me Naseer,” she says through sobs. “Maybe it’s best we stop seeing each other, Gent.”
“No! Jade that’s not going to happen. You and I stay together.” I wipe her tears. I can’t stand that she’s crying. I did this and I don’t feel proud of myself now.
