CH005

"I heard that father's new wife has arrived?"

" What has that got to do with you Tariq? It is none of your business. Don't harbour thoughts like you did last time and believe that you'd have you way this time around" Ayman's lashing was quick and calculative as he shot at the young man seated opposite to him on the dining table.

An elderly woman seated on the table raise her head and stared at him for a brief moment before raising her head down, she had been surprised by his outburst. It was unlike him to.

When Ayman stopped talking and stared at his surroundings, he discovered that almost everyone seated at the table had their gazes on him. They didn't even seem to want to take it off.

"I just asked a question Ayman. Why are you getting so worked up? Are you sure you're not the one we're to be mindful of regarding her?" Tariq questioned back, seeing that everyone's gaze were on Ayman and that would give him an edge over him.

Ayman didn't reply but instead focused on his food.

"Speaking of her,why isn't she here yet?" Tariq questioned.

Ayman didn't say anything but his face was disgusted.

Why was he interested in the lady? What business did he have with her why wouldn't he just rest in his own lane and not concern himself with things that didn't concern him.

He stared at a young woman seated across the table as well.

She at slowly and said nothing. There was sadness in her eyes. Ayman watched Tariq but he didn't even seem to notice. Well,now was he to? He was just like that, always loud and never having anything meaningful or useful to say or do.

"Your wife is here. I wonder why you're not Interested In the fact that she's here and eating and concerning yourself with talks of another woman that isn't yours"

" What did you say?" Tariq questioned angrily, his voice louder than normal as he banged his spoon on the table.

But Ayman didn't care. He knew that he heard what he had said and how he had said it, exactly when he had said it,why question him now as if he could do anything to diminish the truth he just stated.

But that was how he was and sometimes he pitied him. There has been no time he valued what he had. That was how he had been with his first wife when he married her.

Their father had brought home a new woman for himself but he had gone after her, and when his wife had discovered he had impregnated her, she had left him.

Hadn't heard learnt anything yet? When was he going to? When this new wife of his and mother of his children hers fed up by his lust of their fathers new bride?

"You heard what I said clearly" he answered, ready for whatever fight that was going to break out.

He didn't mind. Before he would have and not concerned himself with those issues because they had nothing to do with him, but not now,np when his favorite writer, Aziza Ali was concerned. He wasn't even sure he would let her marriage hold. There were no reasons to, there was no reason for a man as old as his father to marry such young lady and burden her with becoming a family woman for him, she didn't deserve it.

Be didn't know why but his heart just told him that it wasn't supposed to be. Not under his watch, and not this time around.

**********************************

Yarrah led Zara out of the room, following her closely behind. She wondered what kind of woman she was. She had made sure to bathe herself and dressed herself up. She hadn't even let Yarrah do the simple task of combing her hair for her. She had done everything by herself and all Yarrah had done was being out a dress for her to wear while she took her bathe. It intrigued her. The daughters of the Fahad family were unlike her and had always made the servants to do everything for them,even feeding them water sometimes.

"I'm sorry Yarrah but I think I have forgotten my mobile phone in the room, I will go back and get it"

" No madam, you stay back here, I will run back to the room and bring it for you"

She hoped for her not to protest. They were already running late because she had dressed herself and did everything by her self before. Leaving her to bring her phone by herself was going to waste more time.

"Okay. I will stand back here and wait for you" Zara replied and Yarrah thanked the heavens for hearing her prayers.

Zara stood and waited while Yarrah ran back into the room to search for her phone. She heard noises from the room she stood in front of and stood quiet as she listened to the conversation that seemed to come from the people in the room.

"Na thinks she is something now because she now has a master. I will make sure she doesn't even get a crumb from the leftovers from now on" the first voice came harshly.

" She thinks she is something because she can speak English and is lettered. She doesnt know that her position is still the same thing it has been before"

"Exactly what I want her to understand. She is nothing here and at the Fahad house, I come after the masters. Whether she is lettered or not, that doesn't matter around here. She doesn't even have a name to begin with"

"I heard that her master is a little girl. What does she think a little girl will be able to do for her? She will be sent out of the house in a few days time. I am sure of that"

"She thinks she is something because she feels that she is pretty"

" Who has been deceiving her that she is pretty? Even the dog at my father's house has a prettier face than she"

Zara stepped away from the door to avoid hearing more of what she just did. There was no mistaken the voices she had heard,three. There were three different voices, all from fellow workers who hated Yarrah.

"I found it Madam, it was on the bed. I was able to find it because it has a very beautiful cover" Yarrah said excitedly as she rushed towards Zara.

She smiled as she watched her. She was beautiful. Very beautiful. Apart from aging more than she was supposed to given her age, Yarrah possessed the sort of angelic beauty that made soldiers go to war and die for in an attempt to possess.

No wonder there were fellow workers who hated her even though she was a peaceful and quiet lot.

"Let us go then" she said after collecting the phone from her and she kept leading her down a long path that led to the dining,like she had been told.

***************************

"Peace be unto you all. I am Zara Ali" Zara greeted like she had been instructed to do by her moral governess before she was sent off.

She stared at the people seated across the table as they turned to face her. There was only one face she could recognize and that was that of Ayman,the man she had met earlier when she arrived firstly.

Her face was bare and showing. Yarrah hadn't given her a veil and neither did she say anything that mentioned wearing it. The housemaster didn't eat with his family most times and he was the only person she was to hide her face from. It was not mandatory for her to do so before others, the other ladies in the room didn't wear one either.

She stood waiting for someone to welcome her or show her a seat but no one spoke up. They were still staring at her and Zara knew there was a thing line between welcoming her and hating on her,evident on the expressions on some of the women's faces.

She wasn't just stealing a husband, but a father and grandfather. A husband? She scoffed in her mind. Some of the ladies in the room appeared older than her, funny how she was going to become a wife instead of being a daughter like how most of the others were.

"Why are you not putting on your veil?" A sharp voice cut through the silence and Zara stared and saw a lady ask her.

She didn't seem old,nor young so she assumed she was in her twenties. And it was disrespectful for her to question her that way. She wasn't just her age mate but going to become her step mother, she needed to know how to speak and how to accept what was going to be. Zara thouhht.

"Jamila!! Stop that! You're not wearing a veil yourself"

A voice called out and cautioned the lady who asked Zara the question.

She stared in the direction of the voice that had cut her short from speaking. It was that of Ayman. Was he also doing that as a way to flirt with her the way he had smiled earlier at Yarrah? She wondered.

Jamila raised an eyebrow at her brother before turning away.