MY JENN HUSBAND

Chapter 2.THE HUSBAND NO ONE CAN SEE

*CHAPTER 2: THE HUSBAND NO ONE CAN SEE*

Asabe didn't sleep that night.

How can she sleep? A man - no, a _thing_ - was sitting on the chair in her room, watching her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

"Go away," she said for the tenth time.

"I can't," Zayd said calmly. "This is my room now. Where my wife sleeps, I sleep."

"I am not your wife! We didn't do any wedding!"

Zayd stood up. He walked to her slowly. He was so tall that Asabe had to look up.

"We did," he said. "Twenty years ago. Your father called my name in the middle of the night. He was dying. He said, 'Take my daughter. Protect her. Marry her.' I said yes."

Asabe's eyes filled with tears. "My father is alive! He is in the next room!"

"Is he?" Zayd asked.

He pointed to the door. "Go and check."

Asabe ran. She opened the door. The house was dark. Too dark. Too quiet.

She ran to her parents' room. She pushed the door open.

"Mama! Baba!"

Her mother was sleeping. Her father was sleeping.

But their faces... they looked too peaceful. Like people who are not really sleeping.

"Mama, wake up!" Asabe shook her mother.

Her mother opened her eyes slowly. "Asabe? Why are you awake? Go and sleep. Tomorrow is your big day."

"But Mama, there is a man in my room!"

Her mother smiled in her sleep. "Don't worry. He is your husband. He will take care of you."

Asabe stepped back. Her mother was not afraid. Nobody was afraid. It was like everyone already knew, except her.

She ran back to her room. Zayd was still there, standing by the window, looking at the moon.

"Why me?" She cried. "Why did you choose me? I am nobody. I am just a normal girl."

Zayd turned. For the first time, his red eyes looked sad.

"Because you are not normal, Asabe. Your blood is different. When you cry, your tears can heal. When you are angry, the wind listens to you. My world wants to use you. I want to protect you."

Asabe laughed, but tears were falling. "You are lying. I am just Asabe. I can't do anything."

"Then why did the light go off when you were afraid?" Zayd asked softly. "Why did the door open when you were thinking of running?"

Asabe opened her mouth. No words came out.

Because it was true. The light went off when her heart was beating fast. The door opened when she wanted to run.

"Tomorrow," Zayd said, "your family will do a wedding for the people. They will bring a human man. A fake husband. For the world to see."

"What?" Asabe shouted.

"But at night, you will come to me. You are my real wife. The human husband is just a cover. So that no one will ask questions."

Asabe sat on the floor. Her head was spinning.

A fake husband in the day. A jinn husband at night.

What kind of life is this?

Zayd knelt down in front of her. He wiped her tears with his cold fingers.

"Asabe," he whispered. "I know you hate me now. But one day, you will understand. I have waited twenty years. I can wait a little more for your heart."

Then he disappeared.

Just like that. Like smoke. Like he was never there.

Asabe was alone again. But the room was still cold. And his perfume was still in the air.

She touched her cheek where he had touched her. It was still cold.

She was not dreaming.

Tomorrow, she would marry a man she didn't love. And at night, she would go to a jinn who said he loved her.

What was she going to do?