To Be Loved

Chapter 13

"Oh, I was worried for a second; I thought you couldn't hear me. How have you been, honey, and your family?" The excitement clearly shows in her tone, and that makes Jasmine's heartthrob in pain and feel warm at the same time, but she won't show it and let herself be affected by it.

"We are fine; thanks for asking, mother." Her tone was so flat.

Her mother got sad when she sensed that her daughter didn't feel comfortable talking to her yet.

She doesn't know when they will be back to how it was before all of this happened. All she could do now was pray that everything would get better. A sigh left her lips unknowingly.

That made her older son and husband, who was dying to talk to his daughter and his lovely grandchildren, wonder what had happened, so he poked her on the shoulder, which made her snap out of her thoughts and look at him.

He gestured to her about what had happened, and she mouthed to him that nothing had happened.

He didn't believe her, but he said nothing. She returned her attention to the call and asked her daughter quickly, afraid that she would make her feel uncomfortable if they stayed silent. She would do anything to make her feel safe again with them. "When will your husband return home?"

"He returned today," she said with a smile, looking at him. He smiled back and moved them to the nearest couch. He sat first and made her sit on his lap, still holding her while resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Say hi to him, honey, and where is the apple of my eye?" asked her mother with a hopeful tone.

"I will tell him. They are at their granny's house. When they return, I will tell them what you asked about them." Her tone started to get a little bit soft when mentioning her children.

"Hm, okay.'' There was a little bit of disappointment in her voice, and Jass could sense it.

"I will tell them to call you," Jass said quickly and didn't know why, which made Omar rub her back to calm her.

"Really, you will tell them to call me back?" She sounded happy, and a smile appeared on Jass's face.

Jass nodded her head but remembered her mother couldn't see her, so she said really; then she told her something that made her body worsen after it was slightly relaxed. She didn't know what to do.

"Habibty, are you still with me? Your father wants to talk to you. Do you have some time to talk to him?" Her mother's voice carries massive nervousness.

She knew that Jass still couldn't forgive her dad completely, and every time she talked to him, her response would be dry and give him one word-answer, or worse, there would be no words at all.

"I... Y-yeah, I have time." She stuttered a little bit but composed herself quickly; she didn't want to show how it still affected her after all these years.

But she wasn’t quick enough; her mother felt her nervousness and hesitantly handed the phone to her husband, who took it excitedly.

He knows that Jasmine hasn’t forgiven him yet, and he wants her to forgive him completely and make it up to her for all what he had done, even though she was still wary of him.

He knew he had messed up a lot and realized it after he almost lost her for the second time.

"Assalamu Alaikum, Jass? How are you doing, dear?" His voice holds excitement, but he really can't say what he really feels; he is so afraid, nervous, and guilty that he makes his only daughter leave them because of his foolishness.

When Jass heard his voice, her whole body quivered. 'It's okay; you can do this.’ Omar felt her distress and tightened his hold to give her some encouragement.

"Alaikum salam, father. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Her voice was devoid of any emotion. She sounds like a robot.

"I'm happy to hear that, sweetheart. How was your first day of teaching?" He brushed the way she talked to him off; at least she answered him.

"It was good," again a one-word answer.

"That's good, honey, you shou..."

"I'm sorry, but I need to go. I will call later." She cut him up before he could continue; she just couldn't take it anymore; she wasn't used to his concern.

"Oh, are you busy?" After his tone was covered with excitement, it became overwhelmed with sadness, but he didn't let it affect him.

"Hm, it's lunchtime." She really wanted to end this call.

"Your brother wants to talk to you; can you spare him a minute?." He hopes she will.

Her heart clenched at the mention of her brother. "I'm sorry, I need to go. Say hello to him, bye." She didn't wait for his reply and hung up.

She took a deep breath; she didn't know she was holding it; every fiber of her body was shaking. Maybe if he had shown his care and concern early in her life, she wouldn't feel so wounded.

"Everything's going to be okay; breathe, babe," said Omar, trying to make her stop her overthinking.

"Omar, if he just for once... deep breath... show it from the start, I..." Her voice started to quiver, and she couldn't hold back the tears that escaped from her eyes.

He turned her around so she could face him. He wiped her tears and raised her chin up so he could see her face.

"We said that we would try to forget and forgive. Don't remember the past anymore, Jass. You are the one who told me we needed to move on, or you were lying.'' His tone held so much tenderness and care.

She looked at him, her eyes glistening with shaded tears, and nodded her head. "I swear to God, I'm trying, but it's still hurting and burning. It's still hurting; what they did to me wasn’t easy to move on from all of it." She said it in a hushed tone.

"I know, babe, I know, and you are doing great at facing it, so don't let it overpower you. Please stop crying; I hate it, but in another circumstance, I like to see it." He tried to avert her attention to another thing, and he managed to do that.

She chuckles lowly and shakes her head in disbelief. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I agreed to marry you."

"Ah, my heart, baby, that was so uncool," he said with fake sadness, and he wiped her tears.

Her reply was that she got down from his lap and looked at him for a minute, then turned her back to him and headed to the dining table, but before she could reach it, she turned her head and told him, "Let's eat, Omar; maybe when you are full, you could become smarter."

He laughed out loud, and it reached her ears and made her smile. His sassy wife is back.

He runs after her to find that she is sitting there waiting for him so they can dig in together.

They will eat and talk about what happened when they were apart. She talked about her first day at college and how nervous she was.

But she had fun and talked about Mr. Morris and his way of wooing Sarah and how Sarah was too shy when she told her about his intention but chose to deny it, which made him laugh.

He was looking at her while she was talking like he wanted to engrave everything in his mind—the way her facial expression changed and how her big, round eyes changed when she laughed or spoke.

She is really bad for his heart, but he still doesn't care.

"Omar, stop staring at me and eat." She said that when she noticed he was looking at her.

"Hm… Okay, anyway, I will eat you later." He smiled and winked at her, then started eating his food like he didn't just say anything.