said.
“Exactly!” Sara said.
“You're pregnant?” Malik asked. He was shocked.
“Yes, with my child,” Tariq roared.
“What?!” Amir and Malik spat out at the same time. They were both shocked with the news. No one had seen that coming. Sara turned on her heel and walked out. Tariq did not even bother to explain the situation to them. He went after Sara. She had gone to her office. He opened the door and slammed it behind him. They both started arguing. He wanted her to stay home but she did not want to.
“Is it going to be like this when the baby is born?” Sara shouted and threw herself on the sofa. “I will not let you make all the decisions regarding this baby. MY BABY!” she added.
“It was my seed! I have as much right as you do.”
“Exactly! It’s equal, so stop making it one-way. Besides it is I who has to suffer for the next nine months, not you!”
Tariq walked out. There was no reasoning with her. She was determined to work. He was going to let her have this one month. But next month, he was removing her from work whether she liked it or not.
Later that day, Amir walked into Sara's office. He pulled out a chair and joined her at her desk. For a moment, he did not say anything. He simply looked at her. She knew why he was studying her like that. She sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“It happened during the week we worked late. The night of your date, to be exact,” Sara said.
“How?” Amir was confused. He could not understand how his brother and his assistant got into that situation. The two of them hated each other and now they were having a baby.
“I don't know. One minute we were arguing and the next, that happened.” She covered her face with her hands. Amir burst out laughing.
“This is crazy. You two loathe each other and now you will raise a baby together!” He started laughing again.
“It's not funny, it's terrible. He is mean and controlling. Do you know what he did yesterday?”
“What?”
“He came to my apartment and literally removed me from it and took me to his. Actually threw me over his shoulder when I refused to go. Now, he’s making me live with him. For the health and safety of the baby, he says.”
Amir could not help but laugh. He liked having her around, standing up to Tariq and arguing with him. It was all such great amusement watching as this girl completely vexed his brother. But now, she was going to be the mother of his brother's first-born child. A knock sounded at the door. It was an unfamiliar girl. Sara raised her eyebrows.
“You must be Sara,” the girl said. She looked to be about twenty years old.
“Why are you here?” Amir asked her.
“I'm Aaliyah,” she said to Sara, ignoring Amir. Sara looked at Amir, hoping he would tell her what was going on. “I heard that you're carrying my cousin's child,” she added.
Cousin? Amir smacked his forehead with his right hand.
“News travels fast,” Aaliyah said.
Aaliyah accompanied Sara back home to Tariq's house. She told Sara that her reason for coming was that she wanted to meet Sara. She was excited to become an aunt. Tariq had refused to tell her about Sara, so she came to see her for herself. Aaliyah asked Sara every single question she could come up with.
The day got even weirder for Sara when she walked into Tariq's living room to find Fiddah sitting with a younger woman. Both women were surprised to see Sara.
“Hello, lady Fiddah,” Sara said awkwardly.
“Sara, how is it that you are here?” Fiddah asked her.
Chapter 13
Fiddah was finding it hard to process that Sara was pregnant with Tariq's child. The other woman, who had introduced herself as Tariq's mother was even more shocked. Her eldest son, the one who did not want to marry, had impregnated his brother's assistant? And now, she was living with him? It was too much to take in. Aaliyah was
Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner