Things got worse before they became…well…bearable I guess. It did hurt my self-respect that I had been forced into someone's life unwanted, not needed and humiliated every time I saw his face to the point where I couldn't talk to him at all. I couldn't express my feelings about this stupid marriage I couldn't apologise to him or his family for my mother's last wish…I just couldn't say anything at all. Self-respect was everything to me…and it had been taken away by the person who instilled this value in me. I couldn't even talk to my uncle about it for a while. He was the one who was forced to carry out his sister's wishes so what could I say to him? But I never resented my cousin even once; in fact, i acknowledged his hard work and praised him; we were not matched and I knew it. I even saw resentment and loathing in his eyes whenever he saw me and I still didn't say anything negative about him, because I wanted to keep my integrity, which I had undoubtedly inherited from my humble mother who was still always in my thoughts every single day.
So what choice did I have except to start spending my lonely time with my uncle, who kept on encouraging me to become the perfect wife to his precious doll-like son. And soon enough I finally had the courage to speak my mind…and it turned out to be the best thing I could have ever done. I was telling the truth when I told him that I never wanted a rich and mighty husband…I just wanted respect. Surely that wasn't too much to ask for, right? But then suddenly after about another month…that was exactly what I got. Something had begun to shift in our relationship. I was still grieving for my mother so I guess he had an easy start to…opening up to me? Opening up turned into secret looks in the home with my in-laws around. Secret looks then turned into him spending a lot more time at home which soon turned into evenings out together at social events, me packing for his work trips abroad and so on…I finally felt like I had a real husband beside me who praised me constantly, who couldn't go a day without my coffee….he had become my best friend…my love and my life soon after.
But things went bad again as soon as i had met Sara's cousin Khizar at university…and ever since then, my husband had started to either ignore me or get angry all the time. I had no idea what the cause was or what I could possibly do to fix the situation, he wouldn't talk to me at all! And now that I was pregnant…all I could do was wait for him to be in a manageable mood again before I could tell him anything…and then we could be a happy loving family again. But that all changed when i had walked into my so-called aunt's trap…and it would forever change all of our lives.