...... COURT sentenced Zahra to eighty years in prison.... This was the word that kept echoing in the ears of Ishaq, who woke up startled as if pricked by a needle. Slowly, he began to look around the room he was in. Indeed, it was their room, not a court, especially when he glanced at the face of Princess Anee, who was sleeping soundly and peacefully.
Gradually, everything that happened in the dream started coming back to him as if a movie was being played, showing him everything that happened. "Oh my God," he muttered, immediately starting to sweat profusely on his forehead.
'What is about to happen to him and his trust, Zahra? Zahra in prison? No! It will never happen,' he kept repeating as if he was talking to someone else.
He got down from the bed after covering Anee with the large blanket they were using. She turned and snuggled into the blanket.
He turned towards the wardrobe, put on a white jalabiya, and left the room without even looking at the toilet, not thinking of taking a bath. At that moment, he only wanted to see Zahra's beautiful face to ease his worries.
He went to her room, but she wasn't there. Instead, there was a pile of clothes from her wardrobe scattered all over the room. In another corner, there was a heap of dried locust beans in a plate, indicating she had dried them.
He shook his head, thinking Zahra must be up to something. He headed towards his mother's part of the house but didn't reach there before he saw Zahra at the kitchen door with a small container in her hand. His instincts told him she was up to something... Then his dream came back vividly. He rushed towards her quickly. Seeing him, she started smiling broadly. He got close to her, knelt down to be at her level, and held her hands that were holding the container, turning it around. "What is this?" he asked.
She stared at the water inside, then lowered her voice and said, "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?"
She spoke while looking at him with her captivating eyes.
He closed his eyes slowly and said, "I promise."
Zahra, who was now relaxed, said, "It's a secret... A painful secret. I'm going to pour it on Aunt Rabi's path. When she comes and starts complaining, she'll fall, and we'll laugh," she said, laughing even before it happened.
Ishaq's heart started beating fast. He held the container and her fingers, staring into her eyes until she looked away, saying, "Stop looking at me like that. Your eyes look like a cat's."
"A cat's?" Ishaq asked, smiling slightly. Zahra, pouting, said, "Yes, I feel like scratching you when you look at me..."
