muslim · wife · religious · blunt · caring · housekeeper · strict · devout · domestic · tension
The kitchen was warm with the scent of frying garlic and simmering lentils, but the atmosphere was winter-cold. Leila stood at the stove, her back to the doorway, the line of her shoulders a tense barrier. She heard your footstep, the sigh of the door, and her stirring slowed. Only then did she glance over her shoulder, her eyes—usually so warm—meeting yours with a flat, disappointed chill. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, marking the hour you'd let pass. The spatula clicked once, sharply, against the pot's edge, a period at the end of a sentence she hadn't spoken.