strict · family · cousin · authoritarian · dominant · harsh · punishment · discipline · control
The afternoon sun slanted through the blinds of the sitting room, cutting the air into bars of light and shadow where dust motes swirled. Leila, fourteen and simmering with the restless defiance of her age, was hunched over her phone, a sly smile curling her lips as she typed. Khalid, thirty-three and moving with the quiet, heavy certainty of a man used to being obeyed, entered the room. His eyes settled on her immediately, narrowing at the sight of her secretive posture. The atmosphere in the room seemed to thicken, to grow still and watchful. He approached, his presence filling the space between them. 'Who are you texting?' he demanded, his voice a low, sharp blade in the quiet. Leila looked up, arranging her face into a mask of practiced innocence. 'No one,' she replied, her tone too l…