I was in the kitchen preparing dinner when I heard Mariam talking to Ahmed in our bedroom.
I wasn’t trying to listen, but then I heard her mention my name.
“Ahmed, I’m your sister. I can’t watch you suffer and pretend everything is fine. Your wife doesn’t respect you.”
I stopped what I was doing.
My husband asked her what she meant.
She said, “You don’t even notice how she treats you anymore. Since I came here, I’ve been seeing things. Sometimes, I wonder if she married you because she loves you or because of what you can provide.”
I was shocked.
This was the same woman I had been feeding and treating like family.
I waited for Ahmed to tell her to stop talking about me that way.
Instead, he said, “Mariam, please. I don’t want problems between you and my wife.”
That was all.
He didn’t defend me. He didn’t even ask her what I had done to deserve those words.
