MY HUSBAND’S BROTHER

HE IS NO ONE'S PAWN

Amare hasn't been himself ever since his brother Hakim died; he wasn't close with him, not that he's close with anyone except for Julia, but after Hakim died, like anyone else, he became a little bit overwhelmed.

One might say it's his brother, but no, it's not because of his family.

He has never even thought about running the family business. Growing up, he was used to being the forgotten son, so he never included himself in anything related to his family.

His father's favorite child is his younger sister, Zendaya. He used to call her his 'baby girl.'

His mother's favorite was his older brother Hakim. He was her 'handsome boy'.

Amare is no one's favorite. He is just Amare, 'The illegitimate child'.

Ola, who was working on a movie in another country, had an affair with his assistant. He asked his assistant to have an abortion, but she refused due to severe health complications. If she had gone through with the abortion, she would have died. If she gave birth, there was a chance they both might die as well. Despite the risks, she decided to go on with the pregnancy in hopes that her baby might survive. After a few months, she gave birth to a baby boy, but sadly, she passed away. She had only two conditions: that Ola must take care of their baby boy and that he must be named Amare, which she named him after her favorite Latin poetry.

Amare unequivocally felt unwelcome in his own home, not just with his parents but also with his siblings.

It's incredible how, no matter what he did, he always excelled in everything. From acing his tests to scoring the winning goal in sports, he was a jack of all trades. On top of that, he was always involved in multiple school clubs. It's like he had a secret recipe for success. Yet he always remained on the sidelines. He always felt like a stranger looking at a live television show.

He felt like an outsider in a big, happy family.

His efforts were never enough. No matter what he did, it always seemed to fall short. But the saddest part was yet to come. When Hakim passed away, suddenly, everyone started seeing Amare as family, but he knew there was something they needed from him, and he was bound to find it how and take it from them when they least expected.

He is no one's pawn! He is a King.

The rules of chess dictate that a pawn cannot be promoted to a king. Amare considers himself a king and not a pawn.

Except for Julia's case, of course. He can be anything when it comes to her.

Three minutes later, after their sloppy kiss. Amare kisses Julia on the forehead, saying to her good night.

As Malik sees the door opening, he returns to the car and drives Amare home.

Meanwhile, back at home. Maizah wakes up to unfamiliar surroundings. She first sees bright pendant lights fitted on the ceiling, providing ample illumination and allowing her to be able to see every corner of the room.

While still lying there on the bed, not knowing what to do. A knock on the door interrupts the silence.

"Mrs. Jackson, it's Zahrah, your maid. Can I come in?"

"What! Mrs Jackson? Maid? What does she want?."

"Mrs Jackson?" Zahrah calls outside the door again.

Maizah groans at the mention of the name, then gets out of bed and slowly walks to the door. She reluctantly opens the door and sees a short, petite woman who is around the same height as her but she's a little shorter than her.

Finally, someone who's shorter than her.

Zahrah is wearing a classic maid costume, which typically includes a black dress with a white apron and a headpiece. She smiles politely. "Good Morning, Mrs Jackson. I'm Zahra, your maid." She repeats it as if Maizah didn't hear her the first time.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zahrah; I'm Maizah. You can call me Maizah."

Zahrah's face brightened up. "It's a pleasure meeting you too, Mrs. Maizah." Says Zahrah, grinning at Maizah

"Now, how can I help you?" She asks, smiling at Zahrah

"I'm here to assist you. While you take a shower, I can clean up your room, and after that, I will lead you to the dining room downstairs. We apologize for not knowing about your arrival earlier; you must have been starving. We just received the information about your arrival now." Says Zahrah, pressing a button on the remote control, and the curtains open, revealing a big window glass.

Maizah stands next to the door while looking at the remote control and then back at the curtains.

"What will happen if I close the curtains and open them again?"

"What do other buttons do?."

"That flame on the fire screen has been burning like that all night. Can I switch it off with that remote?"

Maizah's mind wanders as she stares at the remote control, trying to figure out what will happen if she presses all the buttons simultaneously.

She shakes her head and thinks about the possibilities if she breaks something. She slowly walks to the bathroom to take a shower.

Well, last night, she had a bit of a struggle trying to decode the mystery of the shower. It was almost like a brain teaser but with water. Luckily, she knows her limits, and she's not afraid to ask for help when she can't get something done.

She asked for Amare's help, and in return, she got a lot of remarks about how stupid she was to know how the shower worked. It had buttons okay, and a lot of buttons with words written in another language. How was she supposed to know?

Although she comes from a small town, they have showers, and their showers have only one knob that sometimes produces cold or warm water; it depends on the mood of the shower.

Anyhow, Amare taught her two buttons: warm water and the switch button. While Maizah was still trying to memorize the buttons, Amare switched another button, and the water came from all sides, hitting Maizah with full force. She became dizzy for a full minute before turning it off while Amare was long gone.

She was both angry and annoyed, but she didn't say anything. She just simply changed her wet clothes and went to bed without taking that shower she desperately needed after a long day.

After Maizah finishes her morning shower, she returns to the squeaky clean bedroom, which looks bright and clean with the open curtains and the nicely done bed.

She walks into the built-in closet, which has clothes that only fit a corner of the shelf. The rest of the closet is just vast and empty.

She has a lot of clothes, and her luggage is full of them, but compared to the big closet, it feels as if she only packed one underwear.

Sighing, Maizah wears a floral midi dress and pumps, then ties her auburn hair into a neat ponytail.

She walks out of the bedroom, looking at both sides to see which way to go, but she's so wrong with directions she doesn't even remember which way she came last night.

"Oh, I see you're done. I came to check... Let's go downstairs." Says Zahrah, climbing the stairs on the left. Then where do the stairs on the right lead to?

Maizah smiles, then nods, following behind Zahrah. The only sound she can hear is their shoes hitting the white marble floor and nothing else.

Even though back at home she was only living with her aunt, she would sometimes hear her shuffling, going left and right doing God knows what, but here it's just silence—pin-drop silences.

"Where are the people in this house?" Maizah voices out her thoughts.

"Oh, the other maids are in the staff room. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are in the sauna room; they are preparing for the press meeting. Miss Fatima and her little ones are having breakfast in the garden. Miss Yara, Miss Zendaya, Mr Amare, and Mr Tarid are at work."

That is so many people! She exclaims inwardly. "Can you tell me about Miss Fatima? In fact, can you please tell me about all of them?" Maizah asks while sighing again.

Zahrah smiles as she starts telling Maizah about the family member who lives in the household.

Fatima is Ola's sister; she's the aunt. She is currently not working. In fact, she has no desire to be an independent woman; she only wants a man to feed her, help her, pay her bills, send her money, bathe her, and put her to sleep, but sadly, she always breaks up early with her boyfriends.

Yara is a 28-year-old fashion designer; she's Tarid's older sister.

Tarid is a 24-year-old; he's a freelance blogger. Then there are 8-year-old twins, Mike and Sam. [short for Mikael and Samael]. All four of them are Fatima's children.

Maizah spends the whole day getting to know the employees, who are more than the family combined. If they can start a mini-war, the employees could surely win.

Late in the evening, Maizah is on her way to bury herself on the pillows; she meets up with the woman who has been avoiding Maizah the whole day, just like how Maizah has been avoiding her mother-in-law the entire day. Rebecca blames Maizah for Amare going to the office when she specifically told him not to.

"Miss Fatima!" Maizah gasps, meeting face-to-face with her, but she quickly smiles."Good evening. Maizah greets

"Hmm! So my niece is married for real?"

"Yes, Miss Fatima. I'm Maizah." Says Maizah, smiling as she extends her hand for a handshake.

Fatima looks Maizah up and down just like how Rebecca did the first time she saw Maizah, but instead of sneering as Rebecca did, Fatima laughs hysterically.

Maizah doesn't know whether to cry or laugh with Fatima, but she sure as hell is about to have a nervous breakdown if she continues standing here at the same time; she doesn't want to come out as rude and just leaves her laughing alone like an i***t.

Maizah stands there for a full minute while Fatima is laughing; instead of saying anything, Fatima just pats Maizah on the shoulder and continues laughing as she leaves a perplexed Maizah behind.