Marriage had never been easy for Muktar, he had heard all the terrible stories about the things that g on in a marriage but he never wanted that to be his portion as he loved his wife, Amina and believed he loved her with all his heart and to the best of his understanding he loved her absolutely. Whenever she went out, he wanted to know where she was going. When she arrived late, he asked questions. Sometimes, he called just to check if she was safe. To him, these were ordinary things a husband did because he cared about his wife.
Amina, however, saw things differently and almost every day, she complained that Muktar was suffocating her. She wanted to go out without explaining every detail, spend time with her friends without answering calls and enjoy her privacy. Whenever Muktar tried to explain that he was only concerned about her, she accused him of treating her like a child.
Initially Muktar tried to understand and so he reduced his calls, gave her time and tried to avoid asking too many questions. But somehow it was like whatever he did was never enough. Eventually, he began to wonder whether being a caring husband had somehow become a crime.
Things became worse when Amina started giving him the cold shoulder. She would spend hours on her phone, laughing at messages he knew nothing about but barely spoke to him. When he asked what was wrong, she would say nothing was wrong. He missed the woman who used to tell him everything but he had no idea how to reach her anymore.
One Saturday afternoon, Amina went into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving her phone on the bed. Muktar was sitting nearby when the screen lit up with a notification from her friends' group chat. He had never been the type to go through his wife's private messages but something about the notification caught his attention and before he could stop himself, curiosity got the better of him.
He picked up the phone and opened the chat. There were dozens of messages from Amina and her friends, most of them discussing their outings and personal lives. Then he saw a voice note Amina had sent earlier that morning. He hesitated for a moment before pressing play and what he heard shattered him.
Amina was laughing as she spoke to her friends. She said she missed being single, missed going wherever she wanted without having to explain herself and was tired of having a husband who constantly asked questions. She complained that Muktar wanted to know everything, according to her, marriage had become a prison and she sometimes wished she had never agreed to it.
One of her friends asked whether Muktar was really that bad. Amina laughed again and said he was not a bad man but she was tired of his constant attention. She wanted to enjoy her life without feeling accountable to someone every time she stepped outside.
Muktar sat there, staring at the phone. He replayed the voice note, hoping he had misunderstood something but the words remained the same. Then he heard the bathroom door open and quickly placed the phone back where he had found it.
When Amina walked into the bedroom, she found him sitting quietly on the edge of the bed. She asked whether everything was alright and he simply nodded. She had no idea that in those few minutes something inside her husband had broken.
From that day, Muktar changed as he stopped asking where she was going. He stopped calling to check on her when she stayed out late. When she told him she was meeting her friends, he simply said, "Alright, enjoy yourself." If she returned home hours later, he no longer asked where she had been. He stopped worrying about things that had previously occupied his mind.
At first, Amina was delighted as she could finally go out without answering questions or explaining herself. She spent more time with her friends, attended parties and enjoyed the freedom she had always wanted. But after a while, she began to notice that Muktar no longer seemed interested in her life. He did not ask about her day, did not call when she was away, and barely reacted when she told him about her plans.
The man who once wanted to know everything about her had suddenly become a stranger living in the same house. Amina initially convinced herself that this was what she had wanted. However, the silence gradually became unbearable and one evening, she sat beside him on the bed and asked why he had changed. Muktar looked at her for a long moment before answering.
"You told your friends that you missed being single. You said I made you feel like a prisoner. I heard everything, Amina. You weren't supposed to know that I heard it, but I did."
Her face went pale, she tried to explain that she had been frustrated, that she had only been venting to her friends and that she never meant to hurt him. Tears filled her eyes as she apologised
"I miss us," she said. "I miss the way you used to care about me. Please, Muktar, I want my husband back."
He looked at her, and he had no answer to give her. He wanted to believe her and try to ignite the passion he once but something had changed. Every time he felt the urge to ask whether she had arrived safely, he remembered her laughter in that voice note.
"I don't know how to be that man anymore," he finally said.
Amina reached for his hand, but he gently pulled away. That night, they lay beside each other in silence. Amina cried quietly, while Muktar stared at the ceiling, wondering how two people who loved each other could become so distant. He still loved his wife or at least he believed he did but he could no longer tell whether the love was still alive or whether he was simply holding on to the memory of the woman he had married.
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