BETROTHED ✓

8°

"He...he asked for directions. He was just leaving." Nna rushed out the excuse, nervously.

"Directions? By coming into my house?" His questioned.

"Good afternoon, Sir." Yusuf greeted with the same courtesy he had greeted Nna with. "I came here to—"

"Please leave." Larai abruptly cut him off; her eyes conveying a hundred messages to him.

"Too late now." He shook his head in disapproval. "And how long do you think we can keep hiding this from your family. I have already told your mother everything. It's only right I speak to your father as well."

"What gibberish are you saying?" Baaba questioned in a weirdly calm voice.

Nna swallowed, apprehensively.

"I..." Regardless of Larai's silent pleas, he continued. "I love your daughter so much, Sir. Actually, we love each other. Forcing her to get married to someone else isn't the right thing. I'm willing to marry her when the time is right. I want you to please call off the wedding because it's the right thing to do. Your daughter's future will be ruined if this marriage pushes through and I know you won't want that. The man you've chosen for her isn't good at all." He paused for a while. "He...he almost raped Larai today. If I hadn't arrived and saved her today, he would have had his way with her. Is this the kind of partner you want for your child? A rapist?"

Nna's eyes widened in shock

"That's enough now, please leave, Yusuf." Larai beseeched; tears streaming down her face, like a loose faucet. 

"Are you done?" Baaba's hoarse voice filled the entire compound. "If you are, then leave. I had a busy day at the farm."

Larai who had already braced herself for her father's fury was taken aback, by his calm reaction.

It was out of the ordinary.

Yusuf shook his head in disbelief and stood almost daringly in front of him. "I'm surprised at your reaction. What type of a father are you? I just told you how your daughter was almost raped by that beast and this is all you have to say? Don't you care about your own daughter?"

"Didn't I tell you to leave?" Nna intervened. "Or do I have to call the village men and have you beaten and thrown out of here?"

Larai's hand flew over her mouth. "No, please."

"That will not be necessary," Baaba remarked. "He will leave on his own."

"If you really love me, then you'd listen to me. Please just leave for now." Larai begged in a low-pitched voice. "I told you not to come here, didn't I? Please leave Yusuf. I'm begging you."

"Okay, but I will be back." He deadpanned.

"Just leave." She cried and practically shoved him through the exit.

"Baaba, I—"

Boom!

Before she could finish her statement, her father had charged towards her and collided his palm with her face, in a resounding slap.

"Shut up!" He pointed a finger at her and seethed. "Because of you, a stranger had the effrontery to come into my house and insult me."

"Please calm down, Alhaji." Nna intervened.

"Stay out of this, woman!" Baaba yelled. "I'm talking to my daughter."

He then furiously averted his gaze back to her. "How long have you been seeing that man behind our backs? What manner of shamelessness is this? You're engaged to be married in three days. How dare he come here and say all those things to me. Is everything he said true? You don't want to get married to Zakari anymore?" He queried.