Lola's Story✔️

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

*****
A wife beater, an abusive husband?!...
I had begun to wonder if it was some sort of deja vu. Our mum had had to endure all of that during our childhood years and it was happening again to my only sister.

"Has anyone of them contacted you concerning my whereabouts?" Laila asked in panic. I shook my head in the negative, I hadn't received any calls to ask about her location but I knew it wasn't far fetched.

My phone buzzed just a few minutes later, it was my mum. I picked up immediately and placed it on loud speaker.

"Titilola" She half yelled, sounding distraugh .
"Mummy happy Sunday" I answered trying to sound as cheery as I could.
"Lola there's nothing happy about this Sunday o. Have you heard from your sister?" She asked.

I stared at the two ladies in the room,not knowing how to reply, Tana mouthed a no,as Laila shook her head vigorously and I answered the same.
"No mummy, is there something wrong?"
"Ah!" She yelled.
"Tolani has finished me!!"
"Mummy you still haven't told me what the matter is" I stated calmly.
"It's her husband o, he said she has been acting up since they got married five months ago,and today happened to be the worst of it all. He told your father and I that, she had been taking contraceptives without his knowledge and when he tried to talk to her about it, she flared up and injured him badly, she even locked him up in the bathroom, after which she ran out of the house, taking some of her belongings with her " Mum narrated much to my consternation. That guy was audacious enough to formulate such a false accusation against my sister despite all he had done. It took a lot of will power to not disclose the actual truth, that,would had involved risking Laila's safety.

Tana was in shock while Laila let out a humorless chuckle.
"Mummy are you sure about this?" I asked skeptically.
"Of course nau, would my in-law lie to me?" She said trying to sound convinced, I knew she wasn't.
"I don't know o, but I'll try to reach her and when I do, I'll let you know. Just keep praying for her return" I tried to placate her, we said our goodbyes and she hung up soon after.

"That bastard!!!" Tana growled in anger.

"Tolani you're not leaving this place till further notice" She said swiftly.

"Of course she can stay but it's only a matter of time before they find out she's with us" I said trying to not sound like a pessimist.
"Yes Lola,you're right, but she can't go back in this state"
"I know that, but what are we even going to do about this?! " I asked in confusion
"She's getting a divorce, what else do you expect?!!"
"Just five months into the marriage?!" I yelled back.

"So what? Do you want her dead body parceled back to us first, before you realize that this marriage isn't worth it?!" She was fuming. That was enough to knock some sense into me. Although I was somewhat opposed to divorce, I didn't want my sister to die in the hands of that monstrosity of a husband.

"No I don't want her dead, but mom and dad have been married for years, he hits her sometimes but they're still together, right?"

Tana looked bewildered at  what I had just said. "Do you think she's happy? That's not even the point, did your dad marry her because of money to pay off some stupid debt? How can't you see this marriage had failed from the very start!!!"

"Can you both stop talking about me like I'm not sitting right in front of you?!" Laila butted in, seemingly apprehensive.

"Sorry" We said in unison as I heaved a sigh.

"What do we do?" I mumbled, ruffling braids with both hands.

"Honestly I don't know, I guess we just have to lay low for a while. Hope you had your line switched off?" Tana said, her worried gaze settling on Laila.
"Yes I did, I broke the sim card actually"