If I Can Hate You, Why Can't You? A Nigerian Story

If I Can Hate You, Why Can't You? Chp 61

As they both walked down the hall together, with the crown Prince in front of him, thousands of thoughts roamed through the mind of the minister of discipline yet he couldn't utter a word he just followed him silently like a lost puppy. They arrived at the Crown Prince quarters minutes later and the minister still hadn't spoken a word. 

"Your highness?" He started, unsure if he was allowed to or not. Either way he continued he seemed tired of the suspense. "May I know what I am here for?" Abdullah casts his heavy gaze on him giving him some chills before he responded, 

"You are here to discipline a few maids for me, do you have a problem with that?" He stared at him. 

"N..no Your highness, I don't" 

"Okay fine, bring them in" he ordered and immediately, two scrawny looking maids were pushed inside and forced to their knees looking extremely scared. 

"I noticed that these two are way better at gossiping than at their work, why don't you do the honors and help me deal with them?" 

"Your highness, please have mercy on us we were wrong, we promise not to repeat it again. Please your highness" they begged. Looking at their fearful features, Abdullah suddenly became soft remembering the scared eyes of Kulthum at the beginning of their marriage. He cleared his throat and asked,

"What are you sorry for?" At first, they both looked confused but quickly gathered themselves and responded timidly,

"We… we were gossiping about his royal highness and her highness" upon hearing this, the minister of discipline gasped and fell to his knees asking for permission to take matters into his hands. The scared girls though not allowed to look up at his highness, risked it and raised their heads up pleasing with their eyes while as tears of regret streamed down their cheek. 

"What do you suggest I do with you two? Should i offer you both to minister of discipline or should I leave you to Khalid or should I deal with you myself? Which one? You have five minutes" he said turning around and walking away. But before he could even move his feet, they both screamed in unison,

"Punish us yourself your highness" he analysed them as if they knew something and dismissed the minister while he motioned for them to follow him. 

"There is a ring in this room, find it and you are free to go if not continue looking for it, you have untill 6pm," he glanced at his watch and continued, " the time is thirty minutes past two, you have less than four hours. When you find it the door will unlock itself" he said and left. 

"What the hell? A ring? Oh great!" Zaynab exclaimed sarcastically, huffed and sat down on one of the nearest couch but as soon as she made contact, something sharp pricked her and she spranged up yelling. "What was that?" She used her palm to feel the couch  but didn't feel anything and furrowed her brows. "Did i imagine that?" 

"What?" Maryam asked coming closer to her 

"As I sat down something pricked me but I didn't feel anything with my hands" she tried sitting again but she still felt the sting and 

jumped up. 

"Something is wrong with this chair" she complained bitterly frowning at it. 

"Try somewhere else then, good thing this place is an exquisite room, you could use some sleep before.. you know?" Maryam offered with a cocked brow. Zaynab hummed and went to the neatly laid soft bed and laid on it but the moment she made contact, something sharp pierced her waist and she spranged up from the bed yelling. 

"What is wrong with this room and the furnitures?" She sounded angry backing away from the bed and frowning heavily. 

"Don't you get it? We can neither sit nor lay down so our only option is to stand and look for the damn if we really are intrested in getting out of here" Maryam said opening the bed side drawerbut to her dismay, it was empty.  For the next couple of hours, they searched the whole room but to no avail, they didn't find the ring. As exhausted as they were, they decided to take a break and look for the ring later however, the door unlocked and Mustapha strode in with a stony look.