Bound ✅

White Envelope

Halima lifted the curtain that separated the parlour of her father's house from the rest of the house. It was a small three bedroom bungalow that her father had divided into two parts, putting Halima and her sisters Amal and Jannah in one room and their mother's room on one part of the wall and the a big master bedroom worked as his own part of the house.

It was where he ruled the house with an iron fist. It was where he'd first decreed that Amal would marry Hussein, who had turned out to be a decent man to be married to. He'd taken Amal to Canada to live after two years, then he'd married off Jannah off to his best friend's son.

Halima used to say that if he had some large amount of money like the indimis, his actions could be forgiven, but for someone who was as poor as he was, he had no right marrying off girls the way he did.

But, who was Halima? His third and last child, who was the black sheep, the one who wanted to have a voice, that voice he cut off when he didn't listen to her own part of the story when it all happened.

He set the ball rolling for Halima Sadiyya Aliyu's life. He shot the rocket in space, expecting it to land on the moon and lodge there, instead, it fell fell in Mercury and burnt Halima.

"Will you keep us waiting?" Halima pursed her lips and walked further in. She looked around the room and tiptoed to her mother's side and sat at her feet, making sure she was resting her back on the sofa's legs.

"Pardon me. I was lost in thought." Her father hissed and sat more regally, if that was possible. He tried to expand his thin self on the chair.

"At least you're here. Your mother-in-law is here." Halima nodded and bit her lip. She knew what was happening.

"May we never be faced with a loss like that again In Sha Allah." They all muttered an Ameen and he cleared his throat. The other men in the room cleared their throats in return.

"Halima my dear." Halima shut her eyes to hold her laughter in.

"Hauwa here is carrying Salisu's first child. And In Sha Allah, he'll be born." Halima cupped her hands and replied her prayer.

"We want to apologise. No.. we want to say, tell you that we loved you, but we couldn't watch Salisu go like that, we had to do something. So, Hauwa came up as an opportunity to make Salisu a father. We took it." Halima nodded and itched the two week old cornrows on her head, you know how two week old cornrows are, they'll always embarrass you even when you don't need them to.

"I have nothing to say Mama. I just want to wish Hauwa a safe delivery and a healthy child. In Sha Allah." Salisu's mother smiled and Halima felt her mother's hand rub her back gently. Ah! Mothers, she sure knew she needed some comfort.

"If that's all, I'd like to get back to what I was doing." Salisu's mother stopped her. She brought out an envelope slightly swollen and handed it to Halima. Halima took it and felt it carefully without looking like she was checking. One could never be too careful.

"That is some money we gathered and asked to give to you so you could start your own business." Halima cocked her head at her former mother-in-law and wryly smiled.

"You're happy ba?" The smile pulled the laugh she'd held in since she walked into the room. She laughed hard, so hard that tears nearly dropped from her eyes but she trapped them with her luscious lashes.

After wiping her tears, she rolled her eyes and asked "You mean money that you took from my purse when I wasn't looking? Which one of them are you even returning?"

All jaws dropped and Halima didn't even have to look at her father's face to know that it would be thunderous.

"Halima!!" Halima scrambled to her feet and leaving the white envelope behind, she walked off to her room.

"Money for business my foot. Useless people." A certain kind of anger welled up inside her as she paced her small room. She raised her gown and put her feet on the end of her bed wood. She pulled off her khimaar and scratched her hair. She found herself being held by strong arms that barely went around her and she knew she had her mother on her side.

"Mummy na. Mummy, why is the world so unfair? What did i do to deserve all I have gotten. From being treated like shit to marrying in to a family where I was treated worse, now to finding out that I had been nursing a man who was outchea having sex with an eighteen years old wife of his." Her mother tightened her hands her when she said this. Tears fell rapidly from her eyes.

"How did I wrong my Lord? Just how? Isn't this too big of a test to be wading through?" She finally collapsed into her mother's arms, crying heart wrenchingly. So much that it tore at her mother's heart to hear her cry that brokenly.

"It's not your fault, wallah, none of it is your fault. Allah hasn't stopped watching, he hasn't stopped working things in your favour. This is just a blip I your radar. How come you're going to let it hold you back?" Halima sighed and wiped her eyes with her cotton top.

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you out there." Hee mother shook her head, Halima saw the sympathy in her eyes and laid her head on her mother's knees.

"Sadiyya, everyone is allowed tantrums at some point in their lives. You've kept in for so long and Asabe deserves it. Nikam every single word. She was awful to you." Halima chuckled and her mother joined in making the dark cloud dissipate evenly.

"Even telling her I knew she was stealing from me?" Halima's mother giggled and Halima thought it was such a beautiful sound to the ears.

"She deserved all of it. Don't beat yourself up over it."

****

Hi guys,

Ahhh!!

Good evening all, I'm simply pleased with this chapter. It's a wrecking ball at the same time it's the opening for what bound stands for itself.

I'm grateful for the comments, for the votes etc, you all are the real MVPS. 😘😘😘

Enjoy your week.

TheOmoope.