Tears of Zubaida.

•••••TEARS OF ZUBAIDA••••• •••Chapter Thirty-Nine•••

State of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy is Happiness. And happiness is the simple term that will be used to characterize the mood on Ruqayyah's face.
She felt so lightheaded and overwhelmed with joy, now, she can decide to stay in Wardanga for as long as she wishes until the day she's going to be tied to a knot; a sacred knot. And that too, with someone that genuinely loves her, someone that wants her as his soulmate and life partner not as a compensation.

But soon enough, that state of well-being turned to its contrary, and now, it didn't just affected her only, but included all the people seated in the big living room of her uncle, just some few minutes to ten o'clock of the night.

For Zubaida, they were nothing seen on her face but sheer tears, sheer tears of anguish, ever since her predicaments of months ago, which is now approaching a year, she has never been ambushed in form of stigma until now. And to avoid that, was the reason she had ran away initially.

"Mukhtar, what did you just say?" Baba Habu, his father asked.

"I said I'm not marrying a second hand property. I already said that to you three days ago when you and Baba Musa told me everything. No thank you. I don't want her." Mukhtar repeated what he said earlier that caused the sudden sober on everyone's face.

After forcing Zubaida to open up and tell her story of what she's being through right from day one, right from the night everything occurred, and how she had wanted to abort the pregnancy before her father realizes, and how she later decided to keep it, to how her father had forcefully wanted the baby out of her and the world, which prompted to her running away, and all she could receive after the narration was a hiss, then a blasphemy, and that too, form someone her father and his brother were thinking to merge together as couple. She felt shattered.

Why should she be the one to get such treatment? why wasn't it her father? After all, he was the cause of her run away. He has always been selfish, he always puts himself first, not caring about the rest.

First, it was Ruqayyah, he chosed to keep his good name over his daughter, and then Zubaida, which he also chosed to keep his good image than her own good health, physically and emotionally.

Baba Habu furiously spread his fingers across Mukhtar's cheeks, making Hannatu, his first wife and also Mukhtar's mother stand up and gently grabbed her son and exited the living room.
Now the whole attention was on Zubaida, all her aunts and uncles plus some of her cousins were giving her the stigmatic look, and a look that meant 'you made a father slapped his own child, shame!'

"I think you may leave to your respective homes now, for the women, call your husbands to pick you up, it's late already." Yunusa, the eldest amongst the six siblings said.
He waited until the women left the living room before he composed himself and began to address his four male siblings; Baba Habu, Malam Musa, Baba Mansur and Baba Sani.

"Musa, let me start by congratulating you first. May Allah bless the union, and May we live long to witness the day." They shook hands. "Secondly, which is the main reason why we are still here is all because of you." Baba Yunusa addressed his remark at the former; Malam Musa.

"Gaskiyane. True." The other siblings murmured.

"Musa, you haven't been of good example on how you treated your daughters in the past, which I hope now, you've learnt your lesson and will make up to it sooner before it gets late."

"As for the reputation you wanted to keep, it went successful for a while, but what happened later? It got tarnished. Now think as a responsible father, do you think you've been fair to your daughters?" Yunusa asked.

There was silence in the room, all waiting for Malam Musa to speak up.

"Musa, I believe you still talk, now answer." It was Baba Habu's resonating voice that was heard.

"No." Malam Musa answered.

"Good. Now, where's the good reputation and image you've wanted to keep for yourself Musa? Where is it? Do you think there's still an iota of it for you in your daughters eyes? Do you? Eh Musa?"

"I did what was best!"

"You did what nonsense Musa!" It was Baba Mansur's voice that echoed this time. "Let me tell you, the reputation you would have gained by not putting yourself first before them; your daughters will have been a thousand times better than this, if you had let Zubaida nursed that child and birthed him to this world."

"It's a taboo in my culture, Sam ba zan ajiye shege a gidana ba. I will never have a bastard birthed in my house."

"To hell with your culture, Where was it said in your religion that abortion is right? Tell me Musa, where?"

"You never told us that was what happened. You only said she went to live with her Aunt for some while, and that too was because we noticed her absence. Musa kaji tsoron Allah. Fear Allah." Baba Sani spoke for the first time.

"And you made me disgraced my son before the eyes of his siblings and his younger ones. You tried making me get my son to clean up your mess. You think by getting her married is what will vanish the scars? Musa, wounds heal, but scars don't, they remain with you forever, they are there to remind you of something you should learn a lesson from. Some scars are beautiful, and some are ugly. Do you know you just gave Zubaida an ugly scar? And that too for life?! Do you?" Baba Habu said, his voice atop.

"I'm doing the right thing as a father, nothing else." Musa said softly. He knew he was lying, because now he realized Ruqayyah's words were haunting him real bad. 'Maybe next time you choose your daughter instead.' Those were the last words she said to him before living to the marriage she was to compensate for.

"Do you realize you have never taken any serious responsibility, ever! Even when you were young, we were the ones that cover up the holes you dig, maybe we should have also realized that, we weren't doing you any good." Yunusa remarked.

The room fell quiet again, with each of them deep in their thoughts, one look at them, you need not to be told there's something wrong.

"I think we should call it a day, it's 11:30 pm already, let's not get carried away by the bad events and forget the good one that happened earlier. We received our in-laws officially from Musa. Congrats once again." Baba Mansur shook hands with each of them again. And they left to their respective homes.

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