"It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun."
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
xXx
Jamal was genuinely upset.
He was sitting in the Throne Room, wondering why he had agreed to this sham in the first place.
Agreed, he was still upset at Murewa for setting him up with Mariam in such a way and had wanted to get back at him for doing so, but was it worth it?
He hated King Ola with everything in him and he didn't want to transfer such hate and aggression unto his son. He had already put a sword to the boy's neck before, he didn't want a repeat performance of that.
But it was a little too late for regret because King Ola had already sent his men ahead to announce his arrival. The five men had delivered their message and were waiting by the door of the Throne Room for their King who was bound to arrive at any moment now.
He looked around him at the five Ministers who were seated at the table, then at Murewa who was sitting beside him.
Murewa met his gaze and sighed. It was obvious he was upset too.
Jamal suddenly felt terribly guilty. Maybe he should cut Murewa some slack. Abike too.
They didn't understand the gravity of what they did.
No one did. Not even Mariam. No one understood.
The reason he hated Mariam was deeper than anyone would ever understand. They didn't know it.
If only they knew how much Mariam had hurt him, physically and emotionally; they would respect his wish to never see her again.
But here she was, in his face. Everyday.
He should have let Tunde kill her when the chance presented itself.
Where was she even? The clock overhead read nine a.m. She was probably still sleeping. Bullshit. He wasn't paying her to sleep. He was paying her to work. She needed to work her ass off.
He looked up and motioned to one of the Ore guards standing by the door. The movement alerted Murewa and his friend looked up too. When he saw Jamal motioning to someone, he looked in that direction.
The guard broke free from his group and hurried towards Jamal. He stopped a few feet away and saluted.
Jamal motioned for him to come closer. Murewa kept his gaze on them.
"Go and call my assistant. Tell her to be here in five minutes. Go!"
The guard scrunched his face up in confusion. He didn't know the Chief had an assistant. Without saying a word, he turned and left. Jamal watched him leave.
He hadn't introduced Mariam formally to people as his assistant. Maybe he would do that today.
He could see the Ministers already glancing at him, wondering who the assistant was.
"Jamal." Murewa leaned close to keep their conversation private.
"You want to bring Mariam in here? Into the Throne Room?" he looked flabbergasted.
"She is my assistant, isn't she?" Jamal couldn't resist the jab, but when Murewa looked contrite, he sighed.
"She is my assistant, man. I'm accepting it for real, alright? There's nothing we can do. And if she's going to function properly, she has to be in some Throne Room meetings with me to take notes, because with everything I'm doing all at once, I forget some commitments."
"Just don't forget the meeting with King Shola on Tuesday."
"Dang," Jamal shook his head, slapping his hand on the table. The Ministers looked in their direction and quickly looked away again.
"I have to go check on my house on Tuesday, can we...?"
"No, we can't nothing. You chose Tuesday yourself, so you better be around." Murewa sat up in his seat, effectively ending the conversation.
Jamal said nothing.
