ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.
The girls left few hours after their arrival in the house so Layla decided to sleep off her exhaustion. She's changed the heating pad around her thrice already but the pain kept on intensifying. She took sleeping pills to help her doze off and thankfully, she left the world in a few minutes that the pain dulled for those hours she's slept.
She awoke around seven in the evening and walked to the kitchen down the stairs. She hasn't explored the house yet and for now, her main focus is her stomach and nothing else. The kitchen is filled with food stuff from top to bottom, everything filled in the fridge, cabinets and jars. She's not a chef neither does she know how to cook but that doesn't mean she cannot cook something she wants to eat like frying eggs, pancake and so on.
Focusing on frying a few sausages and samosas from the fridge alongside her cold chilled orange juice, she started frying quietly while humming to a song. She first started frying the sausage before the samosas, it was difficult orchestrating the gas cooker since this is updated unlike the one in her apartment. She knew that if you fry samosa with the fire high up, the inside will be as cold as fridge while the outside will fry itself to any extent you want just with wrong result.
Zayd walked into the house at that moment after being forced by his mother to not waste any more minute in his apartment. He knew Layla was going to be in the house but he wasn't ready for the sight that greeted him in the kitchen when he went to take water, he ran all the way home as the weather is about to yaw in seconds. Luckily he made it home before the rain started pouring, a narrow escape since the sound of it hitting the roof right now is deafening.
She is only wearing garnet hot pants that is sheathing just her buttocks and even the shirt she is wearing stops beneath her bosom it seems. He is viewing her from the back as the kitchen is right in front of the dining room where he's followed to come to the kitchen. He closed his eyes briefly to clear his head because this cannot be happening right now. He's never felt anything relatively close to this and he shouldn't start feeling it with Layla, his bully and the girl with foul attitude.
A strong awareness of his own heartbeat made him stand still close to the large rectangular window that's viewing the kitchen, he clenched his hands in fists to stop his physical reaction but he has no right over his body's reaction to another gender's beauty for the first time in his life.
The sensation of being flooded with warmth overwhelmed him, he swallowed thickly. His mouth is now moist with increased saliva, he had to pivot around to take a deep calming breath. He needs that water now more than ever!
He started making his way into the kitchen with nonchalance that any actor would've saluted to but midway into the kitchen Layla turned around to see who's in the house with her. There was no sound to alert her of his presence since he walks with this agility that a lion would envy but she felt his presence behind her nonetheless. Her expression stayed neutral even as she viewed his dilated pupils.
An intake of breath was heard and it was from him so he embarrassingly hid it behind blank expression. The rose sport bra she is wearing left little to imagination because there is no way she is wearing anything beneath neither is it hiding anything from his view.
Damnation. . . Someone should kill him already because he's never seen a woman so bare in his life and now that he is seeing one that happens to be his bully's, he is reacting like a damn little boy in heat! This is not right, he needs to be saved before he further humiliate himself. And just like that, she opened her mouth to say something when an outcry came from her as she genuflect to the floor clutching her lower abdomen in pain.
The pressure in her throat released with startling suddenness, and her eyes filled with liquid fire. She shoved at the plate of samosas in blind desperation. God, no, please . . . She was losing control in the most humiliating circumstances imaginable. With the last person in the world she would ever want to witness it, Zayd.
She grimaced, clenched her teeth tight at the onslaught of pain that took her by surprise. She wanted to ask him what he is doing in her home just to jeer him but she is now in a debilitating situation right in front of him. He is no doubt enjoying the sight in front of him, that's alright for now as she doesn't even know where her head is. She expelled a grunt filled with pain and finally collapse to the tiled floor of the kitchen.
She took deep shuddering breaths, her shoulders wracking in process but that didn't create an ounce of pity in Zayd's heart. He is meant to help people out but he is sure when he took that vow, he's excluded Layla from it. Her breath started sawing in and out, eyes watering because the pain is heightening with each second that pass by. She attempted to stand up but another pain shoot from her pelvis down to her legs, she felt it right in her brain so she subsided on the floor with ragged breaths.
Seeing as things are getting more serious, Zayd reluctantly made his way to where she is and stare down at her from above. What should he do now? Help her and end up at the end of her tantrums later on or just leave her to her pain? But his mother told him about this pain they go through, he felt sympathetic towards his mother but not this girl here. She's made his life hell that the thought of helping her is making his muscles weak.
Then again, they got married because of this right? He is supposed to help her and there is no way he will allow her to die in his home right after they got married. His mother would definitely slaughter him and feed him to sleazy dogs.
That is not the main reason why he wants to help her though. She is crying now unlike earlier in Benazir's room where she kept grunting and groaning in pain. He hated it when women cried. At the first sign of tears, he had always bolted like a hare at a coursing. But as soon as his arms had gone around Layla, in one ordinary instant, the world, the past, everything he'd always been certain of had all been obliterated. She also reached for him, not out of passion or fear, but the simple human need for closeness. It electrified him.
Zayd held her in his arms and strolled up to her room, he knew instantly she was going to look for trouble and take up the master bedroom but he won't talk to her about it like she would want him to. He placed her gently on the bed, tuck her in seeing as she's started sleeping soundly while grunting and wincing at the same time. He stood there for a few minutes thinking of what to do. He can help her stop the pain but he doesn't want to neither would she accept any form of help from him.
He sighed, switched off the light in her room and left for the other room opposite hers. He lied down and started thinking about what he'd felt earlier after seeing her in that skimpy outfit. Is that what they call attraction? Because damn it, he felt it right there when he saw her white long legs up to her creamy breasts. She's the first woman he's seen like that since teenage years and maybe that is why he reacted like he did.
He tried to relax throughout the evening but it was impossible. When he finally did succumb to sleep, a loud voice pierced throughout the house that he is sure his parents heard that. Startled and frightened at the same time, he rushed out of his room barefooted straight to the room opposite his where the cries were coming from.
Layla lie there on bed thrashing and gnawing at her abdomen like she wants to remove her intestines. Confused, he went closer to her and tried prying her hands because she's got artificial long pipe nails that will definitely wound her if she isn't careful. Her stomach is now all red from scratching it with her long nails. And this time around, pity gripped his guts because not even a heartless person would see Layla right now and not feel sympathy.
Sitting down beside her on the bed, he drew her to his chest and hold both her hands in one of his so she won't wound herself some more.
"Hey, wake up and take some pills." He whispered in her ear quietly not to startle her but she is far too gone in her pain to hear anything he is saying.
Zayd sighed not knowing what to do. His mother said she got them married so he can help her and that is by having sex which is something that is far away from his head. Should he do it or just forget about helping her and go to his room? And what would Layla think if he decide to have sex with her? She will definitely cut off his family jewel and hang it outside the cabin.
Her tremors subsided a little and she opened her wet eyes to look at him. They were so pretty up close. Beautiful topaz that looks like embers, burning like inferno. Captivated, he couldn't look away from them as he is arrested and for some odd reasons, he doesn't want to be free at that moment.
Layla's limbs were heavy and relaxed, her head comfortably supported. She was held firmly against a solid surface that rose and fell in a steady rhythm. With every breath, she drew in a fragrance of pure male skin and hint of mint, and something fresh like vetiver. She had the confused impression that it's still night but it felt like two days had passed since she lost consciousness. What confused her more is Zayd's brown eyes staring at her with confused curiosity and intrigue.
She tried to sit up but couldn't, her limbs are too heavy for her to lift so she relaxed back on him. That was when she felt Zayd's hands massaging her spine gently, trying to knead away the pain, she stiffened the minute he did so he yanked his hands away much to her disappointment.
"What are you doing here?" She asked groggily, this time around forcing herself to sit up from his body and he left the bed immediately like he was burnt.
Zayd stood at the edge of the bed with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his khaki pants. "You were screaming like a banshee, I couldn't sleep a wink because of that."
Layla scowled at him then grimaced when another pain managed to twist her intestines. She wanted to say something different but the words that got ejaculated from her lips were entirely different from the ones in her head. "Aren't you supposed to help me get rid of the pain? What is the use of the marriage if I'll still be in pain?"
Shocked is an understatement to what Zayd felt. He is galvanized and speechless. Did she just suggest that they have sex so she won't feel no pain anymore?
"Don't look like I just said something abominable, we are married and we got married because of it. We hate each other so the doctor gave me pills that we both should take one each and we won't know the person we are with throughout the ride. Now, let me give you the pill because I cannot take this pain any longer. Not after sacrificing my freedom for it." She rolled to the edge of the bed, her brows knitted as she browsed through the bedside drawer for the aphrodisiac Dr. Amr gave her.
She hand over one of the white pills to him but he made no move to accept it, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Don't act like you are the only one in discomfort, I am too way more than you. I'm the virgin that feels the pain here and not you so take the damn pills and let's get over and done with."
Still, no movement from shocked Zayd. She breathed harshly through her mouth, her eyes now blaring with unbounded anger. "If you don't take it, I'll think you are afraid of hurting my feelings. Fulfill your promise to your mother and my right as your wife, come on. . .take it!"
"Are you still afraid now too, Meeky? Can't touch a woman because you think you'd debauch me? Oh, come on, it's just sex." She jeered, knowing fully well where his weakness lies. "Be a man! Prove it to me that you are not malleable anymore and fuck me."
Now annoyed at her persistence, he snatched the pill from her, his neck and jaw stiff while his temperature rises. He pushed the pills down his throat and drowned half the water in the cup next to her while she did the same with two of the pills since she cannot stomach the fact that she is going to give up her virginity so she can be cured and that too to someone she really dislike. Oh, this is her own fate.
None of them react for a minute, both waiting for the pill to start working but it took another five minutes before the changes started. Her entire body felt heated while Zayd on the other hand became incredibly turned on for no reason since he isn't looking at anything below her neck. He instantly regretted taking the pill because he doesn't want to have sex with her. He is also going to give up the virginity he's planned on giving only Annalise.
He cursed himself to hell countless times as he paced the room to stop the feeling of arousal from enveloping him but it was too late. When he finally turned around to find Layla seductively pressing her thighs together on the bed wearing skimpy red outfits, he knew this was his undoing. There is no going back now because he's being trapped by this she-devil, a monster with alluring body and divine face.
Slowly, he pounced on her with agile steps like that of a cat's. His shoulders tightened and bunched together beneath his white shirt. Her dilated eyes stare at each movement intently, her eyes never leaving his for even a second.