Aisha pulled her frail legs down and she stared at her legs. She dreaded this moment. the time she was going to set her eyes on Abba again. This weekend she had spent alone was the peaceful and loveliest weekend she ever had since she came to Taraba. Today being Monday, she had to wake up early and get ready for school, she knew Abba would be there at any time. She got to her bathroom and showered, different thoughts were making a shamble out of her brain. She didn't know what was the right thing to do.
She got herself ready and slung her bag on her collar bone before she got out of the room. She made a quick sandwich with a smoothie and was eating when her phone rang. Aisha got startled at the sound before she recalled that she had finally got a phone. The number was already saved as Abba, and she shook before she picked the call. "Goodmorning, Ya Abba." She greeted and finished eating her breakfast.
"Come dow, now." She nodded her head vehemently as if he could see her. She got down and locked the door. When she got to where his car was parked, she stood still.
"Do I have to tell you to enter?!" He clamoured and Aisha trembled towards the car. She opened the passenger's seat and there sat Nuriyya, in all her grace and beauty.
Aisha gulped down a lump in her throat and walked to the back seat. She sat down and Abba ignited the car on and they drove silently to the university. They first dropped Nuriyya off in her department before Abba drove to Aisha's. They hadn't shared a word since at one until he parked at the HOD's office and turned to look at her. She was fiddling with her fingers as she always did when they were together.
"Get down, I'll call the HOD to do all the necessary things for you. Call me when you're done." And she nodded softly before she got out of the car. Abba stared at her retreating back and sighed, he was sure he had scourged this girl. But he couldn't bring himself to treat her in any other way than he was doing now. It felt wrong and right at the same time.
As he said, Aisha found it easy, and it was evident that he surely spoke to the HOD. She got into her first lecture and when she was done with her lectures, she dialled his number with shaking hands. She was afraid of what his reaction would be because she called him, but he was the one that asked her to call and she had no other way to get back home but through him.
"Good afternoon, Ya Abba." Her voice slurred, in fear and panic.
"What is it?" As usual, his voice was harsh and found the rudeness laying there as well.
"You said I should call when I'm done." It was the only thing she could utter, afraid to say anything that would anger him lest he yelled at her.
"You have to wait for two more hours, Nuriyya will be done by then. Don't call me again, I'll call you myself." And he ended the call before she even had the chance to say a word out. She stared blankly at the phone and smiled ruefully, as she predicted, coming to school was the opener of more pain.
She found a decent place and sat down, it was getting to 4 pm and she was hungry and sick at the same time. She slumped her head on her knees and felt tears pooling the brink of her eyes. What was she going to do now? She was trapped with this monster and she had no other way out. She watched as students passed by, some were laughing, some were smiling and some had a neutral expression on their face. A feeling of deja vu struck her heart and she closed her eyes immediately.
She wanted everything in this life but not to reminisce the moments she had spent in ATBU Bauchi, those were the worst moments of her life and also the moments that served as the keys that unlocked her current life. It took Abba more than the two hours he had said before he called and asked her to walk down to his faculty.
She was clueless even of the place she was, how would he expect her to locate his faculty? She stood up and met the guard she saw. She asked him and he told her where the faculty was situated. Aisha trudged to the faculty, she was sick and she knew it. She felt as if she would faint anytime from now. Her joints were aching and fever was engulfing the whole of her body. By the time she made it to his car, she held the door for support before she opened the back seat and sat down.
No one spoke as they drove off the university, Aisha looked around the town and closed her now heavy eyes. Her head throbbed, her body shivered with fever and she felt her joints going weak. "Ya Abba, please take me to the hospital, I'm sick." She slurred with so much difficulty, hugging her body to herself.
"What do you mean by you're sick? Are you expecting me to cancel all my pans just to take you to the hospital? Think again, Aisha." A tear slipped down her cheeks as she closed her eyes. She heard as they stopped in front of the house And Aisha got down painfully. She walked to the stairs and it was only for the support of the railings that she made it to the door and unlocked it.
She trudged to her room and slumped on her bed with a loud thud, a painful sleep took over her consciousness.
Nuriyya sat in the living for almost an hour before she turned to look Abba, "Isn't she going to come out and cook lunch for us, Abba na?" She asked, and he stood up immediately.
"I'll check," He answered and walked towards Aisha's room. She had herself wrapped up in her blanket and she still shivered due to the coldness that was threatening to break her bones into pieces.
Abba walked to the bed and stared at how she was shivering, he could hear the way her teeth were clattering and it felt as though she was being taken to a mountain naked while it was heavily snowing. He sat beside her and tapped her shoulder, "Aisha," He called, even though he didn't intend it to come out softly, it did.
"Ya Abba, please take me to the hospital." Her tears choked her voice and it sounded hoarse. This had always been the way it worked out, whenever she was sick she knew of nothing but crying. She always made Mommy shed tears for her as well, and that's why Mommy made sure Aisha stayed healthy.
He used both hands and lifted her. Instead of her to sit upright and face the wrath he came together with, Aisha leaned on his body and rested her head on his chest. Her temperature had risen and it was as if she was being roasted. Abba pulled her away from his body, agitated. "How are you feeling?" He asked, looking intently at her crying face. She squinted her crying eyes and cried even more.
"I'm not fine, Ya Abba, I'm sick." The way she spoke, with a soft and sick voice that she appeared to be vulnerable. How her already wet eyelashes stuck to her cheekbones and she tried so hard in lifting them. The temperature of her body, and most of all the innocence dripping together with her tears. All this helped in enshrouding the well-hidden desire he had for Aisha, which he expertly locked up beneath his soul.
She looked at him and shuddered at the lustful look he had plastered on his face. Before Aisha could decipher what Abba was thinking of, he leaned in and she felt his lips on hers. It shook the living daylights out of her and for a split second, she thought she was dreaming. She couldn't believe he had his lips now on hers while he slowly kissed her and brought her weak body close to his own rigid and cold body.
Her eyes bulged out when she saw Nuriyya walked into the room and brought her hands at akimbo. "Muhammad Muhammad Tijjani!" She thundered, and Abba released Aisha roughly that made her head slammed on the bed head. She wailed and took a hold of her already throbbing head. And she knew it would soon split into two the moment Abba released her head on the bed head. She brought her frail and cold fingers to her lips and ocean of tears rushed down her cheeks.
Even though she knew it was impossible, but she ha kept her lips virgin for Nasir. She knew her dignity was collected from her, but she wished he would have a single thing on her that was pure and untouched. She didn't know how that would happen, she only prayed. And now this monster had stolen away from her first kiss. She knew he was going to use her vulnerability someday and get his ways with her, but she had promised herself now that there were no ways he was letting him in. Never. She felt dirty of herself now that he kissed her. How many lips had he kissed with those smutty lips of his? Aisha wondered.
Nuriyya stomped out of the room and Abba ran after her in what seemed like panic. Even though it crushed Aisha's self-esteem, she loved the kind of grip Nuriyya had on Abba that she got him up the creek whenever she was angry at him. It felt good to know he had his weakness tightly held by someone. As soon as they got out of the room, Aisha crawled to the door and locked it up before she broke into tears.
Abba held her bag and shook his head pleadingly, "Please, Nuriyya, I can explain." He said, looking all glum and remorseful.
"What does that have to do with me? Did I ever tell you that I care? You should do whatever you feel is right for you and also, get her pregnant please by the end of this week. Only then can I know that you have a wife." She hissed loudly and stomped out of the house. Abba took his car keys and followed behind her, prancing down the stairs in speed. He hated it when Nuriyya was angry, but he hated it the most when she was angry at him.
By the time he got to his car, she had fled away. He entered and drove off, speeding away. He knew she took a ride to her house, which she hardly ever stayed in unless she was angry at him or she had friends coming over for a night hangout. She was always at his place that he sometimes forgot they weren't married.
He parked in front of the apartment and waited for her. He watched as the taxi she hired dropped her off, and she came out clearing off her tears. Abba rushed out of his car and hugged her before she even noticed him by her side. She clutched more not him and buried her head on his chest, crying bitterly. She hadn't gotten the taste of what jealousy felt like until she saw him kissing Aisha. That was the most painful feeling she had ever experienced.
"I'm sorry, Nuriyya. It was a mistake, will you forgive me?" Nuriyya cringed at his voice and he crying eyes looked up to him.
"You called that a mistake, Muhammad? You can't kiss your wife and call it a mistake. I think I'm intruding too much, have my things back to my house please, I need some time alone, so do you." She tried breaking their hug when Abba shook his head and lifted her into his hands. He dropped her down in his car and entered as well.
"Let's go somewhere else, I need you now." He uttered huskily and they drove off. Nuriyya cried all their way to A & H hotels, she had never felt this pained all her life.
Abba walked directly into the lobby and booked a room for them, he walked back to the car and met a crying Nuriyya. "We have a room, let's go."
She shook her head stubbornly, "You have a wife, go to her." She wasn't going to relent anytime soon, he knew.
"Nuriyya please, will you do this for me? Just once?" She glared at him and Abba smiled when she placed her hand in his outstretched hand and they walked together to the lobby.
They took the escalator and were taken to their floor and they walked hand in hand to the room. Abba hugged her from behind the moment he locked the room and sighed. "Nuriyya, please. Can we get over this once and for all? Believe me, it's a mistake I don't wish to make again."
She looked at him and scoffed, "I told you, Muhammad. You made no mistake just because you kissed your wife. It's fine." She looked away from his charming face, her jaws tightening.
He hugged her even more warmly and brought her closer to his body. "You're saying it doesn't matter while you're still calling me Muhammad? Come on Nuriyya, I said I'm sorry." He snuggled his head into her head and tickled her stomach with his fingers that were playing beneath her shirt.
She didn't know when a giggle escaped her lips and she turned and locked her lips with him. As she kissed him, Nuriyya felt the taste of Aisha still lingering on his lips and she wanted nothing but to cry. But Abba was so persistent that she had to push away those thoughts and they got lost in love. She was so much in love that she felt they can spend their entire lives like this and she won't mind at all. Getting married to Abba was something different while having Abba insanely in love with her was something incredible.
❃
They spent the night in the hotel and it was close to noon when they got ready and left for school. They got in the car and Abba was driving out of the hotel when he saw Aisha on the passenger's seat of a car. She had her eyes closed as she softly smiled and blocked the rays of the sun from burning her skin. The guy looked at her and pinched her cheeks when she opened her eyes, she glared at him playfully and he laughed. The guy pecked her cheek and she giggled, her lips stretched into a wide smile and she playfully punched him in his chest.
Shocked, Abba sat in the car and forgot how to drive anymore. They drove into the car silently and passed a stupefied Abba. He could hear the sound of her laugher as they played lovely with the guy. "What happened, Abba na?" Nuriyya asked as she squeezed his arm.
"No...nothing. I'll drop you first, I have a meeting to attend." He stammered and for the first time in his life, he lied to Nuriyya. He needed to see Aisha, he would strangle her to death! He was sure she would be back home before the day ended, and she would explain to him who was the guy and what she went to a hotel for.