Her whole shoulders shook, this was the first breakdown she had ever since she came back to Bauchi. She had stayed in this house alone with neither laughter nor tears. But today, as she told Mama all that had been happening in her life, Aisha had the most painful breakdown. Mama was crying so much that she couldn't even console Aisha to stop crying too. She had never imagined the kind of life Aisha was living in Taraba, but now that knew; she felt disgusted with herself. If she hadn't begged Aisha to marry Abba, all this wouldn't have happened to her.
She brought Aisha to her chest and they made a mess of their cheeks. "Aisha, please forgive me. I'm the one that caused this on you, I'm so sorry, Aisha." This was what Mama had been monotoning until Aisha closed her mouth with her palms.
"It's okay, Mama. It was written for me Mama, even not Abba, I must experience that kind of life. But Mama, please I have a request to make." Mama looked at her and nodded her head while blowing her nose with the ends of her wrapper.
"Please don't tell anyone he has divorced me, not even Baba. Can we leave it with just the violence?" She knew it would be hard for Mama to hide this away, but since Mama was able to conceal her rape case, she knew she can do this for her.
Mama took Aisha's hands in hers. "I can't promise you that, Aisha. But I will have to tell Baba, this is too much for me to conceal. Ya Allah, I can't believe I raised someone like Abba. Forgive me, Aisha." The tears came back, and they cried even more. It was the saddest story Mama had ever heard, and to think her son was behind all these tortures, to follow everything up with three decrees of divorce. She was in so much pain.
"I'll call Nasir and he'll come and pick us up. You're going back home, Aisha." Mama pulled her phone out and tried dialling Nasir's number when Aisha took it out of her hand.
"Mama please let me live here for two more days until the guests leave, I can't mingle around too many people." Her eyes were still making a downpour, it felt like she broke a barrier she had been dreading to face.
"But how do you live here, Aisha? Food?" Mama asked, looking around the house.
"Oh Mama, Baba made sure our store was full and you had our fridged filled with everything. I seldom eat unless at night and mornings, it sufficed and there are a lot more left." She smiled, even though it wasn't genuine but she figured out that she had to smile and act like all hadn't been eating her up because she saw the dreading look on Mama's face.
Mama stood up and walked around the house, she entered Aisha's room and stood there. She seemed to have lived a peaceful life after she was back from Taraba. "I have to leave now, some of the guests are leaving so I'll have to see them off. Make sure you take care of yourself, Aisha. And you should forgive me please."
Aisha smiled and placed her head on Mama's shoulder, "I've been fine for the past three months Mama, two days wouldn't do any harm. You should stop apologizing to me please, it was bound to happen." When Nasir arrived, Aisha didn't come out lest she saw him. She wanted nothing to do with the men in that family except for Baba. Both Nasir and Abba looked the same for her. She had seen Abba as Nasir and Nasir as Abba. She wanted to be far away from them.
Mama didn't voice a word out of her lips despite the way Nasir had been pestering her. She arrived and the moment Firdausi rushed to her she knew they wanted nothing but to know what Aisha had been through and what brought her back home without anyone knowing and why she didn't come back home.
Mama didn't speak about it until after two days when all the guests had left and even though Nasir wanted to go back to the house to check up on Aisha, she didn't let him. They were seated in Baba's living room and all there attentions were on Mama as she told them everything Aisha told her, only omitted the part he divorced her. Baba already knew about the divorce, it was only the full story he knew nothing about. They were all distraught by the time Mama was done, tears washing down her face as well as Firdausi's face.
"This is unbelievable. Nasir, bring me my phone, he should come home this instant." Baba roared, he had his eyes clouded with rage and anger, he had never imagined Abba to be like this.
Mama immediately shook her head, "We shouldn't let him know that she was back home, because he warned her not to come back to his family. But I'll have to go to Taraba tomorrow, that way I'll see whether the Aisha he had been claiming was sick, always sleeping or at school was really living in his house or she had left there for three months and he didn't mind to tell us."
They all seemed to agree with what Mama had said, and the journey was planned with only Nasir then Mama. That night, Firdausi and Nasir drove to the house and they met Aisha seated silently in the living room with a book on her laps and the pen he gave her but she wasn't writing anything, she had her eyes fixed on the wall as she was engrossed in her thoughts.
Firdausi rushed to her side and hugged her from behind, which startled Aisha. She turned around and saw them in the living room and her eyes fell on the cute baby that Nasir was holding. She hugged Firdausi back and smiled to herself, "Good evening Ya Firdausi. I'm glad you came." She held her hand as Firdausi sat down beside Aisha and began touching her face and her collar bones.
"You've lost so much weight, Aisha. Your complexion has darkened, your eyes have bags under them. Your lips seem to have seen a lip balm for what seems like forever. Your skin isn't in good condition as well. How have you been?" Firdausi knew the question was pointless, but she couldn't help pointing out her observation at a first glance.
Nasir found a seat beside them and sat down before he fixed his eyes on Aisha. She looked uncomfortable under his gaze but he didn't care about the barrier between them anymore. He wished he can ug her and ask her to cry everything she had held inside him for the past few years.
"I've been fine, Ya Firdausi, I didn't know you were pregnant." She smiled weakly and glanced up at Nasir, her eyes falling on the baby he was holding.
"You didn't bother to tell us the tremor you've been going through, how can I tell you I was pregnant?" Aisha smiled because she knew it was her way of saying she heard all that happened to her.
Aisha stood up and walked over to Nasir, even though the rate at which her heart was beating was alarming, she didn't mind. She stood in front of him and smiled. "Can I have the baby please?" She asked politely and he handed her Fraha, their fingers brushed during the exchange process and Aisha felt as though she was going to let the girl down.
She walked back to her chair and sat down before she nuzzled her nose on Farha's. "What's her name, Ya Firdausi?" She asked with a warm smile on her face. Nasir looked at her and wished she was holding her child, not with Abba being the father but himself. That was only a fantasy and something that would forever not happen, he pushed the thought aside.
"Her name is Farha Khalid Aliyu. She's beautiful like her mother, right Aisha?" Firdausi flipped her invisible hair away from her shoulders, she knew that would annoy Nasir and it did.
He groaned and rolled his eyes at her, "Aisha, the girl looks like me right? Because Nana tapped her beauty from me."
"You wish. How can a man be beautiful? Had it been you said Sudais took his ugliness from you, then I'll have no choice but to relent. But this angel looks so much like Aisha, she's so beautiful to be my daughter. Aisha, you're officially her godmother."
Aisha laughed and brought Farha to her chest, she found a new love at first glance. "She's so cute Masha Allah. Thank you for making me her godmother." Nasir groaned and Firdausi laughed.
They chatted for a while before Firdausi looked at her and smiled, "Aisha, Mama asked us to come and take you back home. It''s getting late, I think we should leave."
Hesitatingly, Aisha stood up and handed Farha to Firdausi before she walked to her room and brought out her trolleys Nasir collected the trolleys without a word and he took them to the car. Before she walked out of the room, she looked around the room and smiled bitterly at herself. This house had confined her during the darkest days of her life. Even though it was a bitter memory, she cherished it to so much.
She met Baba during dinner and he looked fatherly at her with a loving and consoling smile. "I heard all that happened, Aisha. I'm sorry it happened to you and we were so ignorant about that it got to the point of resentment. I'll make sure he pays for it," He said, and all Aisha did was smiled at Baba and she ducked her head down.
When it time to sleep, Aisha took tentative steps to her room and she slumped on the ground when she found entered. Her eyes instantly fell to her window and she saw as the memory flashed through her mind. She remembered Nasir's face leaning on the window as they conversed. She closed her eyes and crawled to her bedside drawer, she pulled it and Nasir's letters laid there untouched. She didn't take any of his letters with her when she got married to Abba. She felt they were the most treasured memory of Nasir and they should be kept safe. She knew if she took them with her to Abba's house she would always read them and she won't be able to forget about him and move on.
She slept recollecting the memories she made in that room and Mama woke her up for subh salah. Before she got to the bathroom Mama called her and Aisha looked at Mama with a groggy smile on her lips. "Aisha, we're travelling to Taraba with Nasir today. I'll have to make him pay for what he did to you. And he must surely realize his mistakes and pay for them."
Aisha felt a pang in her chest and she looked at Mama, "Mama it isn't necessary. Please you shouldn't stress yourself too much because of this. I'm fine as you can see, please Mama. That will make him start looking for me and I don't wish to see him for years to come now." She felt tears pooling the brink of her eyes. What hurt her was that, at this hollow phase of her life, nothing could make her sad or cry unless it was anything that was related to Abba.
Mama walked towards her and placed her hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. They heard the door turned and Nasir walked into the room all decked up. He looked apologetically at Mama. "Mama, I'm sorry but I have to leave Kano now. I got an emergency call yesterday night. I have scheduled surgery by 11 am. If I leave now I'll make it in Kano around 9:30 am."
Mama looked at Aisha and smiled. "Your wish just got fulfilled, Aisha. I wish you a safe journey Nasir, you should leave." He nodded his head at Mama and for a split second his eyes roamed back to Aisha and she nodded her head softly at him. He took that as her way of saying he should be safe.
He bid Mama goodbye again and drove out of the house, having it in mind to call Baba when he was done with the surgery. And Nana, she was left on by the end of the week, he will call her and spend the weekend at her house. He so much wanted to have a decent conversation with Aisha, but from the way he saw things, he knew she needed some time alone and space. The worst part of it was that she was still married to Abba and there were still limits to how he can interact with her.
❃
Humaira sat on a chair at the far end of the restaurant and stared at how people were trooping in and out of the hotel from her window. This was the first time she snuck out of her room after her birthday. It appeared that Daddy wasn't the one that saw her in the hotel that night but someone that knew him. Because Daddy grounded her in her room and have her door and windows sealed. He even heard about the kiss and was so disappointed in her that Humaira felt low and dirty of herself.
Always being in her room with nothing to do but watch Korean dramas, read some books and dance when she felt like staring, she had nothing more to do. He had guards placed in front of her room and downstairs guarding her windows. She had never felt this cornered all her life. Not even Ilham was allowed to see her, it was always on Fridays and she came along with the guards. Even the maids weren't allowed in, they always gave the guards whatever she requested for and they have it brought to her.
Now that she was finally out, even though he didn't know she was out of the house but he was merciful enough to let her roam around the house, she felt like a free bird. She looked down on her phone and saw there was a message from Ilham. 'Humaira, Daddy is back and he said he's going to check up on you, now!' She had never felt this freaked out all her life, and she knew if she made the mistake of letting Daddy go into her room and found out she was there, she bet she would be grounded not for three months now, but for a year.
She quickly got up from her seat and gulped down her drink in one gulp before she took her car keys and was walking through the seats when someone called her name. "Aisha," he had said, and she turned around to see who got the nerves to call her that.
He was a fair looking handsome guy but he wasn't alone, there was a lady seated beside him and she stared at her with a scowl. She couldn't remember knowing any of them, she hissed softly and walked out of the restaurant. Only to be held back by her wrist before she was able to enter her car.
She turned around and slapped him so hard across his right cheek. "Don't you dare call me that, young man. I favoured you because I couldn't remember any interaction with you, but don't you dare hold my hand again." She spat out and hopped into her car, driving off at a very high speed.
Should I end the preview chapters here or make it up to 40 chapters?😁😁
Seems like Abba is about to get a medicine of his own through Humaira o😂
Complete book available on okadabooks and selar. Link on my bio.