A/N: Hey precious gems, The title sounds juicy right? I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please vote before reading and add this book to your library to get notified when I update it and also to your reading list ❤️
~Khadijah~
I felt embarrassed that I had forgotten my main reason for leaving the house so early. The girls might have noticed but decided not to remind me because I was In a bad mood. Now I was in big trouble and if I turned back, I would be humiliated. If only my big ego hadn't gotten the best of me. I felt frustrated.
What would mama say? will she be very angry at me?
Of course she will!
She will call me a lot of names and I won't be able to bear the shame.
I had no other option but to keep on walking and accept my fate. The sun slowly appeared and Mama must have woken up. I stepped on the concrete floor in front of the house and dusted my slippers then I kept my buckets on the floor and entered into the house. I walked into my room and I was happy that I didn't bump into Mama.
My sister, maryam was already awake and she yawned, placing her palm on her wide opened mouth before greeting me
'As Salamu Alaikum, Ya Khadijah' She said rubbing her eyes.
"Wa Alaikum Salam,"I replied.
"Where is mama?" '
"She just left, she went to Umma Godiya's house." Maryam replied.
I felt instantly relieved. Umma Godiya was Mama's close friend and she would probably spend a lot of time there but I still had one more problem. If I decided to fetch water now, it wouldn't have enough time to do other chores.
Although the house chores were shared between I and my two sisters, I had more work to do because I was the eldest. The twins were restricted from doing house work but I detested the idea. Occasionally, I would tell them to wash some plates or even sweep the house. It won't kill them if they did some chores. When Mama caught them doing any work she would fire at me and scold me but I still did it anyways, remembering to tell them to work really fast because they were sluggish.
"What's the problem?" Maryam asked.
I better tell her that I need help but it sounded quite weird in my head.
"Nothing, I just need some rest besides don't you have work to do? Go get a broom and sweep this house." I commanded.
"Okay." Maryam obeyed and walked out of the room before I called her back.
"Come back here!"
"Na'am? (Yes)" She answered slowly walking into the room.
I completely forgot the reason why I called her back in the first place before I remembered that we had a reservoir drum which she usually filled to the brim on Saturdays.
"Is the drum full?" I asked.
"Yes it is."
"Okay, you can go". She left the room sluggishly.
You might be wondering why I treat Maryam rudely. Well I'm about to answer your question. Maryam is the second child of my parents and the most troublesome person in the house.
I give her all the love a big sister can give to a younger sister and she repays me by reporting my slightest mistakes to mama. Once, she failed to cook when it was her turn and I reported her to mama after telling her to do it or else she would see the other side of me. She didn't comply and I had to report her.
After receiving mama's shouts, she didn't do the work. She was still angry and went to the kitchen passage to mutter everything to herself. I passed through the kitchen passage and into our small kitchen space at the backyard to help her with her work, like the compassionate big sister that I am.
She kept on watching me and at a point, I went into my room to get some rest. Soon, I smelt something burning. I ran into the kitchen space to check on the jollof rice and I discovered it was burning!
I quickly lifted the pot from the firewood and placed it on top of the cement floor. I looked around, Maryam wasn't in sight. I didn't want mama to find out that I had burnt the food so I added some spices so the smell would go away at least.
I tasted it but it was disgusting. Mama will really deal with me today. I thought. I originally prepared the food with a lot of spices to make it taste delicious but I added more so it tasted bad.
Mallam Abubakar once mentioned that too much spices in food could lead to cancer. Of course I didn't want my family members to get cancer but I had no other option. It would be better if we all ate and prayed to the almighty to shield us from the evil disease of cancer. 'In sha Allah it won't be our portion' I said countless times still regretting my actions.
Maryam was not in sight. Something smelt fishy. I wanted to go into the the house and search for her Just then, mama called me.
"Khadijah!"
"Na'am?" I answered before I engaged in a semi-run into the house. I entered mama's room and Salam-ed. "As Salamu Alaikum,"
"Wa Alaikum Salam," she replied.
"Are you done cooking? "she asked.
I immediately knew what was going to happen. I took a quick glance at Maryam who gave me a devilish smile. Obviously, I was in trouble. "Yes mama. " I replied.
"Okay, let me go and check it." She said. I accepted my fate and walked behind her to the passage at the backyard where I kept the pot. She opened it and fetched a spoon of the rice.
"Ina lillahi waina ilaihi rajiun!" She exclaimed and signaled for maryam to get her some water.
She tasted it and spat out. "You want to poison us ba? So you forgot that you were cooking and you let the food get burnt right?" She shouted and a hand ran through my face instantly. I held my face and rubbed my left cheek trying to stop my tears from slowly falling. I looked at maryam who was silently laughing. A devilish smile still on her face.
"Also, why did you slap maryam for simply reminding you to do your work last week? " oh my God. Maryam will really suffer for this.
She told my mother everything I had done in the past that I couldn't even remember. I will never forget that day. All this happened just last week and I changed my actions towards maryam from that day onward. Mama later asked me to eat the disgusting food I had made alone as my punishment.
BACK TO THE PRESENT
I could just tell maryam to fetch water from the drum and fill the buckets and the jerry can but that would be a bad idea. I decided to tell Hauwa to do that. "Hauwa!" I called. She should be cooking by now but i'm sure she will obey me. She was the exact opposite of maryam.
She was more truthful, hardworking and more beautiful. She was my angel and I was sure she wouldn't let me down. "Na'am (yes)" She answered after entering the room. "As Salamu Alaikum Ya Khadijah. "she greeted. "Wa Alaikum Salaam, Hauwa."
"Are you busy now?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm cooking our breakfast"
"Welldone. Please can you do me a favour? It won't take much of your time."
"Okay, what is it? " she asked
"Help me fill the buckets and the jerry can with water from our drum please." I requested as nicely as I could.
"Okay. " she agreed and rushed to do what I had told her.
See, I knew she wouldn't let me down.
~°~°~°~
Mama came back an hour later and went straight to her room after dropping off some of our farm produce at Umma Godiya's shop . We had already eaten and she ate at her friend's place. Now, we were done with our work on the farm for the day.
We left for the farm when everyone was done with their chores around 8pm. It was already 3pm so we decided to rest after a hard day's work. My sisters were sleeping on the mat and I felt irritated when maryam snored. She snored like a pig.
I don't want to sound harsh but she deserved that comment.
I knew I had all the right to rest but I felt guilty for what I had done to Hassana. Truly, this was the first time I treated her this way throughout our friendship. Of course we would have some rough fights but we would reconcile afterwards.
I wanted to apologize to her but she would probably be in school by now. Her school closes by 4pm so I had to wait. Hassana is so lucky to have rich parents. I wish I was like her. Her parents were contented with what they had but they weren't particularly the kind of people you would call rich. They were lucky to have enough to take care of their small family.
Even when my father was alive, we didn't have enough money to pay for school fees so we never attended any school.
It had always been my dream to get educated but we just couldn't afford it. We couldn't even afford the so called 'government schools'. Hassana was lucky.
She attended Community Day Secondary School In Azari L.G.A Kaduna. She was already in SS1 which she said was a high class in secondary school but I hadn't even started. I sighed and prayed for my turn to come sooner. I said my prayers and slept off having it in mind to visit Hassana later.
A/N: Hey gems 💎, I hope you're enjoying the story... Don't forget to vote if you haven't, spread the word and leave any feelings you have about this chapter in the comments. The next chapter is on it's way...
The location I used in this chapter does not exist. There is no place like Azari in Kaduna. Everything in this book is fictional 😂
Also...
Question of the day: do you have any troublesome siblings? 😒 if you do, tell us what they do that annoys you. Maryam is really annoying right 😒😂 who else would deal with maryam if she was their younger sister 🙋🏾♀️
Yes, I would deal with her oo.
Share your experience in the comments. Thanks for reading.
All the x's, all the o's❤
Kosy💎