It had been a long painful week in the hospital and there was no sign of Ahmad nor his mother , Baba didn't bother to look for him, Khadijah knew that he will not come , Ummie and Zee are waiting for him to show up so that they will pounce on him and ravage him to pieces.

" D you look better and I know you feel better too, stop wasting our time " Zee teased Khadijah as she was buttering her bread .

" I'm tired of this hospital bed  Zee, I just hope Dr Taheer will discharge me today" taking a bite , she offered it to Zee who politely declined saying she had eaten before coming , Ummie just left for home to cook lunch leaving Zee to keep her company , Baba left for the market. The two friends were talking about how life is treating Zee and her new boyfriend when Ahmad came into the room looking worn out and tattered,

Pointing an accusing finger directed at Khadijah he said " how dare you send men to beat me up Khadijah? When did you grow horns ?Who do you think you are ? By Allah am not going to divorce you, and you'll pay for what you've done in thousand folds, you should have known not to mess with me by now "

Khadijah was out of words and before she could think of a reply to give the crazy sleep deprived wounded psychopath before her Zee stood up.

" God bless whoever did this to you, if I can see them I'll definitely pay them for the services rendered pro bono, they were too lenient on you, left to me your head will be on a spike with flies swarming over it, and get the hell out of this place "

he held his hands up aiming to slap her when Khadijah held him off by clutching his wrist, seeing what almost happened. Zee gave Ahmad three resounding slaps he will never forget in his life , he was too shocked to react . Then Dr Taheer came in with a hard look on his face.
"What the flying potatoes are you doing here Ahmad? " He asked with a deadly expression.

" I came to see my wife obviously " Retorted Ahmad looking calm but a storm is brewing inside him.
" Get out of this hospital room right this instance, never show your face ever again "

" Have you forgotten that am your friend and she's my wife" he pointed at Khadijah who's fuming with anger, chest raising up and down ,heaving as if she's going to faint any moment.

" She isn't your wife right from the beginning Ahmad,sane people don't treat their wives the way you do, kindly get the hell out of here, go to the market or anywhere on this planet buy some sense, then come back and claim her to be yours "

with that being said he dragged him out of the room and the hospital , not sparing him with another glance .Right that instance, a certain someone in person of Zee had fallen in love, to her Taheer is a hero and he has succeeded in being number one on her good books, seeing the dreamy look on her friend's face , Khadijah smiled even though she's in no such condition to smile in the state that she's in.

" Yah ukhty he's off limits "

" I don't care "

" He's married with three devilish kids "

" I'm a devil too ,it will be a happy family of devils "

" He beats women too "

" That's a lie on your part "

" He loves his wife soo much "

" I love him way more "

Unfortunately for them Taheer heard their conversation,not wanting to embarrass the ladies , he left to his office ,he wanted to discharge her but he feared that she will go back to Ahmad's house , he has done it twice ,who knows what he's going to do to the poor lady ? He admired her strength and patience , she looked troubled but tactfully veiled her woes with a smile , her friend is like fire so they make a perfect combination of fire and ice ,thinking of what he heard her say ,he adjusted his tie with a smile , how on earth did Khadijah came up with his marriage and devilish kids, with a light chuckle he left to the ward for his afternoon round.

He like her sense of humor, then he remembered that she's someone's wife he said Astagfurillah and headed out .

"Alhamdulillah , she has recuperated , but she's still having nightmares, I don't even know what to do , yeah his mother came saying that she didn't know what happened pleading that she should go back, habibi vowed that she's not going back unless he comes here himself"

Ummie was telling Mommy about the recent development in Khadijah's case , she insisted that Khadijah should come and stay with her in Abuja away from everything, Baba declined saying it is not right  since she's Still married to Ahmad, they should wait .

In a month's time , they realised that Khadijah is pregnant, and no matter how badly they wanted to dissolve the marriage they have to be patient till she delivers. Baba feared that his only child will become a subject of ridicule in the society, becoming a divorcee with a child at her age will affect her mentally, people had already started talking and it will add fuel to the already raging fire if she were divorced.

Maman Aysha came to visit Khadijah, knowing that something must be wrong, she called her and asked for directions to the house , it is not far from their street so she had no hassle in locating the house , seeing her, Khadijah leapt out in joy.

" Hai Allah , maman Aysha I've missed you " she took the woman by surprise with her version of a warm welcome , after exchanging pleasantries with Ummie , Khadijah took her to her room where she started asking after all the people she know ,especially maman Aysha's kids .

" Aysha badly misses you, she pleaded to tag along but I said no because of islamiyyah " she explained.

" Eat please maman Aysha, this is also your house " moving the plate closer to her, Khadijah urged the older woman to eat .

" Hope all is well with you Khadijah, you left without saying goodbye and you've been away for long " Maman Aysha finally voiced out the main reason that brought her.

" Everything is fine maman Aysha, life happens you know, just pray that Allah choose khair for me but nothing serious is wrong "

" Khadijah, you can't let a man treat you anyhow he wants , you see ,I've been married for almost 12 years now but my husband can't even command me , he does whatever I ask him to without a thought, and it will remain so forever, I will link you with different malams that work for me, you'll become a force to reckon with and Ahmad will become your dog "

The way she was saying it, like it's the most natural thing to do rattled Khadijah, she felt like wetting her pants, what the jahannam is wrong with this woman, she respect her yes,adore her yes , envy her relationship with her husband double yes !! But what she just said is the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, she read it in books but never in her wildest dreams thought it's real .Here she is in company of a woman who had done shirk just not to suffer in the hands of a man ,maybe her husband is a good man and will treat her well even if she hadn't done anything to him ,she wonder whether maman Aysha knows the consequence of her action, she's now a mushrikah and guilty of committing shirk an offence so grievous that Allah do not forgive , with a bitter smile that made her jaw ache , she told the woman she will think about it,finding it the only polite way to decline the treacherous offer, it's indeed true when it was said to never judge a book by it's cover. Who would've thought that of all people , the sweet and innocent looking maman Aysha will be capable of such callous act .

It pained her that after all the promises of a better future , she's into more mess she cared to admit, what kind of life are we living devoid of fear of Allah and tawakkul? Even though her husband had treated her in the most inhumane way known to mankind but she can never contemplate of doing anything of such nature. Why will she want to have control over something that is not hers to control? Over someone she's supposed to obey because the key to her entering paradise is beneath his feet? A man whom she's supposed to be his veil clocking him ? She can never do that , for she fear Allah more than anything on earth and there's no goal she wants to achieve than that of being among the lucky dwellers of the best home in the hereafter and for a man, a useless, worthless, heartless beast like Ahmad she can't let go of that, even if he's going to kill her she will never use charm against him.

Allah is her strength, He knows her ordeals, He hears her prayers late at night, see her tears and know her pain more than anyone so she's going to hold unto her faith firmly. She's going to vow down in sujood every night when the world is at sleep,she will ask Allah to choose the best for her, to give her the fortitude to bear her trials ,with a muttered prayer against the evil of Satan and mankind , she left her room to that of Ummie's where she lay on her bed before drifting into a deep slumber.

The days stretched into months and Khadijah is now in her second trimester of pregnancy , with the unwavering support she gets from her loving parents and best friend there is no hurdle she can't cross.

Ahmad on the hand had forgotten about someone called Khadijah or pretended to, his colleagues have done all they could in their power to see that he went to see Khadijah, one of them suggested that if he is  no longer interested then he should set her free from the shackles of marriage , that hurts Ahmad and he punched the guy severally till he loose consciousness. Seeing that he's taking it too far they let him be , praying that he should see to reason , some people were saying that he's been possessed by jinn if not how could Ahmad who loves Khadijah so much and treated her like an egg behave that way ? His mother had banned him from stepping foot into her house unless if he take Khadijah back , she is  beyond embarrassed by her son's actions and for the life of her she can't even look Khadijah in the eye, not knowing the full details of what actually happened between the once two lovebirds , she knows that it is something terrible, knowing Baba as a very patient man he would've let it slide if its not serious.

She called her brother from Jigawa and after he had eaten to his fill she broached the topic.

" Yaya dama I summoned you because of Ahmad's case, they were so in love before they got married , and till the day I came to know what happened not for once had I sensed that something is wrong between them ,to cut the story short for you,he does not feed her, call her names and all sorts of unimaginable things, the girl is a very good girl I've known her since the day she was born ,he practically raised her himself  I am sure the problem is not from her side , please talk to him maybe he will listen to you, I don't want the world to ridicule me for what I haven't done , Ahmad has totally changed, he is like an empty shell with an evil person's soul inside him "

she had said and her elder brother had shook his head , weighing her words, he also know about Ahmad and Khadijah and he won't have believed what he just heard if not because it is coming from Ahmad's mother knowing that a mother will never lie against her son .

" This is shocking Habiba , but in shaa Allah we will get to the bottom of it,call him here I want to talk to him first before approaching Khadijah's father, Allah dai ya kyauta , but this is surprising " he stated and mama fetched her phone to call Ahmad, he picked at the last ring with a grumpy voice he greeted her " what is the special occasion that warrants this sudden unexpected call from her Majesty " he jested

" Your uncle came and he demand to see you in a couple of minutes" with that she cut the call, with a heavy aching heart, it has come to the stage where her only surviving soon , the boy she raised with best of manners ,the boy who loves her to bits and never say no to her is talking to her with such an aghast and disrespectful tune.

With a sigh ,she went back to her brother and they keep talking about his family and how they are doing , after two hours Ahmad decided to show himself to the already vexed uncle and deeply hurt mother .

"Assalamu alaikum Kawu barka da zuwa " he made his presence known not waiting for an answer he made himself comfortable on the mat .

" I can see that you've grown horns Ahmad! You've proved to me that you're not a real son of your mother, how can you treat a poor innocent woman like that ?I've called you here for two hours Ahmad ,two good hours you took your ohhh soo sweet time because you have no respect for anyone , you're too big to be told what's right or wrong huh ? What has she done to deserve such ill treatment from you ?tell me what has she done?? " he bellowed, Ahmad cringed.

" Kawu it's none of your business fah! Had I known that it's what you're going to speak to me about I won't have come at all, is it by force? I didn't send her packing to her useless father's house, she's the one that packed herself out, she knows the way back if she's interested she can go back I have no problem with that but I see no reason why I will go and apologise for a wrong I've not done just let me be please "

By the time he finished his statement mama was already in tears , asking no one in particular what wrong she has done to deserve such from Ahmad, his uncle was also shocked beyond words .
" Now if you two have nothing more to say ,I will be on my way " with a hiss he left the dumbfounded elders without a care as to what he has done .

A WEEK TO THE WEDDING

Ahmad was in the workshop , with his phone supported by his neck, smiling like a Cheshire cat

"yes love, I won't forget to come along with it in shaa Allah, my darling angel, sweet Mrs Ahmad, in a week we will become one, two hearts beating together as one , two souls mashed into one ,I will make you the happiest Cat you'll be so happy till you look me in the eye and tell me that it's enough "
the person that parked a tinted Benz car a few metres away from the workshop gulped down a bottle of bear , adjusting his shades he drove away dialing a number " I'm afraid he's not backing down , it's time to for plan B "

°•°
Cliffy hangyyyy....hehehe don't kii miiiiii

Thank you!