Saturday, 17th august, 2019.

"Drink that, Jodoma."

Sudais sighed, dropping his heavy, pounding head as he dragged his palm on the rug beneath him, while the other got rid of the platter above the glass cup to reveal water with black grains swirling around.

He picked it, raising it to scrutinize, then held his breath as he drained more than half the content before dropping it.

"Anhuha. (Finish it.)"

Like a child forced to drink bitter medication, Sudais scrunched his face, held his breath, closed his eyes and dawned the leftover tasteless water.

"Who ever has a hold on you will Insha Allah release you. I have people reciting the qur'an for you and i am also praying my best to see your enemies do not succeed."

"Mama..." Sudais dragged, raising tired eyes to her. "Nothing is wrong with me. You are over—"

All his toughness cracked when the woman sat on the bed closed her eyes and stretched a halting palm up. "La. (No.) Don't tell me that. Don't you dare," she opened icy eyes at him, making him drag his head down. "You have been acting on impulses, making stupid decisions since your father died. You were crowned king and less than a day later you went ahead and got married to that Hausa girl without my knowledge or consent. Same day your In-laws get attacked. You fly to them the next day without of an explanation and come back to continue your activities without explaining what you have found out. You're maltreating Halima and you tell me your enemies have not started jazzing and attacking you? Haba, inta inti? (Are you well?)"

He nodded at the question, "Anâ âfe, Ummi. (I am well, mother.)"

"And what is it i am hearing that your second wife is the new queen? Halima in fa?"

Sudais' scratched his nape, the answer stuck in his throat. Did he even have an answer?

"Why are you suddenly quiet?" The woman pushed.

"I want Naja as queen, not Sadiya." He meant it when he said he didn't mind being the bad guy for her.

The woman stared at him in disbelief, waiting for him to add reason but he never did. "Shikenan? You don't want your first wife as queen? Who said you have to want her as queen? She is your first wife, she is a princess and she knows all about royalty. What about your hausa second wife?" The way Queen Baraka's tone changed when addressing hausa people was something he could never fathom. "Dagaske. Lafiyanka kuwa?" Her question went unanswered and she eventually tsked, shaking her head and waving a hand off. "Allah ya shirye ka."

That had meant the end of their conversation but he didn't say an amen nor did he get up.

"Bazaka tashi ba? Ko in tashi in barmaka gidanka tinda kazama Lamido?"

"Ahhhhtt—" he protested, "Kiyi haquri." and without setback, marched to his chambers considering he had dismissed everyone after Magreb that rainy Saturday.

He made a quick call, setting it on speaker as he stepped out of his clothes:

"Ranka shi dade." An answer came almost immediately.

Sudais chuckled, shaking his head and exchanging greetings with the man, "I need you to gather all the thugs in this state that you can find and have them gathered tomorrow morning in front of the palace."

He heard the slight hesitation in the man's stutters before he dared to ask, "May i ask why, Barkama?"

Sudais sighed, throwing the silk velvet Jallabiya slacks to the floor and landing heavily on the swivel chair in front of his desktop. "I am starting a program. Hopefully they're interested so they have more jobs to do than terrorize people."

"Ah toh Alhamdulillah, you're doing what our government have failed to do. This is good news ai. I'll do that sharply Insha Allah."

"Thank you, Bash." Sudais hit the end button before the person on the other end could answer.

He went on his business, rounding up the new website he was creating while fixing his router.

Who he didn't expect to come in was Naja who he hadn't seen since morning claiming she just wanted to see him. He did too. If he was honest, he was sexually pent up. Now, Laila was out of the question, although no matter what he did with Naja, his hypocritical body still wouldn't be fully satisfied if the climax wasn't from Laila. But he'd go with what he had.

How did Baba Alhaji even survive being king for 27 years? This was torture. He barely had time and all he did was sit on a stupid seat, dirty his trousers and talk with people.

That aside, one thing let to another and before he knew it, he was breathing quick while holding Naja's head down with his head tilted back, his lips slightly parted as he tried not to grunt too hard.

Moments into it, they were oblivious to footsteps and the sounds of doors opening and closing. No one just barges into that part of the house without knocking anyway. The sucking sloppy sounds of saliva against skin and Sudais' grunt tuned out every other sound until a particular one.

The door burst open and Naja's scream had him jerking, glancing to the door to find Laila wide eyed.

As Naja buried her face and breath into him, he frustratedly yelled at Laila, "Baki iya knocking bane?"

Laila dropped her eyes and muttered as she closed the door, "I have a message for you."

Now that he had managed to become more frustrated, he grunted as he yanked Naja off him, dragged his shorts up before pulling on a T-shirt and banging the door on his way out. He banged every door open until he found her in his study. He shook his head as he switched on his systems and sat facing them boot up.

"The governor sent a truck of gifts."

Without so much as blinking, he said, "Tell them to take it back."

"Why?"

"I don't want it."

"You accepted every gift, why are you turning this one down?" He didn't need to turn to know that she had moved in relation to her emotion, which was frustration. Good. She should feel what he was feeling.

He alternated his scrutiny from his first desktop screen to his third, "It's best if you stay out of this."

"Why should i?"

This time, he banged the table, swiveling to take a look at her from across the tech room, "Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong, Laila. I am working. Kina jina ko? I. Am. Working. Your presence pisses me off and then I'll make mistakes. Don't provoke me. If you don't have anything else to tell me, leave."

He watched her eyes flicker from his anatomy to the floor, then back at him, her muscles tightening as she took strides forward. Safe to say she didn't like what she saw. But then, who told her to barge in even if he didn't answer her knocks?

Her voice tight in mirror to her lips, she gritted. "Actually, i do. Tell your wife that my chambers are not hers. She should stop putting her people in place of mine. And before you say she is queen, no, i am not about to move out of my chambers for her."

He stared at her, confusion pulsing through him. "And how is that my problem?"

"It is your problem because matarka ce. Talk to her, keep her in check. Ni nafi qarfinta, bata kai nayi fada da ita ba. I am not married to her."

Sudais looked down, humming before looking up and pointing at her. "I should've kept you in check. We wouldn't be here in the first place."

"Y-you-ughh!" Her arms dropped in frustration, the visible vein in her neck starting to throb and she pointed an index at him. "Innalillahi! I am sick and tired of this. You have absolutely no right to always sit and talk like you're better than me."

His expression tightened and he crossed his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"What am i talking about?" She asked with her arms spread and her head thrown back. "Don't play dumb with me, you always make this about you. How about how i feel in this too, huh? You kissed Naja'atu in front of me that day. You never miss a chance to get in my face. I never said anything. I just walked in on you receiving head, haba Sudais danAllah koma mena maka punish me differently mana. Me haka?" This time, she managed to keep her sobs at bay although her tears started to gather at the memory.

"What. Are. You. Talking. about?"

Seriously, was this man deaf?

"What i am talking about is the fact that you are so self righteous. Acting perfect all the time."

His lips pushed forward with a scoff, "You know where we come from, i have to be perfect."

Laila felt the need to thrash her arms and she did. "You are not. You are not perfect. You will never be. Get off your high horse."

"Excuse me?"

Since he needed a reminder, she'd give him. "In case you have forgotten, i am not the only one who cheated in this relationship. You cheated too, i might not know her or them, but i know you've cheated more times than you've cared to count so stop making it look like i am the only evil one!"

Sudais pushed off the chair back in anger, crossing the room until he was roasting her down with his glare. "At least I didn't cheat just when i thought we had something going on."

"Oh please-" her palms rose to his face, "That's no freaking excuse. We both know you cheated when you left for Lagos—"

"It wasn't cheating, we weren't—"

"—Maybe they called to tell you Baba Alhaji was dead while you were cheating ma!"

That had him halt, his system halt.

She shouldn't have said that. SHE JUST SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT.

Channeling his emotion into rage, he balled his fists to prevent himself from lifting her by the collar and slamming her into the wall, "Don't drag my dead father into this, Halima. Billahil'azim don't you dare mention his name in conversations like this, again."

Laila took a step back, breathing heavily. She looked away from his raging figure, lifting her hands to massage her forehead. She was in the fit of the moment. Baba Alhaji was her favorite person after Mima, she shouldn't have mentioned his name.

But she was also right. Just because she never addressed it didn't mean she didn't know Sudais wasn't a one woman guy after they had gotten married. A grown man away in a city where fornication wasn't a big deal? Huh. Hard to miss.

She let it slide because like he hinted, they hadn't formed any attachment. And to be honest, she'd rather he went out to get some than be forced into it-not that he looked like the type of guy to force himself on a woman, but well, men will embarrass you.

She knew the society said women couldn't be sexual beings as much as men were and that was his unsaid reason about cheating and putting the blame on her.

Who even made that stupid rule?

The air around them turned impossibly hot, sweat forming on delicate parts of their skin as they both breathed heavily.

She needed air. She needed to get away.

Without so much as a sorry, she muttered, marching out. "Go tell them you don't want the gifts yourself, I'm going to bed."

It was her day, the stupid rule for a man with more than one wife where they take alternations of days to spend with him. Laila didn't care. He could go to his wife and glue their asses together for all she cared.

The sound of the door banging after her resonated throughout the walls and Sudais groaned, swirling in search of something to kick but only his chair looked less valuable. No matter how angry he was, his device's wasn't something he thrashed. He picked the chair and threw it at the wall.

It flew and crashed with a bang, the sound just as harsh as his heart beat.

***

Saturday, 21st December, 2019.

Summer break was over and Laila had never been thankful about a break coming to an end. On normal resumption, she made sure to miss the first week just to savor the sweet feeling of peace before she hit school, but this time, nop. Not only was she trying to get away from Adamawa, her relationship-which was as flat as it sounded- Naja and Sudais who ganged up to make her feel like shit all the time but she was a final year medical student! In a year or so, she'd be graduating, inducted, and become a resident!

Wasn't that the best thing?

No, it wasn't.

Turns out, final year was more of a bitch than she'd ever expected. They'd tell you you'd be offering just 2 courses; Medicine and Surgery. What they don't tell you is that Medicine itself has over 7 different practices ranging from; Cardiology, Gastroenterology, and so on, while Surgery will have you learning skills in over 6 departments like; Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery and so on.

On a physical level, Laila was always tired. She went to sleep tired-if she went to sleep, considering call duties could last up to 3 Am and they'd still be expected to be in school by 7 am for ward rounds- and woke up tired.

If painkillers could talk at this point, they'd beg Laila, 'I am so dankass. Anty, let me go. What a life!'

On a mental level, Laila had gone through the medical student syndrome phase more times than she cared to count. What was a normal headache to everyone had Laila almost diagnosed herself with craniopharyngioma. Yes, she was that mentally exhausted and unstable.

On a social level, Laila had visited Adamawa twice from early September to midst December on weekends and ran back to Abuja to continue the life she chose which wasn't for the weak.

Now, breaks would've been much better had she had a good relationship where she talked to her husband and he gave her time and attention. But oh well...instead, she grudgingly dragged herself back to Adamawa for the 8 days of Christmas and new year break as it was the only break she was getting before she had to go all through final year from January to July without break.

Laila didn't want to talk about Sudais. It had been 3 months and a half and they weren't anywhere good. He had kept his word when he said he was done. She might not have wanted things that way but well, she had to come to accept that she had turned exactly into what she feared she might become. Her mum.

Now don't get worked up, Laila loved her mum despite other facts. What she feared about becoming was the fact that she stayed silent in her marriage. Letting her co-wife take the spotlight and letting her husband treat her the way he wanted.

Now Sudais dared not treat her like a child just like her dad did to her mum, or so help her God, she was going to go ahead and paralyze him, then cut his penis off as she had once promised.

That aside, she was exhausted wallahi. She had no energy to fight him or Naja that had finally gotten her chambers and had stopped moving in and out of Laila's.

Now, Naja was not that bad if you give her the chance. Laila just didn't like her-for obvious reasons- and never pretended to do. She'd coordinate herself if the girl did too, no hard feelings. After all, she made Sudais do it. And although she didn't like the fact that she was sharing him-at this point, she really wasn't, she hadn't even seen him in a month and had spoken to him 3 weeks back- but it was necessary. He couldn't be left without a woman by his side. Adamawa could not be left without a queen. It was for a calculated purpose.

Laila had spent almost 24 hours without contact with Sudais. She avoided him by staying in her chambers since she had greeted her mother-Law. Him? She didn't bother to. Neither his wife. And with all honesty, his wife was supposed to come to greet her-maybe it was her being a bitch- but she wasn't stepping a foot in the woman's chambers.

Imagine how taken aback she was when Sudais sent Hafsy to call her for him.

Still clad in a see-through boubou, Laila threw a veil over her head and headed upstairs only to be met with a question immediately after she was in the bedroom. "Did you touch my kaftans?"

She hadn't even glanced at the door that lead to the staircase of their chambers and he thought she touched his Kaftans? Come on, there were better ways to see and speak to her. He could do better.

"No," she shook her head, watching him agitatedly grab his head, his back still to her. "I haven't even visited this room."

Sudais hummed, dropping his hands off his outgrown hair to turn to her. Laila saw what Hafsy said when she whispered in her ear, 'He is not in a good condition,' she didn't understand what that meant but now that she was looking at his red sunken eyes, his swollen lips, and red skin, she understood.

Instinctively, she stepped forward, raising her hand to touch him but he flinched away. She reached for him again, dismissing the fact that he flinched, and placed a palm on his neck. She trailed the palm to his cheek, then to his forehead, and immediately revived, her eyes squinting and her cheeks fluffed up in confusion. "You feel like an oven."

He didn't reply, walking past her only for her to grab his arm, raking him up and down. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're burning."

"I don't have time for this," he muttered when he was halfway out of the room.

Despite his disrespectful dismissal, Laila had an inkling of what his symptoms were, so she marched into the house in search of something that belonged to Baba Alhaji and came back, this time she headed for his chambers and found him in front of the mirror, tightly holding his head that was about to fall.

"Before you protest or anything, let me do this and then you can go back to treating me like shit."

He had opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it, "Shh—" and dragged him to his bed.

Working the stethoscope into her ear, she wrapped the arm cuff of the sphygmomanometer above his cubital fossa and measured his blood pressure.

The first time she got it, she shook her head in denial, processing again to make sure her eyes weren't lying.

Laila yanked the stethoscope off, her heart almost beating out of her chest as she gaped at his chest.

"What is it?"

She jerked back, his voice yanking her out of her ringing thoughts.

"When was the last time you slept Sudais?"

He looked up to recall before shrugging and immediately wincing at the headache. "Like 7 days ago i think."

"7 days?" She yelled, placing her palms on his shoulders. "And you're still sitting? Sudais your blood pressure is 230/150mm Hg," She moved on tapping his cheek, "How are you even still talking? We need to get you to the hospital! Right now. Don't close your eyes, Sit tight, let me get a driver."

Laila flew out as fast as her heart was beating, getting the driver before passing it through his mum who insisted on the family doctor coming in to treat Sudais.

For the first time, Laila blatantly disagreed with her mother-in-law, sharply stating the facts that his brain was about to burst-literally- or he was about to have a stroke or worse, death. With no choice, Sudais who struggled with Laila was dragged to the hospital to get immediate medical attention.

For some reason, Laila didn't want Sudais dead-despite threatening to sink her apple knife into his jugular more than once, wishing he went to hell or drove off a cliff or things she said when he pissed her off. She didn't want anybody dead to be honest.

Laila was used to sleeping uncomfortably, she was a medical student. So, on the second night of Sudais' admittance to the hospital after she had shone her red eyes at everyone including her co-wife to go and she'd sleep over like the previous day, she chuckled when Sudais said, "You should go home and sleep, you're not comfortable here."

"I've been uncomfortable my whole life," she didn't mean it to sound sad, but it kind of did. She shrugged, "I'm fine. You just sleep."

"I'd ask you to come sleep with me but the bed is unfortunately made for one, Sorry," he joked, raising his hand with a microprocessor BP monitor stuck to his index to gesture at the bed before they burst into laughter. "Come here."

Laila dropped the book she was reading on the couch and dragged the plastic chair to his bed before sitting. 

"Hold my hand."

She twisted her mouth, narrowed her eyes, and pretended to think. "Say please."

He smiled while shaking his head, "Please."

"Say pretty, pretty, pretty, please doctor."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty, please student." He let mirth spread his lips as he watched her pout. He didn't understand why she wouldn't let him rest about calling her a doctor. She was still a student.

"Okay," he surrendered, "Okay, doctor. Please hold my hand."

And she did, resting her head on his lap and falling asleep while he traced gibberish on her cheek and nose.

Next day, Laila had to yank herself out of his clutches to go home and take a shower with him shouting behind her to make him banana bread.

After 3 days of medical attention, Lamido was released.

Sudais was being stubborn and waiting for Laila a few feet from the dispensary to come back from getting her eye drop medication that had prescribed for her after she had complained of itchiness.

His family had no idea he had been discharged as it was 7 pm and most had gone home to freshen up, not knowing Sudais had insisted to go home.

As Laila approached the guarded man, a slim but plump at the right places-woman in flashy sweatpants from the other side approached him too.

He rose an eye at the commotion to find 2 of his soldiers holding hands out to stop a woman from approaching him.

Eyes wide in disbelief, he called his boys out to let the woman pass.

Laila saw the act, halting and watching Sudais stare at the woman in disbelief and mannerism that screamed...longing. She watched the woman smile, her lips and hand moving as she spoke to a rigid Sudais.

Laila couldn't tell his expression as she was standing behind him. But one thing was for sure, he did look taken aback.

Flushing whatever was in her head, she strolled to him, ready to mark her territory.

Sudais tensed more when Laila placed her hand with the leather of her medication on his arm. He turned to her and his body immediately relaxed, his hard facade didn't falter though.

Laila said nothing, hooking her arm around his and feeling him tighten as he looked back at the beautiful chestnut brown woman with features that always had Laila wondering who born these kids? Why are they so perfect?

Still, Laila kept a straight face and the woman smiled further, spreading her arms for a hug.

Laila was already flinching back in dissent when Sudais' left arm came over, blocking the woman away from his wife.

The woman stepped back, "Haba B, you won't even let me close? Who is this?"

"My wife." he gritted.

The woman's look flashed with anger as she raked Laila up and down before clapping and smiling. "Oh...i see. She's beautiful," She spoke as if Laila wasn't there, her eyes still on Laila, only that it was rested on Sudais' hand that had pulled Laila by her waist into him. "A little less than me, but i give it to you. You've always had," she searched for the perfect word, her index holding her chin up before she jerked. "An impeccable taste in black women...who is she?"

"The love of my life," he said, so convincing even Laila raised her head to look at him but he never looked down, only stared at the woman a little taller than Laila. "But since you asked, she's the daughter of the emir of Gombe."

"Ohh..." with a pout, she slanted her head to the side. She turned to Laila who glared at her but didn't seem fazed by it, only continued to give Laila a disgusting look.

"How's your husband doing?" Sudais asked, a smirk spreading on his lips.

She stopped, turning to Sudais and biting her lower lip only to slowly release it. "He is fine...I was hoping to see you, wanted to pass a message."

"Yeah? What?" He made sure the cockiness didn't just show on his smirk, but his voice too.

"Yeah...my dad says hi. Says i should greet his," she turned to Laila, "Son-in-law."

Sudais' smirk dropped and his head tilted to stand straight. His hold on Laila's waist tightened to the point of a bruise, his veins popping out and he started to breathe heavily through his nose.

The woman smiled at him before she turned to Laila, "See you soon, love of our life. Or...maybe not." Then, she walked away after winking at Sudais.

Soon as she was out of sight, Laila held Sudais's painful grip on her waist and he lightened it, stepping back and looking away.

"Who was that?" Laila dared to ask.

Although she didn't think he was going to reply, he did, through clenched teeth, "The governor's daughter...Asma'u."

In her head, it snapped, a bulb light switching on. Was he refusing the gifts related to this Asma'u?

"Who is she?" She didn't need to explain, he knew what she meant.

He momentarily looked at her, his chest tightening and his insides feeling like someone was gripping them. "My ex."

Oh.

Laila didn't let him rest, she asked again. "Ex-ex? Like Nurain and i, ex-ex?"

Sudais moved his glare to her, flickering it up and down before he dropped his arm off her just to storm off and slip into the back passenger seat.

With no choice but to follow him, she did that and the drive went eerily silent.

At the palace, Sudais disappeared into his chambers and Laila was hot on his tail.

She placed a firm palm on the door to his room that he was about to slam in her face. The action almost broke her wrist but she stood her ground.

He groaned, releasing the handle and disappearing into the bathroom with the hopes of Laila being gone by the time he was out.

He wasn't that lucky.

Laila hit him with questions that pushed him to the extreme once he stepped out of the washroom.

"Why did she call you his son-in-law? Are you remarrying?" In disbelief, he glanced at her, stepping out of his clothes and leaving their trail to the chest of drawers.

Laila had many questions she didn't want to sleep on without getting her answers. So she went on. "How dare she call me less beautiful than her?" Laila could admit that she was less beautiful than her, but still, women should uplift each other, right? "Is she the reason why you didn't receive the governor's gift? What's his role in this? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Sudais pulled the slacks to his waist and released his arms in frustration, twisting to Laila by the door. "What have you done for me-wait who are you to even ask me all these questions?"

A rush of coldness hit Laila square in the face, her legs instinctively stepped back and her mouth widened with a vague gasp. Her weak hand splayed across her chest. "I am your wife, Sudais. Your wife. And what have i don-is that even a question? Do i need to remind you? I stayed with you, i watched over you. I cared for you, Sudais. You were pushing me but i still stayed."

Sudais spread his arms, a brow lifted and his expression blank. "I didn't ask you to."

Laila's posture stiffened and a tingling feeling spread across her skin. Unconsciously, the hand over her chest started to shake and the tears in her eyes blurred her vision.

She took a step forward after what felt like forever and in a shaky, soft voice that ceased, disbelief coated her words. "You want to push me away...again? And end the little thing we started?"

Sudais pulled an armless cotton yer shara on and his eyes closed as he threw his head back and lifted his arms in irritation. "You ruined us before we began, Sadiya. You, you ruined us."

"We!" She yelled, her action pushing her cheeks up and her tears down. She gestured between them. "We ruined each other. Ad-God!" She paused to remove her glasses and placed a hand on her forehead while squeezing her eyes shut.

No. No. Please. They couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't get shattered every time they had small progress just for it to always flop.

Pleasing Sudais was like pleasing a storm, it was useless at this point. Really useless.

Her eyes flew open to him engrossed in his phone and her lips parted, he was looking at his phone when she was about to breakdown?

"Y-you-i even-just ugh!"

She wobbled and stormed out of the flat to her chambers.

Laila bumped into someone in the corridor before her bedroom. Then she realize she hadn't wiped her pathetic tears off. She looked away, sniffling and wiping the tears but the person already caught it.

Stepping further, Maijidda grabbed Laila's arms and shook her. "Are you okay?" The question didn't sound stupid in her head, now though, it did. She asked a more reasonable one. "Hamma ko?"

Laila rose pink eyes at her, frantically nodding despite not wanting his family in their business.

Maijidda's eyes softened, "He has been acting out since the coronation, wallahi. It's like he is being jazzed. I'm sorry, come here." Then she pulled Laila into her.

Clasping her mouth to prevent ugly cries from resonating around the house, Laila sobbed into Maijidda's himar, soaking it with tears until she pulled back.

In a croaky voice, she started. "Can you do me a favor, please?"

Maijidda nodded, glad to help in any way.

"Please have maids go over to my house in Jimeta and tidy it, i want to move there. Tonight."

Maijidda's head dropped in thought, her head shaking. "I don't think it's a good idea, Dada." Yeah, apparently Dada was the name they'd call her since she was the king's first wife.

"Please," Laila croaked, about to start sobbing or bend to her knees to beg, "Dan Allah. I need this. I need an escape from all this. Wallahi I don't think you understand. I have to-"

"I understand," Maijidda nodded, patting Laila's arm. "I understand a lot more than you think i do. I'll do that for you. Go freshen up. I'll bring you food and painkillers. What do you want?"

"Tuwo without the painkillers, they don't work for me anymore," Laila said, dragging her exhausted body to her room to freshen up and pack.