•••• •••• •••• ••••
Muhammad would have loved her to lash out at him, at this point he'll appreciate her rude way of talking to him, he'll appreciate anything but the silence.He saw the tears that gathered in her eyes right before she shut the door to her room, retreating.It's been two days and yet he had barely seen her, she wasn't out of her room before he leaves for work and she was already in her room when he gets back, the only sign she was in the house was his dinner that was always waiting for him on the table.
He'd decided he couldn't take it anymore, the silence was killing him, the thought of not knowing what Amirah was feeling, how she was mourning. So that evening when he got back from work, he stormed past the dinning table where his dinner was and went straight to knock on her door.
As he expected, she didn't reply.
'I won't leave here not until you open the door." He promised as he kept on knocking, his knocks switched from gentle to furious and he finally resolved to pleading."Please Amirah. Please open the door let's talk about this, it isn't good to grieve alone."
He kept begging her and when he heard the door click indicating it has been unlocked, the surge of joy he felt was unexplainable.
She opened the door and his heart clenched in pain at the sight of her, her eyes were puffy, her hair disheveled and it seemed as if she was still in the clothes he'd seen her on the last time. Without thinking twice, he immediately enveloped her into a hug.
"I'm sorry, I know how close you were."
His hands were wrapped around her while hers laid limbly by her side and she stood in a still manner in his arm. He quietly pulled back from her ashamed of how much of his emotions he'd let show.
The silence between them became awkward."Do..." Her voice sounded rough like she hadn't spoken in a while, she cleared it before continuing,
"Do you want to come in?" Muhammad nodded his head gleefully and went into her room with her, she sat on a chair by the corner staring at him, he cleared his throat before settling himself on her bed. Her room looked squeaky clean, he'd only been in it when she had chosen it. Her tidiness endeared him more to her, Amirah wasn't flawless but he'd rather her to anyone else on this earth.
"Have you eaten?" He asked, she simply nodded her head before turning her attention to her nails.
"I'm sorry about your loss."
She nodded in reply again, silence fell upon them both. Muhammad had a lot to say to her, he wanted to apologize but he couldn't even fix the words together, his thoughts were jumbled as he stared at her knowing she was sad yet he couldn't do anything to take away the pain or... Could he?
He opened his mouth to suggest something before the shrill sound of her phone interrupted him.
•••• •••• •••• ••••
Amirah had wanted it to be false, he probably couldn't recognize Mrs Jane. But when two days passed and no word was heard from the older woman nor was her number going through, the truth finally dawned on her.
She rarely became close to people, most of her friends were Khadijah's. Even when she became friends with some people, she made sure they weren't close but the past months spent with Mrs Jane had taught her to be close to someone again, Amirah shuddered as she remembered the last time sge'd seen her.
Just as soon, he phone began ringing, it was Khadijah.
Khadijah's tone was anger-filled, "this is the last straw! I've had it with Hajiya so if you love your mother it'd be good if you called and warned her."
Amirah was taken aback, Khadijah hardly ever got angry to the extent of shouting at her, of all people. What had Hajiya done this time?
"What is it?" Amirah answered trying to be calm.
"Why don't you call her and ask." Khadijah hissed before abruptly hanging up.
Amirah turned and saw Muhammad giving her an questioning look, ignoring it, she dialed Hajiya's number. It rang for awhile without an answer.
Mummuring to herself about being tired of Hajiya's incesstant hunger for trouble, she dialed Zara's number and Fareedah's chirpy voice was what she heard from the other end.
"Ya Amira, ya Zarah isn't home."
"Where's Hajiya?"
"Ehen, you don't know what Hajiya did. She had a huuuuuuuuge fight with Aunty amarya and then she went and brought police, they packed their van outside the house and they took Aunty amarya and ya Samir."
Amirah's jaw slacked, leaving her mouth wide open in shock.
"Hajiya arrested Aunty amarya?" She asked for clarification.
"Yes that's what I said, and ya Khadijah is very angry, she and ya Zarah were arguing and she slapped ya Zarah toh ya Zarah has gone out that she's going to call thugs who'll beat up ya Khaijah. Also ya Lawal travelled back to Zaria yesterday but I heard he's on his way to Kano now."
"Where's Baba and why is Hajiya not picking up my calls?"
"Baba went to London last week, Hajiya wemt with the police van that came to carry Aunty amarya. And do you know what caused the fight, ya Samir went out with..."
Amirah cut off Fareeda who'd gotten an opportunity to show off her gossiping skills, "That's enough! Go look for Zarah and tell her to call me or else if she does something stupid, I'll make her regret it. Tell Khadijah I said she should calm down and Aunty amarya will be released soon."
"I can't go close to ya Khadijah, she'll..."
"Do as I said!" She screamed at Faridah before ending the call and began to dial Hamidah's number. Hajiya had gone too far this time around.
"What's wrong Amirah?" Muhammad's voice reminded her of his presence in the room, she stared at him up and down before totally ignoring him again, this was none of his business.
"You better be calling me for a damn good reason." Hamidah's voice barked out
"It's Hajiya, she's gone and arrested Aunty amarya and ya Samir. Khadijah and Zarah had a squabble, Baba isn't around and the whole house is in sheer chaos."
"Toh may Allah grant them serenity over there. Is that all?"
Amirah was apalled, Hamidah's nonchalance towards matters concerning family issues wasn't a new thing but this was just uncalled for."Is that..."
"Have you called Adnan?" Hamidah asked and Amirah flinched hearing her elder brother's name. Adnan was the one she disliked most amongst all her siblings.
"His number isn't going through." She lied.
"Alright, I'm going to bed though. I really don't have the energy for your family problems, it'll do you good if you ignore them and focus on your husband." The line clicked indicating Hamidah had ended the call.
She saw Muhammad open his mouth to speak but a call from Zarah stopped him short, Faridah was at the other end and she sounded frantic.
"Ya Zarah is here with thugs and they are beating up ya Khadijah."
"Innalilahi!" Amirah cried out, the call ended again
"Talk to me, what's going on? Hajiya arrested your step-mother why? What's happening?" Muhammad asked coming to bend in front of her.
"The only thing you can do for me now is secure a flight for me to Kano. I need to go home first thing tomorrow morning!" She was seething. How dare Zarah? What had come over her?
"Okay, I'll go make some calls meanwhile you need calm down, okay?" She nodded, he gave her shoulder a squeeze before strolling out of the room.
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah landed in Kano hours prior and was now in a taxi heading off to her family house. It's been hours since the call from Zarah and since then she hadn't been able to reach anyone else.Zarah wasn't picking up, Khadijah's number wasn't going through, Hajiya's was switched off and she had chosen to steer clear of ya Lawal.Since her two older siblings had dumped the family problems on her, she'd had to step up, after all she was used to it.The house was eerily quiet she noted as soon as she stepped into the sitting room."Zarah!" She called out but was answered by silence, Amirah shook her head before going upstairs to her old bedroom, it was still as she'd left it: clean.She was on her way back downstairs when a door opened and Na'eemah poked out her head."Ya
•••• •••• •••• ••••Muhammad could barely focus at work, he kept getting distracted by the thoughts of Amirah, what was she doing? How were things at home? How was she coping? He knew Hajiya could be something else, the woman intimidated him and his parents didn't even like her much, intensifying the time she'd gone ballistic when he'd announced his promotion and transfer.He didn't know what happened between her and her co-wive but he didn't think it reached the extent of arresting her.He got into his office and disposed of his bloodied scrubs, he just got out of surgery. He immediately picked up his phone and called Amirah."Assalamu alaykum." She greeted in a tired voice."Wa'alaykumsalam. Sorry I didn't call earlier, I had a surgery, how was your journey?""Fine."
•••• •••• •••• ••••They finally got Hajiya to release Aunty amarya and Samir. Amirah was currently in her mother's bedroom."...and that was how Zarah brought Shittu, her supposed boyfriend to come and beat up Khadijah...""Which Shittu?" Her mother's expression changed to that of anger."Shittu that we all know." Amirah replied."Zarah has killed me!" Hajiya exclaimed before rushing out of the room and soon she heard shouting coming from Zarah's room. Amirah fell ontop the bed, she was sure she'd been drained of all her energy today.Amirah couldn't help the anger she felt towards Hamidah, although she could never openly express it for her elder sister was feared and highly respected. Hamidah hadn't even called to ask if they've resolved the issues in the house.
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah couldn't decide whether the blue gown or the black, she dropped both on her bed with a sigh. She usually wasn't good at decision-making and that was where she needed Khadijah the most but now there was still a strain in their relationship. Five days had passed and she'd barely seen her, she was feeling embarrassed to go to Aunty amarya's place, all because of Hajiya's remorseless act.Among the rest of her siblings, Amirah was the closest to their mother, sometimes herself she wondered if it was because they were similar in character but she was always quick to contradict her thought, she was better than Hajiya, at least she felt remorse if she found out she'd done wrong.Growing up, Amirah had despised her mother, the mere presence of the woman used to disgust her, she had no ide
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah hated the tears, once they started, they seemed to refuse to stop. Crying was for the weak, Hajiya had once said, crying doesn't solve anything but gives you more reason to indulge in self pity.She'd lived with that thought, she'd masked her emotions and sometimes she really didn't know what she was feeling or what she wanted to feel.When the tears stopped pouring out, she scoffed at how pathetic she must look, sitting on the floor, crying. Why? Why was she crying? Over something silly as no-one ever sitting her down to ask about how she felt, she almost slapped herself. That was the thing about the tears, once they began to pour out, they don't stop and when they finally do, you're left feeling silly and pathetic about letting the first
•••• •••• •••• ••••Her eyes were focused outside the window as she leaned back on her seat. The view wasn't anything special as they were yet to take-off, just people boarding.It was few seconds before they took-off when she heard a deep voice say irritatedly, "you're in my seat."She was aware of that fact but she didn't care, he should take the other seat."No I'm not." She replied monotonous."This is why I hate flying commercial." She heard him mutter under his breath and she snapped her head towards him, her breath hitched in her throat... The man was breathtaking.The sharp reply she had for him turned to a slight stutter, "ee...excuse me?"He ignored her and settled down on the seat that was supposed to be hers. From her side eye she studied him, his somewhat bushy eyeb
•••• •••• •••• ••••Dinner was awkward. As soon as they'd gotten home, Muhammad carried her luggage from the trunk into the house, he turned on the light and her eyes widened slightly.On the floor, rose petals were well arranged leading to the dinning where a candle-lit dinner awaited her.Muhammad carelessly walked to her bedroom making sure to scatter the petals with his feet as he moved, Amirah stood gazing at the sumptuous dinner arrangement. Muhammad came into the dining room and blew out the candles, packed them all and disposed of them in the bin."What are you doing?" She'd asked in a low voice, he ignored her.After he was done disposing of the candle and the huge bouquet of flowers which had been on the table, he sat down and began to eat. She quietly sat down too and dished food for herself, he'd prepared jollof
•••• •••• •••• ••••The week was the longest for Amirah, it dragged on slowly and the only thing she had to look forward to was the memorial/celebration party coming up during the weekend. Maybe she'll make new friends and she'll even talk to one or two people about getting a job with her certificate.Muhammad was out of the question now because after their talk orhis talkrather because she'd only nodded her heard wordlessly and then escaped into the safety of her room when he was done, she hadn't seen much of him.He was always gone before she woke up and he came back late, long after she'd retired in her room but she could hear him as he tried to noiselessly go about his business.In as much as she hated it all, she was glad, at least he'd given her a breathing space. She wasn't sure she