•Aaliyah

"Baby I think you should see Aunty Raliya before we leave." Hamza played with a few strands of my box braids while humming.

I shifted away from him on the bed to look at his face, "I will not see her. I love you and all but she doesn't deserve to see me at all."

"She's your aunt fa."

"That tried to destroy my life." I coughed, "No thank you."

"You're going to see her daughter tomorrow so what difference does it make to go and see her in prison too?"

"I don't care. I'm not going and that's final!"

"But she's family." Hamza solicited.

"I don't know which family you're talking about. Maybe she's yours. Not mine"

He played with the pulled of my hoodie playfully as he poked both sides of my cheek, "She's your family baby. And you can't change that."

"She lost that privilege when she showed me her true form."

"Just go, please." He begged.

I rose up from the bed to wriggle my body out of his hold and rest my back on the headboard, "Why do you care so much?"

"Because she is like a mother to us all."

"It's because you're not the one that went through all the things I did that's why you're talking."

"I know that I'll never understand how you felt but that doesn't mean you should repay evil with evil."

"Goodnight. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Thank you! I just didn't want to feel guilty after we leave that you didn't see all your family members before leaving."

I turned away from him and stretched my legs further down the bed before laying down to sleep.

"Is that a yes?" He tickled me repeatedly while kissing all over my left cheek.

I giggled loudly, ignoring him. He pulled my cheek and snuggled his face into my neck, drawing a long breathe and wrapping his arms around me.

He didn't say anything after that. He knew I'd already concurred and without a doubt, was slightly angry.

That was his way of trying to appease me. All I can say is—it works pretty well.

****

"Zinariya are you ready?" He called from the living room.

"No."I yelled from the kitchen door.

"No?"

"Yes."

"What are you still doing? I have to go and see Imam." He came into the living room and sat down on the counter, "Also, what are you doing there? You shouldn't have stressed yourself to cook anything. We could've ordered takeouts."

"These are takeouts. I'm just trying to pour them into the coolers."

"Ok, let me help you. Go and change your clothes."

He took the styrofoam container and continued to transfer the food into the cooler. By the time I returned he was done and waiting for me so that we could leave.

We trekked slowly to the car arguing about what our future baby's name would be. I stopped outside the French doors to lock them while he entered the car.

I joined him a while later and we continued on the road.

"Do want a girl or a boy?" I questioned, humming the tune to LAX and Wizkid's Nobody.

"I'd like a boy so that I can hand down my player 101 handbook to him." He laughed as he sang the song.

"You!" I narrowed my eyes at him, "Now I know if my child starts misbehaving it's your fault,"

"I'm joking. Calm down." He rubbed my almost flat belly in a circular motion with his free hand, still laughing, "I know you want a girl."

"Yes. So that we can go to the salon together and attend weddings we dressed to kill for."

Soon, we arrived and he dropped me at the entrance of the prison.

"Call me when you're done baby." He blew me a kiss from inside the car.

" If you don't receive a call just know that she killed your wife."

He laughed, slid the windows up and his car zoomed off, leaving dust in the wake of his departure.

I greeted the police men at the entrance of the gate and described who I was looking for and gave her name.

"She was brought here recently right?" The chubbier of the two men asked.

"Yes."

They both nod robotically and made for the door.

A man I didn't notice at the side opened the gates and I was allowed into the prison's premises.

Inspector chubby and SP lanky returned with charred smiles and asked me to taste the food I brought before I was allowed to go into the building.

Despite complaining of how spicy it is they didn't let me in without tasting it. I choked and was forced to take a sip of her water before being conveyed inside.

The two men followed me behind as I walked past different tables, looking left and right for Aunty Raliya. The men pointed at her and we strolled there silently.

We reached the table and they refused to leave.

"Any problem officers?" I asked, confused.

"No ma." CP lanky smiled, showing me his teeth that happened to be rotten—probably out of drinking all sorts of liquor throughout his life.

"Anything for the boys ma?" Inspector chubby grinned, using his elbow to hit his friends poor ribs.

"Oh, right." I pulled out a few one thousand naira notes and handed it to them without counting.

They smiled and left me to face Aunty Raliya's burning gaze upon me.

"Why are you here?" She hissed, eyeing me from head to toe.

"I just came because I'm leaving Nigeria. Here's some food for you." I sighed, trying to control my anger.

She smacked my outstretched hand with the basket of food and shouted, causing me to throw it to the dirty floor.

I gasped and looked around to see if anyone was watching before turning back to her, "You know, I never wanted to be here but Hamza forced me. I knew I shouldn't have listened."

She jumped on the table and lunged herself at me with a pocket knife that I never noticed was flying towards me till it was already close to my stomach.

"Get away from me." I barked, trying to control where her ancient hands were going without injuring myself.

I was already getting tired due to the weakness caused from pregnancy but I couldn't give up now. She slapped me and bit my hand before the useless police men I soon found out were Inspector Bulus and Silas held her and detached her from my body.

I rushed out of the building as soon as they took her away but my heart didn't stop beating still. I threw up outside of fear and realization that I and my child almost died today.

Her last words permeated my ears to my head and continued to replay her every sentence in my mind.

"Because I'm inside doesn't mean you'll survive my next move." She seethed as they pulled her roughly to her cell.

I dialed Hamza and asked him to come and pick me up. It took him about thirty minutes to arrive and we left immediately to Nadiya's.

He stopped by the side of the road to wait for me as I texted her to ask for her address. Even after everything I still believed she had a good heart unlike her mother. I'd like to forget what her mother made her do and have a great start and the best way was to accept her invitation to her house.

"She said she lives in Wuse 2. From there we can go to see Hajiya and Fadila." I clapped cheerfully.

"Ok."

He drove all the way to Nadiya's house with my hands in his while he drove with his right hand. Occasionally he would peck the back of my hand and blush once I caught him staring at me.

"Don't get us killed!" I screamed, laughing.

"It'll be worth it because I got to do it with you."

"But I don't want to die." I pouted, "Not yet."

He shook his head and sighed melancholy, "Even if it's with me?"

"Well, when you put it that way...I'll do it without hesitation babe."

He touched my slowly growing stomach then pressed the horn of the car so that the security guards could open the gate of the mansion for us.

Hamza lowered the glass windows and smiled in response to the guards greeting and drove inside.

I pointed at a space close to the gate, "Park there so it'll be easy to drive out."

We alighted the car once he did that and joined Nadiya and Haidar that were waiting for us in front of their house.

"Nadiya how are you?!" I yelled, hugging her.

The men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries then stood by the side watching us.

"I'm good. How are you sis?"

She pulled me inside and I followed, holding my stomach.

Hamza and his new found friend followed us behind to their living room where Nadiya left us for the kitchen.

"I just want to set up the table, I'll be back." She announced from the kitchen.

Her husband asked me and Hamza a few questions to make small talk that made my stay in the living room bland. Eventually, they turned on the PS4 pro and ignored me for the whole time.

I got up and left to join Nadiya in the kitchen. On my way there my a sharp pain shoots through my stomach and I release a yelp that no one hears. I attach my hands to the wall and continue to walk slowly with my hands on my stomach.

At the door, I meet a young girl exiting the kitchen and she greets me before continuing for the stairs. I freeze there once I see Nadiya pouring a green powder into two different coolers and mixing it with a ladle.

Silently, I turn back to return to the living room. My hands are trembling uncontrollably so I fold my hands across my chest and sit on the couch to watch them play Until Dawn.

I plug in my AirPods into my ears and play Stay by Rihanna to calm down before texting Hamza.

Hamza fari😻 {12/04/20 19:40}: She wants to kill us. Pretend you got a call and say we have to leave. Opt for water to be polite and say you're too full to eat.

A loud ping comes from his phone but he's too engrossed in the game to hear it so I wait for the right moment to just tell him.

"Dinner is set. Let's go and eat!" Nadiya claps enthusiastically upon her return and the men ignore her too.

She frowns and walks to the tv and turns off the socket and they all groan while muttering complaints.

"What did both of you say?" She growls, staring at both of them with her hands on her waist.

"Nothing." Haidar answers and Hamza just raises his hands in the air in surrender, chuckling lightly.

The scene would've been funny if she wasn't trying to murder I and my husband.

She leaves them there and goes back to the dining room after rubbing my shoulders and smiling devilishly.

"Oh my Allah." I wailed, grabbing my stomach immediately for effect.

Haidar had already left so it was Hamza that heard my cry and returned to help me.

"What's wrong?"

I slap his arm and hiss, "Check your phone."

He looks at it and smiles sheepishly, "I didn't hear a notification sound."

"You weren't paying attention that's why."

"But..."

I raise my hands in the air and whisper, "Save it, let's go baby."

He takes my cold hand in his warm ones and we follow their voice to the dining room.

"They're back!" Haidar wiggled his eyebrows, "His beautiful wife was taking his time."

Nadiya frowned and before she could smile back I'd already caught her. Her husband dragged the cover of a cooler and starts to fetch soup from there to his plate.

The okra soup poured everywhere in front of him and I just thanked Allah that I didn't marry him.

"No! That's for our guests." Nadiya shouts.

"I like that one. They can have the ewedu."

She looks frustrated but she couldn't just expose herself. Haidar ate noisily and stained his shirt with the slimy liquid of the soup and he bit roughly on a piece of beef.

Was this really the man I wanted to marry? Now I knew cameras could also lie because he looked entirely different on tv.

"Let me serve you." Nadiya dragged a plate to pour some four for us then Hamza spoke up.

"We'll have to take a leave now. I just got an important message that they need me in the hospital."

"Subhanallah." She gasps, "Eat something at least before you stand up to leave."

"We're sorry. Maybe another time."

Haidar quickly washes his hand and follows us outside with his wife. She hugged me while Hamza shook her husband's hands before we ententes the car. They never stopped waving till we drove of the gate.

"Next stop, your parents house!" I proclaimed, "I've missed them all so much."

"Me too. I can't wait to see them."

"It's just that we're leaving after today."

"I won't miss a lot of people but our family will always be missed."

"Yes babe. It's even past maghrib. Let's pray when we reach there."

"Ok."

The house was about twenty minutes away so we didn't take that long to get there. The security guard opened the gate and we went in.

Everywhere was silent as we reached for the door.

"Do you think they've travelled?"

He shook his head in the negative, "They would've told us."

"That's true."

We knocked on the wooden door for some ten minutes before Fadila opened the door and embraced me in a bone crushing hug.

"Aunty Ally!"

"Dee how are you?" I asked in Hausa while holding her by her shoulders.

"So you don't miss me?" Hamza cracked the knuckles of his fingers.

"I do Yaya Hamza. It's just that I love her. She's my favorite aunt you know."

She hugged him too and led us to the living room where she brought us food.

"Where is Umma, Zahra and Baba?" Hamza asked her.

"They went out."

"Will they be back soon?" I questioned.

"I don't know wallahi."

"Lil sis so how is school?"

"We're managing. At least I'm almost done."

I laughed along with her and Hamza before getting up to perform ablution so that I'd be able to join Hamza who was already pure enough to pray.

I returned immediately and we prayed before eating comfortably and for me, almost sleeping off.

"How many times will you eat?" Hamza jokes, "It's too early to be eating for two."

"Leave me alone. I can't eat in peace even in my parents house."

Fadila clapped, blushing, "I love you guys so much. I want to be like this with Jabir."

"Don't worry it's only a matter of time baby." I adviced.

"We have to go now. It's almost been an hour and they aren't back. Just tell them we love them." Hamza says as he gets off the couch.

We step out of the house with Fadila by my side with her elbow attached to mine. She hugs me and we get into the car to exit the house.

"Have a safe trip and call me once you've landed." She wiped a few drops of tears before stepping inside and shutting their doors.

The engine came to life and we drove out. Not long after Nadiya calls sounding devastated.

"Aaliyah are you still there?"

"What is it?"

"I'm finished."

"Open your mouth and talk!" I snapped impatiently, "If you don't say something we'll jut remain here forever ah."

"Haidar and Mubarak are dead!"
_________________________

Well...karma is a bitch. She deserved it!

~Aisha Safiyanu🥀