It had been two weeks since she had apologized to Alhaji and Fareeda still cringed and cursed herself whenever she remembered how she had apologized to him. She couldn't believe what she just did, how could she have apologized to someone like him? She had in mind that Mujaheed should better keep up his promise because there was no way she was going to take a no as an answer from. She had confirmed from Nana that she had told him about the apology, she needn't to worry about anything else.

Even though with each passing day, her anxiety grew even bigger because the day kept approaching, it only left two weeks before the said day of their marriage. She hardly met Alhaji, which she was thankful for and also he hadn't said anything to her. She figured out he might've been angry at her because Mujaheed had called off the wedding. Her phone rang beside her and when she saw the caller ID her phone nearly fell down, she kept staring at the phone until the call ended without her knowing, and she was about to call him back when he called again. Wait, was he dying? She knew it would only be a matter of death or life for Adam to call her twice in his life.

She cleared her voice and put up a stoic expression before she picked the call, "Hello?" She said weakly, she missed him. She felt as her heart moved, it had been nearly three months and Adam didn't think it was right for him to call her, right? She thought it was over between them, even tough she wasn't sure about the reason why he called her.

"Fareeda, I've missed you." That was the first thing he said, and she felt all her guards breaking down. She had never imagined that Adam would call her ever again after the message he sent to her, and for him to said that he had missed her was what she would have denied if someone came to tell her about.

Tears brewed from her eyes but she quickly flicked them, she was done crying for Adam and that was certain. She silently prayed that her heart wouldn't betray her. "I've missed you to, Adam. It hasn't been easy not having contact with each other for months now. How have you been?" She softly asked, because she wasn't going to lie to herself by saying she didn't miss him, she did. She missed him really bad and she prayed they would be back together after all these hassles were over.

"I've realized something for the past few months, Fareeda, I love you. I've always been in love with you but it hadn't occurred to me that I loved you this much, it's really not easy. I'm so sorry for all the things I've said and how I've reacted, will you please forgive your beloved? I promise I'm not doing it again, I'll treat you the way you deserve. And also, we should get married when your father finally accepts me. Will you please marry me, Fareeda?" This thing called a heart, which was the beholder of feelings and emotions, it can be beguiling at times. She thought she had promised herself not to ever cry because of Adam? Then why was she crying now? Her chest squeezed painfully as she cried and felt as if this was a dream come true for her.

"I can't believe this is happening, Adam. You've finally come back to me and..." She let her words trailed off as she cleared her tears, "As a changed person? Can it get any better?"

She could hear his smile from the phone and right now she wished she be nowhere but in is arms, "I'm sorry it took long for me to make you feel the love you deserve, but I promise to be the best man you can ever have."

She cleared her tears and a wide grin painted itself on her cheeks, she loved this man. No matter how Adam was going to treat her or what he was going to say to her, she would always love him nevertheless. "I love you, Adam, please don't hurt me as you did before. It's really not easy on me, I'm finding it so hard to cope these days." She felt like running to the clouds to dance just so she could show the whole world that she was happy and in love with the best of men. And she was thankful, for the first time that she had finally apologized to Alhaji, which had hopefully revoked the alliance he was trying to make with Mujaheed.

"Alhamdulilah. Thank you for forgiving me, Fareeda. And I want to see you, can I do that? Can I come? I want to make things official between us, I'll come to tell Alhaji about my intentions with you, whenever you feel its okay for me to, I will come."

Was this really the Adam she knew? He was already talking about coming to see Alhaji about his intentions of marrying her? The only person she wanted to get married to was Adam, and that was as clear as the morning sky was. She grinned while nodding her head as though he could see her. "I'll let you know, Adam. But right now I don't want to do anything to get on his bad list, I've been planning on how to get away from getting married to the gateman and the plan is working perfectly, so I have to be on my best behavior. We can only be together on the phone now, okay?"

She heard him heaved a sigh and she could imagine his shoulders slumping in defeat, "I will understand, what matters is you even though I've missed you terribly, Fareeda." They got to a heated conversation, but Fareeda knew no matter how much she missed him, she wouldn't have to make any mistake that will provoke Alhaji any further. They spoke for hours, and from that moment, they were always together on the phone, always on a video call, talking and laughing that Fareeda knew for sure that she would have to end her life if she didn't get married to Adam. He was the man she had ever loved and would forever love in her life.

✥

She heard someone knocking fiercely on her door and wondered who it would be. She hadn't slept early yesterday because she was on phone with Adam and only slept a few minutes after she had prayed her subh Salah. She hissed softly and looked for her glasses on the bedside drawer before she glared at the door, "What is it? And who's on the door?" She asked in an enraged tone and prayed it wasn't Ummah because she wasn't ready for any of her troubles.

"It's me, Ya Fareeda and it's urgent. Will you please open the door for me? Ya Allah, containing myself is so hard!" She said in an urgent tone and when Fareeda rushed to the door and opened it for her, praying that whatever it was Nana had to say should be worth her sleep.

She stared at her body that was decked with her school uniform and wondered if someone had died in the house, "What is it, Nana? You know I hate it when you wake me up early in the morning unless it's something that's very important, okay?" She asked as she stifled a yawn, stretching her body.

Nana walked beside her and walked into the room, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Fareeda that was looking at her with an annoyed expression. "Why are you still at the door? Come inside and sit down because I don't want you to fall down after telling you what it is."

"It better be something important, Nana, or wallah if not for school, Jibril will take you to the hospital instead." She glared at her and sat down beside her, "What is it? Quickly tell me so I can go back to sleep, Nana."

"We were having breakfast when Ummah came to the dining table and told us that we aren't going to school today. Dahlia asked her what was wrong and she told us that you got married today, to Ya Mujaheed. Abba had to leave to China early in the morning so he got you two married after subh Salah, she was planning to come and tell you but I thought I had to tell you beforehand."

Fareeda was silent since she started talking, all she heard was the way her heart was silently beating against her ribcage.all that could be heard was the sound of her heart echoing so loudly against her ears and she didn't know what more else she felt. She didn't know that she was already crying until she tasted the salty liquid of her tears on her lips and when she looked at Nana, she had a sympathetic expression on her face.

"Nana, please tell me you're wrong. That's not what you heard!" She weakly begged her tears making a downpour on her cheeks as she cried so hard. Please, Ya Rabb. Don't let this happen to me. I don't love him, Ya Allah.

Adam, that was the first thing that came to her mind. She could still hear the conversation they had yesterday at night. Telling her how much he loved her as they planned the kind of future they wanted for themselves and their kids. She felt as her heart squirmed in her chest and before Nana uttered a word against what she just heard, she heard the door got banged open.

"She's not lying to you, what else were you expecting? For Asma'u to get married to him like you plotted? You're just a bad person, Fareeda. And I believe this is what you deserve, to be married to a gateman for the rest of your life." She heard Ummah's voice but Fareeda was only concerned about the word she had uttered, 'Married to the gateman.'

No, she was certain he wouldn't do this to her. He promised her that he would tell Alhaji that he couldn't get married to her, then why would this happen? With her tears already soaking the front of her night gown, she walked beside Ummah without saying anything to her and ran down the stairs. She was about to get out of the living room when she heard someone clapping behind her.

"Wow! You act so well, Fareeda Kamal Sardauna. I thought you said you were going to kill yourself the day you get married to him? Where are you going now? To hang yourself or throw your cheap body at him because you're so excited that you couldn't wait for him to come to you first?" As she turned, Fareeda came face to face with an angry Asma'u, her wet lashes gave her secret that she just finished crying.

She knew she didn't have the time to deal with any of these people, the egoistic mother or her infuriated teenage daughter in love. She cleared her tears and warned Asma'u, "Know the kind of things you're going to say to me, Asma'u, I can be crazier than you could ever imagine I am."

Without hearing what she would say next, Fareeda got out of the room and ran to his chamber, she knew he wasn't out to the gate yet, or maybe he was outside already, but she didn't mind. She was crying so hard that her whole body shook. She kept banging on his door nonstop. All she could think of was Adam, what would he feel? How could she look into his eyes and tell him tat she had gotten married to the gateman?

"Get out! Mujaheed!" She said in an angry tone with her tears trying os had to choke on her words. She was in so much pain, she couldn't believe what had happened to her just this morning. If she had known this was what was going to happen, she wouldn't have stayed up all night talking with Adam without finding for a solution for herself.

The door immediately turned and he opened it just when she was about to bang on it again. Mujaheed stupefiedly stared at her way she kept crying in front of him, with her eyeglasses wet and her whole body shaking due to her tears. "What's wrong?" He asked in a clam tone even though this was what he had been waiting for since after subh Salah.

"You can't ask me what's wrong, Mujaheed! You know what was wrong! You know what you did! How could you?!" She clamored at the pitch of her voice, her body shaking with each word she had uttered and she stared at him with so much disgust. "How could you do this to me? How could you lie to me, you shameless man!" She yelled, thumping her feet on the floor angrily as she slumped in front of him.

"What do you think you just did? How could you ask me to apologize to him when you know so well you aren't going to keep your promise? You promised me..." She let her words trailed off as she kept tapping her hands on the surface enclosing her heart. It was burning and she doubt if she could be alive for the rest of the hours remaining for the day.

Mujaheed squatted down to her level and he fixed his eyes on her, "What have I done to you, Fareeda? Why are you like this? What went wrong?" Would he for once not act as if he didn't know about what was going on for the sake of the almighty? She felt furious and tightened her hold on his collar.

"How could you act this way?! You know exactly what you did. You lied to me, Mujaheed! You lied that if I went to Alhaji and apologized to him, you would do all it takes to call off the wedding, how dare you let him get me married to you? You lied to me! You haven't told him that you couldn't get married to me! You're a liar!" She pushed him so hard that he lost his balance and slumped down without knowing he did.

One of the police officers that was outside began to unlock the door to get to their washroom. Mujaheed stared at her, she had just her nightgown on her and it didn't reach her ankles. Her tears had soaked up her chest and her turban had slipped off her head, showing more than just the edges of her hair.

"Seargeant, could you please wait a bit? I need to get something away." He quickly spoke and before she said something, Mujaheed had pulled her up and she was swiftly got her into his chamber before he yelled at the Sergeant. "You can come in now! Thank you for understanding." He said and closed the door behind him.

She furiously looked at him and the next thing he get was a sound slap on his cheek, "How dare you?!" She asked through gritted teeth and before Mujaheed got a hold of his shocked expression, she had started punching his chest with both hands, "How dare you do this to me, Mujaheed?! I though you promised me! How could you let Alhaji get us married?!" She was yelling at the pitch of her voice as she punched him even harder, her tears pouring down as though a fountain on her cheeks.

She had never been this hurt in her life, betrayed and been made a fool. How could he do this to her? "You have to divorce me, just divorce me now! I have the man I love, you can't do this to me!" She screamed, throwing him a glare. She took off her glass while still crying as she began to clean it off, Mujaheed tentatively stared at her as she did that. She had her eyes closed while she cried and cleaned the glass with her gown her and her whole body trembled. She might have not realized it yet, she wanted to show him how angry she was, but all she did was act hurt and innocent.

She put back the glass and looked up to have a better look of his face, "I'm begging you now, please let me go. Divorce me before Alhaji comes back, you can say I've threatened to kill you or something, but just get me out of this bondage, I'm begging you. I have the man I love, please don't do this to me." She brought her hands up in a begging gesture and all Mujaheed did was stared unshakably at her crying face.

"You need to calm down, Fareeda and..." He began, but she cut him off as she screamed at the pitch of her voice.

"I can't keep calm! I don't want to stay calm so as long as I stay married to you. Don't you get it? I can't be your wife, Mujaheed!" The whole walls of the living room echoed with her crying voice.

"But you are already my wife. Will you listen to me for a second?"

"Stop referring to me as your wife! I can never be your wife. Divorce me, will you?" She looked up at him with a hopeful expression waiting to se this expression and Mujaheed slowly shook his head at her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't divorce you, Fareeda."

She began to punch him harder on his chest, "You have to divorce me even if you want to or not! I can't live my life as your life, how did you not understand it? I have the one I love and want to get married to, you aren't that man!"

He held her two hands that were on his chest and thundered, "Fareeda! Get a hold of yourself!" Her whole body shook with fear as she took a step backward but he firmly held her hands. "You aren't a kid to be throwing a tantrum because of this, okay? I get it I promised something to you but that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want when you didn't get what you want, Fareeda. And about divorcing you, I won't do that. What else do you want?"

"Divorce, you have to let me go."

"Not divorce, because I can't let you go." He watched as more tears were accumulated in her eyes while she stared at him wit h so much pain brewing from her eyes. But that was the truth, there was no way he was going to let go of her.