"Abba please, let Ya Fareeda go, she didn't do anything wrong. I've witnessed everything." Nana cried as she held his legs and he looked down at her angrily.

"Nana, get out of my sight!" He thundered, and she knew she had only one resort left now. She ran downstairs and all Fareeda did was closed her eyes as she felt the way he beat her mercilessly. She knew even if she tried to defend herself, it would be of no use because he would never believe.

"Were you really going to beat her, Fareeda? Isn't she your mother?!" He thundered as she felt more of the cable on her body. She wanted to cry, it pained her but she would rather choke on her breath than cry in front of these two people.

"It's only because I told her that since she's married now, she should stop staying inside the house because what's the essence of her marriage? I helped packed her bags so she should take them to his chamber but Fareeda nearly killed me that day, it was the gateman that rescued me from her hands. And today, just because I came here to wake her up for prayer knowing she didn't pray, she wanted to beat me. What have I done for this girl, Alhaji?" Ummah wailed and palmed her face. Deep within, she had never felt satisfied with herself like she did today, and relieved as well. Because she knew if not because of Alhaji's intervention, nothing would stop her from getting mercilessly beaten by Fareeda today.

Alhaji turned to look at her and his eyes softened a bit, "I'm sorry, Hadiza. And you did the right thing by asking her to stay in her husband's place. What are you thinking? How could you be married to a man and also not stay with him? Is marriage a joke to you, Fareeda?!" He asked and threw the cable on her bed before he roughly pulled her out of the room. He kept dragging her until the were in the downstairs living room, and all Fareeda did was stared at his back while every part of her body echoed with pain but mentally and physically.

He threw her to the door just when Mujaheed opened the door with Nana tailing behind him as she cried. "I don't want to see your feet in my house ever again, okay? You're married, so you should stay with your husband from today onwards. And if you dare make him divorce you because I know clearly what you're capable of, I'll never forgive you, Fareeda." Her head fell on Mujaheed's feet and he squatted down and lifted her up.

"I'm sorry, Alhaji that this has happened. She's sorry as well." He said, and even though he was burning with rage within, he sounded so calm and apologetic. His hands were around both her shoulders while he lifted her up and she just stood there, frozen. She was hurt beyond words could ever tell and right now even though she wanted to vent her anger on Alhaji, but she didn't even know from where she was going to start.

"Mujaheed, I know you agreed to marry this worthless girl here because of me, and please unless you want to part ways with her, don't let her go no matter what she says or do to you, just call me to put some senses into her. But if you don't want to stay with her anymore, I'll understand, okay?" Mujaheed nodded his head, but for the first time in his life, he wanted nothing but to punch Alhaji so hard on the face.

"I won't, Insha Allah. Thank you for trusting me enough to hand your daughter under my care." He said through gritted teeth even though he had a cool facial expression on his face and he turned to look at Nana that was crying beside them, "Nana, some of the maids should help you bring her things to my chamber, okay?" She nodded her head and began to walk upstairs.

"I'll pack everything now." She said and disappeared.

"I think we should go." He spoke softly to Fareeda but she stayed rooted to her spot. She lifted her bloodshot eyes that hadn't yet shed a single tear and laid them on Alhaji.

"He might've apologized to you on my behalf, but we both know I'm not sorry and I will never be sorry for whatever I'll do to you. I can be the baddest girl in this whole world, and do you know what? You deserve this. You got me married to him despite knowing it's the last thing I'd rather happen to me, you wanted to make my life a living hell by getting me married to him, right? But I assure you, as long as I stay alive, you'll never find peace and happiness, you'd prefer your death more than living in this worthless and dark mansion you've built!" She cleared the bead of sweats on her forehead and when she spoke next, her voice was strange and strong with the intensity of her words. "It has crossed my mind that I've never said this out to you even though we all know its a concrete fact; I hate you, Alhaji Kamal Sardauna, you're the worst father to ever live on earth. The word father shouldn't be addressed to you, you terrible and disgusting man!"

"Fareeda!" Mujaheed shook her shoulders with his eyes bulged out as though a saucer and she shrugged off his hands from her.

"Don't you dare say a word or interfere in this. I've only stated a fact, he knows it as well." She stomped out of the living room and Mujaheed turned to look at Alhaji that was stupefied as well, rooted to his spot.

"I'm sorry..." He began, but Alhaji quickly shook his head and he looked between him and Ummah.

"You should go after her, she might be stubborn to leave the whole house, Mujaheed." And he walked to his chamber without a second word. Mujaheed reasoned with what he had said and sprinted off to his chamber, luckily, when he went there, she was slumped on the floor as she cried her chest out. The sound of her cries filled the living room and he leaned on the closed door and wrapped his hands around his chest.

"Why?!" She screamed while holding onto the surface enclosing her heart as she cried bitterly. She hated pain, she knew she didn't deserve this kind of pain or the kind of life she was living. She hated herself. She hated it when she cried and it didn't matter the amount of tears she would shed because the pain would be as solid as a rock in her heart. She hated everything in this world, she only wanted Adam and nothing else!

For the past five minutes she was crying, Mujaheed let her be until he figured out it was too much and he walked to where she was slumped. He squatted down beside her and when she turned to look at him, her lips trembled with her tears and she whimpered, "Mujaheed!" painfully before she wrapped her hands around him and broke into tears.

He wrapped his hands around her and nodded his head, "I know, it must've hurt so much. I'm sorry, okay? You should stop crying, Fareeda." She kept shaking her head while she rested her face on his chest and cried even harder.

"I hate that man, I really hate him!" She cried, and Fareeda had never been so sure about something like she was certain of her hatred for Alhaji. She knew there were times she felt so hurt to the point that she found it so hard to breath, but today was even more painful than those times. She wanted to kill herself, but for Adam, she had to live. She would live through this until they finally got a solution for themselves.

Mujaheed fondled her hair and shook his head, "You can't hate your father, Fareeda. He's not a good father today, but that doesn't mean you should be lucky to have someone like him in your life."

She lifted her face from his chest and stubbornly shook her head, she was still feeling the bitterness of what Alhaji had done to her on her tongue, nothing would ever be the same but at least she had gotten something off her chest. She told him she hated him and that would be the only thing she had been wanting him to know for years. "The only positive thing he did to my life is the money, Mujaheed. And I don't really want the money. I would have lived better if he was a good dad with nothing but the thing he could feed us with. What he gave me isn't what my soul needs. I need a father, not a monster wrapped in his billionaire of a body!" Her lips trembled and she broke into more tears while Mujaheed pulled her back into his chest and he fondled her head.

"It's okay, Fareeda. It's too early for you to be crying this much, okay? You're a precious child, you should also take care of your eyes. I know it pains a lot to see your father treat you that way, trust me, I'm also pained, but that doesn't change the fact that he's your father, Fareeda..."

She lifted her head and stared at his face while a pout painted itself on her face, "But..." She began, and Mujaheed quickly shook his head.

"No buts, Fareeda. You're going to wash your face because you've cried enough and also go back to sleep. You can think of everyone else when you wake up, but right now, you have to take care of yourself, okay?" Reluctantly, she nodded her head, the pout still visible on her lips and what Mujaheed did next din't just shock Fareeda, it shocked him as well.

He pulled her face toward him and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Her lips parted a bit due to the shock and Mujaheed pulled a stoic expression before he pulled her back into his chest. "Good girl. Now, let's go and get your face washed, okay?" His heart was thumping rapidly as they stood up together and walked to the bedroom. She wanted to argue with him, but she didn't have that energy in her. She was shocked to the highest order and nothing had ever felt this soothing before.

He watched her from the bed as she walked to the bathroom and washed her face before she came back, "Will you please turn the air condition for me?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed and Mujaheed stared between her and the air conditioner.

"It rained yesterday, Fareeda. It's still cold, are you sure?" He asked as he moved to the socket and turned it on.

She laid on the bed and nodded her head, "My temperature always rises whenever Alhaji beats me, I'm feeling hot and my whole body aches. I need to sleep in the cold to get my normal temperature back." She informed as she took off her glass after seeing that he had turned it on and adjusted the temperature for her. "Wake me up if Alhaji leaves the house, I want to go back and make that woman regret what she did to me for the rest of her life." She said through gritted teeth, placed the glass beside her on the bed side drawer before she closed her eyes.

Feeling his scent on the pillow was enough to calm her down but Fareeda didn't still understand the reason why all she thought of was the forehead kiss. Adam had never done that to her, maybe that was why she was feeling things in her heart that she shouldn't feel.

She was in her thoughts when she felt hands around her and she quickly put back her glass, "Who's that?!" She asked breathlessly and she saw Mujaheed trying to tuck her into the duvet.

"You might feel cold when you're sleeping, I thought I should cover you up." He said hesitantly and brought the duvet up to her midriff and stopped, "Sleep well, Fareeda. Don't cry, don't think about anything, just sleep. And also, you aren't going anywhere to make anyone regret." She was about to argue with him when he took off the glass, folded it and kept it on the bedside drawer, "Please, no more talking. Just sleep, okay?" He said softly and pulled the duvet until her chest was covered. He turned off the light and walked out of the room.

She wanted to shout at him, tell him that he had no right to do what he just did to her but Fareeda found her lips unable to utter a single word. She couldn't think straight and decided just like he had said she should let herself rest, she emptied her mind, breathed out and decided she was going to sleep. But bringing the duvet closer to her heart, Fareeda felt as his scent filled up her nostrils and it felt as though he was laying down beside her. She softly hissed and forced herself to sleep.

✥

He reluctantly walked into the room to wake her up and that was the exact time she had came out of the bathroom, and now, she had her towel wrapped around her body. She had gotten used to taking her bathe in his bathroom because for the past two weeks, that's what she had been doing. And after she woke up and saw her things in his room, she didn't have to think about how it happened.

"Nana brought these things?" She casually asked, forgetting her condition until she saw the look he was flashing her and as she sat down in front of the mirror, she saw it. She was only in her lilac towel that she always fought so hard with to reach just a few inches below her butts and now... "What are you still doing here?!" She screamed and bended down on the vanity stool, not looking up as she held her legs.

"I came to wake you up. And I think you've been up for long. I'll be waiting for you in the living room." Mujaheed uttered and he quickly got out of the room. He quickly breathed out not knowing how he held his breath for so long. He slumped on the chair and held his heart, what did he just feel? It felt as if his heart was going to skyrocket out of his chest and... "Oh god!" He softly spoke and palmed his face.

She came out shortly after, wearing an A-shaped Ankara gown with a matching veil meticulously wrapped around her head and she sat down on the chair opposite from him. She cleared her throat and he looked at her, "I think we have to set boundaries for the moment I'm going to stay in your chamber before I have everything sorted out." She began, and he stared at her and held a stoic expression on his face.

"And how do you plan to sort everything out?" He asked, because of all the things she had said, he was more curious of the way she was going to sort things out. Because to him, there was no way she was going to have things sorted out the way she wanted them to.

"The easiest way is for you to divorce me, but I know after hearing what Alhaji had said this morning, that will be the last thing you're going to do unless I trouble your life too much to the point that you'll want to stay away from me." That made him chuckle. So she really thought that she was stubborn enough to the point that he will back away because staying with her was too much trouble?

"And how's that? In what ways are you going to trouble my life?" He asked, fixing his eyes on her and she rolled those honey orbs at him.

"I'll have to figure it out. And the second way is for me alone, yet to be figured out too. About the boundaries." She said, and Mujaheed wrapped his hands around his chest before he nodded his head.

"Yes, about the boundaries."

"You can't touch me, that should be rigid..."

He cut her off, "But you're my wife..."

"I'm not even going to the deeper part of touching, Mujaheed, just the simple basic touches. I appreciate it when you try to console me with a hug, but that should stop too. Holding my hand, that forehead kiss..." She let her words trailed off but she quickly masked up her expression and continued. "And you should also be giving me some privacy if I'm going to take my bathe, there's no way I can have you seeing me in those skimpy towels of mine." She grunted, clearly annoyed.

"What more rule do you have?" He wanted to know, so he can know which will annoy her more if he did it and that would be the first he would break.

"Even though I don't want to, I do mostly everything you say, so you should at least respect my decision for the time we're going to stay together. We should also give each other spaces, I won't interfere in your personal matters, you shouldn't interfere in mine. I mean, we know the way we live before this..."she pointed at the two of them and continued, "Before this happened, the only thing that should change is that I'm going to stay in your chamber for the time being, nothing else."

Mujaheed sighed and nodded his head, unwrapping his hands from his chest but his eyes are unshaken on her face. "Which among the rules will annoy you the most if I break it?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes at him but begrudgingly answered him.

"The physical contact. Please, at all cost, you should stay away from me un..." Before she was done with her sentence, he was already seated on her sofa beside her with her hips partly brushing his. "What are you doing? I was just talking to you about..." She gasped when he took both her hands in his and nearly screamed when his hand swiftly took off her veil and her hair came down on her shoulders as though a rivulet. "Mujaheed!" She yelled, and he chuckled, amused and enjoying what was happening.

"What? You haven't said that I can't see or touch your hair." Before she knew what was happening, she felt his fingers in her hair and she quickly stood up.

"I'm so going to kill you! What do you think you're doing?" She furiously asked and he calmly leaned back on the sofa while he watched the way she was angrily looking at him with her hair running down on both her shoulders down to her midriff. He knew of women that had long hair, but hers, he had never imagined it would be this long, and black, and sleek, and soft when he touched it.