She had already got ready before he came back from mosque and waited for him, because he told her that they were taking an 8am flight in Kano and they had to leave as early as they could from Katsina. He only knocked on the door and she walked out with her feet hurting much less than her heart hurt, but she knew she had to act all tough for the time being. It wasn't time for her to act all whiny and frail, she had to be strong enough to carry the storm she had created herself.

Throughout their drive to Kano, Mujaheed hadn't lifted a brow toward her, and she cried even though without making a sound, until they reached Kano. He wished he could strangle her until she stopped crying because he knew for a fact that she wasn't crying because she wanted him to forgive her, she was crying because of what Adam did to her. Maybe she even wanted him back after what had happen. Or she had missed him and would love for a chance to let him know of her immense love for him.

Throughout their flight, no word was shared between them and when Jibril came to pick them up in the airport, Nana kept crying so hard that Alhaji had to ask him to take her with him. She ran to Fareed and engulfed her into a hug, breaking into painful tears. Fareeda had been waiting for a reason to let her tears out, she broke into tears as well and hugged Nana so tight. Nana had always came when she needed her. She always gave her the best of hugs, whenever she needed them.

She slowly broke their hug and looked at her, "We should get in the car, Nana. People are watching us." She said with a crying voice and Nana nodded her head with her tears still rolling down her cheeks. They sat together at the back of the car and Fareeda couldn't control her tears anymore.

Upon their arrival in the mansion, Fareeda let Nana guide her into the house. Mujaheed hadn't asked her to come to his chamber and she knew she would be roasted if she did. Nana guided her to her room and she sat at the edge of her bed, feeling alienated to her own bedroom. When she looked around, nothing looked like hers, she felt as if this was either her first or second time coming into the room. She didn't think of it as her room even though she had spent almost all her life there. Deep down in her heart, Fareeda knew the only place her soul and heart had gotten accustomed to was Mujaheed's chamber, that was home for her. Not this luxuries mansion that had no sense of life to it. That had too much painful memories that despite the situation she was in, she couldn't help the preview coming to her heart.

Nana came in shortly and she smiled brightly at her, "I've prepared your best food, Ya Fareeda. You should eat something before you sleep, I'm sure Alhaji will summon you in his living room in the afternoon or even in the evening."

She held Nana's hands and smiled weakly at her, "Did you cry a lot while I wasn't home?" She asked and felt as more tears pooled the brink of her eyes. Innocently, Nana nodded her head and Fareeda smiled before she pulled her to her chest. "You don't have to cry anymore since I'm back, Nana, okay?" She said and Nana nodded her head against her chest.

She pulled away from her and stared into her eyes, "Ummah kept saying horrible things about you, Ya Fareeda. Her and Asma'u even said that Ya Mujaheed will divorce you but I don't want that to happen, I want you guys to stay together forever, so I spoke to him." Fareeda felt as her heart lost a bit, she knew from the way she had seen Mujaheed since yesterday that he was going to divorce her. She was even surprised that he didn't divorced her already. Maybe he was waiting for them to sit together with Alhaji before he did it?

She held Nana's hands and cleared her tears away, "What did he say, Nana? That he's going to divorce me, right? She asked, and immediately Nana shook her head.

"He consoled me and told me that whenever they tell me that he's going to divorce you, I should tell them that you're his wife and nothing is going to separate you two, and Insha Allah you'll be his wife until Jannah. Isn't that lovely, Ya Fareeda?" She asked with a loving smile and something shrunk in Fareeda's heart. She knew that he might have said that to Nana to console her and stop her from crying, but deep down Fareeda knew he was going to divorce her and nothing could stop him from doing that. No one, not even Alhaji.

"It's so lovely of him. I'll sleep now after eating what you brought, wake me up when Alhaji calls me for me, will you?" She asked and Nana nodded her head before she bade her goodbye and walked out of the room. Fareeda was about to lock the door when Asma'u banged it open and her heart lost a bit. She didn't have the energy to fight, it was as if Adam had sucked up all her energy and self worth.

"What brought you here, Asma'u?" She managed to ask, even though she knew that even if Asma'u was going to fight her, she wouldn't retaliate, she didn't have the energy to do that.

Asma'u mischievously smiled and glared at her, "What else would bring me here, Fareeda Kamal Sardauna? Of course you know what brought me here. I came here because of what you did to my mother and yes, marrying the man you promised to get me married to. I haven't forgotten about your fake promise, Fareeda. What do you think you've done? Used me and made a fool out of me?" She clamored angrily and Fareeda shook her head at her, trying so hard to flick her tears back but they rushed down on her cheeks.

Asma'u threw her back and laughed, pointing at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. "What? I must have seen wrong, the whole Fareeda Kamal Sardauna crying? Tell me, has he divorced you already?" She flicked her hair away from her face and held an arrogant expression, "You know, no man will stay with a whore like you as a wife, Fareeda. You're everything a man despises, you're worthless, and a bag full of trash. I don't know whether someone has mentioned it to you once, but you don't deserve to be loved, mostly, you don't deserve a husband like Mujaheed. I want you to know something, Fareeda..."

Fareeda lifted her palms up, she didn't want a repetition of what transpired between her and Adam to happen again. Her self esteem was crushed already. "Will you please let me alone, Asma'u? I'm really in no position to deal with you now, okay?" She said weakly and Asma'u wrapped her hands around her chest and held a stoic expression.

"So brave of you, Fareeda. Aren't you even ashamed of yourself even a bit? You followed your man-whore to a different state and stayed for over three weeks and now you have the guts to face your husband and father as well? Why are so you shameless of the outrageous sins you commit? And I'm quite sure that you expect him to still regard you as his wife, don't you?" She asked, and Fareeda felt the question to the deepest corner of her soul. She realized the answer even without giving it much thought. It was a yes, she would love to stay with Mujaheed for as long as he wanted to stayed with her.

Fareeda cleared her tears and flashed Asma'u an unbelievable look. "Why are you doing this to me, Asma'u? Can't you please see that I'm no position for this? I really want to be alone with my thoughts. I can even beg you, please leave me alone."

"Why I am doing this? We both know the reason, it's because I love Mujaheed, Ya Fareeda. I know for a fact that you haven't been intimate with him since you got married, at least that would give me a chance with him. And I know he wouldn't want to become intimate with you after what happened now, you following your man-whore all the way to Katsina from Taraba State."

She hated all these words Asma'u was throwing at her, she knew if she was her old self, nothing could have prevented Ummah from rushing over to her room to take an unconscious Asma'u to the hospital. But right now as things were moving, she felt she had no right to even speak back at her. She didn't have that right.

"What...what do you mean?" She asked, pained at the way she stated a fact. She wondered how Asma'u knew that she hadn't been intimate with Mujaheed, and what was her concern with their personal life?

"I mean, due to your foolishness, you didn't let Mujaheed come close to you in that way because you were busy keeping your safe for your man-whore that isn't your husband. And in islam, so long as you don't have any sort of intimacy with him, I can marry him. I guess you don't know that as you're busy chasing your boyfriend that to stay at one place and know the rules of Allah."

Fareeda palmed her face and mustered the remaining courage she had in her, but without doubt she was afraid. She was afraid that if what Asma'u said was true, which she was sure was true, she had a chance with him. And if Ummah wanted, she can ask Alhaji to make Mujaheed divorce her so he could get married to Asma'u. Or he can do that himself. He can divorce her and get married to Asma'u to hurt her as much as she hurt him.

"I've heard you, and I wish you all the best. Will you please leave?" Her tears came back to her cheeks as she thought of the possibility that before today ended, Mujaheed would be married to Asma'u and she would be left with no one. She had never thought that she would be jealous over Mujaheed until today that she had foreseen the possibility of him being together with another woman apart from her.

"Ya Asma'u, if you don't leave her alone I'll go and tell Ya Mujaheed that you're making her cry." They both heard Nana's voice by the door and Asma'u wished she could smack her down. But she knew Fareeda might act weak when it was about her, but she will be all fury when she made the mistake of touching Nana.

"I dare you to do that, and I'll make sure to skin you alive, foolish girl." She stomped out of the room and Nana waited until she was out of the chamber before she turned her eyes back to Fareeda and smiled at her.

"You're safe now, Ya Fareeda. I'll protect you with the only weapon I have, which is Ya Mujaheed."

Fareeda hugged her warmly as tears washed down her face, "Thank you so much, Nana. I love you, my darling." If not for Nana, Fareeda wondered how she would've been saved from Asma'u because all she thought of was for the worse to happen, and even now as she was saved momentarily, she was sure the worse will certainly happen.

"Don't let all that she said bother you, Ya Fareeda. I'll leave you to sleep now, you should eat before doing that." Fareeda watched as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Her knees voluntarily went south and she broke into tears. She felt the tightening in her chest and cried bitterly. All that she was afraid of was for what Asma'u had said to come to reality. If she got married to Mujaheed, she didn't know what would be of her.

✥

Despite her attempt to sleep, Fareeda's effort proved futile and she sat down on the prayer mat after she had prayed, exhausted from crying. She didn't know how much hours had passed until she heard the soft knock on her door and Nana muttered softly, "Ya Fareeda, are you in there? Asleep?"

She weakly got to her feet and walked to the door before she unlocked it, "No, Nana. What's wrong? I don't have the appetite to eat anything, don't bring the lunch for me."

Nana shook her head, "I didn't bring lunch, it has been past five in the evening, I know you don't have the appetite to eat. But Abba summons you in his living room, Ummah is there together with Ya Mujaheed."

She felt as her heart lost a beat and she fixed her glass from falling. "I haven't prayed Asr yet, I didn't know it was time already. Tell them I'll be coming down in a bit." She prayed and it was only the will of Allah that took her to Alhaji's living room after she was done. She walked into the room with her eyes fixed on her toes that still had the henna Mujaheed helped applied for her while she fidgeted with her fingers.

She found a spot at the far end of the living room and sat on the lush carpet, for the first time in her life, sitting on the carpet in Alhaji's living room whenever he summoned her, and it didn't matter the intensity of her fault. And this time, she was certain it was because of Mujaheed, and she didn't know why.

It took Alhaji a few minutes to recover from the shock, because he thought she would come into the living room with her chin held high and she wouldn't show any remorse of her actions. But from her face, he knew she was regretting what she had done, or so he thought. "Fareeda," he called her name and she looked up at him. But despite the pain that was rupturing each and every organ of her body, Fareeda had her hatred painted loudly on her eyes for him, he could see that the moment he looked into her eyes and he concluded that maybe she was sad over something else.

"Where have you been all this while?" He asked, and she turned her eyes back to her fingers. She had never been silent whenever Alhaji asked her something. There were times she wanted to hide the truth from him but because she was sure the truth will hurt him more than the lie would, she would have to tell him the truth. And today wasn't an exception too.

She avoided looking at the direction Mujaheed was seated at because she knew if she made that mistake, she wouldn't be able to voice a word out. "I was at Katsina, together with Adam." She had to clutch at her fingers when Ummah gasped as if she didn't know about it already, she didn't have to look at Mujaheed to know the expression he had on his face.

"Do you know what being married means? The intensity of the sin you've committed with him, Fareeda?" Alhaji was usually calm today and Fareeda wondered what kind of game he was playing with her. Maybe Asma'u had told him that nothing would hurt her as much as having her separated with Mujaheed would. She had seen the irony of life now, because there was once a time when all she wanted was to be separated from Mujaheed and today, she wanted nothing but to keep on staying as his wife even though she was certain that she wouldn't ever see him smile again.

Again, for the first time in her life, she wanted to defend herself when Alhaji accused her of committing something she knew she hadn't committed. Because it had always been fun hurting him with his own imaginations. But today, she shook her head, "I didn't do anything with him. I admit to running away with him to Katsina and he booked a hotel room for me. But nothing happened between us, because I'm aware of my marriage with Mujaheed, I can't commit a sin that requires the punishment of being stoned to death. All we wanted to do is call you after we've settled and it took a while and I'll ask you to make him divorce me, so I can get married to the one I love..." She had to choke on her throat when she came to that part, it still hurt. By Allah no one had ever hurt her like Adam did, no betrayal had hurt like his did.

Alhaji shrugged off his shoulder and turned his eyes to Mujaheed that had a closed off look on his face, you can be a painter of emotions but you can never depict what he was feeling at the moment. "I'm sure you've omitted a few things from what you've seen in Katsina, but I won't probe you to tell me if you don't want to. And like I promised to you, I won't force you to stay with her unworthy self, her ungrateful self, if you don't want her as a wife anymore, divorce her, I'd gladly appreciate it."

Ummah quickly chirped in, "Yes, Alhaji, then we can get him married to Asma'u. At least she is a good girl unlike her sister, because it will be so unfortunate to lose someone like Mujaheed as a grand son."

Alhaji's face immediately lit up to a smile at the mention of Asma'u's name, Fareeda had noticed that but she refused to cry because of that. She forcefully flicked back her tears as Alhaji uttered, "Yes, she's such a lovely and respectful girl. She doesn't cause any trouble here, you'd be happy to have her as a wife, unlike this wayward girl." That struck, and no matter how Fareeda wanted to keep calm and hold a stoic expression on her face, there were things that her frail heart couldn't overcome that easily.

"I'm not trying to intrude on your personal matters, but knowing Fareeda I know nothing has happened between the two of you so it's still permissible for you to marry her sister instead. Asma'u is the best person for you. Will you like to get married to her instead?" Both Ummah and Alhaji fixed their eyes on him waiting for a reply from him.

Reluctantly, Fareeda lifted her raining eyes and it was the same time when he had looked up at her, their eyes met and she quickly took her gaze off just when her pregnant eyes poured down their bundle of grief and agony. She dreaded the answer that will come out of his lips even though she knew deep down what it would be.

And when he uttered, "Yes, I'd love to..." She could feel it, her world crumbling as though a paper being crumbled by mankind.