Unedited.

****

"Leek what's wrong with you?" Sadiqu sat near her and pulled her to his side. Maleekah was now only snuffling and blewing her nose.

"The result says you're pregnant. Why are you startled?" Sadiqu curiously asked. Leek stared into his eyes and stood up. She looked at him one more time before she sauntered to her room. She needed some time alone. Long enough, to let everything settle in her heart.

She wasn't ready for this. She needed a solution to get rid of it. She can't keep the child that's just it.

Unfortunately, she forgot to lock the door. Sadiqu stood by the door.

"What's wrong with you?" He exclaimed in question. Leek was being too dramatic on every thing she does and he doesn't like it.

"I'm good. Don't mind me being dramatic. I'm just surprised. Like I am really carrying my own child? Wow." Sadiqu sensed the transparency of her lies. She was lying to him, he couldn't believe that.

"You better quit lying. This is supposed to be the most happiest day for us but you're here ruining it. We have been waiting for how many years? Forget that now. What happened?" Sadiqu asked sternly. Leek looked at him for a moment weighing her answer up and down.

"I..." She stuttered.

"Don't lie to me! What is wrong with carrying my child?" He asked, directly looking into her eyes. Sadiqu realised that she only did what she did at the hospital so that they will end up not having the test at all.

"I don't to be a mother." She cried.

"You don't want to be a mother or you don't want to be the mother of my children. Which one? Don't think about kepping quiet because I won't take it." Leek swallowed hard. Sadiqu seemed so tough that she feared he might burst. She involuntarily fluttered her lashes against her cheekbone.

"You're wasting my time!" He barked in a high pitch.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you the reason." She shook her head sideways.

"I won't force you to say it but listen to me. If you dare abort my baby, I'm going to kill you. I promise." Leek pursed her lips. She knew it so well that he can't kill her but still, it made her stomach churned in fear.

"I..." She began.

"No, save it." He barged out of the house.

****

It seem like a blithe when Leek spent a week without seeing the glimpse of him. He always comes back late at night and goes out very early. Some other days she doesn't hear a sound from his side.

This time around, she wasn't worried like the other time. She was only worried about the condition she was in and his threat. She needed to talk to him to make him understand and grant her, her plea.

Leek was resting at the verandah taking a groundnut pap when Sadiqu came in with a long face. He waited for her to say a thing but she said none. Sadiqu cleared his voice.

"Get your Hijab. We're going home." Leek pretended not to hear him. Home? Where's home? Was there any other home other than the one they were currently living?

"I'm talking to you. I received a call from your house some minutes ago. Get ready I'm waiting for you." His voice was calm as though he was singing. Leek's pulse increased as she got her Hijab and met him in the car.

"What happened? Don't give me the silent treatment please." She begged. Sadiqu ignored her. He didn't know how she was going to take things hence he kept mum. She might become haywire and make him loose his control.

Sadiqu cleared the mist by the corner of his eyes and steered away to her parent's house.

"You're silent still. Please talk to me." Sadiqu looked at her briefly as though he was going to say something but he didn't. He focused his sight on the road until when he pulled by the gate of Leek's house.

The front of the house was empty hence Leek didn't suspected anything. She thought he brought her home because he was tired of her. So, she surpressed the urge to cry.

"Let's go." Her nerves were calm when she heard him said that. She took a deep breath. But wait, what if he brought her home so that she will tell them the reason why she doesn't like the pregnancy? Leek shuddered and began wrapping a lot of lies around her tongue.

Sadiqu looked at her pitifully as they trudge in. The surrounding, garden and everywhere was oddly and eerily silent. Sadiqu held her hand and squeezed it.

As they approach where Ammi was staying, Leek heard voices hushing. She didn't understand why the whole atmosphere of their house seemed tensed and suffocating.

When she made her salaam by the entrance, her eyes casted around and she saw all her siblings. Including those that live abroad. In fact, some of them were her step siblings but they were all present.

They gloomily smiled at her and answered her salaam. Leek's feet went cold but she was still hopeful. After they exchanged greetings, no one got the audacity to tell her what happened.

"Kulli nafsin za'iqatul maut. Walan yu'akkiral lahu nafsan iza ja'a ajaluha. Every soul shall taste death. Allah does not extend the life of a soul when  it's time of death comes." Her sister, Yaya Halimah got the courage to say that.

Leek shifted her gaze from one face to another. Ya Abdurrahman was crying. Ya Khalid was shaking his head while his eyes were already red. Zahrah kept her head down. And, several positions and emotions displayed by others. She was still not understanding the language.

"We've been calling you since morning but couldn't get you until when Zarah got the courage to call your husband." Yaya Munary chirped in a low voice and took Leek by her wrist. All eyes turned to Leek who was only behaving as if she doesn't understand the language they were talking with.

Once before Ammi's room, Leek heard her father talking and weeping. She turned to look at Yaya Munary who looked away and left Leek's sight.

Leek took deep breaths, one after another before she entered the room. The first thing she saw her father kneeling before a white cloth and crying.

"Please and please do forgive me Zainab. I promise to amend my ways. I promise I will take you back as my wife and shower you unadulterated love. Zainab I'm really sorry please do wake up. I know you're playing a prank on me like you used to when we were newly married. You don't have cancer and you're not de..." Leek took gentle steps towards him.

"Baba, cancer?" She asked, stopping him from completing his sentence.

"Yayata, please tell your mother to wake up." Leek had her father's elder sister's name who died the day Leek was born. That's why he addressed her that way.

"What are you saying Baba? Divorce? Cancer? Death? Ammi? I don't understand." Leek turned hysteric all of a sudden. Her father took a regretful sniff before he told her that Ammi was gone this morning. Her loud shrieking cry alerted everyone in the house that she has finally gotten the heart-wrenching news.

Leek later fell unconscious when Ammi's corpse was taken out.

*****

Gloomy days folded to a week in the Alhaji Muhammad Salis Yola's mansion. Several hearts were threatening to stop especially when they were alone.

"May her soup rest in Jannah. She was such a nice woman. Allah sarki. Allah yasa qarshen wahalar kenan." Leek was tired of constantly hearing those condolence words. They pierced her already broken heart. She was broken brutally. Because, one, she didn't know about the divorce. Two, she didn't know about the illness. Three Ammi was gone forever.

Her phone started ringing but she let it finished ringing. It was Mimi. Mimi had been with her for the past seven days until when she went back in the morning. Now what was she calling to say? Everything annoyed Leek.

"Baba is calling for a meeting." Zahrah croaked. Leek stared at her inquiring for the reason why he was calling. Zahrah shook her head in ignorance too. Leek wrapped a veil around her head and followed her sister. Her phone buzzed, this time around it was Sadiqu's so called soothing and encouraging words. If only he knows, she hated seeing him, he won't have tried that.

Leek met everyone seated in suspense. Minute later, Baba came out in his Jallabiya. His eyes were extremely red and he was walking as if he's scared that he may fall. A took the chair at the center of the parlour as his destination. Maleekah watched as everyone turned their heads to the other side. It was obvious that none of them wanted to hear him out.

He cleared his voice anyway.

"I know I wronged each and everyone of you here," he paused to clear the mist in his eyes. He couldn't believe he was shedding tears in front of his own kids.

"But I want you to forgive me. Zainab has been the best parent figure for all of you even though she didn't gave birth to all of you. She's been by my side, tolerating all my nuisances and everything. She never pushed through, she never complained, she never left too but I didn't see that. I divorced her because I wanted her to feel worthless not because I don't love her. It's not because of her illness. Well, speaking of all this won't change anything but I hope she forgives me. I will like to commend you guys for standing on your ground that Zainab won't leave this house. You really tried. May her soul rest in peace." He wept. They all mumbled an ameen and attempted to leave.

"I'm not done." He cleared his voice once again.

"Accept my heartiest condolences. And please accept my apology. Zahrah, since you're yet to get a suitor, you will be taken to Hajiya's place, Bauchi." Zahrah groaned.

"I know sitting in this house will always make the memories fresh. I suggest you all return to your various homes." He adviced.

They all kept quiet and slowly started leaving the parlor. Leek was the last to leave. She waited and looked at him  briefly. She really pity him but she doubt if she will forgive him soon.

****

Sadiqu couldn't understand Leek anymore. Since after Ammi's demise, Leek had been different. Extremely different. She doesn't greet him nor cook for him. She was just living in the house. Sadiqu cut her some slacks. He allowed her to go over everything and always made sure he dropped a message for her everyday.

Whenever he approached her, she blocked him away. He wondered why she was behaving that way. He didn't talk about why she didn't wanted to keep his baby either. He was just taking things easy with her.

Sadiqu and Maleekah were at the parlour each engrossed in his own work when Sadiqu's phone rang. It was a number he didn't know. Nevertheless, he picked the call. Leek heard him finished talking and turned to her.

"It's a call from the hospital. Mimi has put to bed and has lost a lot of blood. The hospital don't have her blood group in the blood bank. They're asking if they can get someone here to donate. Mine matched hers. O negative." He replied, loosing his control. The man who called him was a doctor and he told Sadiqu that Mimi asked him to call him. He also added that Mimi's life was at stake.

"How's that related to me?" Leek finally talked when he had finally gave up. He thought she wasn't giving him an answer.

"I think I have to go and save her life." He scratched his nape. Leek rose to her feet, rubbing her little bump.

"Go where? You're going nowhere I swear." She laughed crazily.

"Do you know what you're saying Maleekah? We're saving a life. That too, Mimi's life." He reminded her lest she has forgotten. Leek ignored him and went for her kitchen. Sadiqu was about to follow her when she came out with a knife.

"What are you doing with that?" He asked, widening his eyes. Leek smiled and drew a dining chair and sat.

"You are to choose." She sneered.

"Either you, me, or Mimi." Sadiqu abruptly looked at her. Was she insane?

"Maleekah stop this nonsense. Mimi is dying. Have you forgotten whom she is to you? She's dying if I don't go."

"It's a lie. How is it possible not to get her blood group in the whole of Kano state? Are you the only saint? No, you're not." She raised an eyebrow.

Sadiqu ignored her and searched for his keys.

"Here." Leek clung them in the air.

He hissed and turned his back trying to open the door out. Sadiqu has just opened the door when he felt something cold by his nape.

"You thought I'm joking right? It's obvious that you're ready to sacrifice your life for her so I have changed the conditions. It's either you choose me or her. Remember I'm carrying your child here." She pointed at her belly.

Sadiqu remained by the door, his gaze still facing out. He knew a mistake in his decision might cause a huge damage.

"Let's go in." He concluded. Leek smiled and mumbled something that he didn't hear.

Leek's phone began to ring. She checked to see that it was Maama, Mimi's mother.

She picked the call.

"Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi-raji'un. Maama since the first call I have been begging him but he said he won't come. Now I don't know what to do. Okay. Don't worry." Sadiqu heard her said, all at once.

"Leek what is wrong with you?" Leek switched off her phone and looked at Sadiqu.

"I should be the one asking you that question you know." She replied.

"You..." His phone rang, it was General Aliyy. Sadiqu has just picked the call and glued the phone to his ear when Leek took him off guard and snatched it away. Before he could react, she has sped to her room and locked the door.

Sadiqu stood by the door and heard her saying that he said he was not coming.

He was still going anyway. Once by the door that will lead him out, he realised it has been locked from the outside.

——————

Whaaat? Kai this Leek is mad oo!

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