Important author's note at the end. Please read. 😊😩😍

As I drove in, I had to stop for an entourage of cars, one of the cars looked familiar. The car I saw Adeel Hassan in the other day. Does he live in here?

After they passed, I honked at the Dikko's gate and I was let in. I parked and walked in.

I was greeted by a two kids who launched themselves at me. I held the girl in my arms and patted the boy's head. It dawned on me that I had no idea of their names.

I set the girl down and sank to their level

"What's your name?"

The boy answered first "I'm Fawad Dikko, I'm seven years old and this is Khayratu and she's five." Khayratu snuck behind her brother and hid there. I smiled and got up.

Ajìkè Dikko walked out of the kitchen and smiled brightly at me before pulling me into a warm hug. I smelt Jollof rice spices on her and I sighed in relief.

"Come and sit with me, I'm cooking for them to take to a play date with their friends." I held out my hand for Khayrat and followed Ajìkè Dikko.

I found a seat at the kitchen table and I lifted Khayratu onto the island. She pulled at my scarf and began playing with the strands of my hair.

"I'm sorry about the other day, I completely lost my mind. I do that once Muad'h  is around. Ma binu." She smiles apologetically at me.

"I had fun talking to Deeju and her elder sister before leaving, so no offense taken whatsoever, I'm getting engaged today, so I left the house since my mother in law will be coming over."

"Really?, one of my husband's friends is getting engaged today too, he just left a few moments ago."

My mind goes back to the cars outside their street.

"Adeel Baba Hassan right? "

Her head snaps up from the fish she's adding spices to.  "Adeel is marrying you?  Oh Ya Allah, Alhamdulilahi." This woman is the most perceptive of women.

My face is a mask of confusion and she washes and wipes her hands before sitting at the counter. "I had prayed that Allah gives him the best of wives and Allah just answered my prayers."

"Best of wives?  What do you mean?  What is he like as a person, how does he behave? " I want to know eveey thing I can about him, I know I lost the chance to know him once I agreed to marry him.

"He's an amazing man wallah, you'll get to know him once you are married to him." She searches out to pat Khayratu's curls. Khayratu's hair is enviable, I run my fingers through them.

"You must let me make Khayratu up and take a photograph of her. She's so cute." Khayratu smiles at me, her dimples are enough to take your breath away. Masha Allah.

She leave me to get the kids dressed for their play date. I answer work emails and direct messages. My phone chimes with a message from my mother.

"You are engaged, you can come home now." 

Ajìkè Dikko walks towards me in a  blue silk floor length dress and her hair is wrapped in a small turban. She squints at me.

"Why are you looking so pale, Muad'h just told me your engagement just got finalised. Is that why you look like you have swallowed poison?"
She pours me a glass of water and forces me to take a drink. I take a small sip and set the glass down.

It's becoming all real, I thought it would not happen, it's all dawning on me now. Tears began to run down my cheeks, Ajìkè held out her hands for me and I sobbed in her shoulder.

"Afrah, Adeel is a good man. He'll do right by you. Wallah." What if his good side is just a facade?, what if he learned to shroud his demonic side husband number one did. Oh Allah.

She wiped the remnants of my tears and lets me go. She taps my cheeks and says " You'll be fine. Insha Allah. "

*********

Walking into my father's house is a bit difficult, my aunts and women I have not seen since my wedding to husband number one are all in the living room, side living room. The whole place is an absolute crush. I mentally roll my eyes.

They yodel so loud my ears hurt. What exactly are all these people happy about? They have no idea what I feel inside my head, they have no idea my stomach is tied up in knots. These same people talked, they talked when I left husband number one, they called me all sorts of names. They blamed me for leaving a seemingly beautiful marriage.

I look up to my mother sitting on a gold royal sofa in the main living room and walk my way around guests towards her. She is flanked by aunty Ummi and some of her friends. They beam so brightly at me each patting my back in congratulations, my poor back aches now.

When I reach my mother, she pulls me in a warm hug, let me say that this is the first time in nearly five years my mother has pulled me into her arms willingly. The last time was when I was marrying you_know_who. When I pull out of the hug, she stretches out two neatly wrapped gift packs to me.

One big, one very small.

She signals me to open it, after all I'm marrying into a rich family, they wouldn't dare bring mediocre gifts.  She wants to show off, she never passes off a chance to show off her supposed perfection. Aunty Ummi makes a little space for me and I wiggle my small bum into the space.

I tear open the first gift, the small one and there's a Tiffany's and co symbol on it. A ring?  What are we now, Indians?. I smile brightly at those watching me before opening the box to reveal an emerald cut diamond ring with diamonds spilled all around the sides.

The women yodel louder when they see this and I quickly unwrap the other gifts, it's a ruby diamond set, necklace and all. I scoff.

"Wear the ring, his mother said he picked that out by himself, just for you." Mother, just stop, just stop talking. She definitely told you that just for show, how can he pick that for a woman he doesn't even know, a woman I'm sure has never met in his entire life. Lies of shaytan. 

I wear the ring nonetheless and admire it. All my aunts have their phone cameras trained towards it, awwing and sighing at it. It glints at every turn of light towards it. I gather my stuff up and greet all my mother's friends again before walking up the cold stairs to my room.

My grey covers welcome me and I sink gracefully into it, I've thrown all those gifts on the carpeted floor of my room. I have no use for gifts from liars.

My phone rings and it's my cousin. I ignore and press my face to my pillow. A thought occurs to me and I rush to clean my make up off, not that I had any on anyways but one of the rules of being a woman is to moisturize your face everyday. You save yourself a trip to the plastic surgeon.

My phone rings again and it's an unknown number, I let it ring again and dive back into my covers. I've made up my mind, my mother can cry, shout and faint all she wants, I won't budge.

My phone chimes again and it's time for Asr. As I walk to the bathroom, I smile at how my mother will react when I tell her.

It's a satisfying thought.

******

Hi guys,

How are you all doing, how's the holiday going, boring I bet. I'm bored out of my mind. All I do is read and write and a few things. I hope it's not as bad as that for you all.

I'm a bit sad though 😐😭, the votes and reads are low, really low. Sometimes, I feel like I'm doing a bad job, there should be some reason why no one is commenting or voting or reading at all. It's heartbreaking 💔💔. So please tag your friends to come and read and make me happy.

Finally, there will be another chapter tomorrow afternoon, I've resolved to update twice a week. I love all of you, stay safe, God bless you richly and keep you safe.

                                                Yours Truly,
                                               TheOmoope