She heard some commotion outside and slowly began to open her eyes. She couldn't say she had been fully healed, but at least she was physically getting better. Much better than she was doing yesterday and it was all thanks to the medications and injections she had gotten. But her mental state? It was even worse than it was yesterday. Something had recoiled itself in her mind, something so powerful and bitter that she could taste its bitterness in her tongue.

She slowly sat upright and stared at the room faintly illuminated by the light. Thanks to whoever drew the curtains for her. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept until this kind of time of the day. And even though she didn't know what said the time, Sabeeha knew that it at least wasn't 4 in the morning.

She pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees as she forced her mind not to think of the situation she was in. What had nearly happened to her yesterday and how she had been rescued. Because the state of mind she was in, if she dared thought about any of those things, nothing could stop her from going crazy.

The commotion finally dead down and it was a few minutes when their was a knock and she fixed her eyes on the door when it opened to Waleed walking inside with a calm smile on his lips. Something warmed up in Sabeeha's heart as she felt the urge to give him the warmest hugs she had ever given him in her life.

She smiled up at him and nodded her head when he waved. He walked up to her and sat down by her side, taking her hand in his, Waleed smiled at her. "Good morning, Ammi. Uncle Anas told me that you were sick yesterday and you had slept at the hospital."

"Morning to you too, Waleed. Is that why you didn't go to school?" She slightly squeezed his hand and felt the urge to cry but pushed it back. "I'm fine, as you can see, right? Nothing bothers me now."

"We're having a midterm break, so I'm free. Uncle Zaid sent me to ask you what you'd like to eat so he can go and get it for you." She didn't know how her son had changed, but she was sure he had. She could sense it from his behavior, from the kind of words he uttered and the way his voice sounded, he had certainly changed.

"Did you have your breakfast?" She asked instead, and he softly shook his head at her.

"Then I'd take whatever it is you want to eat. It's been forever we ate together, right?" She said with a weak smile as she fondled his hair. "Go on and tell him what you want to eat, we shouldn't keep Uncle Zaid waiting for long, should we?" He shook his head and got down the bed.

He walked to the door before he turned to her with one of his heart warming smiles. "I'll be back in a minute, Ammi. And I'd tell you stories about my school, do you want to hear?"

"Of course, I do, love. Quickly tell him and come back." And immediately he closed the door behind her, Sabeeha felt the lone tear rolled down her cheeks. This was the calm before the storm, she knew. And with each breath she took, she was dreading what would happen to her when Hajia got to know about what had happened. And whether or not if she could even peacefully live in that house now, because she knew the intention of Idi towards her.

Waleed came back to the room some minutes later and he couldn't shut up about how the school was and the few friends she had made. And it was now she had recognized where the change came from. It was from his school. He was calmer and more collected. Just like what school did to her. She was glad it was transforming her son well and deeply prayed that unlike her, Waleed would be able to further his education beyond secondary school.

He had taken all her worries at bay with his childish chuckles and giggles, and she did all she could to reciprocate the same energy. They were sitting side by side on the bed when they heard a soft knock and looked up at the door for the intruder. Shortly later, Zaid turned the doorknob and got inside, holding the nylons in both his hands.

"Go and help Uncle Zaid with the nylons, Waleed." She urged, and he got down from the bed and took one from his hand.

She watched as Zaid smiled at him and slightly fondled his head before they both walked to the nightstand and kept the food there. He pulled one of the chairs and sat down before he looked up at her, and remembering the kind of position they had seen her yesterday, Sabeeha quickly averted her eyes from his and looked away.

They both knew one of them was supposed to great the other first, but she was the eldest here, right? He should be the one to great her not the other way round. And so, when they waited in silence as Waleed brought out the takeaway food, she heard him cleared his voice.

"Anas has something to take care of, that's why he couldn't be here." She simply nodded softly. "You should eat the food, and if you want, I'd ask them to discharge you or if you want to stay for a day more then we can wait until tomorrow for that."

That made her shot her eyes up to him instantly. She could take forever avoiding what was to come, but it surely will. So, she'd rather face the storm at once and get it over with. "No, I think I'd be fine to leave now."

She was already pulling her legs down when he shook his head. "I promised Anas that you'd eat before we leave, he believes you won't be able to eat once we get home." Their eyes met, and it felt as though he was giving her an order to eat and she knew she had to follow.

She wondered what was with little boys and manning up these days. Look at him talking to someone ten years older than him and acting as though he were speaking to someone of Waleed's age. She didn't even want to argue with him about that, because she knew what he said was the truth and no matter how she may deny it, her body system needed food to be able to function for whatever occasion was going to happen today.

Waleed sat close to her and lifted both his hands with a childish grin. "I've washed both my hands, Ammi. Can you eat? Or I should feed you?" She wanted to be fed by Waleed, because that's what it had always been whenever Dahiru gave her one of his beatings and she was nursing her wounds, he always fed her.

Somehow, she lifted her eyes to Zaid and found him fully staring at her, not even bothering to take his eyes away when she caught him staring. He simply rubbed his eyebrow and looked away for barely a second before he continued looking at her again. She found him uncomfortable. There was something about him that slightly unnerved her and an authority surrounding him that seem to faze her.

But she'd never be able to show him that.

So, mustering the remaining courage left in her, she turned to Waleed and smiled, nodding her head. "You should feed me, Waleed." He gave a little squeal and did just that.

They played and laughed while he fed them both and when they were done, Waleed held her hand and escorted her to the toilet and she washed her face and rinsed her mouth before they came out. Zaid had already gone out to get the discharge letter and he was back in no time, so they all walked to the car, with her hand carefully held by Waleed as he guided her every step.

∞

The walls of her heart shook when the mansion came into view and she clenched her eyes shut to calm her racing her, but nothing worked. Zaid parked in the parking lot before he turned to Waleed that was beside him on the passengers seat and smiled lovingly at him.

"Waleed, you should go back to the chamber now and continue doing your assignment, okay? Leave the mathematics until I come in, we'd do it together." It was as if he had a different tone he used solely on Waleed. Which wasn't authoritative like the one he used on her and she felt slightly annoyed.

Waleed turned to her and smiled, getting out of the car. "Ammi, until I see you again. Please take your medications." She could only nod and smile at him, because she didn't know what else she'd do.

She was about to get out of the car, with her hand on the door handle, only a second away from pulling it open when he cleared his voice and called her name. "Sabeeha."

Sabeeha could swear that almost every nerve in her body pulsed at the way her name sounded on his lips. It was like she had never been called. She could say this wasn't the first time he had said her name, but this was the first time he had actually called her name. And it wasn't just about calling the letters that formed her name. No, he had called her very being and she found herself looking up at him.

She found him already staring at her and he lightly rubbed his eyebrow again. She noticed he was doing that whenever he was nervous or anxious about something. She didn't speak, because somehow, it was a bit fun seeing him lost for words as he thought of the right thing to begin with.

"I just...I wanted to have a few words with you. Yesterday, Anas and I..." Oh no, don't talk about that please, she softly mused to herself. As it was, she felt like killing herself whenever she remembered how he and Anas had seen her yesterday. But since it was something she had to live with forever, she decided to not let it bother her.

He cleared his throat and she saw when the calm, collected and certain Zaid took over this slightly immature and nervous one. And his now darkened gaze unnerved her a bit. "I just made a few promises to Anas, which I'm willing to keep at any cost. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, maybe it's because I'm trying to justify my actions. I haven't done anything yet, but I knew with the way things were going, I would. So, maybe..."

She sighed and palmed her face. Why did he even bother telling her that? Did he foolishly think that she'd allow him to destroy her life just like he did in Damaturu. "I appreciate your concern, but Zaid, right?" Calling his name out loud when she had this underlying hatred for him sounded so alien, but she had to do this. This was a boundary she knew would cost her life someday if she didn't set.

"I appreciate your will to help, and even what happened in Damaturu I realize that you did that with my best interest at heart, but I want you to know that I can take care of myself. Yes, I'm living in so much misery, but it's nothing new to me. You're just twenty three years old to be making rash decisions that you deem fit, which aren't even about your life, but someone else's. So, please, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't. Because I won't appreciate you destroying my life down to the worse version it could ever be."

He was just speechlessly staring at her without being able to conform a single word in his mouth. And Sabeeha had never been so proud of herself like she was now. This was someone she thought had the air of command surrounding him, but she had rendered him speechless and she knew this was her cue to leave, so long as she wanted to have the last word.

So, she pulled the door open and with one leg outside and the other one inside, she turned to give him the last look. "And you should have it in mind that whatever happens to me is because of you. If you had listened to my plea and didn't break my marriage like that, I wouldn't have been going through what I am now, and what I'm sure will certainly over last night's event. I won't be ever able to forgive you for that. So, please, I'd appreciate it if your rash and immature being would really consider getting out of my life, for good."

She had walked up the distance between the parking lot and the threshold and he was still seated in the car. She didn't know if her words sounded hurtful and didn't even care if they did, because that was her baring her soul out to him. She really would be doomed if he dared get himself involved in all this and she knew that deep down, she wasn't strong enough to put up with whatever it was that is to come.

She entered the house and immediately walked up to her room, she couldn't afford Hajia seeing her in this-obviously expensive-gown on top all that was awaiting her. And before she made it to her room, she heard his thunderous voice.

"And just where do you think you're going, Sabeeha?!" He thundered, and her entire body instantly break into a shiver.

Slightly, she began to turn until she was fully facing him and her knees instantly went south. She would never forget how his expensive leather belt had gotten shattered on her legs when she had stood while he spoke to her. She was only eleven years then. But she still had the scars from that beating on her legs. And getting another beating was the last thing her physical form could take.

"Meet me upstairs, right now!" And he was out of her sight in only a matter of minutes and she pulled herself up with so much aplomb. From the looks of things; if she was expecting fire before, it had probably turned into a volcano now and she would have no choice but to keep up with whatever it was they were going to dish out at her.

Taking one step at a time, Sabeeha kept reciting all the kinds of du'as she could think of and still, her body was a frenzy of nerves when she stood by his living room door. And before she turned the doorknob, she heard Idi driver's voice in there and knew it was over.

"Ya Allah, please don't let them hurt me too much. Ya Allah protect me from them." She whispered silently and waited until she wiped at her tears before she knocked and walked inside.

The moment her eyes fell into that of Idi, she took a step back. Because even though they were feet away from each other and she knew he certainly wouldn't dare to try to do anything to her in their presence, but her mind couldn't help but imagine the worse. And she didn't even realized she had stopped walking until Hajia hissed and threw an unbreakable cup at her, which landed on her forehead.

"Who do you think you're acting this way to? My friend, come inside!" From there, Sabeeha went on her knees and simply dragged her body to the closest she could get with them, her head hung low.

Alhaji cleared his voice and she shivered internally. "We've heard all that happened from Idi and if you think I'd be able to tolerate that sort of animalistic behavior in my house, you're wrong! If you know that, why did you break off your marriage then? Or must you always prove that you aren't worthy of any man in this world?!"

The echo of his voice wasn't just heard around the living room, she was certain the walls of her heart had taken more than a minute echoing the words in her hollow being until every vein in her shrunk with the agony the words brought to her. She quickly wiped at her tears and he hissed loudly.

"If that's the path you've taken, we both know I'd never tolerate it and you're at the age where nothing could even be tolerated from you."

Hajia hissed with so much venom laced on her tone as she threw her a glare filled with so much hatred. "She thinks she's still twenty three or something. I wonder if it's because of the way her body is and that makes her thinks she can go around seducing men as much as she likes."

"That would have to be over, Hajia..." Daddy said as he slightly looked between her and Idi that acted as though he were the most innocent man to ever grace the earth.

"We've decided to get you married to Idi on Friday. He'd go back home tomorrow and make all the necessary arrangements with his parents and they'd come back here for the Nikkah." Sabeeha didn't know she had gasped outwardly and bulged her eyes out at them until Mommy threw her the mug she was sipping her morning coffee from, having it spilled all over her, burning the places it had touched.

But that wasn't what she worried about. Gently, she placed the mug aside and tried all she could to see through her watering eyes. She didn't even know what to say to them. Was she going to beg them to spare her? Or what was she going to do?

When she opened her mouth, all she ended up uttering was a croaked and heartbreaking "Please..."

We have only 6 chapters left of the 16 promised preview chapters 😍❤️