Kano State, Nigeria.
2017.

Sitting cozily on the Porpoise Royal couch is Madeeha, her stern face giving the maids a fright. All the three maids don't like her but what can they do, that is their job and they can't complain to anyone about it.

One of them is massaging her feet to her toes then her nails, the other one is silently fanning her with the Royal hand fan she is holding though the air conditioner is on, she still wants to act all Royal and make them feel like she is nowhere near her. The other one is plaiting her short hair in the middle and she is the quietest who hardly whines nor show a look of distaste.

Humaid walked in shortly after with his bag but she didn't move from her location, she only smiled at him which he didn't return. He doesn't see any reason why his wife won't stand up to welcome him after a long day at work. She just sat there getting herself massaged like a tyrant.

This has been going on for three long years. He can't hold it in anymore, not when he is already in love with another lady. Why make himself suffer when he can be happy all over again? As per nature and culture, there is no divorce in his list and his uncle won't even let him do that so that will be kept aside but he is going to get married to this woman who captured his heart.

Nothing ever happened between him and this woman, no words were exchanged and he doesn't know her name but he loves her. Yes, he can be strange but he knows the feeling of love because he was once in one. He should probably talk to this woman before someone sweeps her away, she is so beautiful that no man will look once. Or is she even married? His heart sank lower to his stomach at that thought.

He changed into a purple v-neckline shirt and black slacks before leaving the room to see the woman who captured his heart and he had never heard her utter a word, he yearned to hear her voice. He sat down across his wife who minded her business with her phone and didn't bother striking a conversation with him while he pretend to watch the television, he was looking at the woman plaiting his wife's hair.

She is pretty! One look at her and you will know she is Fulani. From her small body figure, the almost invisible tribal mark by the side of her eyes and her soft looking lips. Her nose stuck out more from her face because of how long it is while her eyes are not really big but neither are they small. The brown and cream maid outfit looks like it was made only for her.

"Where is my food, Madeeha?" He asked his wife after checking the dining table and the kitchen for his food but found none except the sparkling places which he is hundred and one percent sure she didn't clean.

"I haven't cooked. I didn't feel like because I wasn't hungry." She shrugged, her eyes still glued to the phone she was watching before he interrupted her, the maids are still beside her waiting for her to whim.

"What should I eat then?" He is seconds away from snapping and the maids could see that, isn't the woman afraid of her husband's anger?

To think that his wife is a culinary graduate, she hardly cooks after the first two years of their marriage. If she had given birth, he would've understood that the baby will need her time but all their attempts is unsuccessful and he is close to giving up on her getting pregnant. It doesn't look like it is bothering her because she hardly talks about giving birth and having a baby with him.

He feels like he doesn't understand his wife anymore. It is like all the pampering she is getting in the Royal house is getting to her. Maids will be there with just snapping of fingers, driver is always waiting for her instruction and many other things any Royal person would have. Maybe he is just seeing her true colours and she is not the sweet girl he met at first.

He did it intentionally. He didn't send the maids away because he wants the woman he is ready to court to hear the problem he is having with his wife so she could not think twice before agreeing with him, or so he hopes.

"I don't know." And he barged out of the house, telling the maids to leave that their service is not required anymore, little did they know that he wants to talk to one of them.

After the maids started walking into the main palace, he followed after and watch as two of them started chatting away while the woman he wants to talk to silently smile at them. She looks quite and like an introvert, well, maybe she will accept his offer sooner than he thought. He is not willing to take this a very long time, he just wants to hear if she will agree to marry him and that will be done as soon as he can.

"Uhm, I need your assistance." He said to her, waiting for her to turn and she did before bowing her head down that he thought she would be kneeling the next minute.

"Anything, your Highness." Her voice was timid when she replied. It is not all the time that she speaks to a Prince, not only any Prince but her master.

"Come with me!" And he started walking to the direction of the main garden, trying to ease her anxiousness but it did nothing but escalate it. She is afraid she did something wrong and will be punished by staying in the dark place. She has phobia for dark places and her staying there for a minute will just cause problem.

"Sit." He gestured to the bench by the beginning of the garden, he is not about to get caught without talking to his uncle, father figure about his intentions.

Even though she wants nothing but to bolt back to their quarters, she muttered a silent prayer to Allah before sitting down. He chuckled, she is sitting as though she wants to shit but is holding it back and that sound soothed all her nerves. Maybe the Princes aren't as bad as the other maids exaggerate them to be?

She has been a maid for the past six years in the Palace. She's been there since she was just sixteen because he Aunt thought that she needs to see the world and get money before going back to the village and get married which didn't happen but all the villagers thought she was married. She'd rather them think she was married though, there are more to it.

Her Aunt told them she got married in the city and because her parents are dead and most especially because her Aunt told them she was married to a poor man, no one bothered coming to see her.

Her Aunt didn't do that with a bad intention though. The person they wanted her to get married to in the village is very wicked and has divorced more women than she could count so in order not to go back to the village, they lied that she is married and she'd better stay in the city unmarried than marrying the tyrant they call man.

She only missed the two most important girls in her life and wish she could see them one more time so they can spend all their days filling each other on what happened to the other. She heard that both the girls are in the city and she didn't know which city because no one knows. One of them is even married, she wants to see them all!

"Why are you seeking my assistance, your Highness?" She asked after the prolonged silence that drape on them like the canopied sky staring right back at them with twinkling stars here and there.

"It is a quick question, but it will take long to get the answer but I do hope you'll have the answer now." He sighed, still standing beside her. He is afraid that if he sits down next to her, he'd scare her away and then he will lost her.

"Okay?" It came out more like a question in a shaky tone. She didn't like how he is talking in puzzle, it doesn't make much sense.

"What is your name? This is not the question." He added the last part when she scrunched her brows at the question, her name won't do them any good.

"What are you doing here, Humaid? And who is this Lady with you?!" Humaid's heart dropped, literally to his stomach because that is the voice he doesn't want to hear at moments like this.

"Nothing, uncle. I'm just asking her something." His hand flew to his head as he started playing with it there.

There stood his Royal Majesty, the Emir of Kano State in all his glory. He is dressed in white Royal outfit and that complicated turban sat on his head. Beside him was his wife who kept looking at the Lady who is now standing and bowing her head with a look he couldn't decipher. There are lines of guards behind them he didn't bother counting, he doesn't have the time to actually, not when he is this nervous like a deer caught in the headlight.

"I want to talk to you both in the Throne Room now." He said before moving forward with his wife and Humaid sighed, he didn't want this.

"What should I do? I've never been in the Throne Room before." She looks so nervous and he just feels like hugging her to calm her down. She almost looks like Falak with that panicked stricken face. It is as though she was going to be beheaded so he look at the way his uncle followed and found it empty, and he enveloped her in his arms even though something is telling him not to, he couldn't help himself.

*****
Yoyoyoyo!
Eid-el-Fitr my people💐🎇
How is everyone doing? I'm doing perfectly okay except for the fact that we ain't allowed to leave the house here in Kaduna, it's annoying wallah. Hope you are all enjoying your days! Hmm, who likes the drama up there? Don't forget to drop your comment. Another update coming later InshaAllah.
RQ; Would you rather fast another thirty days or stay in the prison for another thirty days? Hehehe, I'd rather fast than taint my name and also because I love Ramadan. You?🌚

Aishatu.Xx/TheSylph.