"He spoke to me, ehen. Kini iyen wa mean?¹ You people should not make a mountain out of molehill." She picked up Khalid's shorts and folded them, tucking the corners away before keeping it on a pile of folded clothes on Khalid's bed.

"No. You misunderstand me and it's sad. I was just asking, like any mother would. Like you would ask your own daughter when the time comes. You used to tell me everything, now I beg for scraps from you." Amina sighed. She didn't mean to snap at her mother and she could honestly not believe her own behavior. The person her anger should be directed at however, was Munayah and she would do just that.

"Maami. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken you like that." Her mother accepted her apology and asked again the question that made Amina irritated earlier.

"Nothing is happening. Nothing can ever happen, because me as I am bayi², I haven't gotten over the loss of AbdulKareem. I just want to take each day at a time, so you people, including the person who told you this thing, should stop using passive argressive tones to force my hand. Kosi nkan nkan to ma shele³." Her mother went quiet and then changed the subject to one of their cousins who's parents moved to the United Kingdom when they were children.

She put the phone on speaker and ambled over to Khalid's blue painted drawers and carefully put the clothes she folded in wooden interior. Sliding it close, she listened to her mother's now louder voice talk about how that cousin of hers had gotten a Nigerian mistress despite being married to a Singaporean woman.

"This is why they always say Nigerian men cheat alot. What does Waheed think he is, with his small IBM salary, he has the effontery to cheat?" Her mother laughed instead and told her the girl was a student in Lagos but was flown out every month to London.

"For him, it's small money, but to her it's a lot of money. So even when his mother contacted her to leave him, you should have heard her response." Amina shook her head as her mother did a good reenactment of the conversation between Waheed's mother and his mistress as though she was right there when it happened. She might have been though, since Waheed's mother recorded everything to send to her mother.

"His wife's family is going to cut him off soon. His eyes will clear." Her mother laughed so hard, she began coughing. Ending the call to drink some water.

Immediately she was done tidying Khalid's room, his nanny was sick, she shut the door quietly behind her and walked to the kitchen where Munayah was instructing the maids on how they should make her Zobo.

She caught Munayah's eye as she walked in and shook her head at her, making the universal sign for kill, her palm bent and slashed along her neck like a knife. Munayah immediately knew what she had done and her face crumpled in apology.

"Sorry na. You know she's worried about you." She rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law. Munayah came to her side and held her arm before begging as nicely as she could with a pout on her lips.

"You don't have to tell her everything." Amina said with a fierce glare, she wanted Munayah to know her stand.

"I know but I don't want your mother to remember I've not birthed another baby since Khalid." Amina shook her hand free and eyed her sister-in-law from head to toe in contempt.

"Has my mother ever asked you that?" She asked her very quietly. Munayah shook her head but as she was about to speak up in complaints, Amina shushed her and informed her, "Just stop. I'm not in the mood to talk about a man with my mom. Okay?"

Munayah nodded and they stepped out using the kitchen door that led to the backyard. They found seats and pulled them to where Munayah could watch the maids cutting up several fruits to be made into juices and drinks.

"Let's make your hair." Munayah sat on the prepared chair pulled from the dining while Amina sat on a small wooden stool with stubby legs called Apoti.

"I washed and deep conditioned it this morning so, you can go right ahead." Munayah hooted as she opened up Amina's hair with a scented wooden comb.

"Your hair is beautiful abeg. How did you get so lucky?" She leaned down to look at Amina's face. Amina chuckled instead of answering, she put her hands through her very fast growing hair. She'd cut it about three weeks after AbdulKareem died, and did not expect it to grow back so thick and healthy.

"Genes obviously. Because, I didn't keep my hair properly." Munayah tutted in agreement, citing how fast Azeem's hair grew too.

"So, what do you think about AB?" Amina took her hair out of Amina's hands and stood up so she could look right at her face as she spoke to her sister-in-law.

"Nobody should bring up that man or any man for that matter again." She said as forcefully as she could, though her own reaction surprised her. She'd seen the man everyday for weeks and until two days before they said nothing to one another.

"But this your reaction sef, come dey look very suspicious. And you haven't come jogging with us since he spoke to you. How affected are you?" Amina hissed, picked up her scarf and stalked off, leaving a laughing Munayah in her wake.

Later in the evening while they had dinner on the terrace, and Azeem talked about his meeting with Tahir and AbdulRahman, Munayah raised her brows suggestively and sent a wink in Amina's direction but they were having Amina's favorite food of fried rice and nando's inspired chicken so she didn't get up and leave angrily. Instead she pursed her lips and began to eat some more food.

"Are you coming jogging with us tomorrow?" Her brother asked, as if things were already not bad enough. His question made her nod her head in agreement. He dropped his knife and fork, signaling for dessert to be served. He'd said before he sat down to dinner that he had work to finish in his study.

"What is wrong with everyone and thinking what is not?" She asked immediately Azeem left the terrace. Munayah stopped smiling and looked at her, dead serious, before saying.

"You have no idea how good the two of you looked from afar. I'm sorry, I'll stop pestering you, but I want you to be happy. I want to see a genuine smile on your face. In all of the madness that are your relatives, your genuine smiles and affection for me helped me make my decision about marrying Azeem. And I want that woman back, not the one who grimaces in place of a smile." She answered sadly.

Amina let her words wash over her, saying nothing. She had absolutely nothing to say, she supposed the wound wasn't so fresh anymore. She could breathe better these days, sleep without seeing AbdulKareem's face as he coughed so close to his death. She had stopped blaming herself a little, and wanted to live. Even if it was just a little.

******

***

Ritz-Carlton, Abuja.

It was a small ballroom decorated in shades of the softest pink and ivory. The whole place was decked in fresh flowers that screamed understated luxury, everyone in the room murmured lowly while they waited for the event of Hajiya Sadiya Sambo's sixtieth birthday tea party to begin.

"Why did they choose to have the party at Ritz Carlton though? They have a stately residence where we could have all gone." Hajiya Asabe who sat next to the matriarch of the Barkindo family whispered very quietly to her in question.

Dada didn't reply though, because it was not her business to do so. Hajiya Sambo was a dear friend of Asabe and hers, which was why she stepped out of her mansion for this party. She hated the fake greetings that they all had to give each other, as though their husbands and sons were not at logger heads with one another.

"I heard they're renovating for her granddaughter's wedding to the Prince of Bichi next month. You know Sadiya likes to give a good show." She knew what it was like. If her own grand children were alive, they would be nine and seven respectively, then she too would say that in a few years she could throw a good bash like this. But, since the loss, she had no idea what to celebrate. Though she had to keep a good front, it hurt very much and she wanted to do something, anything to take time back to that very unfortunate day.

"Well, Sadiya deserves it. She's sure faced a lot in her life." Asabe and Maryam who flanked her on both sides nodded in agreement.

The stately fifty one year old, in her dakarville embroidered boubou and a string of south sea pearls that shone with luxurious light every time she turned. She looked like the money that she was, carrying her dark green Hermes birkin bag that matched the green boubou she wore.

"Lest I forget. I heard some news. Is my son trying to get a Saudi Arabia owned flour business? So that flour can be shipped there?" Though Dada didn't nod, Hajiya Maryam who spoke knew that there was no lie in the information she got.

"What happened?" Dada managed to ask her after swallowing some of the saliva that had gathered in her mouth due to shock.

"They said the owner of the business said he doesn't like unmarried men." Dada turned to her friend, a brow arched up in question.

"Well, me I told them that his being unmarried is not his fault, but they said the man is a bull-headed moron. Only AbdulRahman can solve it now oo." She said at the end. Though they'd whispered amongst themselves, the attention of the table was still on them.

She wondered what AbdulRahman would do now that he had already undertaken a project to build a one tonne flour factory based on that business man's connections.

GLOSSARY:

¹Kini iyen wa mean? - what is that supposed to mean?

² bayi - At this moment. 

³ Kosi nkan nkan to ma shele - Nothing is going to happen. Usually used in the most confident manner possible. 

**†**

Did you guys read the tags I used in this book? Go read it again and it might give you spoilers. 

Did you comment? Please go back and do so 🥺🥺

What's next? Ashe there's trouble in the land and AB was there toasting woman two days ago. 

Anyways. See you soon. 

Have a fun week. May God bless you and keep you safe. 

TheOmoope 💙😊

P.S Vote please.