Can we get to 20K today?💃🏿 I was reading yesterday and the whole time I was shaking my head, I mean such a roughhhh draft. Why didn't you guys allow me to edit?🥲 it's so rough tbvh!

ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Fatima yawned, stirred from her sleep then wake up when she felt a hand tightly around her. When did she fell asleep? Last she remembered, she was in Ahmad's arms as he had his wicked ways with her, her face heat up at the thought. Maybe she was too exhausted after their rendezvous that she fell asleep immediately after, such a weakling, she chided before raising her head to look at his sleeping figure too. Maybe he doesn't want to go to work today? He usually leaves the house before her and to think he is a master in his office while she is a student seeking education.

He looks extremely peaceful with his long lashes draped across his cheekbones, strong nose not crooked in anyway. She stared, completely enchanted and mesmerized by the picture before her eyes. Ahmad is really a handsome man, it won't take anyone long to notice that. She's sure that if someone knows where handsomeness really lies, they'd know from Ahmad's back that he is going to be a handsome fella. It makes her wonder yet again why he is married to her not some other heiress that will willingly be in his arms, do his bidding like any other normal wife would. There are a lot of them out there and she can mention ten on spot.

He could get more fortune in marrying off another woman from a totally different background. Someone that could love him endlessly, stay wrapped around his arms like a leech and move about his circle without having to change herself or be conscious of anything. Warm him up when he is cold and never challenge any word he says, why did he end up with her?

Maybe she doesn't want to know the answer, maybe it'd break her to find out her really is with her for her father's money. So far, she is consoling herself that he is using her father's money for everything because the minute she found out the truth, that there is more to their marriage than meets the eye, Fatima might just do something she'd regret for the rest of her life.

She'd rather stay in her comfort zone and continue to think that her father is flooding his account with cheddar so he could help nurture his daughter. That is something her father would do but she doesn't want to find out, she is not a dog. Why would her father do this to her? She never seem to understand the man and she's stopped trying only once in a while when she can't help overthinking and browsing through her life. Sometimes she just doesn't get why her father and mother will think of her as a murderer and other times, she'd think that there is something they are not telling her and she might never know what that is.

Shaking her head, she stared back at her husband thinking what will be in store for both of them after their marriage became nullified. There is no doubt that is going to happen in the near future, when they are both tired and bored of one another. This spiciness in their relationship is only because they are new to the system, or is Ahmad not? He touches her with air of confidence, as if he's done that a thousand times to another woman, like a master when it comes to art of seduction. Women are known to be seductresses but with Ahmad, she paled in comparison to anything related to bedroom matters. She is the novice there, the newbie.

He will definitely remarry after he divorce her, he won't stay celibate. Or maybe even remarry right before he divorce her, he has the right anyway. Fatima felt a pang on her chest, as if something invisible just knock her off balance and then it disappeared. She furrowed her brows, why does she feel so suffocated suddenly? She is in Ahmad's arms and whether he gets married again to another woman that same day shouldn't worry her as long as he promise to divorce her when they are done with their affair, liaison. He can marry three more and it won't bother her, it's just one man after all. What more could he offer than the others outside can't?

Her face became sullen, bitterness clogged to her throat like someone is trying to throttle her, her cheeks flushed for an entirely different reason. Something is burning in her stomach, like chronic ulcer eating up her viscera, making it hard and empty after it's corrosive wickedness. Fatima took a deep breath and let it out. If she thinks something is wrong with her before, then she is out of her mind now. Is she seriously jealous of the woman Ahmad is going to meet and make love to like he did her in the future?

For what fucking reason does she not control her feelings and emotions anymore? Why are things going helter-skelter and all she could do is watch? This is not good, not good at all, not good!

Fatima suspire and decide that all she's thought for the last five minutes should dematerialize and she will act like nothing happened. Looking back at Ahmad, she found out he's awoken and is staring at her with unfathomable eyes, the depths going deeper and abysmal. Now what is he thinking? She concentrated but nothing gave him away, not even her sharp mind could get through the walls he's built around himself. She found out that he is the only person that she cannot read whenever she wants except if he permits her. He is an expert when it comes to locking his emotions and thoughts, a damn good one too.

She stared right back before she felt his hand around her delicate earlobe. He's got such fetish for the place that she opened her mouth to ask. "Why are-" she trailed off and stopped with a broken inhalation as she felt the tip of his middle finger investigating the shell of her ear, tracing the fragile inner structure. He let his thumb brush over the taut line of her jaw and the vulnerable softness beneath her chin, until she felt hot color spreading over her chest and face.

"You were saying something? What was it?" He grinned when she glowered at him, he knows what he is doing and is enjoying watching her writhe beneath his arms. He likes the power he is exacting on her but she is powerless whenever he has his hands on her. The devil in disguise.

She licked her chapped lips, close her body tightly with the duvet around her. "I'm going to go take bath, you should do the same before our guests downstairs suspect anything." She made a move to stand but Ahmad stopped all her attempts and threw her back on the bed like a ragged doll. Instead of finding that romantic, she shoot daggers at him from her helpless position. He is hovering over her while she lie there hopelessly holding the duvet to her chest, it shouldn't fall off.

"Not when staying here with you is better than anything I could find downstairs." He nuzzled her neck, his hot breath fanning the hairs there that result to goosebumps rising all over her body. This man and his way with words, she slumped back on the bed in surrender. She won't let him have his way though, her aunt shouldn't suspect a thing.

"You can flirt later but now, I'm leaving this bed. Release me immediately or I make sure you won't be able to use your family jewel anymore." She threatened and it worked, he heard the determination and real threat lying beneath her words.

He cursed as he sat up, sweep his finger through his hair as he examined her with a small smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "You better leave the room now if you don't want to be compromised again. And, why shouldn't they suspect anything? Are we not married?" He taunted, swinging his legs off the bed and turned his back at her.

Fatima frowned at him, he shouldn't talk like this. He's never acknowledged their marriage and she never does too, it will make everything more real and she doesn't want that. "Whether married or not, I'm leaving now and you should come down too since you are not going to work today. Or are you?" She started swinging her arms through her hoodie and her legs into her jeans. How did she sleep in that? Oh yeah, she didn't sleep in anything.

"It's Sunday, my lady." The endearment as loosely as it was placed got something to flutter in Fatima's chest. My lady? She likes the sound of that but she deflated all flutters and butterflies as she regarded him.

"Oh, that's right. Well, freshen up and come downstairs and don't act like a brat again today, I am not ready to entertain drama." She went to his vanity table and combed her head again with his comb, it's all over the place flattening against her scalp. He never seize any opportunity to lace his fingers through her hair.

Ahmad chuckled at the irony. "You are the brat and you cause drama unnecessarily so where did that put your statement?" He is already at the door to his bathroom so when she threw the comb at him, he slid inside and lock the door twice earning a loud bang on the door as it receives the impact of the comb on it.

Fatima left the room scowling, he never miss any opportunity to tease her and it is getting on her skin. She's stopped causing him trouble but he wants her to be back to her drama Queen huh? If that attitude of hers comes back, he will be the one to pay one heck of a price and it won't bother her whether he is hurt again or not. Yes, she is a brat and wants everything she wants to go her way and never settle for less than she request, so what? Must he yank it out and throw everything on her face after the passionate night and early morning they've shared? That man needs a romantic bone fixed to his body.

"But you asked him not to flirt with you and that was him being romantic if you don't know what romance is. By the way, what is romance?" Something within her jeered and taunted in a drawl, she felt it hitting her chest angrily but she scowled and made it to her room where she found empty and devoid of Adda mama.

Deciding to take bath first and be grateful she doesn't have to explain her disheveled self to her aunt, she striped off her clothes and entered the bathroom for a quick shower. Ahmad will definitely take his time and she doesn't want to go down together with him, Adda mama's already twisted ideas shouldn't get more constricted. That's how in ten minutes she is ready in her comfortable denim jumpsuit that is not too tight in her, it's a Sunday and she wants to enjoy the day in comfortable clothes. She tied her hair with cerulean crinkled cotton veil, bring out the front of her baby hairs that could deceive anyone about her hair. They'd think what she's tied behind is her whole hair.

Fatima slipped blue bow sandals that matched her outfit, took her phone and left the room in a haste only to bump into Ahmad. She cursed beneath her breath, she wanted to go downstairs without him but look at her fate again. Whenever it comes to Ahmad, she has no control over anything and that doesn't sit well with her at all. Ahmad gave her a once over, his eyes starting from the way she's twisted her turban down to her open chest where she didn't button up then slowly slide to her long legs and then painted toes. He blinked before leisurely surveying her face for any trace of makeup, she hasn't been using that of late.

"You look pretty." He commented as if he couldn't help himself, he looks surprised himself by the words he's emitted but Fatima only raise a brow. Is he mocking her again or is that a genuine compliment?

"Are you mocking me?"

Ahmad looked heavenward as if he cannot believe she just asked that after he's blurted out something that is meant to be in his head. It's either he play it off now that she's given him the opportunity or stay honest. "For god's sake, accept a compliment from me for once. I am not mocking you." His lips are flattened as he watch her face expression change to a cute blush she is trying to tame down.

"I'm not obliged to agree with everything you say since you find it eerily entertaining to taunt me every chance you get. Well, thanks." She began to make her way downstairs then come back again, drawing Ahmad back with her to the top stairs where a small hallway narrowed to their bedrooms. "Can you stay here for a few minutes and wait till I give you a signal? I don't want Adda mama to see us going down together. She shouldn't get any ideas."

Ahmad blankly eyed her, as if she just spoke in a foreign language he doesn't understand which elicited another glower from Fatima. He is trying to play this off and she hates him for it. "Why shouldn't she get any ideas? We are married for god's sake, live up with the fact. I don't want to play games, Fatima, I'm tired of your guests as it is."

All he's said fell to deaf ears when she heard the use of her first name for the first time. It wasn't a whisper neither does it sound anywhere lower than the voice he's used to talk to her but there is a twist, an accent with the way he said her name. She's never met anyone that makes her name sound special, unique and beautiful like Ahmad just did. The t in her name wasn't pronounce as just the way it is, he instead used the real harf that is islamically written. She swallowed, this guy will be the death of her if he doesn't stop nonchalantly making her heart thud in her rib cage.

Not wanting to ask him to repeat what he's said and he will confirm that he's yet again made her speechless, Fatima turn around and strutted to the stairs without answering him. She hollered when she couldn't keep her silence. "Whatever, police officer."

She heard his footsteps following her down, she didn't stop walking even as the emotions overwhelmed her. The need to inflict pain upon him and the need to kiss him senseless is just so overpowering that had they being alone in the house, she would've thrown him down the stairs then follow him with leisure steps and smack her lips upon his. God, she is becoming lunatic now? She sure as hell feels like one.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop when she saw a male figure walking to the kitchen with an apron wrapped around him and even from a distance, Fatima knew no one possessed such gentleness, fetching and pompous other than her cousin, Raheeb. That was confirmed when she heard the familiar sound of his whistle and he bobbed his head from side to side to the sound.

"Boo bear!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as she ran with full speed to where he is. He pivoted before she could reach him and scoop her in his arms with ease, his frame huge and tall.

She jumped up and down in his arms, she couldn't contain her excitement or how surprised she is that he is here in her home. Adda mama didn't tell her he was coming and he also didn't say anything even after they've talked few days ago. Fatima beamed on his chest, her facial muscles tightening from smiling too much but she cannot help it. He's always been her favorite person in the entire world, someone she could rely on and someone that is always there for her. But with her habit of not wanting to become a burden for anyone or in anyone's life, she doesn't lay down her secrets and problems to him and instead reserve them until she can't hold it in any longer. He's the best listener out there and always bagged with myriads of advises.

"I miss you too, little devil. Now release me before you start smelling garlic after looking this lovely." He removed his arms from around her because he really smells like garlic but his manly cologne is more stronger than any spices.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Adda mama surprised me too yesterday. Aw, you two are the best." She hugged him again then kick his leg, that is their form of greeting anyway.

When they were younger, he mistakenly hit Fatima on her leg that result to her falling and crying her eyes out but he promised her that whenever they meet, she can hit his leg as hard as she wants and he won't complain which is something Fatima hasn't forgotten and so far, her kicks are getting weaker each time. He grinned at her, his little devil is all grown up.

"It's a surprise, dumbo. Now go and sit in the dining room while mom and I serve you our best breakfast." He gestured to the dining room then nodded at Ahmad who stick his hands inside his jeans pockets as stared at them blankly.

Fatima saw the exchanges and frowned, have they met before?