Jannah didn't have dinner that night. She only bathed her daughter who wouldn't sleep in her room but her father's. Jannah changed into her most comfortable pajamas, one she's found just few weeks ago after Aisha raided her walk-in closet. She normally sleeps in her soft wrapper and a small shirt that keeps her body firm but after finding the pajamas, she got obsessed.

She twisted and turned around on her bed like a snail. It felt as though she was slowly drifting off to sleep only for her to sit up with a groan. Sleep evaded her like a plague. What has she done to it?

Slowly rising from the bed, she made her way out of the room tiptoeing down stairs so she won't wake Aisha up, she is a light sleeper. She traipsed into the kitchen, her stomach growled indicating that she is definitely hungry. Sleeping hungry has never been an issue so her not able to sleep this night makes no sense. But well, she's already in the kitchen now so she might as well eat.

Jannah stopped midway when she caught a glimpse of a hunk in her kitchen. Her eyes widened slightly before she let out a sigh, just Adnan there. But Adnan? She's never seen him in the kitchen before, not even by mistake. She frowned, maybe he is also hungry and couldn't sleep? She grinned mischievously, take that little bitchy dog.

She wanted to let out a piercing shout that'll definitely scare him then thought better, her daughter might wake up or Aisha. She doesn't want to disrupt their sleep so she sneaked behind him on instincts.

That didn't visit any of her thought but when her legs started moving, she couldn't stop them so she went along with the flow. Maybe that wild side of hers her mother in law is talking about is really there within her. A little goading and it waltzes out ready for theatrical histrionics.

She licked her lower lip and forced her breathing to slow down. She raise her right arm, slowly raise it up. Her hand touched his shoulder, lingered, then slid to the hot nape of his neck. His entire body seemed to stiffen at her touch, and she felt the ripple of nerves in his neck. He jerked away with a muffled murmur, looking as if she had stabbed him.

When he turned around, she smiled cheekily at him. "Hungry already? Thought you were going to suck some blood and spit out fire, Dracs. Whatcha doing here?"

Dracs? Is that what she is calling him now?

Jannah ferried to the fridge, removed one of the takeouts and place it inside the microwave. She turned around after pressing on five minutes, lean her back on the microwave. She raised a brow at the coffee in front of him. He is definitely hungry and didn't know how to warm any of the food, good for him. She won't do it too, he should ask nicely or die hungry. He turned her down yesternight even called her a bitch.

A female dog!

"Eating." He replied when she thought he was ignoring her existence.

She tsked, pursing her lips mockingly. "That's what stubborn people like you get for not accepting romantic dates from their adorable wives. Next time, don't be too stubborn. It takes you nowhere."

"It brought me here." Came his curt reply, his voice hefty with yet another underlying message. She didn't get it though.

She brought out lettuce from the fridge and decided to add it as appetizer, she's goddamn hungry and she loves vegetables.

"If you say so. Just be careful, it might ruin you at some point." She yawed around to get her food from the microwave when it beeped.

While she was transferring her food into a plate, he retorted savagely. "It has, not once or twice. But that's the essence of it all. Things don't come to you just easily, not when you are from the slums. You must stand up and own that ground before they know you are there. And you think the world knows about me now because I was meek? Wrong! Because I made sure each street I pass, I left an imprint or stamps. I've suffered but look where I am now, above the pinnacle..." He trailed off, startled that he was talking about his past in the middle of the night with his wife who's lost her memory.

Maybe he is also slowly starting to lose his?

Jannah on the other hand could only stare at him with her spoon midway through her mouth. She slowly lowered her spoon down to her plate and folded her palms together. She refused to breath loudly just in case he decided to go on but he didn't. He just lowered his head to his cup of coffee.

She pondered his bleak words, the stillness of his large body, the tension that shredded the air. He seemed as unfeeling and immovable as a block of granite. However, she suspected that his invulnerability was an illusion. He had known so little softness in his life, so little comfort. Maybe that is why he is so detached to the world?

A powerful urge took hold of her, to reach out and hug him, and pull his dark head to her shoulder. Common sense prevailed, however. He would not want or welcome comfort from her, and she would probably earn a humiliating jeer for her pains. If she was wise, she would let the subject drop for now. He has opened up for her albeit just a modicum, they've trailed somewhere right? Unlike the other Jannah that could not talk to him.

"That's nice. I don't know anything about the business world and to be honest? I don't think I will ever have any interest. You're good at what you do. I've googled you earlier and it seems like they worship and hate you at the same time." She took her spoon again, her lax fingers now strong.

A detached chuckle escaped him. "They are sharks. They don't like me. I don't like me."

"Why don't you like you?" She frowned not expecting him to answer but it seems like the night is filled with surprises for her because he did.

"There is nothing to like." His answer was short but the lack of emotion in them made her stomach taut and uncomfortable.

She wants to make this night memorable for both of them. He has opened up to her and all she wants to do is hug him to her bosom. It's weird and stupid to want to do things as such to a man like her husband who would feel like she is trying to rob him off his masculinity when she hugs him. He clearly is not used to physical touches, he'd rip her away from his body like he did earlier when she touched his shoulder.

She stared at her spoon morosely. Is her husband, the father of her daughter really a lost course? As she thought about it, she risked glancing at him to see his eyes on hers. She gulped, his eyes are so scary yet filled with darkness you want to illuminate. Like they say, there's always light at the end of the tunnel.

Instead of eating her food, she's lost her appetite so she pushed her plate in front of him which he stared at for a few seconds then look back at her again. "I'm not hungry anymore but it looks like you need it more than I do. I mean, it's your house." She shrugged nonchalantly with wide eyes.

Jannah watch him eat with roughness she never thought he would use to eat food, he is far too posh for the way he eats. Like a young hungry kid. Her heart reached out for him because he must've definitely gone days without food all those years ago and got used to eating like he would be starved for the next many days. Her eyes stung with tears, she wanted to stand up and hug the living daylight out of him.

However, she couldn't seem to make herself move. Her knees had locked, and she strongly suspected that if she try standing up, she would fall flat on her face. She stared at him helplessly, while her heart thumped in a hard, uncontrollable rhythm, and her body flooded with heat. It's beating too hard, never before.

She had never experienced such a response to anyone in her life. Awareness of him pounded through her, and she realized how badly she wanted to touch him, draw her fingertips down the side of his lean cheek, kiss his firm, cynical mouth until it softened against hers in passion. She wants to kiss him!

It can't be, she thought with a burst of panic. She could not feel such things for a man as immoral and depraved as Adnan Ibrahim Attahir, Draco.

She pushed her chair back and stood up on wobbly legs, she had to lean down on the kitchen island. "I'm going up now. Good night."

Adnan gave her a small nod and continued eating his food. She swallowed thickly and left the kitchen in a hurry. She cannot be in the same room as him after all she's discovered about herself few seconds ago. Just watching two movies with Aisha and she is now obsessed with the idea of being romantic with her very much coldhearted husband? That's absurd and the sooner she discards that from her head the better.

She lie down on her bed and replayed all that's occurred downstairs.

Will she be able to live like that with her husband now? It seems unlikely. She's gotten a glimpse of something and now she cannot help not thinking about it. What if there is another man out there ready to make her feel loved even with her brutal past? What if this is all a sign that she's got a better life somewhere and she is bidding Adnan goodbye?

That transferred her to a conversation she had with Aisha few days ago.

"What would you have done in my place? I mean, married to my husband and all." Jannah had played with the edge of a Jean trousers, her eyes on it too.

Aisha forced her to look up at her. "I've noticed that you don't call your husband's name which is kind of cute and all but you must learn to call him something else if you cannot call his name straight up. Maybe Draco? Not that Alhaji Adnan nonsense I heard once in the villa, it makes my skin crawl, literally."

Jannah glared at her through narrowed eyes even though she knew she was right. She used to call him Alhaji Adnan awkwardly, she never got used to it too. Now that she's thought about it, it was really village-y in Aisha's English of course.

"That's what they call him in my hometown so I decided to go along with it." She shrugged her shoulders with a mild smile gracing her lips.

The people in her hometown loved him mainly because they don't know anything about him but his wealth. Most of the people there tried ruining the union by bad mouthing her and telling him things that had happened to her while adding more nasty stuff on top. But he didn't give a damn, he turned them down each time they tried and told them to never come to him with anything bad about his wife-to-be.

When one of her brothers came to tell her what Adnan had said to the people in her hometown, she went down to prostrate to her Lord. She knew only He could make the impossible possible because He just showed her one of His many ways to ease everyone's affair whether they are the least deserving.

Apart from halting the haranguers from coming to him, he was extremely rich and powerful. The day he came to the state, everyone found out about it. If the sirens and security all over the state is anything to go by, the air sheathing the state will deliver the rest of the news. And he came to see the rotten girl hidden behind her parent's home? That was news.

So even if she wanted to leave the marriage and just do something else, she won't be able to. Her instinct will not permit her. Adnan may be heartless and detached but he's done to her something no other man on earth would have, not with respect anyway. He never loved her and honestly, she's not holding her breath but he's respected her from day one. What more could she ask for? She won't be ungrateful, she refuse to be.

Aisha snapped her hands in front of her face. "Now come back to me. We are not in your hometown and you are his wife, mother of his little heiress. There are a lot of romantic names you can mock him with."

"Alright. What was it I asked you again?"

"What I would do in your situation. You see, I don't know how exactly you feel about your husband and how you two got married. I'm not asking you to tell me if you're not comfortable but let me tell you, I won't give up easily. Why? We have a daughter to consider first. I might not care about him but my daughter's happiness matters. If I leave the marriage, she might not get to spend time with him so I'll stay and make sure it works just like you're doing now. I'll walk away if it becomes toxic. But you know what? You're stronger than me. I wouldn't have been this patient."

Then she is on the right track, huh? But why does she want to kiss him so bad? Feel those hard contours of his body against hers? She huffed angrily at herself, she is acting like a wanton woman when she's lived perfectly for three years without his warmth.

She is a baby producing machine huh? When he needs another heir, he'll then crawl back into her bed. She won't allow him though. He's wrecked his chances but would she really not? She is already desperate as a matter of fact then it won't be hard getting her in bed again. Or on the kitchen island like Aisha had ruthlessly thought they had their first and only sex. That girl is walking evil.

Maybe she should be the one to initiate first so her pride won't be annihilated after he coax her with a few kisses or maybe a come hither look, she'd go. That's what he is doing to her, making her more wanton.

Now when she finally allow herself to fall asleep, she did albeit not peacefully. She is still very much hungry and her head is starting to ache badly. It's been long since she's last gotten sick.