Chapter 39 25: Exchange Of Bride

She had already got ready before he came back from mosque and waited for him, because he told her that they were taking an 8am flight in Kano and they had to leave as early as they could from Katsina. He only knocked on the door and she walked out with her feet hurting much less than her heart hurt, but she knew she had to act all tough for the time being. It wasn t time for her to act all whiny and frail, she had to be strong enough to carry the storm she had created herself. Throughout their drive to Kano, Mujaheed hadn t lifted a brow toward her, and she cried even though without making a sound, until they reached Kano. He wished he could strangle her until she stopped crying because he knew for a fact that she wasn t crying because she wanted him to forgive her, she was crying because of what Adam did to her. Maybe she even wanted him back after what had happen. Or she had missed him and would love for a chance to let him know of her immense love for him. Throughout their flight, no word was shared between them and when Jibril came to pick them up in the airport, Nana kept crying so hard that Alhaji had to ask him to take her with him. She ran to Fareed and engulfed her into a hug, breaking into painful tears. Fareeda had been waiting for a reason to let her tears out, she broke into tears as well and hugged Nana so tight. Nana had always came when she needed her. She always gave her the best of hugs, whenever she needed them. She slowly broke their hug and looked at her, "We should get in the car, Nana. People are watching us." She said with a crying voice and Nana nodded her head with her tears still rolling down her cheeks. They sat together at the back of the car and Fareeda couldn t control her tears anymore. Upon their arrival in the mansion, Fareeda let Nana guide her into the house. Mujaheed hadn t asked her to come to his chamber and she knew she would be roasted if she did. Nana guided her to her room and she sat at the edge of her bed, feeling alienated to her own bedroom. When she looked around, nothing looked like hers, she felt as if this was either her first or second time coming into the room. She didn't think of it as her room even though she had spent almost all her life there. Deep down in her heart, Fareeda knew the only place her soul and heart had gotten accustomed to was Mujaheed s chamber, that was home for her. Not this luxuries mansion that had no sense of life to it. That had too much painful memories that despite the situation she was in, she couldn't help the preview coming to her heart. Nana came in shortly and she smiled brightly at her, "I ve prepared your best food, Ya Fareeda. You should eat something before you sleep, I'm sure Alhaji will summon you in his living room in the afternoon or even in the evening." She held Nana s hands and smiled weakly at her, "Did you cry a lot while I wasn t home?" She asked and felt as more tears pooled the brink of her eyes. Innocently, Nana nodded her head and Fareeda smiled before she pulled her to her chest. "You don t have to cry anymore since I'm back, Nana, okay?" She said and Nana nodded her head against her chest. She pulled away from her and stared into her eyes, "Ummah kept saying horrible things about you, Ya Fareeda. Her and Asma u even said that Ya Mujaheed will divorce you but I don t want that to happen, I want you guys to stay together forever, so I spoke to him." Fareeda felt as her heart lost a bit, she knew from the way she had seen Mujaheed since yesterday that he was going to divorce her. She was even surprised that he didn t divorced her already. Maybe he was waiting for them to sit together with Alhaji before he did it? She held Nana s hands and cleared her tears away, "What did he say, Nana? That he s going to divorce me, right? She asked, and immediately Nana shook her head. "He consoled me and told me that whenever they tell me that he's going to divorce you, I should tell them that you re his wife and nothing is going to separate you two, and Insha Allah you ll be his wife until Jannah. Isn t that lovely, Ya Fareeda?" She asked with a loving smile and something shrunk in Fareeda s heart. She knew that he might have said that to Nana to console her and stop her from crying, but deep down Fareeda knew he was going to divorce her and nothing could stop him from doing that. No one, not even Alhaji. "It s so lovely of him. I'll sleep now after eating what you brought, wake me up when Alhaji calls me for me, will you?" She asked and Nana nodded her head before she bade her goodbye and walked out of the room. Fareeda was about to lock the door when Asma u banged it open and her heart lost a bit. She didn t have the energy to fight, it was as if Adam had sucked up all her energy and self worth. "What brought you here, Asma u?" She managed to ask, even though she knew that even if Asma u was going to fight her, she wouldn t retaliate, she didn t have the energy to do that. Asma u mischievously smiled and glared at her, "What else would bring me here, Fareeda Kamal Sardauna? Of course you know what brought me here. I came here because of what you did to my mother and yes, marrying the man you promised to get me married to. I haven't forgotten about your fake promise, Fareeda. What do you think you ve done? Used me and made a fool out of me?" She clamored angrily and Fareeda shook her head at her, trying so hard to flick her tears back but they rushed down on her cheeks. Asma u threw her back and laughed, pointing at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. "What? I must have seen wrong, the whole Fareeda Kamal Sardauna crying? Tell me, has he divorced you already?" She flicked her hair away from her face and held an arrogant expression, "You know, no man will stay with a whore like you as a wife, Fareeda. You re everything a man despises, you re worthless, and a bag full of trash. I don t know whether someone has mentioned it to you once, but you don t deserve to be loved, mostly, you don t deserve a husband like Mujaheed. I want you to know something, Fareeda..." Fareeda lifted her palms up, she didn t want a repetition of what transpired between her and Adam to happen again. Her self esteem was crushed already. "Will you please let me alone, Asma u? I'm really in no position to deal with you now, okay?" She said weakly and Asma u wrapped her hands around her chest and held a stoic expression. "So brave of you, Fareeda. Aren't you even ashamed of yourself even a bit? You followed your man-whore to a different state and stayed for over three weeks and now you have the guts to face your husband and father as well? Why are so you shameless of the outrageous sins you commit? And I'm quite sure that you expect him to still regard you as his wife, don t you?" She asked, and Fareeda felt the question to the deepest corner of her soul. She realized the answer even without giving it much thought. It was a yes, she would love to stay with Mujaheed for as long as he wanted to stayed with her. Fareeda cleared her tears and flashed Asma u an unbelievable look. "Why are you doing this to me, Asma u? Can t you please see that I'm no position for this? I really want to be alone with my thoughts. I can even beg you, please leave me alone." "Why I am doing this? We both know the reason, it s because I love Mujaheed, Ya Fareeda. I know for a fact that you haven't been intimate with him since you got married, at least that would give me a chance with him. And I know he wouldn t want to become intimate with you after what happened now, you following your man-whore all the way to Katsina from Taraba State." She hated all these words Asma u was throwing at her, she knew if she was her old self, nothing could have prevented Ummah from rushing over to her room to take an unconscious Asma u to the hospital. But right now as things were moving, she felt she had no right to even speak back at her. She didn't have that right. "What...what do you mean?" She asked, pained at the way she stated a fact. She wondered how Asma u knew that she hadn t been intimate with Mujaheed, and what was her concern with their personal life? "I mean, due to your foolishness, you didn t let Mujaheed come close to you in that way because you were busy keeping your safe for your man-whore that isn t your husband. And in islam, so long as you don't have any sort of intimacy with him, I can marry him. I guess you don t know that as you re busy chasing your boyfriend that to stay at one place and know the rules of Allah." Fareeda palmed her face and mustered the remaining courage she had in her, but without doubt she was afraid. She was afraid that if what Asma u said was true, which she was sure was true, she had a chance with him. And if Ummah wanted, she can ask Alhaji to make Mujaheed divorce her so he could get married to Asma u. Or he can do that himself. He can divorce her and get married to Asma u to hurt her as much as she hurt him. "I've heard you, and I wish you all the best. Will you please leave?" Her tears came back to her cheeks as she thought of the possibility that before today ended, Mujaheed would be married to Asma u and she would be left with no one. She had never thought that she would be jealous over Mujaheed until today that she had foreseen the possibility of him being together with another woman apart from her. "Ya Asma u, if you don t leave her alone I'll go and tell Ya Mujaheed that you re making her cry." They both heard Nana s voice by the door and Asma u wished she could smack her down. But she knew Fareeda might act weak when it was about her, but she will be all fury when she made the mistake of touching Nana. "I dare you to do that, and I ll make sure to skin you alive, foolish girl." She stomped out of the room and Nana waited until she was out of the chamber before she turned her eyes back to Fareeda and smiled at her.