Soiled #ProjectNigeria ✔️

Chapter Twenty One: Muad'h La Chef

This chapter is for my mother in law and friend  ZeenahKabir. Happy Birthday sisterly, May God's light and blessings be yours forevermore. 🎊🎊🎉🎉🎇🎇👻❤

"You zone out a lot." I looked at him and watched as he manoeuvred the steering wheel. My eyes stray to the fuel indicator. Full tank.

Just the way I feel,  I feel full, I feel too full. I feel like the walls will soon begin to close up on me. I feel like I'll soon be in an airtight space that only Allah can get me out of.

"I'm just worried. Your father made me think of the rumours I heard at the beginning of the year. I had completely shrugged them off as trash talk." I sigh and look out of the window.

"Our Father. He's both mine and yours together." I glance sharply at him, what does he mean?

I don't get an answer as he honks for the gate to my parents home to be opened. One of the security looked out and opened the automated gate and we drove in.

Adeel placed the car on park and I put my hand on his arm for the second time today. "You can call me Beela. It's less of a mouthful." He nods stiffly and opens the door adjusting his cap after stepping out. I wrap my veil around my face and shoulders properly.

When we walk through the front door, Hajiya Mama, my parents, and some of my father's relatives from Kano are sitting on various chairs in the living room, leaving a sofa for I and Adeel to sit on. All these people never asked why I left my marriage to you_know_who, all they did was judge. All they did was point fingers at me, call me names. Now I'm married again and they want to see the man I'm married to.

I sit next to Adeel and after studying my nails, I make a mental note to myself to make a manicurist appointment. I need to rebuff my nails.

".......Keh, I hope you've started taking care of him, you can't let him send you back home like your ex-husband did." I look up to see my uncle, Hajiya Mama's second good for nothing third son whom two of his children almost became Almajiris if not for the timely intervention of Baba. I growl at him mentally.

"I'm taking care of him." I answer with a silly smile I put on my face. Adeel straightened up and asked my father how business was. Baba launched into a never ending tirade. He's like that with whoever asks him about his business.

A few minutes later the Adhaan for Asr began to sound and all the men walked out of the room to pray in the mosque behind our house. Hajiya Mama led us females.

Once prayer was over, my mother  walked me to her bedroom. I've not been in it for a long time so I looked around, everything is in a beautiful shade of cream and chocolate, from drapes to chairs to bedclothes.

"Nabeela, you must ensure that Adeel makes you his one and only wife, men like women that can endure, they like it when they know there's someone they can take their frustration out on at home. So, be his soak away, take all his troubles away. You see how I've been able to manage your father and his relatives for almost thirty years. With only you as my child. It's not easy." I look up to see that she's expecting an answer so I nod stiffly.

Mother, the only reason you've stayed here this long is because you've tolerated too much, your husband cheated and instead of you to castigate him, you tried to kill his mistress, you did all sorts of things that I'll never do to keep myself in one man's house. Never ever.

She hands me a gift box wrapped in blue paper and on one hand I want to see what it is and on the other hand, I want to leave this place. I choose the latter.