Married To A Tyrant

Before The Wedding (Part 2)

SALMA

"Is that all?" Aunty Raliya asked as we entered the living room. I nodded and dropped the box beside her chair. I felt Mansur standing behind me, waiting for me to move out of the way.

I moved aside to let him drop the boxes in his hand. As he did, I caught a whiff of his cologne. He smelled like a typical Abuja man; sweaty and rich.

As he backed away, he briefly glanced at me. I rolled my eyes and went to sit beside my mum. As I sat next to her, I saw her nodding her head thoughtfully as she watched me. "Me ya faru, Mama (What happened, mother)?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"Miye tsakanin ke da Mansur (What's between you and Mansur)?" she asked, keeping her voice down. Aunty Raliya was busy talking with my siblings, - Nana, Jafar, Safiya and Khalid - so she wasn't paying us any attention. "Nothing is going on between Mansur and I. Why are you asking?" I replied.

"Don't be naive, Salma. He obviously likes you. He's been glancing at you since he came." she said. I rolled my eyes and forced a smile to my face. "Trust me Mama, there's nothing between us. He's my cousin, and that's all there is to it."

"Ku dai kuka sani (That's between you and him)." she said, leaning back as she turned her attention to the conversation my siblings were having with Aunty Raliya. I took out my phone from my purse and began to play Subway Surfers until Mama decided it was time for us to leave. As Baba came down from the stairs with Uncle Shareef, I stood up to say my goodbyes to Rukayyah and the twins, Nafisah and Hafsah. They promised to come and visit us soon, and Mama was very happy at the news.

As I hopped into the car, I saw Mansur walking around to come and say goodbye. He spent a few minutes talking to Baba, probably about work. Then he greeted Mama, Jafar, Safiya and Khalid. Without even looking at me, he turned around and went back to the BQ.

"Thank God." I muttered to myself, clasping my seatbelt. I didn't want anything to do with him. His reputation was well known among all the elites in Abuja. Mansur was known to go to parties almost everyday. He slept around with multiple women, which surprisingly Aunty Raliya did not seem to know. Maybe it was because nobody close to her was willing to tell her.

Just two months ago, I went with my friend to her cousin's birthday party in Maitama. She was celebrating her 20th birthday, so her brothers decided to throw a party for her.

While the girls were inside, having a good time and dancing to Bruno Mars' Uptown funk, the guys were out in the backyard doing their own stuff. Halfway through the party, we heard a commotion outside, which we all went out to see.

A huge fight had broken out, and several people were throwing bottles at each other. Apparently, Mansur and his friends had brought some alcohol which they were drinking in a corner. Some of the guys were beginning to join them, so the hosts asked them to leave. They took offence to that, and an argument broke out.

I didn't want anything to do with him after that incident. Thankfully, he didn't know I was at the party. No wonder he was trying to act all nice and caring today.

Idiot.

"Salma, ba zakiyi missing dina ba (Salma, won't you miss me)?" Nana asked as she stood beside the car.

"Kwana biyar kadai zakiyi fah (You're only spending five days)." I laughed. "It's not like you're not coming back."

"I hate you." she said, walking away with Hafsah and Nafisah. I rolled my eyes and sat back in my seat.

*****

"Salma, wake up." Safiya said, shaking me violently. "You promised to come with me to Silverbird."

"You can't be serious. It's 12pm fah." I groaned, checking my phone.

"Mama zata fita da motan, so tace driver zai sauke mu sai ya dawo ya kaita inda zata (Mama wants to go out with the car, so she said the driver will drop us off before he comes back to take her)." she said, hitting me with a pillow.

"Hey! Behave yourself. I'm older than you fah." I said, hitting her with the pillow. She squealed, then hit me with the pillow again. "Yeah, but only by two months. Technically, we're the same age." she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm going to tell Aunty Asmau." I said, slipping off the bed. "Then I'll just tell Mama as well." she replied, running out of the room. She always played that card, threatening to report me to my mum whenever I threatened to report her to her mum.

Perks of being in a polygamous family.

I rolled my eyes and headed for my bathroom, grabbing my toothbrush as I stared at my reflection. My eyes were reddened from the lack of sleep. I had stayed up last night watching Grey's Anatomy until Fajr prayer. I was at season three, and I planned on finishing it this weekend.

I brushed my teeth quickly and showered, washing my hair to untangle it. I wrapped my towel around my body as I stepped out of the shower. I walked into my closet and ran my fingers across my clothes, trying to pick something to wear. I settled on my pink atamfa with blue lace sleeves. I slipped into the clothes and sat in front of my dressing mirror to dry my hair. As I did, my phone buzzed beside me. I checked the screen and saw a text from Mustapha, my ex-boyfriend. I rolled my eyes and continued to dry my hair.

Ten minutes later, I wrapped my veil around my now-dry hair and grabbed my phone. I left my room and went to the living room, where Mama was watching reruns of Married Again.

"Barka da safiya, Mama (Good morning Mama)." I greeted, kneeling beside her.

"Yauwa (Okay)." she said, not even looking at me. Apparently, something interesting was happening, because I saw all the family members in the show gathered in the living room, arguing about something. Or rather, they were watching the lead actress arguing with her father-in-law. I rolled my eyes and headed into the dining room, where Jafar and Khalid were having their breakfast.

That's right, we have our breakfast at 12pm in this house.

"You're crazy. Morata is the worst player ever." Khalid said, stabbing his fries with his fork.

"Look at this i***t. Just because he missed three opportunities, you're trying to label him a bad player? What about that your useless striker? That one has been missing every goal opportunity that came his way." Jafar argued, stabbing his fries as well.

"You're forgetting all the goals he scored when he came? Lukaku is just having a rough time. But Morata is good for nothing. He's just walking around as if he owns Chelsea. Even Hazard can play better than him." Khalid said.

"Yaya Salma, please help me out here. You watched our last match against Liverpool ai. Who's better, Morata or Lukaku?" Jafar asked, looking at me. I'd been sitting here for almost five minutes, but neither of them had even looked at me until now.

"Oh, sai yanzu kuka ganni koh? (Oh, so you guys are just seeing me right?)" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"Good morning. Now please answer the question." Khalid said, turning to face me as well.

"Well," I said, tapping the corners of my lips. "Lukaku has scored more goals than Morata, but the quality of Morata's goals is better than Lukaku's. So I guess Morata is a better player than Lukaku."

"Impossible. You don't even know anything about football." Khalid said, grabbing his plate as he left the dining table. Jafar was laughing so hard he fell from his chair.

"Yaya Salma," Safiya called from the door. "The driver is ready."

I grabbed my phone and left the dining table, heading for my room. "Ina zuwa (I'm coming)." I said to Safiya. I took my purse from the dressing mirror and grabbed my veil and abaya from the closet.

"Umma, sai mun dawo (Umma, see you later)." we both said, heading out as she called "Allah ya kiyaye (May Allah keep you safe)."

"We're taking the Ford." Safiya said, walking towards the car that was already in front of the gate. "Why can't we take the Range Rover? It's more comfortable." I said, walking towards the car.

"Malam Iro said there's a problem with one of the wheels." she replied as I took my seat beside her.

"Malam Iro, ina kwana? (Good morning Malam Iro)." I said to the driver. "Lafiya qalau, Hajiya. An tashi lafiya? (Good morning to you too, Hajiya. Did you sleep well?)" he asked.

"Alhamdulillah." I said, clasping my seatbelt in place. As we drove out of the house, my phone buzzed once again. Another text from Mustapha. I rolled my eyes and dropped the phone.

"Mustapha?" Safiya asked.

"Who else? The i***t has been disturbing me since last week. Wai he wants us to get back together." I said, turning to face the window.

"Some men are just stupid wallahi. How can he even continue talking to you when he explicitly told you that he doesn't want to get married to you? What's the point of even being in a relationship with him then?" she said, hissing in frustration.

"Don't mind the idiot." I said, smiling as we passed Dominoes Pizza. "Remind me to get some pizza on our way back." I said.

"It's like you read my mind wallahi." Safiya laughed.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Silverbird. As we got out of the car, Malam Iro said "Hajiya tace in dawo nan da hour hudu in dauke ku. (Hajiya said I should come back in four hours to pick you guys up)."

"No problem." I said, shutting the door. As we walked in, some guys standing by the door began to whisper as they pointed at us. "Come on." I said, grabbing Safiya's hand as we hurried in before they could come towards us.

"Let's watch Moana." Safiya said, pouting her lips.

"But we've watched that movie like a thousand times. Let's watch something else." I said. "How about Wonder Woman?"

"Sounds good to me." she said. As we joined the queue to buy our ticket, Safiya left to get us some drinks. She bought a Coke for herself and a Fanta for me. I grabbed the bottle and straw and thanked her. My throat was feeling very dry for some reason. As I opened the bottle, I tripped on my abaya and almost fell to the floor. But luckily, I steadied myself by holding onto Safiya's shoulder. But unfortunately, my drink spilled a little on someone's shoe.

"Ina lillahi wa ina illaihi rajiun (From Allah we came, and unto him we shall return). I'm so sorry." I said, looking down at the man's trouser which was now stained with my drink.

"Are you insane? What the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled, making me flinch.

"It was an accide..." I started to say, but the words got stuck in my throat as I looked up. It was none other than Mansur, my cousin.

He was wearing a white long sleeve shadda with a brown cap and polished black shoes. His eyebrows relaxed as he looked at me, but he quickly frowned once again.

"If you don't know how to walk, then just stay at home and don't go anywhere." he yelled, drawing the attention of people around.

"Mansur, miye haka dan Allah. Tace bata sani ba ai. (Mansur, what is this for God's sake? She said it was a mistake)." a man in front of us said. He was probably Mansur's friend.

"I don't care." he yelled, glaring at me. I tried to open my mouth, but I was speechless.

Safiya was about to speak up for me, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her away. We left Mansur standing there, his friend telling him to stop overreacting.

"Wasn't that Yaya Mansur?" Safiya asked as we walked away.

"Just ignore him." I said, not looking back at him. This was the first time a man had yelled at me in public. But unknown to me, it certainly wouldn't be the last time.