Married To A Tyrant

Before the Wedding (Part 5)

MANSUR

"Mansur. Wake up!" I heard Umma say. She tapped my leg gently, as I squirmed into my bed. I reached over to grab my duvet, but my hands grasped nothing but air. That was when I realised that I wasn't on my bed. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around, immediately shutting them again as the light pierced my sensitive eyes. Almost immediately, I felt a stinging pain in my head.

"Haba mana, kasan qarfe nawa kuwa? Ko sallar asuba bakayi ba balle azahar(Come on, do you know what the time is? You haven't even prayed Subhi, not to talk of Zuh'r)." she said, her voice sharply stinging my ears.

"Come on Umma, you don't have to shout." I grumbled, rolling from the couch onto the floor. The hard floor felt oddly more comfortable than the couch.

"I'm not shouting. Just wake up and have your breakfast at least." she said, dropping what I assumed was a tray beside me.

Grudgingly, I opened my eyes again and looked down. There was a bowl of pepper soup on the tray, with an omelette and some fried potatoes. There was also some orange juice in a jug, and two cupcakes.

"Nagode (Thanks)" I muttered, grabbing my fork as I wolfed down the food. There was still a bland taste in my mouth, but it quickly began to vanish as my taste buds woke up completely.

"Slow down, or you'll end up choking." Umma cautioned, placing her hand on my shoulder. I sipped the orange juice and relaxed a bit.

"What's the time?" I asked Umma, scratching my head as I rummaged my pockets for my phone. Weirdly, it wasn't in my pocket. "That's strange." I muttered. My phone was always in my pocket, no matter what.

"2:27 pm." she said, checking her phone. I shrugged and continued to eat. I felt her eyes on me as I ate, but I didn't turn to look at her.

"The engineer came this morning. He said they'll be done with the downstairs bedroom on Thursday, which means you can move back in on Saturday." she said, watching me closely to see my expression.

"Alhamdulillah." I said, still rummaging for my phone.

"Your father wants to see you, by the way." she said, standing up. I furrowed my brows as I looked up at her. "Right now? But I just woke up. And I have a serious headache. Can't you just tell him I'm not around?"

"He went out with Rukayyah and Hafsah. They'll be back in a few hours, so you'll have some time to yourself. Freshen up before they get back." she said before leaving the room.

"Ya Allah!" I groaned, pushing myself to my feet. My head throbbed viciously, and I had to steady myself with the couch. 'There must be some painkillers in my drawer' I thought to myself. Partially shutting my eyes, I dragged myself to my room and gingerly sat on the bed.

"Where are they?" I muttered to myself as I searched the drawer for the pills.

"Finally." I smiled as my hands landed on the pills. I popped two pills out of the paper bag and swallowed them without any water.

I collapsed onto the bed and heaved a sigh, grabbing my duvet. I turned on the A.C and pulled the duvet over my body.

*****

"WHERE IS HE?" Abba yelled just outside my bedroom window. I jolted upwards, the noise stirring me awake. Several people were shuffling their feet just outside the room, and everyone was talking rapidly that I couldn't separate one voice from the other.

"Haba Sharif, dazu dana shiga naga kamar bashi da lafiya. Kar kaje ka takura mishi (Come on Sharif, when I saw him a while ago, he looked ill. Don't go and disturb him)." I heard Umma say.

"ENOUGH, RALIYA. I'VE HAD ENOUGH. I'M TIRED OF YOUR EXCUSES. MOVE OUT OF MY WAY." Abba yelled, making me flinch slightly. The fear he'd inflicted in me throughout my life still lingered today. But maybe not as intense as before.

A few more words were exchanged between them; words which no child would wish to hear his parents saying to each other. As the argument died down, I heard a bang on the door. I paused and remained as quiet as possible, listening very closely. Another bang came shortly afterwards. I gingerly crawled out of bed and tiptoed to the door. I check through the pigeon hole and saw Hafsah standing at the door.

"What is it?" I asked immediately after I opened the door. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she had tear stains on her cheeks.

"Abba na kiran ka (Abba is calling you)." she said in a very raspy voice. She turned back and went into the house, leaving the door open for me. I crossed my fingers as I stepped out and headed towards the house.

Abba was sitting in the living room, holding a Qur'an in his hands with his reading glasses on. He was breathing heavily, and I could tell he was in a very foul mood.

"Assalamu alaikum." I greeted as I entered the living room. Umma was sitting on the dining table in the kitchen, shaking violently.

Rukayyah, Nafisah and Hafsah were seated at Abba's feet, looking downtrodden. Afnan, the nanny, was standing by the kitchen door, looking as if she wanted to shrink into the wall and disappear forever.

"Wa alaikum as salam." Abba replied quietly. He continued to recite his Qur'an silently, while I leaned against the wall and waited for him to speak.

A few minutes passed silently, and nobody stirred except for Umma, who was still shaking violently.

"Sit." Abba finally said, closing the Qur'an and placing it beside him. I knelt down beside the couch and looked straight at his feet, waiting for him to speak.

"First of all, I've not called you here to waste my time, or anybody else's time. I've called you here, in the presence of every member of this household to tell you three things.

Firstly, your mother and I have decided that it will be best if we part ways with each other. This may come as a shock to you, but I've divorced her once." he said, pausing for some reason.

Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun (From Allah we came, and unto him we shall return). This is impossible. Never in my life did I ever assume that my parents will get separated. Their marriage was like the very foundations of this earth; unmovable and unshakable. This is impossible.

"Understand," he continued "That it's not out of any hatred or animosity that we made this decision. We took this action for our benefit as individuals, as well as for your benefit as our children. I still love her very dearly, but we cannot continue to live as a married couple, for reasons that we wish to keep private.

"Secondly, I wish to ask you a question. " he said, leaning forward. "Where did you go to yesterday?" he asked.

"Nowhere." I said quietly. I didn't wish to escalate the situation.

"Kai Mansur, kalli cikin idona ka gani. Ba wasa nazo yi ba. Ka fada mun gaskiya ko inyi maka wulaqanci yanzunnan wallahi (Hey Mansur, look into my eyes and see. I didn't come here to play. Tell me the truth before I take a grievous action against you)." he yelled, the anger radiating off him in waves.

"Nowhere in particular." I said, still looking at his feet. "I just went to see a friend of mine who returned from Sudan."

"Rukayyah, go and call them in." Abba commanded, in a tone that would rival Moses when he commanded the sea to part. Rukayyah stood up silently and walked out of the house through the front door, leaving the door slightly open. No one said a word until she came back, accompanied by a slightly overweight woman clutching the wrist of a young girl who was sobbing violently. She appeared to be eighteen or nineteen, and her mismatched clothing told the same story as the tears that were falling from her eyes.

"Bismillah." Abba said, pointing to the two-seater beside him. They both sat down noiselessly, while Rukayyah took up her former position.

"Mansur, look at this girl's face very carefully and tell me if you know who she is." Abba said, pointing to the girl who was still sobbing quietly.

I looked up at the girl, focusing very intently on her face. I tried to remember where I'd seen her before, but I couldn't.

"I can't remember ever seeing her." I said, turning back towards Abba. He remained quiet for a few seconds, probably processing my reply.

"You don't remember her?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You've never seen her face before?"

"Yes."

"Did you go to a party yesterday?"

...

"Answer me!"

"Yes."

"And you don't recall seeing her there?"

"I don't remember." I said. To be honest, everything that happened after we picked Salim up was a blur. I couldn't really remember much, not even how I got home.

"Well, this girl's name is Amina. She claims to have seen you at the party you went to yesterday. And I believe her. But the issue here is that she claims that you raped her." he spat.

"Auzu billahi minash shaitanir rajim (I seek refuge from Allah against the devil)." I shot up, causing the girl to flinch. "This is a blatant lie. I did not see this girl, so I don't know how I would have even done what you're accusing me of."

"Me zaisa muzo har gidan ku muyi maka sharri (Why would we come all the way to your house just to accuse you of something)?" the mother asked, standing up as well.

"Can both of you settle down? We're trying to get to the bottom of this matter." Abba commanded. His tone forced her back to her seat, myself included.

"Now Amina, can you please tell us how everything happened?" Abba asked, looking closely at her. Her sobs became louder as her entire body shook with reverberation.

"Be strong, my child." Abba encouraged her. I was so confused, I didn't even know what to say.

As she rose to her feet, her eyes darted towards me briefly before she turned away, her tears flowing endlessly.

"Y... Yes... Yesterday, a... at the pa... party, he came up to me with his friends and said he wanted to... to talk to me. My friends and I were not acquainted with him, so we politely declined.

"W... We continued to have fun, until late in the evening, towards Magrib prayer when we decided to leave the party. O... On our way out, two of his friends stopped my two friends and said they wanted to talk to them.

"W... wh... when they left, he came out of nowhere and forcibly dragged me to his car and shoved me in. I... I screamed for help, but nobody came, as the music was too loud.

"He climbed in and sh... shut the door, and... and... and then he..." she broke down in tears again, while I stared dumbfounded at her.

"It's okay, you may sit down." Abba said. She immediately rushed back to her mother and continued to sob miserably.

"Now," Abba continued. "I believe you all have heard what she said. The fact here is that I personally investigated and found out whether her accusations are true or false. So when they came this afternoon, I personally went to the car and checked it. Rukayyah can bear me witness that we saw a discarded condom below the seats. We also found blood stains on the seats, and some of her lipstick had rubbed off on the seats.

"But all these are not tangible evidences. Anything could have occurred in that car, so we can't be sure of what happened. So, you can imagine my surprise when I found Mansur's phone on the floor, with this text message displayed on the lockscreen." he said, taking out my phone from his pockets. He handed the phone to Hafsah, who was leaning beside him. She threw the phone towards me, refusing to look up at me.

As I looked down at the lockscreen, my heart gave a thud when I saw the message from Mubarak:

M; Baba, matan nan sun hadu wlhy. Nidai 3 rounds kadai naje, kai fah? (Dude, those girls were hot. I only went three rounds. How about you?