Married to Mysterious

CHAPTER FIVE

I looked up at Asma as she was chopping the vegetables. "What did you just say?" I asked confusion all over my face.

"Shhhh.. "She silenced me looking behind her as if to make sure no one was there. She dragged me out of the kitchen taking me to her room. She locked the door and sat on the bed dragging me along with her. I stared at her not knowing what was coming.

"Aunty jidda." She sighed. "I don't know if telling you this is right thing to do or not. But I have no other choice since I blurted it out anyway."

What was she going to tell me? Is it something scary? A family secret? Well why the hurry jidda? The inner me mocked.

"You see.." She started. "Adeel is not normally like this. Something happened to him. And it changed him. He became this.. This.. What should I call it distant? Cold? "

"What happened to him?" I cut her off with the question lingering in my mind.

"I don't know. I really don't." She answered shaking her head.

"Then how did you know something happened to him? "I stared at her in confusion. All she said did not make sense to me.

"It happened two years ago. You heard about his ex wife right? Nadia. She was his high school love. He liked her a lot. They have been together for years. They got married two years ago. At that time my family were against the marriage. He was only 25. He threw all kinds of tantrum. Until he got our parents blessings. He was so happy. They left for kaduna where he worked that time. They come to visit from time to time. They were a happy couple. Then one day. After about 4 months of not coming home. Mom always nag him to come visit us. He normally comes every month but that time he didn't. She was worried about him. She decided to go and see him herself. On hearing that he came three days later. He doesn't look like himself. He look sick, pale, distressed and broken. He was not with aunty Nadia. When mom asked him of his wife he shook his head and said he doesn't want to talk about it. "

"It was later that mom told me that they divorced. She won't tell me why. I don't know if she was hiding why they divorced or she simply didn't know too. Since then he was distant. Nobody dared to call her name in front of him. He refused to see any other girl. Mom forced him from one arranged meeting to another but he refused to marry. The fact that he agreed to marry you was a miracle. We are all happy. He took a step. We all hope he could move from his past." She finished smiling at me.

I stayed silent. Allowing this information to sink in. All kinds of thoughts twirling in my mind. What could have possibly happened?

"Let's go aunty jidda. Before mom starts looking for us. Or before we burned the house." She joked to lighten the atmosphere. Dragging me back to the kitchen.