Chapter 51: Finally, His Mrs.

She stifled a yawn while she stretched her body and sighed. Yesterday wasn’t good at all, she couldn’t sleep until after she prayed her subh prayer, but it was at least a good thing. She had finally figured out what she wanted and why she wanted that. She sat upright on the bed and rested her head on her brought up knees, she wasn’t skeptical about her decision yesterday, was why she now? It wasn’t a bad thing not to be married to Yazeed, was it? She could do perfectly fine by herself. Remembering all that he did to her and said, he realized he wasn’t worth her giving him a second. She couldn't risk her life again, her happiness, her mental health. No one deserved that from her.

She got down from the bed and decided she should bathe and go tell him what she had decided. They weren’t meant to be, they both should understand. And her turning down his proposal didn't mean that she didn't love him anymore, she did. She was even certain she would love Yazeed until her last breath. But she couldn't do it anymore, it had to stop now. It simply meant she chose herself first. Made herself a priority, her happiness, and her mental health. Which if you asked her, was a good thing she did to herself. And a better compensation to herself for all that she had been through in her life.

She sluggishly moved the window and lifted the curtain, like she had always done in the morning. But what baffled her was, Yazeed wasn't there today, even though he had promised her that he would always come until she decided what she wanted to do with them. She shrugged off her shoulder and mused to herself that maybe he had gotten tired of chasing her or he got an important call from the company that he had to take the next flight for. She walked to her bathroom and after she took her bathe, drying her face with her hand towel, Jalilah heard the ringing of her phone.

She scavenged for it under her bed and when she found it, it was a private number. Who was it? She was sure if Yazeed wanted to call her, he would do that straight forward, why would he hide his number? She hissed softly and threw the phone on the bed until after she got ready. She was going to have a one-on-one conversation with Mama about her final decision. She was sure Mama would understand and support her. After she was done getting ready, she took her phone and went downstairs, where she met the three of them having breakfast on the dining table, and she joined.

“Good morning, Addah,” Fareed an Fareeda greeted in unison and she smiled at them before she answered while she turned to Mama.

“Good morning, Mama.” She greeted and Mama smiled from where she stood and nodded her head. She was always in a good mood when she woke up and there was a time when Jalilah asked her how she could be in such a good mood in the early hours of the day and she said, ‘Allah gave me life, health and I'm happy, why wouldn’t I be in a good mood, Jalilah? I don’t lack anything, Alhamdulillah.’

“Morning, Jalilah. Yazeed didn’t come today, did he go back to Abuja already?” Mama asked, and the twins made a humming sound which emanated that they wanted to know the answer too.

She shrugged off her shoulders and was about to answer with a nonchalant expression when her phone beeped, she checked, and it was an image sent from a new number. When she opened the image, first, she had to place the phone on the table because she wasn’t sure what's she was seeing was real or it was merely her own illusion. This man tied up on the chair looked like Yazeed, he surely did. But how?

She abruptly looked up to Fareed, “Fareed, after you too Yazeed back to the hotel yesterday, are you sure he went in there safely?” She asked, feeling as the way her heart kept palpitating in such a way that she was sure it was only a matter of seconds before she burst into tears and all hell would break loose.

They all noticed how distraught she seemed in a matter of barely a second. “What is it, Jalilah?” Mama asked and they asked the same too. Fareeda took the phone and she gasped out loudly when she saw the picture on display. “Wallah it’s Hamma Yazeed! Look, Mama!” She handed them the phone and Fareed instantly stood up.

“I knew it! I just didn’t want to frighten any of you because I didn't think it would be this serious. But Mama when I drove him to the hotel yesterday in the evening, I'm sure there was someone following us behind. And it briskly looked like Khaleefa, I'm not certain though. And when Hamma Yazeed told me that I shouldn't get him in the morning today, he has a meeting he would attend online and after then, he’ll get a cab here, I thought he would be okay...”

Fareed wasn’t done with what he was saying when Jalilah screamed and she broke into tears. “Mama! It’s Khaleefah! Look, he sent me an address with a caption!” She handed Fareeda her phone because she knew she couldn’t read that out loud. What happened to Yazeed? Was he safe? Where the hell were they now?

“Good morning, Jalilah. I'm sure this is the man you love, right? And even though I've warned him forehand, he still went ahead and want you in his life, didn't you tell him that you can’t be with any man apart from me? Well, here’s my address, come and save him if you’re truly his beloved...” And Fareeda called the address out when she finished reading the message, another one popped up. “In case you want him dead, come with police officers. He seems weak already? Looks like the guy is asthmatic and I can’t treat him like the rich guy he is.”

That was it, what she had been dreading. Silly how she didn't think about Khaleefah all this while, she thought he had forgotten about her since she had stopped her from getting married to Yazeed that time. But why hadn’t she thought that the same way he managed to know she was about to get married; he would use that way and know whatever the hell was going through her mind? She shivered silently.

“Mama, Yazeed is asthmatic, I have to go now.” She cried and collected her phone from Fareeda. She was about to run to get the car keys when Mama held her back, they were all afraid and they were clueless of what to do.

“You can’t go there alone, Jalilah. You know how dangerous Khaleefah could be, right? And he used Yazeed to get you there, so he has an evidence that you went to his place first even if we brought up the restriction order. We have to call Uncle Yusuf first, he’ll know what to do.” Well, that seemed like a good idea.

Uncle Yusuf was the one that drove her to the said location, it was in the outskirt of Adamawa and he got down from the car few miles away from the building. She got out of the car in a rush with tears making a fountain of her cheeks. “I don’t want him to get hurt, Uncle Yusuf.” She cried when he placed his hands on her shoulders.

“He’ll be fine, Jalilah, okay? I assure you I'll do everything to make sure he’s safe, Insha Allah. You need to be careful too, but most importantly, you can’t go in there while crying like this, he’ll hurt him ore if he noticed that he truly meant something to you.” Uncle Yusuf patted her in the shoulder, and she cleared her tears with her thumbs before she softly hugged him.

“I'm scared, Uncle Yusuf, what if something happens to him?” She cried and Uncle Yusuf patted her back in a loving way.

“If your Baba was alive, you know he’d make sure that Yazeed came out of this house unscathed, right?” He questioned, and she locked up from his chest while she nodded her head. He cleared her tears and smiled at her, “I’ll make sure of it too, Jalilah, okay? Don’t cry and act strongly.”

Uncle Yusuf’s words were what kept her moving and it was as if they were watching the way because they opened the door for her after she had approached the door. She was led into the living room by some other guy and there he laid, panting for breath and it looked like they did it on purpose. They had brought in some sand around him and put on a fan on it, it was clear; Khaleefah was hell bent on killing her Yazeed.

“Get a sit!” One of the guys thundered and she did as he said, she wanted to reach out to him and fondle him. But she had to act strong, until Khaleefah came out.

He walked out of the room and moved to where she was, grinning happily and enigmatically. “My baby, my beautiful baby, I've missed you.” Her eyes were fixed on Yazeed that had his eyes on her well too, but he couldn't say anything. She pulled her eyes away from him and turned it to Khaleefah moving away from his touch.

“Don’t you dare touch me, Khaleefah!” She roared and he laughed, sending a shiver down her spine.

“Woah! It’s been long, Jalilah, didn't you miss you miss me?” He questioned and sat down on the hand of the sofa; she rolled her eyes at him.

“I'm not here for any of those talks, Khaleefah, I'm quite sure you’re aware of that restriction order on you, right? Don’t push me and set him free, you have no right upon my life to dictate what I should do or not!” She didn’t know why she was suddenly angry, the fact that Yazeed was laying there almost lifelessly and she couldn’t do anything about it because that would entice Khaleefah to harm him further.

“Woah, easy there, tigress! You know I still love you, what’s so hard in comprehending that? And for him...” He pointed at Yazeed that was staring at Jalilah as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“What do you want?” She asked while glaring at him and he smiled softly while he nodded his head. She was afraid, shivering within because seeing Khaleefah had brought all her trauma back, but somehow, she managed to act strong knowing that Yazeed was across the room and also Uncle Yusuf would always be around, he couldn’t hurt her.

“It’s easy, I know you won't get married to me ever again that's why I've arranged my boys to sodomize him in front of you, that will make him forbidden to you no matter how much you love him, right?” No matter how she wanted, she couldn't stay calm and strong anymore. She knew somehow, this would be the way Khaleefah would choose to come back at her. He knew Yazeed might be the only man left on earth, but that single deed could make her hate him with all that she had gotten.

She abruptly stood up, “No! You can’t do that, Khaleefah! Please you can’t do that to him!” She screamed at the pitch of her voice and he yanked her back onto the chair and called out to his boys.

“What are you waiting for? Get into the act already!” As she watched those men approached Yazeed, she screamed again while tears broke onto her cheeks. She bit the hand he was holding her back with and ran to Yazeed before the men reached to him.

She lifted his head up and pulled it to her chest, crying while shaking her head. “You can’t do this to him, Khaleefah. I love him, I want to marry him, he doesn’t deserve this from you!” She kept screaming when the men pulled her away from Yazeed, Jalilah had never felt this afraid, this heartbroken until today. Please, Ya Rabb, not him, not when she was still breathing.

She thought that when she woke up this morning, she had already made up her mind. She didn’t want to get married to him. But seeing him now at this risk where even if she wanted, she could never imagine herself to be with him, Jalilah realized that she wanted to get married to him, she couldn’t do this to her heart. “Please, I'm begging you, Khaleefah, don’t let them do this to him. Wallah I love him, I want to get married to him!” She was crying, shaking while trying so hard to get out of their holds but she couldn’t. She wondered what would be of them before Uncle Yusuf came to their rescue.

“Do that now! How dare you tell me you love him?! Boys, rip him off, now!” And Khaleefah was back to the monster he used to be. She couldn’t see this, there was no way she could let herself have a sight that would break her heart continuously for the rest of her life.

“Uncle Yusuf!!! Save Yazeed for me!!!” She cried at the pitch of her voice and for a split second, she was sure she heard the sound of a shooting gun. She thought maybe Khaleefah had killed Yazeed, maybe he had brought an end to her life now. Because for those seconds, she realized that Yazeed was her life, and she would be nothing without him.

“Freeze!” Another voice uttered in such a great timbre and she opened her eyes slowly, tears gushing down. That was when realized that Yazeed wasn’t killed. Uncle Yusuf was in the living room punching Khaleefah as hard as he could while the other police officers were handcuffing his other boys.

She stumbled to where Yazeed was and lifted his face to her chest. “Yazeed, please hang on for a minute, please Yazeed!” She was crying and begging him not too. Because only Allah knew what had happened to him, how long he had been in this situation without his inhaler or any pill to keep him alive.

“Ballerina...” He whispered softly before closed his eyes and she screamed. “Uncle Yusuf! Yazeed!”

They had already called Sulaiman and he was taking the next flight to Adamawa together with Wafiyya. She couldn’t stop crying to the point that Mama got tired of consoling her. He had to undergo a mild surgery and she couldn’t believe it when she signed the papers. His lungs might fail him or not, nothing was assured. She kept staring at the door and wondered how he was feeling there, would he make it? Please, he better because she could never be herself if he didn’t.

She was still seated on the bench when she saw Wafiyya rushing toward her, agitated. The moment she was hugged by her, Jalilah broke into tears. “I want him alive, Wafiyya. Please you all should tell him to fight for me, wallah I can’t live without him, please!” Wafiyya was crying when she rocked them and kept drawing some soothing circles on her back.

“Shh, he’ll be fine, Jalilah. Insha Allah he will make it.”

They sat there while she couldn’t control her tears and after Sulaiman asked Uncle Yusuf about what was going on, he kept pacing through the corridor. He had never felt this frightened all his life, Yazeed...he sighed and palmed his face. He prayed he made it through, he deserved to be alive. They all ran to the doctor after he was out and he smiled at them, “He has made it, we just have to wait to see when he will be able to wake up.”

Jalilah heaved a sigh and had to sit down because of how weak she had become. After some minutes, she stood up and walked to where Mama was. She sat down and stared at Mama, clearing her tears while more gushed down her cheeks. “I want to get married to him, Mama.” She blurted out. And it wasn’t until after she said it that she realized how much she wanted to get married to him, and that too as soon as she could.

Mama nodded her head a smiled, taking her hand in hers. “You’ll get married to him, Jalilah. We just have to wait until he wakes up, right?”

Jalilah stubbornly shook her head, they all wouldn’t understand. “I can’t wait until he wakes up, Mama. I want to get married to him, today. Maybe after Maghrib prayer, please help me. I want to take care of him, and it’s only by marrying him can I make up for risking his life.”

Mama began shaking her head before she softly spoke, “Jalilah...” She let her words trailed off and Jalilah argued again.

“Mama please, I'm sure that he’s the one I want. I won't regret doing this. Please Mama, wallah I want to be his Mrs. please help me tell Uncle Yusuf, Sulaiman will be his wakil, please Mama.” She had her hands brought up in a begging gesture and Mama took her into a hug.

“You want to get married to him, and you’ll get married to him today Insha Allah, I'll make sure of that.”

She thought it would never happen, for her to be his Mrs. She thought that all those times she had been dreaming to become Yazeed’s wife would never be true, but she was living in the moment now. Uncle Yusuf walked into the room and she looked up at him, expectantly. “Congratulations, Jalilah. You’re now his wife.” She hugged Uncle Yusuf and he laughed before he patted her back. “No more stubbornness, Jalilah, deal?” She laughed and nodded her head.

She broke their hug and turned to look at him on the bed, peacefully sleeping without knowing of anything that was going around him, she smiled while she wiped at a tear on her cheeks. She was hugged from behind, “Congratulations, Jalilah, I'm so happy for you. And I’m sure this will be the happiest Yazeed will ever be after he wakes up.” Wafiyya said and Jalilah couldn’t control her tears.

Sulaiman congratulated her and joked, “I think I have to call Yazeed jr now, his real parents have finally gotten married in the most unusual way ever.” She laughed and hugged the twins back, she couldn't speak, the feeling wasn’t real. It felt alien and felt as if she was dreaming.

She looked up at Mama and she smiled, “I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become, Jalilah. You’re finally his Mrs.” Their eyes wandered to Yazeed at the same time and Jalilah’s grin couldn’t be hold back. Finally, she was his Mrs.