38

Abba staggered backwards and felt as though she pointed an arrow to his heart. He placed his hands on his cheek and touched, he still couldn’t believe that Aisha slapped and even acted as if she didn’t know him. What kind of life had she been living ever since she left his house? He had been looking for her all over Taraba and still couldn’t see find her until today. Almost after every two days, he made sure he came to A & H with the hope of seeing her but he didn’t until today. It got to the point that fought with Nuiryya because of how worried he seemed.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and laughter, “Even though I’m surprised at the nerve she got, I’m happy that she did that. Why can’t you let go this girl and move on? If you know you’d love her why did you divorce her? Just accept the fact that she has moved on and come back to your normal self. This isn’t my Abba na anymore.” She snickered and dragged his hand to where they parked their car and she hopped into the driver’s seat. She knew he couldn’t drive at how flustered he looked.

When they drove out of the hotel, he turned to look at her and he heaved a sigh. “Nuriyya, where do you think Aisha got a car from? It’s an expensive car. Her clothes, the phone she has, even her skin complexion looks even more lustrous.” He knew all Nuriyya could do to him was laughed, and she did before she shrugged off her shoulders.

“I don’t know, but surely maybe she found a sugar daddy after you divorced her. The girl has it all now.” They arrived at their house, the house Aisha once lived.

Abba got down from the car and for the first time in three months, as he walked upon the staircases, he had a picture of Aisha rolling down the stairs as she cried and he beat her also. It played all in his eyes, from the time it started to the time he divorced her. He clenched his eyes shut and Nuriyya held his hand before they entered the house. Now that he saw Aisha, it all dawned on him that he had lost her. But what bothered him more was what was he going to tell Mama if she asked about Aisha? He had been giving them excuses that seemed pointless. He was that Firdausi gave birth and they had their minds off Aisha.

They went directly to the balcony and sat down. He looked around and his eyes fell on the spot Aisha usually stood whenever she brought something for him and Nuriyya, with her whole body shaking because she knew he would find a fault in what she made and throw whatever he found beside him at her. And he did, almost every time. He clenched his eyes shut, and his phone rang in his breast pocket.

He pulled it out of his pocket and picked up the call from Mama. “Abba, I need to speak with Aisha. Give her the phone please, you’re back from school I know.” That was the first thing Mma said to him and Abba had never felt trapped and fear-stricken but today.

“Mamaa…I w.went out, but the moment I get back home I’ll call you and you can speak with her.” He stammered, and he knew Mama knew he was lying.

“Abba, you know I can’t buy that, right? But anyway, make sure you call me please.” She ended the call without waiting for his answer and Abba felt as guiltiness washed over him.

“Nuriyya, Mama wants to talk with Aisha. What should I do now?” He asked, looking at Nuriyya with eyes that spoke his worry.

Nuriyya shrugged off and smiled wickedly at him, “Just tell her the truth, I think it will save you a lot of trouble.”

He looked startled as if she had said that while they were still on phone with Mama. “How can I tell her that? Nuriyya you know I can’t tell Mama that. How in the whole world can I get Aisha back home?” He palmed his face and sighed. He knew things were still easy for him as they were now because the moment Baba spoke about this matter it would be the end of him.

“You can’t get her back and you know. You divorced her three times and that’s the end of your marriage forever unless she gets married to someone and he divorces her. I think even if Aisha was going to die without getting married, she can never get back to you. Besides, she has found herself a sugar daddy that takes care of her, your loss.”

He hissed softly and walked away from the balcony. Before he closed his door behind, he heard the roaring laughter of Nuriyya. She felt on cloud nine, this was what he get for betraying her and marrying someone else. He thought just because they lived like every married couple lived was enough for her? She wanted the title of his Mrs. She wanted his last name. Not his lame romantic excuses. Now that he seemed to be in a very tight situation, she felt relieved. He was paying for what he did to her.

From that day Mama’s calls began intensifying that it got to the point Abba put down his sim card and bought a new one. He had been driving around Taraba with the hope of seeing her again. He sometimes locked himself in her room and just lay there silently until sleep overtook her soul. Nuriyya hadn’t been spending so much with him now, it was always one excuse or the other. She hadn’t been answering his calls of recent. It was getting lonely, painful and even more boring.

Sometimes he hallucinated her walking around the house while she cooked or cleaned, and all the memories of her that he had in his mind she was always in fear. There was never a day he saw her relaxed and full of life. The last day he saw that peaceful expression on her was the morning after they got married and he sat there and watched her sleeping like the baby she was. He had cursed himself for doing what he did to Aisha, but that’s the least he could care for, he wanted Aisha back into his life and he vowed to change.

It was time for dinner and he had nothing to eat in the house, even the junk food he bought and kept in his fridge were finished and he knew of no way out but A & H, that place had now become his sanctuary. He drove himself to the hotel and on his way he had been calling Nuriyya but she wasn’t picking, it got to the point that she had her phone switched off. That made a cold feeling resided in the pitch of his stomach and he prayed it wasn’t something bad.

As he entered the restaurant, he scanned the place and he found her sitting peacefully while she sipped on a drink and looked through the window. He had never seen someone sat together with her, and today after he ordered his food, Abba walked towards and table and sat down opposite her.

She looked up at him and hissed inwardly, she guessed she had to teach this man a lesson in the best way she can. She silently lifted her phone and snapped a picture of him, directly sending it to the leader of her men. She knew it would only take her order to have this man tied up in her house.

“Aisha,” Abba called, and she shot him a deadly glare. “I’m so sorry for all I did to you, I know I’m at no position to ask for your forgiveness, but please forgive me,” he continued. He knew he sounded lame but that’s the least could care for. He wasn’t good with words unless he was together with Nuriyya.

She placed both her hands on the table between them fixed her sharp and striking eyes on his face. Her face held an enigmatic expression as she looked at him. “Look here, mister. For the first and last time, my name is Humaira. And I know nothing of what you’re saying. Let me get straight with you, I saw you stalking me almost two weeks ago and I really don’t like it. It’s either you respect yourself or I’ll have to forcefully make you do that. You can’t be disgracing me in public acting like you know me. I’m not the type of girl you can pull over that nonsense with, get it?” The moment she sat upright and looked away, it looked as if she wasn’t the one that spoke all that to him.

Abba palmed his face and sighed. “Aish…” He wasn’t able to complete her name when she banged her fist on the table between them and cut him off.

“Do you know what? I dare you to call me Aisha once again and I promise you by the time today ends, you won’t recognize your filthy face. Get out of this table!” She demanded, pointing at the table far away from her.

The waited came and dropped Aba his order before he courtly bowed at Humaira. “Humaira, I get it. You change your name because of me?” His voice dropped low, seeing how she was acting as if she didn’t know him. It pained and unnerved him and also made him angry. If not for the fact that he was trying to lure her back home so he could be free from Mama’s wrath, Abba would’ve long brought his belt out. He knew the moment she saw that she would be back to the normal Aisha he knew.

Humaira looked squarely at him and scoffed. “You’re the most stupid man I’ve ever come across in my life. Do you think I changed my name because of you? Who the hell do you think you are then? Who are you to me in my life? You can’t even be privileged to be my bodyguard. Get lost before I make you vanish from this world.”

Abba had never felt this infuriated all his life. How dare Aisha?! He didn’t know she was so good at concealing herself and living an entire different life but today. He banged his fist on the table and before he took his hand off the table she had slapped him on both his cheeks. “How dare you bang your fist on the table I Humaira is sitting on?!” She was standing on her two feet now, looking nothing but her usual cold and dangerous self.

He looked taken aback with both his palms on his cheeks, Aisha slapped him? He slid off his belt from his waist and was about to land it on her body when huge muscular arms held him from his back and he was taken inches away from her. Humaira took the glass from which she sipped her drink and poured all the contents on his face. She straightened her body and looked at him.

“How dare you to even think of touching me with a belt? That’s what I do to guys like you. Irresponsible and donkeys just like yourself.” She turned to look at one of her guards, “Get me my belt from the car, I’ll have to teach this guy a lesson.” The man she ordered hurried to her car and ran back holding her expensive leather belt in his hand.

He handed her the belt and Abba stood there watching to see if Aisha was going to beat him. Was this her way of avenging what he did to her. He got tired of trying to get out of the men hold and stood their motionless, unable to look at the eyes staring at him. There were a lot of people in the restaurant, and Aisha didn’t seem to care about the people when she lifted her belt and he felt a stroke across his back. That stung.

Abba looked up with a pained expression his face and he spoke in between the merciless strokes of Humair’s belt. “Aisha, I’m your husband, how dare you have guards holding me and beat me? If you…” The most painful stroke landed on his back and he felt it in his heart.

Humaira stood straight and flashed him the most disgusted look ever. “You called me Aisha, again. And you dare say you’re my husband?” She laughed humorlessly and took a few steps back. She looked at the two huge men holding Abba and spoke, “Guys, keep smashing his face on this floor until his mouth bleed.” And before she closed her mouth, Abba felt as his face painfully got in contact with the floor. And just like Humaira said, they didn’t stop until his lips bled and he had bruises all over his face.

She walked over them with a satisfying smile plastered on her lips and lifted his face, “Mister, not even in a dream can you dare have me as a wife. Mind where you talk and who you play your dirty games with. Guards, throw him out and he shouldn’t set his feet into this hotel ever again.” She flung his face away and walked out of the restaurant. She got to her car and entered, sighing. She prayed Daddy wouldn’t hear about this. She drove off directly back home and smiled when Ilham came to welcome her.

“Humaira, I got a call from A & H. You’re lucky Daddy wasn’t around, he would’ve been the one that picks the call. Why did you…”

Humaira cut Ilham off, “Ilham please, I’m in no mood for your religious preachings. And also, when that person calls again, tell him or her that I’m going to find whoever it is he or she is, and I’ll punish him or her in the brutal way possible.” She walked to her room not minding the looks Ilham was flashing her. She initially wasn’t in the mood, and now that stupid guy spoilt it even more for her.

She laid down on her bed and was silently looking at the ceiling when her phone chirped and she picked the call without even waiting to see who the caller was. “Hey, you shameless bitch.” She jerked upright upon hearing Dawoud’s voice.

“Dawoud, I’m not in the mood.”She tried ending the call when she heard Habeeba’s voice beside him.

“You’re not in the mood because you aren’t together with your powerful guys, right? You’re nothing but a drenched rat when you’re all by yourself.” Habeeba snickered and Dawoud laughed along with her.

Humaira clenched her fists and unclenched, she closed her eyes and laid back on the bed. This munchkind didn’t deserve her venting over them. They were creatures she can have tied down before her in just a blink of her eyes. “Dawoud, Habeeba, don’t you dare anger me unless you both want to spend your night on a cold floor and belts all over your bodies. Don’t you dare call me again!” And she infuriately ended the call and laid back on her pillow. She heard as Rafiq called her but she denied the call and closed her eyes sleepily. It was a chaotic mind.