51

She lived her life in so much hardship after she was discharged from the hospital. With no shelter, no food to eat. She slept from one road to the other until one day a woman who was selling food by the road took her in and she became her maid. Life went on, even though Asiya had never for once forgot about her father, she worked hard with the hope of going back to school. And still, she was searching for Hamisu Sada. She knew she couldn’t find him easily, but she wasn’t ready to give up. She grew fond of one of their loyal customers. He always stopped by and ate in their restaurant and sometimes made her packaged the food for her. He came to Bauchi for work, but his family lived in Taraba.

They were so close that someday after he ate his dinner, he asked of her story. And she cried as she told him. “Please, if you know where I can find Hamisu Sada take me there, I need to let him know how he damaged my life. I want to tell him that I’ll never forgive him.” She cried as she requested, but the words that came out of the man’s heart were nothing Asiya expected. “Asiya, will you marry me?”

She was flustered for a minute before she sobered up and cleared her tears, carving a painful smile on her lips. “You can’t be serious, Faruk. No one will marry me, that’s what my father said because I became pregnant out of wedlock with a man that only liked me for my body. How can you marry that woman? My brothers called me a prostitute, and I believe I am.” She was crying by the time she ended her sentence. She still thought about her father and she still missed her family. Even Kamila.

Umar threw his head back and laughed, “And then you believed them? I get it your father said those words out of anger, but that’s not true. It’s your destiny, and you were merely just a girl in love. It was bound to happen, there’s no way you can stop it from doing so. And your brother’s calling you a prostitute? Really? I don’t think that’s the word for you. You aren’t even close to being a prostitute and you will never be, Insha Allah. Now, will you marry me?”

Umar Faruk Gide, the son of a business mogul from Taraba state. He took care of his father’s company in Bauchi and fell in love with Asiya from the day he was passing by their restaurant and saw her washing the plates as he cried. He made it a necessity for him to always eat his three square meal at the restaurant, just so he could have a chance with her. And now as he asked her to marry, he wanted only her consent for their marriage to be solemnized. His father knew, and he was in support of it. But unfortunately, his mother was against it. That won’t affect their marital life, he thought, because he was going to keep Asiya in Bauchi.

“I hope you mean it, please don’t be like Hamisu Sada.” She looked at him with eyes that spoke innocence and he could see through his eyes that he was her only hope in life. He smiled widely at her and nodded his head, “I promise not to be like Hamisu Sada, is it a yes then?” She ducked her head shyly and nodded her head at him.

Umar went to the woman Asiya worked and stayed with and he told her that they would be coming along with his family and he would marry Asiya in a week. She tried to protest but he gave her a bunch of money and she conceded at last. From that day Asiya didn’t see Umar and she cried every time she remembered him. She thought he was going to be the second version of Hamisu Sada, only that she loved him with all her heart and he left her with nothing that will destroy her life further. On the 7th day, Malam, the woman’s husband entered the house and announced that there were guests from Traba. It all happened in the blink of an eye, they got her married to Umar Faruk Gide on that same day. His parents left to Taraba and she was taken to their house by Umar. In Bauchi, where he planned for them to live.

A few months after their marriage with Umar, his father died, and that’s the first time he took her to his family. They lived in a family house, all the relatives sponsored by his father. His mother did nothing in hiding the hatred she had for her and Asiya always cried whenever she called her a prostitute. She kept saying that she got married to her on so she could kill him and run away with his wealth, which had never crossed in Asiya’s mind. A few months after his father’s demise; she got pregnant. Even though Umar had been the loveliest husband she had ever imagined, he started becoming distant. He was always on business trips, not having her time and even when he was at home, he was always working.

And whenever she tried to talk him out of it, he said, “Asiya, as you can see I’m a son of a rich man. Even though he’s no more, I’ll have to make sure his wealth expands. Will you please stop disturbing me unless it’s really important?” That night she cried herself to sleep. She didn’t know when he entered the room at midnight until she felt him wrapped his hands around her and she cried even more. She nurtured her pregnancy alone, and even when he was home; they rarely spoke. He was becoming even more distance as days went on. He was no more the man she got married to and the man she had loved and had her hopes raised high for, She was always in pain, always in tears that the only thing that kept her going was her baby.

The night she gave birth to twins, he wasn’t in Bauchi, he had travelled to Taraba. And when she told him that she gave birth to two beautiful girls, he was indeed elated and told her that he would call Iya for her; the woman she worked for before she married him. Iya was the one that stayed with Asiya until seven days passed, and he came back on the naming ceremony. No one from his family came, and Asiya truly didn’t mind. He named the girls, Aisha and Humaira Umar Faruk. And that day he initiated his first-ever owned company and named it A&H group of companies. This wasn’t a company he inherited from his father, and even though it was built in Taraba, the roots of the company were in Bauchi.

He brought out two veils from his suitcase, light purple floral veils and cutely wrapped the two veils that had A&H embroidery on their faces. When Asiya saw that, she laughed. “Their faces are too small to contain that, Faruk. Wait until they’re all grown up.” He looked at her and smiled, and she placed down a light purple floral cake between them, a coincidence. She learnt how to bake from their neighbour and wanted her first baked cake to be eaten by Umar, and he did.

“What is this cake for?” He asked, taking in more bites of it. “It’s for their 7 days on earth. I’m truly blessed with them.” Life went on, even though Umar spent time in Bauchi now, deep down Asiya knew it was for their girls. She asked him that she wanted to go home, she had been dreaming about her father for a very long time now. Umar didn’t object, twins were only two months old when they embarked on a journey to Magumeri; Borno state. The moment they approached their house, Asiya saw a throng of people seated there. Even though her heart skipped a bit, she didn’t let it show. She held a stoic expression on her face.

They walked to the crowd and Asiya spotted her five brothers seated on a mat as they all held a glum look on their faces. She looked around with the hope of seeing Baba but he wasn’t there. She fell on the ground and Umar collected Aisha that was in her hands. Her four brother came ranting insult on her that she was the one that caused their father’s death. He had been sick ever since she left the house. He had searched, asked them to search the whole of Borno state but they were still unable to find her. He died two days ago. She was only two days late. They told her not to ever set her feet in their house or else they would surely avenge their father’s death on that.

Asiya was walking back to Umar’s car in tears, none of them cared to ask where she came from, the life she lived while she wasn’t at home. Who she came together with, the babies she was holding. None of them did that, and she cried even more. One of her brother’s, the fifth one called her name and she turned and saw him walking towards her. He placed his hand on her head and smiled a little. “You shouldn’t feel guilty, Asiya. Baba kept chanting that he had forgiven you before he died. I was together with him until his last breath, and he asked of you even before he took his last breath.”

Her shoulders shook with her tears and he looked down at her hand, he collected Aisha and cradled her to his chest, “You’re married with a kid? She’s cute just like you are.” Asiya smiled amidst tears and motioned for Umar to come forward. “This is my husband, his name is Umar Faruk Gide. They’re two, Aisha and Humaira.” Her fifth brother, Yahya was truly amazed. He prayed for the twins and Asiya promised to come over and visit him whenever time permitted her to. She got into the car and they drove off while she waved at Yahya with tears in her eyes.

Two weeks after their visit to Magumeri, Umar became scarce in Bauchi. He hardly spent two whole days in Bauchi without going to Taraba. It had gotten worse that they shared different rooms now, it was evident that he wanted nothing to do with her. One day when he came back and she had his food presented to him. She looked at him with a solemn expression and sat on the chair beside him, “Umar, I want us to talk about us. We’re changed... we’ve changed. We seemed to be like strangers more than a couple…”

Before Asiya was able to complete her sentence, Umar cut her off and he looked remorseful. “I’m sorry, Asiya, but you’re divorced. With only one talaq. Please you should forgive me, I have no other choice than this, it’s an order from my mother, she got me married to another woman of her choice last week and she asked me to relocate back o Traba forever. It’s an order I couldn’t say no to. I hope you can forgive me. I was deliberately distancing myself from you so you could get used to my absence and by the time I’ll declare it over between us, it won’t hurt that much. I still love you, but we have a chance to live together.”

She was taken aback by his words, the most painful words she had ever heard in her whole life. This wasn’t what she imagined from Umar. Never in her life had she ever imagined that Umar would do this to her, now that she had two adorable daughters with him. She stood up with a hurt expression her face, “But you know what? It still hurts, much more than it would have hurt if you weren’t been that cold towards me. Ya Allah, do you know what? Men are all the same, a bunch of heartless fools and betrayers. I hate to feel this, but I hate you, Umar. I will never forgive you for scorching me to this extent.” She was trying so hard to control her tears, but they spurted out of her eyes in such a forceful wave that nearly made her lost her balance.

She trudged to her room and packed her clothes and her daughter’s clothes in her trolleys and she came out and found him still seated on the sofa with his hands holding his head. She looked at him and Humaira that was sleeping beside him, they were on barely into the third month of their lives. She tried taking Humaira into her hands while she had Aisha clasped to her back when he swiftly took Humaira in his arms and looked at her trolleys. ‘Where do you think you’re going? It’s midnight already, Asiya. It’s not safe out there for a woman.”

She glared at him and scoffed, even though she was painfully crying and her shoulders shook in pain. “I know I have no place to go because my father died and even before he died he restrained me from entering his house. But I can’t stay under the same roof with you, I need my daughter so I can get going.” She tried taking Humaira from his hand and she shooed her away.

“You aren’t going anywhere with my daughter’s, Asiya. I know I divorced you, but I can’t remember cutting ties with my daughter. And you can stay in his house no matter how long you want until you find. A husband and get married. But I’ll take my daughters with me tomorrow, Hajia said that I should go back with them.”

Asiya laughed humorlessly and shook her head, “You must have gone nuts, Umar. Nuts!!! How can she take care of my daughters? They aren’t even three months old. I’m leaving along with my daughters and that’s final. I don’t you nor do I need your filthy house.”

“Then we should share them, I’ll have Humaira but in my soul, she’ll be Aisha living in the body of Humaira. That way I can have both two daughters with me. But please, they shouldn’t know they have someone apart from their single parents. Humaira will have a mother in her life, not just you. Make sure you provide Aisha with a father as well. I’ll try as much as I can to hide her away from you and her twin sister. You should do it.” He stood up and walked to his room, Asiya tried snatching a sleeping Humaira from his hands but he had already locked the door and she crawled to her room with her eyes making a downpour. She brought Aisha to her chest and hugged her tightly.

The words he said to her were the most painful words Asiya had ever heard, not even when Baba asked her to leave his house. And like he told her to do, she’ll raise Aisha in such a way she would know nothing of blood relation or family, that way she won’t think of having one herself. She would raise Aisha into an independent educative woman and nurture the hatred of men in her heart. For two times she got stabbed by men, painfully with an etched rift in her heart that she knew she would live forever to fill. She brought Aisha to her face and softly muttered, “Humaira,” amidst her tears and she knew she can never trust a man again.