Chapter 57

Mujaheed looked up at her, how she seemed so stubborn of her feelings and thoughts. "That s not what is important now, I don't care whether we re broken or not, but I'm not bringing anyone into this world."
She was about to go out of the room when he held her wrist and brought her back into the room. She furiously looked at him and he smiled before he pulled her into his body, tightly hugging her. "I've been wanting to hug you, Fareeda. It feels so good having you back to life, thanks for coming back to me."
She tried to push him off her, "I didn t come back for you, I came back because I have a lot of things I need to finish before I die. Now, if you can excuse me please." Instead of him to let go of her, he placed his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. He missed her, her body, her scent, how it felt whenever he hugged her or just touched her. Her smile, the sound of her laughter, how she made him act whenever he was around her, everything.
"I've missed you, Fareeda." He whispered and Fareeda was sure she felt the way his voice resonated through her whole body.
"What are you doing, Mujaheed? Let go of me." She tried pushing him away again but he held firmly against her, wrapping his hands around her waist to bring her even more closer to him. "I don't want to hurt you, Mujaheed, let go of me." She said through gritted teeth and wanted nothing but to push him off her but he was holding her so strongly that she knew she had no other choice but to let him let go of her out of his own accord.
"I don't want to let go of you, Fareeda. Will you please let me hug you for even a little longer?" His eyes were still closed as he appreciated the warmth of her body against his. It felt so good to be back into her arms again, so amazing.
The door got abruptly opened and Nana gasped when she saw them that way. "I'm sorry!" She screamed at the pitch of her voice, "Oh my god, I should ve knocked! Nenne said I should come and tell you that we re leaving now, but I think I'll tell her that you re tired and we ll go tomorrow, right?" Her voice shook as she spoke and Fareeda was finally able to push him off her.
"You ll have to clean this mess yourself." She said to him through gritted teeth and walked to the door again. She pulled Nana into the room and closed the door behind her, "What did you see?"
Nana innocently looked at her then Mujaheed that had a cocky smile on his lips. He shook his head at her in a way that told her he didn't know how to save her either. She turned to Fareeda while shaking her head sideways, "I don't know, I haven't seen anything."
"Nana I'm really going to kill you this time if Nenne hears about this..." She let her words trailed off before she got a hold of Nana s ears and squeezed, "What were you saying on the table before?"
"I didn't say anything, please let go of me, Ya Fareeda, this hurts." She struggled to get out of her hold but she couldn t.
"Anything about a baby again, and I'll have to cut off this ear that listens to other people s conversation. And I'll tell Nenne that thing so she can easily get you married, do you want that to happen?" She enjoyed the horrified look on Nana s face, and it was only god s will that was keeping her away from laughing her chest out.
Nana immediately shook her head, "Please don't do that, Ya Fareeda, I promise I won t do it again. And the baby, I won t say anything about it too. Please?" She whined with a puppy look in her eyes, and Fareeda released her hold on her ear.
"Fine, I'll be out now. Did Ladi told you where the house is?" She asked, and Nana groaned softly before she answered her.
"She did. Ya Mujaheed you re coming too, right?" She asked, and he nodded her head. The two of them walked out and left Fareeda in the room, she wondered what those two were planning but she didn t trust them together anymore.
She smiled and changed into a simple gown and draped a veil over her shoulder before she walked out of the room. Fareeda stood in the middle of the living room and looked upstairs, she knew Nenne was in her room. "Nenne! We re leaving now!" She called out, and she knew Nenne would answer unless she wasn't closeby.
"Make sure you extend my greetings and be nice to all of them, okay? I'd slaughter you myself if someone complains to me about you, Fareeda!" Nenne called out without coming out from her room and Fareeda chuckled.
"I would have loved it if you warn them to mind their tongues before I go there, because I'll have to retaliate, you can be my father for all I'll care. Bye, Nenne!" She called out and practically ran out of the house because she knew if Nenne got down from her room, nothing could stop her from giving her an earful.
She met the two of them seated on the outside table for the gatemen as they laughed at something. "What are you two planning to do? Kill me as we go out?" She asked out of the blue and they all looked up to her with grins on their faces.
Mujaheed was the one that stood up first. "No, we were imagining how beautiful you d look when you re heavily pregnant, that s all."
She shot him a deadly glare, didn t she just made it clear to them that she hated being talked about babies? "Mujaheed!" She warned through gritted teeth and he smiled at her, unfazed.
"And now I'm already pitying that child because the baby has gotten one hell of a temperamental Mamma. I'd have to be there to be his or her knight in shining armor." Fareeda lounged forward to catch her but she ran off in the blink fo an eye.
"You two should follow this way, we re going to my mother s house first." With laughter in Mujaheed s eyes, he turned to look at her with an inquisitive look.
"Her mother s house?" He asked, and Fareeda smiled at the path Nana had disappeared into before she nodded her head at him.
"Yes, her mother remarried after her father died. But the problem is, her step father hates her, probably jealous of her because she s someone else s daughter." She chuckled and shook her head at the ignorance. "I don't know why some men are like this, why won't you love a child even if it s not yours?"
They were talking side by side as they spoke, and Mujaheed sighed, weighing her question because he knew she was expecting an answer from him. "I don t know, some men are jealous of their wives and they feel like if she s together with that other man s child, she might always be thinking about that man. I'm not sure about it, but if it makes them insecure, I think it s justifiable."
She immediately shook her head, "But they should at least trust their wives, shouldn t they? She wouldn t have gotten married to him if she was still in love with the other man. Okay, maybe she was still in love with the other man but circumstances has it that they have to go their separate ways, she agreed with that and decided to move now with her life, why won't they believe them and make it easy on the mother? It s not easy for a mother to be taken away from her child."
"The men should understand the wives like you said, but that's also same for the women, they should understand their husband s feelings."
She turned around with a wide grin on her lips, "Hey! Good evening Malam Audu! Ya Allah, so you still run this shop?" She moved to the shop with eagerness to explore some of her childhood and Mujaheed followed behind her with a grin.
Malam Audu had to make sure she was the one, "Me gilashi, is that you? Ya Allah, when was the last time you re here?" He asked and handed Mujaheed his hand for a shake.
Mujaheed smiled and they exchanged pleasantries respectfully. "I haven't been here because I was in school, Malam Audu, I used to think about your biscuit from time to time." She chuckled as she took one of the biscuits she had seen on the counter and was about to open her bag when Mujaheed beat her at it.
He brought some money from his pocket and gave it to Malam Audu, "This is too much for even cartons of the biscuit. And it s Me Gilashi, she can have it for free."
Mujaheed shook his head and smiled, "This is a gift from Me Gilashi s husband to you, Malam Audu, you made her childhood better. Thank you."
When they walked away from Malam Audu s shop, Fareeda looked at him with a hint of smile as she ate her biscuit, "Someone would think we re one lovely couple, look at the way you turn into a complete gentle man."
He chuckled and shook his head, he realized this was her way of appreciating what he did. "We re a lovely couple in my heart, that s enough for me."
They spoke on their way to Nana s mother s house as she told him a few things about the time she had spent in Sardauna, the amazing places and memories. And when they entered the house, Nana was seated with her mother on a mat as she happily conversed with her. They smiled and Mujaheed kept staring at the woman that gave birth to Nana as they conversed freely.
Next was Umaima s house. Mujaheed had to wait outside until her husband came and ushered him in. He met them seated on the mats as they conversed with Fareeda staring at her kids and the baby bump visible on her midriff. "Umaima I can t believe you re the mother of these kids. So beautiful, Masha Allah."
Umaima chuckled and spoke, "You got married too, it will just be in a very short time." There you go again, Fareeda, she internally thought and wanted to protest but smiled instead.
She looked at her husband and smiled, "So it s Kabiru? I've always thought there was something with the way he did things for you. Kabiru, you two didn t invite me to the wedding."
Kabiru shyly smiled as they shook their heads, "That s not it, Nenne said she ll have you come over, but you weren t able to make it."
She smiled and made the last girl sat on her laps, "I was in school then. And now I have the chance to meet my amazing babies, Masha Allah, you ve got a lovely family, Umaima."
They stared in the house for more than ten minutes and when they were about to leave, Fareeda gave the children some money and they left to other relatives houses. Each house they entered, it was either the wife or husband would ask her whether she had given birth or not, the moment she told them about her marriage, it got to the point that she got tired and asked them to go back home. She didn't know why everyone was so obsessed with her having a baby, when that was the least she would want to happen.