Chapter 65: Invitation Rejected

"I love Maryam, Ya Girema. And I hate the sight of Nafisa, can you do something about it?" He decided to be truthful and she seemed gladdened because this was the first time Na'im had ever shared something that bothered him with her, it was an honor to her.
"If that's the case, I'd make sure you two don't end up married. Come to my chamber later so we can speak about it, okay?" He nodded with the beginning of a smile and she grinned at him before she walked away. He wondered what his mother looked like or who she was as a person, but he knew if Ya Girema had been blessed with a child, she would have been one of the most amazing mother's in the world.
It didn't take him a minute since when he sat down and they were asked to go to the balcony with Nafisa so they could talk things out. While the parents moved aside differently to talk as well. Na'im sat on the chair and stared at the palace while he appreciated the cool night breeze on his skin. He had missed Maryam, and he didn't know how he was holding up now that she wasn't here with him.
"Yarima," Nafisa began with a croaked voice and he acted as though she wasn't there, seated right next him and she spoke with probably tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry for what I've done, I didn't realize that it would cause so much strain between the relationship you have with your father, I wouldn't have done that." Oh wow, that was her main concern? But he hoped it was safe to say that that was the least of his worries. He didn't care about that, he wanted Maryam and wanted to know where his father had kept her, whether or not she was safe.
"What would you do or think if I decided to be truthful to you that I care less about that? I've missed my wife, Nafisa. You're the reason I'm separated with the woman I've ever loved in my entire life, do you think I'd ever forgive you? I won't, as plain and as simple as it could get."
"You keep on saying that you love her to my face, I'd be your wife in a week too, Na'im!" She thundered and Na'im decided to laugh his frustration. So, he threw his head back and laughed while she stared at him with nothing but pain dripping with every tear that had rolled down to her cheeks.
"I'm not going to marry you, Nafisa. And if that happens, I'd rather leave Maiduguri, with the woman I love and sacrifice the royal thobe for her. Royalty has never been my concern, it'd be the easiest thing to drop down, you see?" She was staring at him unbelievably and he nodded his head to show her that he meant every word he had uttered. He wasn't going to marry her and that was it.
"What are you going to do now? Call off the wedding in front of both our parents or what?" He smiled, making her heart ache with admiration for him.
"I won't do that, you will call the wedding off yourself. I've never wanted to do this, but it looks like one has to be the bad guy before he or she would get what he wants. Even though I told you that I would want my marriage to remain a secret until I'm ready to tell my parents, you went ahead and told Sadeeq everything despite knowing so well how strained my relationship with Sadeeq is."
She was just staring at him, but from the way he had looked and sounded, Nafisa knew Na'im must've had a reason to do that. To sound that confident that she would call off the wedding herself. "I bet you know a guy named Harris, right? He's an American, and he attended the same school as you." Nafisa couldn't stop her eyes from bulging out as big as though they were a saucer.
"What do you mean?" She began to stammer and tried to pull her calmness together but she couldn't. "How do you know Harris?" She had never imagined that someone in Nigeria would ever know him but the way Na'im had mentioned his name was enough to show her that he knew who Harris used to be in her life.
"He was your medical school husband, Nafisa, I know. You've had two abortions for him and it's likely that you might not be able to conceive again due to the complications that had happened during those abortions." Nafisa wanted the world to stop moving just like her entire body had froze. How did he find out about this? Who told him? She had never said this to anyone and only her and Harris knew. And even him, he had went back to America when they were done with medical school and she had even lost contact with him.
Her tears were of something different, not the undying love she had for him but for the past she could sacrifice her life to change. "How did you find out?" She asked while she cried as bitterly as she could without any of them noticing. She just wanted to be alone.
"It's a good thing that you didn't try to deny it, I would've shown you everything. Even the hospital abortion receipt and everything." He stood up and stock his phone back into his pocket, "Should I go and tell them that I won't marry you because of this? Or you can tell them you can't marry me because I only love my wife and not you? Which is obviously the truth."
Nafisa looked up at him, nothing had pained her like this. That day, she had silently prayed that she wasn't making a mistake by letting Sadeeq in on Na'im's biggest secret. But she had thought that that would earn him for herself and she did that anyway, even though there was a nagging voice at the back of her mind that told her not to, but she did that anyways.
And now, she would be forced to choose between these two hard choices that all included loosing him. But she would rather lose him without this coming out than still do it after her secret got revealed and she'd lose everything; including herself. "I'll choose the latter." She said and closed her eyes at the pain that struck right into her heart.
"Good girl," he shot her a grin. "Now, let's go and make that revelation known by our parents. They'll go easy on the baby girl." She hated the tone he had used on her and that grin on his face, but for today, Nafisa knew there was nothing she could do. So, she bit her tears and just stood.
They met all the parents seated as they waited for them to come back, even though the frown and obvious anger she had seen on her mother's face was enough to tell her that even if she still wanted the marriage to hold, her mother will likely break things off. "So, what's your final decision about this, Nafisa?" Her father had asked and Nafisa felt as tears rolled down to her cheeks.
"I can't marry him, daddy. No matter how much I try to make him love me, he just couldn't and I can't be married to someone that has his eyes fixed on another lady and not me. I'm sorry, daddy, but can we call everything off, please?" She was crying, not because she was pleading with her father to break off the engagement, but because she was feeling the ache of loosing him already and it wasn't going to be an easy heartbreak.
"Are you sure about this, Nafisa?" Her father had asked with a voice that was laced with the pain he felt for her and Nafisa vehemently nodded her head, she just couldn't bring herself to speak any further.
?
Everything was broken off in a matter of minutes and they watched as Nafisa and her parents walked out of Alan Gubro's private living room. Ya Girema nodded her head at him to show him her undying support before she excused herself too, because it was palpable that Alan Gubro wanted to be alone with his son and it wasn't going to be something pleasant at all.
The next thing Na'im felt after Ya Girema had walked out of the living room as well was a loud striking slap on his left cheek and the avalanche of pain and confusion that stroke his entire body made him lost his balance and he had to place his hand on the nearby sofa to keep himself from falling.
He had never imagined something like this would happen, not even in his entire life. He looked up and met the same fury he had felt on his chin in his father's eyes and his heart lost a beat. This was something he had never imagined but yet, it was happening and Na'im knew he would be on his ground until everything is solved.
"You've done what you've always wanted but you have to know, Na'im, you won't get what you want either." Na'im stared back at his father and it felt as though he had never known him in his entire life. It was as if he wasn't that sweet and loving father he had always been thankful for being blessed with. This man looked different, like those beasts that roamed through the palace untouched.
"Abba..." He began, his voice breaking at the unmeasurable pain he felt.
"Never call me that! And if you want to still remain as my son, then divorce that girl you have as a wife!" He thundered and Na'im didn't know when he fell on the floor and slowly, he felt tears rolling down his cheeks.
"You can ask me to choose between her and the royal thobe, I'd choose her. You can ask me to choose between her and the army, I'd give up my uniform, Abba. Ask me to choose whether to keep on staying in shehuri or leave it for good unless for visitation, I'd gladly take her away with me. But it shouldn't be you, Abba. I can't choose between what is both life to me. You're my life, the same as Maryam is and it would be like an invitation from death if you ask me to choose between you and her. Please, don't make me divorce her..." He was crying, something he had forgotten the last time he had done. And he was sure his tears had surprised his father even more than they surprised him.
"You're crying because I asked you to divorce her?" Alan Gubro couldn't believe what he was seeing right in front of him. Na'im, crying because of someone and that someone is a girl? He must've really loved her then.
"Believe me when I told you I love her, Abba. You weren't like this, I don't know what Sadeeq told you to act this way, but please don't separate her from me, I'll loose my life." And he meant every word he had uttered because it felt like death, having to walk around alone in his chamber and not feel her presence. Going to her apartment and the only thing that would show that she was indeed there was her things that were still there. It pained him like hell should. And he felt like a living corpse.
"Get out of my sight, Na'im. And know that, you're going to divorce her whether you want it or not! I'm not having someone like her as my daughter in-law and better collect back that ring you've given her!" Alan Gubro thundered and Na'im broke down in tears completely in his presence.
"Abba, I can't divorce her. Choose another punishment for us, please. Wallah I love her, I love more more than life itself. Please." He didn't care about the ring anymore, they can take it and give it to whoever they pleased so long as Maryam would stay as his wife.