Chapter 16 11: Unexpected Nikkah

She heard him heaved a sigh and she could imagine his shoulders slumping in defeat, "I will understand, what matters is you even though I've missed you terribly, Fareeda." They got to a heated conversation, but Fareeda knew no matter how much she missed him, she wouldn t have to make any mistake that will provoke Alhaji any further. They spoke for hours, and from that moment, they were always together on the phone, always on a video call, talking and laughing that Fareeda knew for sure that she would have to end her life if she didn't get married to Adam. He was the man she had ever loved and would forever love in her life. ? She heard someone knocking fiercely on her door and wondered who it would be. She hadn t slept early yesterday because she was on phone with Adam and only slept a few minutes after she had prayed her subh Salah. She hissed softly and looked for her glasses on the bedside drawer before she glared at the door, "What is it? And who's on the door?" She asked in an enraged tone and prayed it wasn t Ummah because she wasn't ready for any of her troubles. "It s me, Ya Fareeda and it s urgent. Will you please open the door for me? Ya Allah, containing myself is so hard!" She said in an urgent tone and when Fareeda rushed to the door and opened it for her, praying that whatever it was Nana had to say should be worth her sleep. She stared at her body that was decked with her school uniform and wondered if someone had died in the house, "What is it, Nana? You know I hate it when you wake me up early in the morning unless it s something that s very important, okay?" She asked as she stifled a yawn, stretching her body. Nana walked beside her and walked into the room, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Fareeda that was looking at her with an annoyed expression. "Why are you still at the door? Come inside and sit down because I don t want you to fall down after telling you what it is." "It better be something important, Nana, or wallah if not for school, Jibril will take you to the hospital instead." She glared at her and sat down beside her, "What is it? Quickly tell me so I can go back to sleep, Nana." "We were having breakfast when Ummah came to the dining table and told us that we aren t going to school today. Dahlia asked her what was wrong and she told us that you got married today, to Ya Mujaheed. Abba had to leave to China early in the morning so he got you two married after subh Salah, she was planning to come and tell you but I thought I had to tell you beforehand." Fareeda was silent since she started talking, all she heard was the way her heart was silently beating against her ribcage.all that could be heard was the sound of her heart echoing so loudly against her ears and she didn't know what more else she felt. She didn t know that she was already crying until she tasted the salty liquid of her tears on her lips and when she looked at Nana, she had a sympathetic expression on her face. "Nana, please tell me you re wrong. That s not what you heard!" She weakly begged her tears making a downpour on her cheeks as she cried so hard. Please, Ya Rabb. Don t let this happen to me. I don t love him, Ya Allah. Adam, that was the first thing that came to her mind. She could still hear the conversation they had yesterday at night. Telling her how much he loved her as they planned the kind of future they wanted for themselves and their kids. She felt as her heart squirmed in her chest and before Nana uttered a word against what she just heard, she heard the door got banged open. "She s not lying to you, what else were you expecting? For Asma u to get married to him like you plotted? You re just a bad person, Fareeda. And I believe this is what you deserve, to be married to a gateman for the rest of your life." She heard Ummah s voice but Fareeda was only concerned about the word she had uttered, 'Married to the gateman. No, she was certain he wouldn t do this to her. He promised her that he would tell Alhaji that he couldn't get married to her, then why would this happen? With her tears already soaking the front of her night gown, she walked beside Ummah without saying anything to her and ran down the stairs. She was about to get out of the living room when she heard someone clapping behind her. "Wow! You act so well, Fareeda Kamal Sardauna. I thought you said you were going to kill yourself the day you get married to him? Where are you going now? To hang yourself or throw your cheap body at him because you re so excited that you couldn t wait for him to come to you first?" As she turned, Fareeda came face to face with an angry Asma u, her wet lashes gave her secret that she just finished crying. She knew she didn't have the time to deal with any of these people, the egoistic mother or her infuriated teenage daughter in love. She cleared her tears and warned Asma u, "Know the kind of things you re going to say to me, Asma u, I can be crazier than you could ever imagine I am." Without hearing what she would say next, Fareeda got out of the room and ran to his chamber, she knew he wasn t out to the gate yet, or maybe he was outside already, but she didn't mind. She was crying so hard that her whole body shook. She kept banging on his door nonstop. All she could think of was Adam, what would he feel? How could she look into his eyes and tell him tat she had gotten married to the gateman? "Get out! Mujaheed!" She said in an angry tone with her tears trying os had to choke on her words. She was in so much pain, she couldn't believe what had happened to her just this morning. If she had known this was what was going to happen, she wouldn't have stayed up all night talking with Adam without finding for a solution for herself. The door immediately turned and he opened it just when she was about to bang on it again. Mujaheed stupefiedly stared at her way she kept crying in front of him, with her eyeglasses wet and her whole body shaking due to her tears. "What s wrong?" He asked in a clam tone even though this was what he had been waiting for since after subh Salah. "You can t ask me what s wrong, Mujaheed! You know what was wrong! You know what you did! How could you?!" She clamored at the pitch of her voice, her body shaking with each word she had uttered and she stared at him with so much disgust. "How could you do this to me? How could you lie to me, you shameless man!" She yelled, thumping her feet on the floor angrily as she slumped in front of him. "What do you think you just did? How could you ask me to apologize to him when you know so well you aren t going to keep your promise? You promised me..." She let her words trailed off as she kept tapping her hands on the surface enclosing her heart. It was burning and she doubt if she could be alive for the rest of the hours remaining for the day. Mujaheed squatted down to her level and he fixed his eyes on her, "What have I done to you, Fareeda? Why are you like this? What went wrong?" Would he for once not act as if he didn t know about what was going on for the sake of the almighty? She felt furious and tightened her hold on his collar. "How could you act this way?! You know exactly what you did. You lied to me, Mujaheed! You lied that if I went to Alhaji and apologized to him, you would do all it takes to call off the wedding, how dare you let him get me married to you? You lied to me! You haven t told him that you couldn't get married to me! You re a liar!" She pushed him so hard that he lost his balance and slumped down without knowing he did. One of the police officers that was outside began to unlock the door to get to their washroom. Mujaheed stared at her, she had just her nightgown on her and it didn't reach her ankles. Her tears had soaked up her chest and her turban had slipped off her head, showing more than just the edges of her hair. "Seargeant, could you please wait a bit? I need to get something away." He quickly spoke and before she said something, Mujaheed had pulled her up and she was swiftly got her into his chamber before he yelled at the Sergeant. "You can come in now! Thank you for understanding." He said and closed the door behind him. She furiously looked at him and the next thing he get was a sound slap on his cheek, "How dare you?!" She asked through gritted teeth and before Mujaheed got a hold of his shocked expression, she had started punching his chest with both hands, "How dare you do this to me, Mujaheed?! I though you promised me! How could you let Alhaji get us married?!" She was yelling at the pitch of her voice as she punched him even harder, her tears pouring down as though a fountain on her cheeks. She had never been this hurt in her life, betrayed and been made a fool. How could he do this to her? "You have to divorce me, just divorce me now! I have the man I love, you can t do this to me!" She screamed, throwing him a glare. She took off her glass while still crying as she began to clean it off, Mujaheed tentatively stared at her as she did that. She had her eyes closed while she cried and cleaned the glass with her gown her and her whole body trembled. She might have not realized it yet, she wanted to show him how angry she was, but all she did was act hurt and innocent. She put back the glass and looked up to have a better look of his face, "I m begging you now, please let me go. Divorce me before Alhaji comes back, you can say I've threatened to kill you or something, but just get me out of this bondage, I'm begging you. I have the man I love, please don't do this to me." She brought her hands up in a begging gesture and all Mujaheed did was stared unshakably at her crying face.