Chapter 6 5: A Plan

She didn t mind that the mosque adjoined to their house were praying their Maghreb Salah and she was sure Alhaji was inside as well. Mujaheed too, she concluded when she opened the door and found he wasn t there. She quickly walked out of the house and as if on cue, Adam s car parked a few feet away from their house, and she quickly got into the car. "Good evening," she said silently as she turned to look at him. But the expression on Adam s face was something she hated in her life. "Won t you at least smile at me, Adam?" She asked weakly and he flashed her a very hard look. Taking his arm into hers, she pleaded, "Please, Adam, I m sorry." "Why would you do that, Fareeda?" He asked, and she knew what he was referring to. She quickly tamed down her anger and smiled softly. "Please, I m sorry, for how long do you want me to apologize? That s not what we re here for, Adam. I want to talk to you about something, will you please listen to me?" Her heart kept making a thudding sound as she waited for a response from him. Just like she didn t know, he didn t know either. She was afraid of how Adam would take it as, but there was no way she was going to keep it away from him. "What is it? I want to know so we can talk about what I heard in the hospital." He said, clearly irritated with the way she was talking. "I had a miscarriage, Adam, our baby." She said in a slow, low tune without being able to look into his eyes. She was afraid of what the response will be, even though somewhere deep into her heart she already knew what Adam s response will be. "And so what? Even if it wasn t miscarried we would have aborted it, Babe, right?" He asked as he shrugged off his shoulders and something struck into her heart, something painful and sharp that she wanted to puke her intestines out. She gulped down a lump in her throat and palmed her face, "I know that s what we re going to do, but don t you think it s high time we settle down and get married." She said and he threw his head back and laughed. "You of all people should know that I m not ready to get married yet, Fareeda. And that reminds me, what did I hear in the hospital?" He fixed his unshakable gaze on her and she palmed her face, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses, she turned to look at him. "I know you re not ready, but I m afraid you have to do something this time, Adam, that s if you want us to stay together. Alhaji is getting me married in three months after he knew about the baby I miscarried, we both know how adamant he is. He would rather bury my body than change his words, you know?" She said with her heart shivering as she thought of the possibility of that. She would hate herself the very day she got married to Mujaheed and that would be the end of everyone else s life. "Who is he getting you married too, Fareeda?" He asked, and she hissed softly before she began to fidget with her fingers. "Mujaheed, the gateman. And Adam," she sharply turned to look at him, "I can t let that happen. You have to set your mind straight and know that it s high time we take the next step, it s been so long for Allah s sake. I m not saying it s going to be saying, but if you re ready to be married to me, he might consider my plea." "The gateman?! Just what are you telling me, Fareeda? How can he get you married to that man, I mean, who does that?" He asked with an outraged voice and she rested her head on the seat. "Alhaji Kamal Sardauna does that, Adam, and we both know what he s capable of doing when it comes to me right? I need to do something before it happens…" they heard a knock on Fareeda s window and she threw a suspicious look at Adam before she swung down the glass. "Get out of the car," Mujaheed said in a very tight voice and she scoffed, what did this man think of himself? Even her father couldn t order her this way. "And who do you think you are to say that to me? Will you get out of my sight-" before she was done with her sentence, he opened the door and pointed out for her, and Fareeda sat their mouth agape. "I said you should get out of the house and walk back home, Fareeda." His voice carried an air of command and confidence that she wished she could strangle him to death this instant. Instead of him, she turned to look at Adam, "This is what I was just telling you, Adam. We need to do something about this man, will you please take me out of this area? Everything is suffocating me." "Fareeda…" Mujaheed began and she angrily turned to look at him. "Who the hell do you think you are, Mujaheed?! Just tell me who you are in my life! What my father said shouldn t give you the right to do this, you know? Just how many times do I have to tell you to get out of my sight?!" She thundered and instead of an instead, Mujaheed forcefully pulled her out of the car that she softly yelped, something twitched in her lower abdomen, she realized she had to take her medication in time. Still holding her wrist, he looked at Adam, "I should warn you, just like Alhaji asked me to. You should never come around here ever again unless you want something bad to happen." And he pulled her with him back into the house, she was afraid to protest because of the pain slowly seeping into her lower abdomen, all she did was stared at his back as he pulled her into the house. "Just what do you think you re doing, Mujaheed?!" She clamoured and snatched her hand away from his hold. "What are you doing?!" She yelled at him again. Putting her hands on her waist, she glared at him, "I think I ll have to make this clear to you, Mujaheed. You are nothing! And by nothing, I mean nothing in my whole life! No one gives you the right to be acting as though you re my father." She quickly palmed her forehead and hissed, "Let me rephrase this, not even my father has the right to, not to talk about you, a gateman. Know your position in my life and stop meddling in my affairs, they have nothing to do with you." She was about to walk away when she turned to look at him, "And this should be the first and last time I ll warn you, don t you ever think of laying your filthy hands on me ever again. I will not take it lightly with you next time, be warned." She hissed loudly and before she took the next step, Nana rushed to where she was and hugged her tightly while she squealed, "Ya Fareeda! Abba just told you that you re getting married to Ya Mujaheed in three months, I m so excited!" Swiftly, Fareeda looked up at him and her eyes got into his, they held each other s gaze for a moment before he looked away, turning his attention back to Nana and he softly smiled at how excited she was. Gently, Fareeda pulled her away from her body and she placed her hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Nana, Alhaji might ve said that but there s no way I m going to let that happen, sorry to burst your bubbles, okay? But tell the truth, do you think it s fair for me to get married to a gateman?" She turned and threw a hard glare at him, and Mujaheed calmly wrapped his hands around his chest and they both waited for Nana s answers. Nana looked at them both before she slipped from the hold of Fareeda and stood between them, turning her eyes from Fareeda to Mujaheed. "You see, if it s on me, I ll say no one ever matches as you two do. He doesn t talk much, you do, and that s fine. He hates going out in public, you do, and that will be a perfect blend. He hates walking in the rain, but I ve never seen you as happy as I did when you played in the rain, you can teach him that. I agree that you two are a total opposite of each other, but wallah you ll make a perfect pair. Besides, you can t see without your glasses, and he can perfectly fine, might save you from knocking your head on the wall on days you break your glasses before Dr Aisha sends them…" "Nana!" Fareeda spoke in a gritted teeth and with a burst of high pitched laughter, Nana ran off to the mansion. "Asma u is furious at you, Ya Fareeda! She has a huge crush on Ya Mujaheed, protect your man at all cost!" It s confirmed, she would be in the police station by tomorrow because she was going to kill that girl. "Don t let what she said gets to you, that thing is never going to happen, the earlier you get that into your thick flesh the better it will be." She glared at him and was about to walk off when he spoke for the first time. "Have you thought of what I told you in the hospital yet? I m afraid that that will be the only way this isn t going to happen." He walked off before she did and she wished she could throw her shoes at him. She hated the guts of this man, she hated the arrogance he carried with him. She hated everything about him. She hissed softly and walked back into the mansion, she had to call Adam, Mujaheed kept making things worse for her. She heard Alhaji s voice in the living room and she didn t spare any of them a glance when she tried to walk past them all to her room. "I m afraid but you ll have to stay here a bit, Fareeda. So, that s what happened in the hospital? I didn t know you d have been a mother in a few months to come." She heard the egoistic tone of Ummah and she softly smiled, she knew this would surely happen and she had braced herself or the worse. She turned with her hands on akimbo and smiled calmly, "You d have been a grandmother, Ummah. Sorry to have burst your bubbles, but sadly the baby got miscarried. But don t worry, I ll make sure to make you one before the years ends." She was about to walk to her room when Alhaji called her name in a voice filled with anger and disgust, she turned to look at him as well. "Make sure you get ready to get married to Mujaheed, Fareeda. We both know that I'll never go against my words, if not for the Islamic law, you d have already gotten married to him. Don t even think of doing anything stupid because I'll make sure you regret it." This was the time or not, but she knew it would be hard for Alhaji to believe her, he wouldn t even believe her. But even if she was going to apologize to Alhaji, that wouldn't happen in front of Ummah. No, she would rather die than apologize to this man. She was sure Adam would find a way out for them.