The Child Bride – Copyright of AryEmber
CHAPTER FOUR
Khalid smiled as he drove to his front gate, he honked twice and his gateman soon opened the gate. He drove in and carefully packed his car near a familiar one, he winced and cursed under his breath.
“Welcome sir!” his gateman greeted in their local dialect.
“Saliu, how have you been? Hope all is well?” he asked in the same language.
“I am doing fine, how was your trip sir?”
“We thank Allah it went well, Ayisat will bring you some things once I settle down”
The man bowed,” thank you so much sir!”
He smiled at him before heading in, he could hear voices once he approached the door and he recognised his wife’s. He need not wonder who the other voice belong to, who else if not the only other woman in his life.
“Oh my Khalid! Come, come and check all these out.” His mother said the moment he pushed the door opened.
He was tempted to look round to make sure he was in the right house but he was indeed in his house and the woman beaming at him was his mother. Hell must have ceased to exist for his mother to be in the same room with his wife and had not yet torn his poor Ayi to pieces.
“Good evening ma,” he greeted.
“And a wonderful evening it is indeed! Welcome back my dear, how was your trip?”
“It went as expected, when did you arrive?”
“Not so long ago….., you must be so tired.”
He shook his head and looked at scattered baby wears on the floor before turning to his mute wife with a concern look on his face.
“How are you Ayisat?” he asked.
The girl stammered out .” Fine, welcome my husband”
Khalid gave her a questioning look, when did they went back to that? He hated her calling him that and she knew it.
Ayisat made to collect his briefcase but stopped at her mother-in-law killer look.
“I seem to remember that I asked you to go inside and lie down, what are you still doing here?!”
The girl muttered sorry and ran up quick leaving him surprised and confused.
“Mother, what did Ayisat do now?”
“Don’t mind that silly girl; she has no idea that I’m not here to joke with her. Let me take your case now, you should go in and freshen up.” She stood up.
“You do not mean that, do you?” he moved back a little.
“And why not?” she asked instead
He wondered what had gotten into this women he called mother.” I would rather take it in myself if my wife is not allowed to!”
“Suit yourself, just go in and come back for your dinner.”
“Why are you going to be the one to serve me and not my wife?”
“Will you go in and freshen up already before you send me to my grave early with these questions.”
Khalid sighed and went up.
FIVE MONTHS AGO
She looked at the question again and frowned.” This is what happens when you abandon your books,” she muttered to herself.
But this was physics, her subject! No topic scared her in this subject. She used to be the best in her class, no one could compete with her when it came physics. Chemistry might be a pain in her neck but not her Physics!
Only everything seemed like Latin to her now, even the dead language would make better sense to her now. She sighed and said a quick prayer, determined to start all over again. She hoped something would stick to her brain this time.
Khalid walked into the sitting room and saw the light on in the kitchen.
“Oh Allah! What is she doing at this time of the night now?”
He didn’t like staying in the same room with the girl even for a minute, he would let her get over with whatever she was doing before going in to make his tea. Sooner or later, this joke would come to an end because he’d be damned to continue living with a young girl for his wife. This was pure insanity for Allah’s sake!
She may be a pretty girl…..not your sexy beautiful model kind but quite pretty, if dark and lean is your type and she was a good cook. Oh yes! She managed to surprise him every time he tasted her food, he enjoyed her meal and he never failed to let her know.
She was also humble, although he reasoned that was because of their age difference and the circumstances that led to their marriage. He wondered if she found their union ridiculous as he did.
Khalid just didn’t relish the idea of having a teenager as a wife. He had always loved mature women right from his secondary school days, he didn’t even mind if a lady was older than him, hell! The first girl he dated/ slept with was 2 years older than him!
He had a code and that was staying far away from young girls. Some of his friends then had teenage girlfriends, they often told him that there was nothing like innocent anymore and if he didn’t, a lot of men would. One of their many excuses was that the girls were the ones throwing their selves at them and this may be true to an extent but he still blame them.
He called the wayward girls harlots and thought of his friends as perverts. He told himself that under no circumstances would he take to bed, a teenager but that was a long time ago. All of that was before he got himself into the problem he was in now, before his grandfather’s death, before Khodijah and her bastard son.
Now, he had a child bride and he couldn’t do much about it. His mother would lose everything no doubt, it was not only the question of his willingness to father a child, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. She didn’t know that, no one knew. It was a problem he would take with him to the grave, along with his father’s name.
It was only a pity this poor girl would face his mother’s wraths but it would only be for a while. Once his time to father a child ran out, this sham of marriage would be annulled and everybody would be glad….. Well, except his mother.
It suddenly occurred to him that he’d been waiting for a long time, what was she doing that was taking this long? He could even hear any movement and this worried him, what if…..
********************
He tiptoed into the kitchen, expecting to find a body on the floor but what he saw was a girl deeply engrossed in a book she was reading. This surprised him, so engrossed was she that she had not even noticed she had company.
His surprise was quickly replaced by curiosity and he moved closer to see what she was reading that had taken her out of this world.
Ayisat felt a presence and looked up; a horror look crept to her face and she jumped up like the stool she sat on had suddenly started to burn.
“My husband! You’re awake,” she said and started to pack the notes on the worktop quick.
Khalid was surprised and curious at the same time, surprised at how quick her demeanour changed and curious about what she was reading.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She stammered out.” I….I c…came to drink water, my husband.”
He gave her an incredulous look.” First, my name is not ‘my husband’. It is Khalid, I’m sure that isn’t hard to remember and pronounce so please, call me my name.”
She nodded quickly.” Okay, I’m sorry.”
“Now, what are you doing in here and tell me the truth because I do not believe you came to quench your thirst or what? You don’t drink with cups but books?”
Ayisat knew she was in trouble, she’d been caught red handled and nothing or no one could save her now. She fell to her knees and started begging.
“Please don’t tell mother, I beg in the name of almighty Allah, don’t tell her please.”
He was confused, what should he not tell his mother? He didn’t even know what she was doing really so why was she begging him and at the same time crying?
“Get up Ayisat,” he said and tried to pull her up.
“Oh no! Let me remain on my knees please, just don’t tell her I beg of you,” she kept on begging.
Khalid made to pull her up again but she wouldn’t allow, he was losing his patience and didn’t realise when he shouted at her. He, of course, regretted doing that.
She hurriedly got up and started to tremble, so much that all the books she was holding fell down. He sighed, calming himself down before bending to pack the books up.
Khalid checked the books and saw that one was a textbook. It looked old but clearly taken care of, the other two were notebooks. The first appeared old and was filled with writings while the second was still new and it seemed like she had just began some workings.
“You were reading this right?” he asked as he glanced through the books, he noticed she had a good handwriting.
He looked up when he got no reply and saw her nodding slowly; he smiled and continued checking the books.
Now would be the perfect time for the angel of death to come take her away, there was no way she would escape what was coming next. How could she have been so stupid? What she even thinking hiding and reading in the kitchen when he was home! Well, it was not her fault she got caught. It was past midnight for Allah’s sakes and how could she have thought he would wake up or come to the kitchen at all.
She had thought he would be deep asleep as usual after eating and few hours in his study room, hell! This was not even her first night! Why did he wake up this night? Only the almighty knew what he was thinking now….. What if?
Ayisat got down her knees again.” I didn’t use the food stuff money oh! Allah is my witness. It was the money you gave me to buy slippers I used the change to buy the notebook and a calculator, I bought the pairs cheap and I can take you the woman I swear!”
Khalid was amused at how fast she could talk within few seconds when nervous and to think she spent the money he gave her wisely to be able to purchase studying items, not new cloth, made him realise he knew almost nothing about his child bride.
Truly, he gave her a thousand naira to get new slippers because the sight of her old foot wear was so terrible he couldn’t bear to see those ugly pairs anywhere on the floors of his beautiful home. He never could have guessed she would buy a cheaper one to save money for other things; he had only been relieved to see that the slippers had been changed.
“Stand up Ayi,” he said calmly, not wanting to frighten her again.
She stood up slowly but burst into fresh tears suddenly with her head down like a child was been scolded, he had no idea what he did to have caused this and hated seeing her cry.
He decided to let her know how he felt.” You should be proud of yourself Ayisat and not crying like this.”
That clearly shocked her as she rose her head up and asked with a confused expression. ”I should?”
“Yes, what you were doing is something to be proud of. Not all your age mate can wake up in the night to study, a lot are actually snoring away right now and won’t feel bothered to read in the daylight when they’re less busy. I am, as a matter of fact, impressed and can’t get why you beg me not to tell mother.”
“S..s.. she would say that is not the reason I’m here and may_ _ _”
“I may not be an advocate of the law but I’m quite sure it is written in nowhere that reading is a crime, no one should make you feel scared and hide like it’s an abomination.”
She nodded although telling herself in the back of her mind that she was throwing everything away the moment the dawn breaks.
“So Physics uh? Equilibrium of forces I see.”
Ayisat couldn’t hide her shock, she didn’t write the topic she was working on and the textbook had already closed.
He laughed at her expression. “Well, don’t tell me you have no idea I did Physics back in school, I was not always an art student.”
How could she have an idea about that? She barely knew him at all!
“Did you like it?” she found herself asking.
“Not at all trust me! One of the reasons I changed to art class and went for architecture there but I’m guessing you do.”
“Are you kidding me? Like is so not the word, I super love it!”
He couldn’t hold back the laughter, there was no doubt she was passionate about the subject. “I can see that now, believe me.”
“Other subjects could be tough but not my physics, no one compete with me back when I was in school. Its textbook was the only thing I took before…..” her voice trailed off.
Khalid was not sure what suddenly happened but he watched as her smile disappeared.
“Did you want to get something before? I can help you with anything you want.” It was like her body programmed her back to the submissive wife role.
He sighed with disappointment, he hadn’t even realised he was beginning to enjoy their conversation until it ended.
“I wanted to make tea but don’t worry, I will drink water and leave you to your study.”
Ayisat stiffened the moment he wrapped his arms around her and disentangled herself from him quick, her mother in law must not walk in on them like that or she would not hear the last of it.
“What’s the problem Ayi?” he asked.
Now, he was more confused. Had she not hear him walked in? She might not have turn around when he walked in but she must have surely felt his presence, it was not even like he tiptoed into the room so why had she claimed she was startled? It had to be his mother, only Allah knows what she said or had done to the poor girl.
She shook her head again but said nothing.
“Mother said I should move into the guestroom with her, I am to stay with her now.”
Ayisat didn’t know how to tell him, it was simple as “I am pregnant” but she was finding it difficult to say the words.
“You are not talking Ayisat,” he sounded impatient.
It took him awhile to understand what she meant and when he finally did, he was both shocked and pissed.
“You are pregnant?” he couldn’t hide the anger in his voice.
“You found that out and told my mother first? Who’s your husband?!” he roared out.
“You couldn’t have called or wait for me to return before telling someone else what is mine by right to hear first?” he added in anger, ignoring the voice laughing in his head.
“I didn’t tell her! S…she just c… came in and ……”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Mrs Gimba hummed happily to her favourite song playing in her head, finally! Her dream were going to come true, she was going to get what was hers and become a grandma. Allah perished anything or anyone planning to stand in her way!
The woman ignored him and continued to hum softly as she served the food and covered it.
“Mother?” he called, softly this time.
He opened his mouth to say something but decided it was best he didn’t respond to his mother’s insult.
“Is that why you were shouting like a deranged man? Did she not tell you she has taken in?”
“Everything!” she shouted.
“Sit down son,” she said calmly.
“Use me?” he was confused.
“Use me exactly how mother?” he asked, ignoring the voice that was rebuking for accusing Ayisat wrongly.
“Mock me all you want but…..”
“Satisfy your wants outside if you have to but I am not watching her lose that baby, that’s my own.”
“If I were you, I would go and have that shower and come back for my food. The food won’t be hot forever and cold food is not delicious, trust me.” She said and left the room like he was no longer there.
When will you stop her from controlling your life like a child? The annoying voice was back again.
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