BETROTHED ✓

38°

After the death of Larai's father, things took a drastic change for Larai and her mother.

Her mother was completely broken, but fortunately for her, Larai was there to take care of her. Larai tried her best to fill the void in her mother's heart, although it was not easy. She felt so bad for her mother because she had not completely healed from the death of her child and then her husband had to pass away too.

The house was always as quiet as a graveyard. Larai tried all she could to make her mother smile again. It was a mission of hers to make her mother the happiest woman in the world. After what happened, Larai decided never to leave her mother again. She decided to do everything in her power to ensure her mother had a better life and she would stop at nothing to rectify her mistake of abandoning her once before.

Larai also made sure to visit her three older siblings. They were all living happily with their spouses. It baffled Larai how they were forced, yet happy.

Her eldest sister, Inke, whom she fondly called YaInke, had four kids—two boys and girls, and the husband was extremely nice to her. Although he was a lot older than Inke, he was still fit and handsome. Larai was surprised to find out that he was a little educated as well. He gave her a very warm welcome and asked her to visit again.

Witnessing how gentlemanly Inke's husband was, Larai felt at ease. She was rest assured that he would never maltreat her even though he had a second wife.

Before leaving, Larai tried to convince her sister to move to the city with her family, but she vehemently rejected the offer for she knew her husband would never agree as he was the village head.

Not able to convince her sister, Larai gave up. She offered her sister a sum of one hundred thousand naira to start up a small business in the village to be able to send her kids to school. She also promised to keep in touch.

Her next stop was at her second sister,  Asabe's house. Growing up, Larai was closer to her YaAsabe than any of her siblings. They used to do practically everything together until her hand was given to a successful farmer in a faraway village. She was only seventeen then, but she had matured a lot. Nna used to praise her for her maturity. She was also very hard-working and strong-willed. Unlike Inke, she didn't throw even the slightest tantrum at the news of her marriage, and that made Baaba and Nna happy—Baaba especially. Asabe's wedding was the grandest amongst the sisters. It didn't come as a surprise to the sisters for she was Baaba's favorite.

Larai almost couldn't recognize her sister. She had grown darker and skinnier. Asabe was so surprised to see her sister because she had only seen her about only five times since she got married. The sisters sat and bonded. Larai found out Asabe had seven children—five girls and two boys but she was the only wife of her husband. Larai tried to find out if her husband was good to her and she affirmed that he was. For some reason, Larai didn't believe her. She wanted to see it for herself because the last thing she wanted, was for another of her sibling to go through what Azumi suffered...

Larai was finally convinced that the husband was a good man when he returned and brought home a lot of fish and other food items for the family. She also noticed Asabe's husband was soft-spoken and caring. The fact that his children were close to him proved to Larai that he indeed was a good father, and maybe a good husband too. Enough for her was that her sister was living comfortably and didn't have any regrets whatsoever.

It was almost evening when Larai arrived at her immediate older sister, Laruba's house. Unlike Inke and Asabe, Laruba was mad at Larai was eloping. She blamed her for the tragedy that befell their youngest sister. In her words, they all followed their parents wish and were leaving happily with their spouses, but Larai chose to be the black sheep of the family.