Nilefa: The Union

CHAPTER 25

Ramadhan was only five days away. Aishe was going to perform the Umrah with Hajju. The whole family usually went, but this time the children couldn't go with them because school was still on and they would soon be starting their examinations. Yasmeen was to stay and look after her siblings, to which she didn't protest as her mother had also mentioned that she would be selecting Yasmeen's furniture there, and it was the last thing Yasmeen wanted. Her taste didn't matter to her mother anyway, she thought. She would only be useful carrying her bags and tailing her around.

Besides that, Yasmeen liked the idea of being the eldest at home. She would now drive herself anywhere she liked, anytime. What would stop her, father was always out, and he didn't mind , did he?

" You will be staying with your father at his other house." Aishe said as she placed the veil she had just folded among the other clothes. Yasmeen scolded herself for feeling overjoyed about her mother leaving. She had probably caught the change in her mood on receiving the news. Aishe found Yasmeen's perplexed face when she looked up. " What?"

" Mummy.......... You will let us stay there?" Yasmeen would do anything to stop that from happening, blackmailing her mother included.

" Yes, why are you so surprised?"

There was no way her mother was okay with them living alongside their father's wife under the same roof. She had proven disagreeable on more than one occasion concerning the matter.

" We can take care of ourselves Mom, I can take care of the house..... Ya Zainaba will-"

"Ya Zainaba is coming with me.I need her help with Hajju. "

" Mother we hardly know her." She protested.

" That's your problem. Consider this a way to remedy that." She didn't sound angry, she appeared to be really okay with leaving them with Hauwa Sadiq. The daughter of an infamous Mafia? Their father's second wife? " Get your things. You will leave as soon as your brothers are up from school. "

" Mummy please let us stay here. We will behave, I promise." Yasmeen slumped on the bed next to her mother pouting, holding her hands, begging." I promise we will not fight, please mummy."

" You are wasting your time Yasmeen. Your father and I have decided."

" Let me come with you then."

" No, Yasmeen. Your father has employed someone to come and train you to cook. There's no better time to learn than Ramadan. You know all these dishes that you love, you will finally learn to make them."

" Oh now I am not just a nanny, I am an intern cook also"

" Put it in any manner you wish. You will be grateful when you get married and I pray your husband doesn't like a maid's cooking. Then you will thank me even more."

" Father will always get me a maid. "

" Yes, he will. But he doesn't fancy a maid handling his food either. I am saying you will not go and disgrace me in your in-laws eyes. Your father is trying to fix the damage he has done, not allowing you to join me in the kitchen while you were younger."

Father never allowed Yasmeen to help her mother in the kitchen while she was in school. She had ranted more than a few times that Yasmeen was a girl and it was her duty to be in the kitchen, but father would protest that she was only a child and that those responsibilities would interfere with her performance in in school. Yasmeen was an only daughter, but she wasn't a spoiled brat. She knew how to relate with her elders and had respect for her parents decisions. When she got her school leaving certificate, she applied for admission in an American university and got in to study Medicine, but Aishe refused. Her daughter would not go far away from her she had said, after which she applied in a university closer to home, there in Leeds where she studied Biomedical Engineering.