Mrs Mahmud, Mrs Mas'ood

1

January, 2021

Hauwa Sufyan knew for a fact that silence was not supposed to be loud. It was impossible. One did not need to be a genius to figure that out. However, the silence that stretched as she and her parents stared at her younger sister through the computer screen was loud and it rang almost painfully in her ears.

Yusuf Sufyan, their father, was the first to recover. "Hanan," He paused to swallow, "what have you been up to in Abuja?"

Hauwa winced. The question hit deep but she knew Yusuf had to ask because it did not make so much sense. Her chest squeezed painfully when she saw the tears that welled up in the younger one's eyes as she – Hanan – assured him and their mother – Linda Sufyan – that she had been responsible and properly principled since she got to Abuja in September for her National Youth Service year.

Hauwa had been over the moon that midnight back in August when the call up letters were released. Hanan, who was classified a foreign trained graduate all thanks to the degree she had from a Ghanaian university, was posted to Abuja without them working out any connections. According to Hauwa, that was luck at its finest.

Twenty four hours in the orientation camp at Kubwa had Hanan complaining bitterly. According to her, the state of the orientation camp of the nation's capital city was a disgrace to the whole nation itself. The only good things were the food and the few friends she met; friends who stabbed her in the back on the last day of September which was the same day she met Zayd Dantata and his wife, Amal, even though both women had not spoken.

As fate would have it, Hanan was posted to his furniture and interior company. She was the first corp member in that company and according to what she told her older sister, Zayd said she was to be the last. Since then, Hauwa noticed how Hanan spoke about Zayd and she always teased the younger one, saying that Hanan's life was just like the novels they read where the female lead had a secret crush on her boss who was off limits. Never in her wildest dreams would Hauwa have thought that Hanan was really in love with Zayd and that her feelings were most likely requited with Amal's knowledge.

Hanan always considered polygamy, they all knew it. However her considering and having it as an actual reality hanging above their heads were two different things. It was too much to take in at once. Hauwa could not stop herself from wincing again at the words that left their mother's mouth.

"I know you used to say that you didn't mind being a second wife but I never took it seriously. Were there no other men in Abuja, Hanan? Why didn't you date one of them instead falling for a married man?"

With a heart that sunk deeper with every passing second, Hauwa allowed herself speak. Her voice was calm, the way it always was when she approached a sensitive topic.

"Hanan," She watched the younger one raise her head to look at her, "what happened?"

The dam broke with that question and Hanan began to cry.

Linda turned away and blinked back tears as she spoke in Etsako; something she did when she was extremely shaken. "Oghena, e mi ko na?"

Hauwa refused to turn away from her sister. All she wanted to do in that moment was find a way to get to Abuja just so she could hug the younger one and repeatedly assure her that it was going to be okay.

Yusuf repeated her question when Hanan was calmer. With a sniffle, Hanan told them everything, what they knew and what they did not: meeting Zayd at Athena, being posted to the company and working with him, getting closer despite trying not to, falling for him, the attempt to pull away after the New Year and how it had not done much, and then her conversation with Amal the previous day.