My Schizophrenic Husband

Chapter One

Faiza giggled as her eyes were fixated on the television, her body was spread on the couch lazily which was due to her tiredness after a long day at work, she was so invested in the show she was seeing to notice her mother-in-law walk in through the front door.

Aliyah stood with her hands akimbo, lips pursed disgustingly at her son's wife who was clearly wasting time as she sat in her son's house and contributed to nothing.

"What a surprise," Aliyah said suddenly taking Faiza by shock, she jerked up from the chair as her head turned towards the source of the voice, her fear intensified upon seeing the disapproving look her mother-in-law gave her, she quickly stood up and greeted her warmly, to which Aliyah hissed and stormed angrily into the room.

Faiza rushed out of the house to her mother-in-law's car to bring out her baggage, she sighed as she took the bags in; it wasn't the first time Aliyah would visit them unexpectedly and without telling neither her nor her husband.

They have surely gotten used to having her frequently, what Faiza wasn't used to was the constant taunting and insults from her. No matter how much she tried to satisfy her mother-in-law, she just degraded her more and more.

Faiza dropped the bags with a thud, then she hurried to the kitchen to fix a quick meal for Aliyah, she would occasionally glance at the clock, praying silently for her husband to arrive home earlier at least to keep her from unending insults from his mother.

She set the food on the dinning table and nervously called out to Aliyah who showed up at the dinning almost immediately, she glanced at the food and frowned, "What is this?"

"Are you going to say you don't know I don't eat such food?" She continued angrily.

"I -I am sorry ma, I just thought you would be hungry, this is what I could quickly do," Faiza explained gently.

"Oh just shut up, if you had any responsibilities, I would have even pitied you, you have no kids and you keep scamming my son of his money! You gold digger!" Aliyah said raising her voice at Faiza whose eyes were glistering with tears, Aliyah opened her mouth to say more but was stopped by the sound of the front door opening.

She hissed and for left the living room where she welcomed her son and greeted him warmly, Faiza's shoulders feel as she felt rooted to the ground, no words would ever hurt her as much as the blame of being barren, it was something she herself wasn't happy about and cried about each day, the last thing she needed was someone reminding her of it, especially in the harshest manner.
***
Faiza sighed for the umpteenth time that morning, she was still lying on her bed and was gazing at the ceiling, her eyes were bloodshot red as she didn't sleep a wink, she fidgeted with her fingers as she wondered how she would face Aliyah again today, and for another three weeks, she sighed as she turned her head to look at her husband who was sleeping almost unbothered about her situation, at first he was supportive and would prevent his mum from disrespecting his wife, but recently he wouldn't even say anything even if she rained curses on Faiza, the lack of support from her husband was even more disturbing to her than her mother-in-law's yabbing.

She turned her head to glance at the clock which was ticking way to fast for her liking, it was almost eleven in the morning, even though she should have prepared what everyone would eat, she was still worried about Aliyah, Faiza always preferred Aliyah to be around her husband, perhaps they might get carried away with their conversation to forget she even existed.

She got up reluctantly and headed to the kitchen, she spent almost an hour making food and setting the dinning where Aliyah joined her, Faiza's heart started beating fast as she saw her, but to her relief, Farooq entered just after her. Faiza huffed in relief, sat down and ate in silence, she rushed down her food and left the both of them there, she went to her room and locked herself up, only came out when it was necessary.

***
"Are you avoiding my mum?"

"Huh?" Faiza asked confused.

"I said why are you ignoring my mum?" Farooq repeated angrily as he locked the door behind them.

"I am not," she said and sat on the bed looking away from him.

"My mum comes to visit us and this is how you treat her?"

"First of all, she's here almost every day, it doesn't feel like she's visiting okay? Secondly she's here to traumatize me, you think I want to be all nice and smoochy towards that kind of person?" Faiza asked rhetorically as she stared at Farooq with fire in her eyes.

"Nevertheless you shouldn't be avoidi-"

"Don't tell me that Farooq, I don't want to be reminded everyday that I don't have a child, don't I know that already? And does it look like I'm fine with it? I'm disappointed in who you've become Farooq, you're not who I married," Faiza said disgustingly as she folded her arms and moved her gaze to the ground, Farooq's heart softened at her words and he was left speechless, he rubbed his face out of frustration and moved closer to his wife who jerked him away.

"When is she leaving?" She asked fiercely.

"What? I don't know, do you want me to kick my mother out?" Farooq asked her sarcastically which made Faiza scoffed.

"Right, the mother I knew when I got married to you," she replied and stormed out of the room.

She went to the toilet right after that and cried her eyes out, she made wudu and prayed her afternoon prayer and made loads of duas after, she stared at the ring on her finger as she sniffled as silently as she could have, Aliyah's nagging voice could be heard from the living room, probably starting her usual drama about Faiza's barrenness or her irresponsible attitude or her inability to be a good wife, she folded the prayer mat slowly and headed towards the kitchen, but she was stopped by Aliyah and told to come to the living room, she tiredly dragged her feet to the living room and sat on the couch, gazing at Aliyah with a nonchalant  expression.

"What audacity, you dare sit when I am standing?" Faiza stood up as soon as Aliyah finished, her gaze was on her husband who was sitting further away from them but could hear everything.

"So when am I expecting a grandchild?"
"Or are you here to just constitute nuisance in my son's house? Are you here to bear children or just for the wealth?"

Faiza sealed her mouth shut as she kept her gaze on Farooq who wouldn't look up from his phone, her eyes were red with anger and Aliyah nagged endlessly, she wasn't even paying attention to the words again, all her focus was on her highly unbothered husband who acted like he wasn't aware she was being emotionally abused. She angrily hissed at the nagging woman and walked out on her.

"See, this is what I was talking about, a rude girl calling herself the wife of my son, is this one a wife or waste of money?"

"Farooq, look at your wife, did you hear how she hissed and walked out on me?" Aliyah said to Farooq who was staring at the place Faiza left from, his palm we're rolled up into a fist as he breathed raggedy to control his anger, Faiza was reacting too much for his liking. She knew how his relationship was with his mother yet she chose to be an insensitive and disobedient wife and daughter-in-law, signs she didn't show for the past eight years of their marriage.