Burnt Embers

Chapter Two

Before she was conveyed , she had cried her heart out and it took the elders a lot of effort to chastise her, her aunt whom she was named after, who is living in Abuja married to a notable figure in the country had to promise to cater for her further studies before she let go of the hem of Ummie's wrapper which she held tightly as if her life depends on it.

The house is okay, a bedroom, a kitchen, a toilet and a small backyard and it had been elaborately furnished for her as if she's a daughter of an average family, she was shocked to see all those expensive looking furniture and she vowed to study hard when she gets admission just to take care of her Baba and Ummie . After all the guest have left, whom were mostly family , Zee and the rest of her friends swept the house , washed the toilets and arranged everything back to order , spraying the house with a sweet scented room fresh and a burner was switched on with another incense. The first thing that will welcome anyone walking into the house is the sweet scent emanating from the house .

Khadijah had begged her friends to wait till Ahmad arrives but they refused , giving an excuse that its getting late and since there won't be the customary budan baki there's no need for them to stay behind , leaving Khadijah to her thoughts of a better life ahead with her Mifteey her best friend and now her husband.

It was a few minutes after 10pm when Ahmad walked into the room , Khadijah had already cried till she don't have the energy to cry more ,she was just uncomfortably seated at the far end of the bed , sniffling.

" Cat haven't you cried enough? This is supposed to be the happiest day of our lives why are you crying so much ?besides ,Ummie is not far away from you, you can visit them any time you want to , you have me and I will take care of you habibty, cry no more dear, I will treat you like a queen"

He unveiled her and his breath hitched seeing the beauty behind the cover , he's indeed blessed to have Khadijah and he won't forget to thank Allah for blessing him with such a damsel, a ravishing one at that ,the type he will boast to his friends, the type he will puff his chest out and show the world , his prized possession , one whom he had nurtured for a long time and now it's time to reap what he had sown, to harvest what he had cultivated .

Khadijah couldn't look up at him, she's suddenly feeling too shy around him, though she knows that this is bound to happen , she had never been secluded with him and this is the closest they had ever been, she is scared , really scared .He wiped away a lone tear from her face and urged her to get up and make ablution, since its the only room in the house ,he had to wait for her to freshen up in the living room, sensing her nervousness, he don't wanna rattle her more .

Khadijah removed her clothes and neatly fold them, keeping them on an empty compartment in the wardrobe , she fished out her new set of pyjamas, a cotton tee and a three quarter trouser, having done that, she take out her toiletry bag from a box and went into the bathroom, thankfully there is a tap in the bathroom so she took her time cleaning up, first by brushing her teeth, a habit she has been doing since when she was seven ,to brush her teeth before going to bed, something Baba thought her .She came out after taking a cold bath and making ablution.

She hastily dressed seeing that she has wasted almost 30minutes in the bathroom, she don't want Ahmad to think that she is sluggish, then she remembered that he know her and shrugged the thought off .As If he can read her mind, Ahmad barged into the room without saying the salam which baffled Khadijah but she kept mum, before she can even open her mouth to speak Ahmad started " What type of nonsense is this Cat? How can you stay up to 30 minutes in the bathroom knowing that am waiting for you ? Is that how you were thought to treat your husband?" He bellowed and she cringed ,she's not sure what she feel at that time, was it shock ? Surprise or wonder? " Am really sorry Mifteey ,you know how I take time in the bathroom but in shaa Allah it won't happen again, I'm sorry "