Only In Jannah

28: Back to sender 1.0

"Mum—-are you sure?"

"I am Mahmoud, why else would he suddenly bring up the topic of getting married again? And that too to that Jalila girl? Haven't you ever noticed how clingy she is towards him? Don't you see the changes in your brothers behavior? For two months he repeated the same thing saying he can't take back his wife but not once did we hear the reason, she didn't do anything to offend him. The day before it happened we talked and he said he was going to Katsina to meet her so he would make things right, he was so happy-" Hajiya Abu choked on unshed tears, she paused to regain her voice taking a sip from the glass of water beside her.

"But to what end? Why break a happy home?" Mahmoud stroked his beard following the drawings on the carpet with his eyes.

"Zato zunubi amma Wallahi if what I perceive is true I will deal with that woman and her daughter and your uncle too if he's in on this, I will make their lives a living hell they would beg to die" Hearing the words coming out of his mothers mouth Mahmoud moved closer to her holding her by the shoulders, he pulled her in for a hug saying "Calm down Ma, we don't have to be that hard on them" Hajiya Abu pulled away she sat on the edge of the bed shaking her legs vigorously till her veins started to hurt.

"How can someone be so cruel Mahmoud? If she wanted my son to marry her daughter all she had to do was say something, even before Jalilas first marriage. I would've been more than happy with that but this? This is preposterous, they're playing with my sons sanity; MY SON! kuma ka ce a barsu? Ina" she quickly shook her head.

"I'm not saying we should let them go just like that Mum, I'm saying we don't have to be too harsh. We should be focusing on getting Khalil better, on diverting his attention from Jalila and getting him as far away from her as possible"

Hajiya Abu sighed "I think I'm starting to see your fathers point of view, I remember my mother used to tell me stories of people affected by sihr and if I remember correctly there was a very learned man Mallam uhhh what was it-" she snapped her fingers in thought "Amali! Yes Mallam Amali, he was from a renowned family, the Amali family and for every generation the most knowledgeable inherited the name."

"Okay, what about him?"

"We need to see him, if he's alive that is—we need to take a trip to Bauchi but I'll have to find the whereabouts of my mothers family, if I remember correctly from her stories their family house was and still may be in Railway quarters so I'll make some calls, we'll leave tomorrow or the day after" Mahmoud nodded and stood up to leave picking a call on his way out.

"Yes Trevor, its time. The package will be ready a week from now, get it"

***

Ibrahim adjusted his baseball cap on his head taking a deep breath he knocked on the door as he waited for it to open he replayed his last conversation with his cousin over and over again. Why was he not surprised? While his mother was always caring she always had a twisted belief in her head about how to handle several situations, his sister had unfortunately inherited that from her.

He fixed his hard face into a smile on seeing Mahmoud at the front door.
"Bro" Mahmoud greeted, they shook hands extending into a short hug.

"Where is he?" Ibrahim asked looking around as they walked deeper into the corridor towards the dining area, with a fake smile plastered on his face he waved at Khalil who was gulping down a bottle of water in hand.

"Yo, when did you arrive?" Khalil beamed after swallowing his water "I didn't know you were coming" He added causing Ibrahim and Mahmoud to exchange quick glances.

"Yeah, it was impromptu" Khalil smiled nodding.

"Well I was just leaving to see your sister, are you too tired to come?" Khalil asked tossing the now empty bottle of water into a trash can, Ibrahim shook his head "No, I'll just hang around"