MAKESHIFT HUSBAND (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER EIGHT

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"So you mean, I should seduce Kamal to bed?" Maryam asked slowly, looking at her friend as though she had grown a second head with horns on her neck.

Hafsat laughed. "Stop staring at me like that" she waved her hands and cleared her throat when the look on Maryam's face didn't disappear. "Why would you be so shocked? He is your husband isn't he? What's there in seducing him?"

Maryam shook her head but didn't say more. The idea itself seemed so absurd that even her brain refused to imagine it.

"I bought these for you" Hafsat was unwilling to relent and produced a nylon bag containing small bottles. "They will tighten you and make you last longer. Take them and don't waste my money" she pushed them into Maryam's hand before the latter could complain.

"Thank you so much Hafsat" she placed the bottles aside. "But I really can't do it. Kamal helped me by marrying me and I don't want to repay his goodness with bad intentions."

"Besides" she added. "You know this marriage isn't actually a true marriage ai"

"But what if he later wants it to be a true marriage?"

"Then it would be" Maryam shrugged. "I really have no problem with it ai. If that happens, then fine and good and if it doesn't, fine and good too"

Hafsat sighed and took the bottles back. "Okay fine. But then, since you want to repay him with good, you should at least perform a wife's duty leaving out the intimacy part"

"Are you silly? That man even hates the thought of me." She grumbled rolling her eyes. "Not to mention that recently he had a fight with his wife because of me"

"How did you know about that?"

"She called me to warn me. Blah blah, stay away from her husband and all that."

"What did you say?" Hafsat left her seat to come closer to her friend. Lowering her voice to the tone of someone eager to hear a gossip.

Maryam rolled her eyes again knowing fully well Hafsat would never let her be unless she heard the full story.

"Well after she was done with her warnings, I hung up. You know me very well, I really can't tolerate rubbish"

"You mustn't let her walk over you like that again." Hafsat shook her head. "What happened to the Maryam I knew? You better give it to her next time."

Maryam thought for  a while and agreed with her friend. What she didn't tell her however, was that there would be no next time as she had blacklisted Zainab's number on her phone so the latter would never be able to reach her.

The two women talked for a longer time and made lunch together, after which Hafsat left and Maryam was alone in the house.

She decided to explore the other rooms in her house, something she hadn't done since she was brought here two weeks ago.

She was impressed by what she saw and silently prayed for her mother's wellbeing.

Her phone rang and her brows  contracted when she saw the caller's ID with her truecaller app. Shaking her head, she swiped to answer.

"Have you called to warn me again?"

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When Abdulhaqq opened his eyes, he was lying on his bed, his mother and brothers all around him. The door opened and his older sister who was also a doctor walked in with her hands shoved in her lab coat pockets.

"So how is he Aisha? Is your brother okay?" Hajiya Salma doted on her last child more than she did for all of her other four sons and one daughter put together simply because he was the one who looked exactly like his late father.

"Hajiya Abdul is fine. He was just shocked which caused him to feel faint at that moment." Aisha assured and turned to face her younger brother. "What did you hear that shook you so hard and you couldn't control your emotions? You know how it is for us"

Abdul lowered his head with no intentions to answer. He wouldn't count on his mother not to go all the way to Maryam's house and fight her to release him from the supposed witchcraft.

Their father had died from a cardiological disease which could be inherited as well hence all six of them had weak hearts and took care of themselves seriously.

"It was nothing too serious. Sorry everyone"

"I hope it has nothing to do with that evil woman" Hajiya salma piped and when her children looked at her, she shrugged and added. "I was just informing him that she had gotten married to some other low class random man when he passed out."

"Hajiya we had this discussion over and over." The eldest son, Abdullahi scolded lightly. "You've always had a problem with Maryam because of her origins and then you wouldn't let him marry her. Now look what's happened"

"Surely you can't agree to your brother marrying a girl who was born out of wedlock would you?" Hajiya Salma stood and her eyes started to pool with tears.

"You think I'm wrong? I do and say everything for all of you." She started to cry now.

"Mom you can't manipulate me into feeling bad with your tears because I won't change my opinion. We've all done things we weren't proud of in the past and so did she." He moved past her to the door. "Keep me updated on Abdul's health. I'm leaving"

He closed the door lightly and left the house in fast paced steps with his mother chasing after him.

"Babangida! Babangida!!" She stopped at the door and called but he was gone.

She wiped her tears and washed her face in the kitchen sink while muttering how children grew ungrateful as soon as they were grown.

Why wouldn't they understand? What would people say about their family if they let a girl with unknown roots marry into their honored family? What would she tell her husband when they met in the hereafter?

She shook her head. As long as she lived, her last child would marry a woman only worthy of him.

Someday Abdulhaqq would understand that she was doing it for him and then he would be grateful for her interference.

But until he realised that, she would stick to her ground. With that thought, she went to her room leaving the children to themselves.

After the three other brothers were gone, Aisha removed her coat and sat close to Abdulhaqq on the bed.

She rubbed his head lightly and smiled. "You know everything is predestined right? If she's meant to be your wife, then no matter what it takes, she'll come back to you."

Abdulhaqq nodded but the wheels in his head were already turning.

As Aisha returned to her home, for some reason she felt Abdul didn't really listen to her. He had been born fourteen years after she was and it came as a shock to her parents and everyone else.

She had practically raised him and knew him better than even their mother to know that he really loved Maryam.

As she swerved into a turn, she shrugged.

What will be, will be.