After Agony...

|Twelve|

The next few weeks,the couple have not been on talking terms. Sometimes Sophie leaves the house immediately after Imam leaves for work and comes back at ungodly hours of the night.

He was coming back from work when his phone started ringing,choosing to ignore the call until he reaches home,but with the persistence of the caller,he accepted the call only to be greeted by the raged voice of his mother-in-law.

"Good evening,Mama" he sarcastically replied.

"What is good about the evening,please save it for yourself. Imam?Maganan mai nake ji haka? So you want my daughter to worship you and your family ko? Kar taje makaranta! Toh wallahi kayi karya. When you were marrying my daughter did you meet her as an illiterate? Answer me Imam" she yelled through the other end.

"Mama it's not like that. I need you to understand that am not stopping her from going to school, what I said is that she isn't going to school in another country" Imam said trying to reason with her.

"Am not going to understand a thing your going to tell me. Let me ask you, didn't you study in another country? Hmm"

"Mama with due respect,my wife is not going to Malaysia. That is it!" With that he hung up.

These two woman are seriously testing his patience. He no longer has an ounce of tolerance for both women. He shall find a way to deal with them,well mostly Sophie.

As he arrived home,the Adhan for Isha'a was called,so he decided to just walk to the mosque before he goes in.

After the prayer was concluded and everyone was making their way home,Imam took it as an opportunity to talk to the Imam.

"Assalamualaikum" he said as the Imam extended his hand to him.

"Waalaikumussalam" he replied.

"I don't know if i could take a bit of your time"

"Bismillah" The Imam gestured for him to seat.

"For the past few months,I have been encountering some issues with my wife. The first misunderstanding we had was settled with the intervention of our parents. And just three weeks ago,she came to me and told me she had applied for an admission to which I agreed with. It was afterwards she told me the school is in Malaysia which I refused to let her go. I tried to reason with her,but it seems like she's not buying any of it. Just an hour ago,her mom called and from the looks of thinks,she siding with her daughter. I need your perception on this matter" Imam spoke.

"First of all I would like to ask you,what was your marriage based on?"

"Our marriage was based on love"

"For how long did you know her before you got married?"The Imam asked as he squinted his eyes waiting for a reply.

"I knew her for almost a year" he simply replied.

"Did she grow up with both parents?"

"No,by what they told me,her father abandoned her. She was married off by her mother's younger brother" Imam detailed further.

"So what your saying is she grew up with her mother. You see am asking you this questions so that I could be a better judge of the situation. Imam,in my own opinion you rushed into this marriage,even though they said she was abandoned by her father, he still has rights over her as long as he is alive,he is the only person that can marry her off,in other cases,his relatives. You should have done a background check on the reason he abandoned them as marriage is no child's play. One of the reasons your having problem is the circumstance you got married,but am not in the position to say that."

"By Allah,I had thought about what you just said and am even thinking of divorcing her"

"Imam,divorce is a word with a heavy magnitude to mention. And i am sure you know that Allah and his messenger (SAW) don't like divorce until it is necessary. Divorce is the last stage couples undergo after all possible solutions don't work out. And if am correct,eight months ago you came to me and told me your wife has given birth,so now tell me why would you want to separate a mother and her child? Remember whatever decision you take will either affect your child positively or negatively. And I think your parents are being highly over involved in your affairs which is not good. So I advice you to sit her down,try and reason with her in a calm manner"

Imam heavily sighed as he thought about his daughter.

"I was even thinking of marrying another wife" he suggested to the Imam.

"Yes,that would be better than divorce"he agreed.

After a very long conversation,he thanked him and they parted ways. As he got back home,she wasn't in sight as he couldn't find her car. He sighed in frustration as he knocked on the door.

As always,Maya was their waiting for her father as he carried her and twirled her around.

"Sannu dadawowa" The maid greeted him as he walked in to which he replied with his signature nod.

After he had changed and eaten dinner,he called the one person who would assure him that everything is going to be alright.

"Assalamualaikum"she said immediately she picked up the call.

"Waalaikumussalam" he replied as a smile made its way to his face.

"You sound stressed out,what's wrong?"she asked through the other end.

"It's your friend, or should I say your sister wife"he replied whilst smirking.

She blushed as she had imagine him smirking. "Yeah right. I hope you've eaten?"

"Yes,ma I did" he mockingly replied with a smile even though she couldn't see him.

After a long moment of comfortable silence,she spoke.

"You need to rest,good night" and as always,she hung up without waiting for a response.

This were one of the simple morals he wished Sophie had possessed. If and only she had those,he wouldn't be thinking about marriage.