Illicit Desires ✔

19. Friends?

I didn't know much about the measurements of heart rate, but I was sure as hell that the rate at which my heart was beating was at the fastest it has ever been. On my knees, my hands folded over my tummy like a person who was about to receive judgment, and I was indeed about to receive judgment. I watched my mum as she got out of her bathroom, put on her hijab, and went over to her praying position. She did all this while ignoring me, I've been in her room for over thirty minutes now and this woman hasn't even spared me a glance, I wonder if she has no idea that I'm here, or it is just part of her punishment. I knelt there watching her pray, I also prayed, I prayed for God's intervention in my life, and I couldn't begin to imagine what this woman would do to me.

By the time she was done praying, I was by then already sitting on the floor, being the lazy me. Immediately, I saw her take off her hijab I knelt straight up again, looking ahead.

"So, you're sleeping with him?" She asked out of the blue.

The question caught me off guard, and at that instant, I choked on thin air, I felt my chest tighten, and I started coughing seriously. The fits of coughs I had were more than I've ever experienced in my nineteen years of living, I tried to calm it down, but it just wouldn't stop. My hands went to my chest, trying to reduce the pain I felt there, and then I felt a hand on my back patting me. I looked up to see my mum crouched down in front of me with a smile.

"Seeing as you're already having all the symptoms of a coronavirus patient, fever." She touched my forehead, "trouble breathing, and dry cough, I guess I'm right then."

I remained quiet, staring at her smiling face. What I wanted to see wasn't her smiling face. If she was smiling, then whatever was going through her mind was more deadly. You see, I and my mum are a lot alike. it's the same thing I would do also.

"Come on, get up." She raised me up on my feet and led me to her bed. I sat down beside her when she motioned for me to. My face naturally went to my hands that were joined together on my laps. "Why do you look like I'm about to roast you?"

"Because you should actually be roasting me," I answered quietly, and she laughed. "I can't believe you're taking this so lightly."

"I can't believe it either," she stated.

"Why?" I asked. I raised my head up to look at her face, wanting to see whatever was going on there.

"Well, what can I say? He already asked for your hand in marriage." My mum smiled. The smile looked so real, not like she was planning my death underneath.

"What!" I yelled. I couldn't understand what she had just said. Did she mean Ademide asked for my hand in marriage? How is that possible? When? And where?

"Yes, the second day he was here, he came to my shop and told me about his intention to woo my daughter." My mum started explaining, I listened attentively, I needed to know. "I asked which daughter? Because I'm sure I don't have a daughter." A scowl appeared on my face, I knew what my mum was getting at. She was trying to insinuate that I wasn't woman enough. "I was so damn sure he wasn't talking about you, I was trying to see what he found so appealing in you, except your pretty face, which is thanks to me." She huffed, see I told you I took after my mum in every way. "Anyway, I told him I don't take refunds."

"Mum!" I yelled with anger, pouting seriously, "You make it sound like you're selling me."

"I had to tell him, in case a time comes when he suddenly realizes he made a wrong choice, which I strongly believe you are, then he should know I don't take refunds." She ended it with a chuckle. Everything sounded too unreal to me, my mum making a joke out of this, and the fact that Ademide told my mum about his intention to woo me, who does that?