Sisterhood episode 46
TITLE: SISTERHOOD
AUTHOR: OGECHI ALABI
CHAPTER 46
ZAINAB….
Zainab retained her job with the Lagos State Government. She was moved to work directly with the Governor immediately after her service year. She was very happy. She told Bashir about it but he didn’t seem to care.
It became a problem when she started coming home late. He complained bitterly about it. She didn’t have a choice. She explained to him it was the nature of her job. She got home earliest 8 pm. But it came with perks which he didn’t mind.
They were still in his uncle’s house. He claimed he had not saved enough for them to buy their house and furnish it. His father could have supported them but he didn’t want his father’s help. He claimed he was man enough to handle his affairs.
The main reason she wanted them to leave was that his uncle’s last wife still fed them. Zainab wasn’t allowed to cook in the house. Bashir didn’t want it. He said it was the rule in the house. She wanted to cook and care for her husband. She offered to contribute to the house they wanted to buy but Bashir didn’t seem interested.
An opportunity from Lagos state presented itself. There were houses for sale at an estate around Gbagada. The house was going for twelve million naira. Zainab told Bashir about it and suggested they buy it and move there. He was dragging his feet.
On a fateful day, Zainab forgot a document at home and rushed back to get it. She wasn’t expecting anyone to be home. Bashir’s car wasn’t in the compound. She collected the document from the dining table in the sitting room. She heard low voices from the bedroom. She was surprised. She walked quietly towards the room. She suspected one of Alhaji’s children was using the house for his escapades.
She quietly opened the door to the room and entered. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She was transfixed at a spot. She was just watching them. It took the couple almost fifteen minutes to realise there was someone in the room.
Alhaji’s last wife was on top of Bashir. She sprang up and tried to hide her nudity in fear. Bashir too stood up and quickly wore his jalamiya. He went to Zainab and said, “Please don’t create a scene, let her go. Please, I am begging you.”
He signalled to the lady to leave. She quickly left as she was dressing up. Zainab was confused. She couldn’t believe what she just saw. How could Bashir be sleeping with his benefactor’s wife? Even though she was young she was older than both Bashir and herself. What did Bashir find attractive in a woman that has had four children?
She wondered what would have made him even come close to her. They were intimate the night before so what was the need to fall into temptation this afternoon? Even if she is tired from work, Bashir always requested his conjugal rights and she fulfilled them.
She waited for his explanation but none was forthcoming. She left him and went back to the office. She stopped by the woman’s apartment before she left and told her the coast was clear now, and she could go back. The people there were wondering what she meant but she just walked away.
She was devastated. She just wanted to cry. Bashir wasn’t a saint and she knew it but this was low. This was a massive sin. If his uncle finds out, he would kill the lady and Bashir. Why would Bashir fall for such? She had suspected he was involved with certain ladies. He would step outside to take some calls and she observed he looked at ladies on his social media but it didn’t bother her much. He wanted her almost every night except when she was ‘on’.
He had made some comments about how she would look when she was pregnant and after having babies. He compared her to her mother saying she might end up like her and he would have to marry another wife. That triggered her. What he didn’t know was that she went on family planning so she wouldn’t get pregnant. She was on injection which she took every three months. Bashir had never complained about her not getting pregnant which made her happy. Nobody asked questions.
With all she had done, why would Bashir have sex with his uncle’s wife? What was the attraction? Why would he disgrace her like that? She was heartbroken and didn’t know how to deal with the issue. She couldn’t sleep on the same bed they had sex on. She was just upset. She managed to keep her cool while she worked. When she was through, she came back home but remained outside. She finally built the courage to talk to her mother. She didn’t tell her mother who he was in bed with but she told her she caught him redhanded cheating.
“It’s men for you. No matter what you do, they are never satisfied. He has been complaining about your job, isn’t it about time you find something else to do so you can come back earlier?”
“Maami, I caught them in the afternoon around noon. It was not because I came back late he was with her. We met last night. I had to bathe four times because he kept going. Why would he be with another woman at noon of the next day? On our bed.”
“Don’t think much about it. Go back home and talk about it with him. Maybe you should get pregnant and have a child, it might soften him.”
“Not in the environment we live. I asked for us to get our place but he refused. I didn’t know it was because his mistress was close by. Maami, will I be able to forgive him? I can’t get the image off my mind.”
“You will forgive him. Go inside and make peace with him. Let him know how you feel but don’t make a serious fuss about it.”
Read – Making his cold heart soft episode 36
She didn’t want to expose Bashir to her mother. It will ruin everything and she had grown accustomed to him. They had a good life apart from the fact he doesn’t agree with her on certain things, they had a good relationship.
She went into the house and met him in the bedroom. She didn’t say a word to him. She took her bath and changed into her nightwear. She sat in the sitting room watching television. She didn’t touch the food on the dining table.
Bashir came out to the sitting room and saw her watching television. He asked her, “What are you doing here?” She didn’t respond to him. “There is food on the dining table, won’t you eat?” still no response from her. He came to sit beside her.
He was upset that he was caught in the act but wasn’t sorry it happened. The lady had been spying on them making out and he deliberately made out with Zainab to give her a show. She wore baggy clothes but she had a very sexy body. Even though she had four children, she was still very hot. He husband made her hide her body in baggy clothes so as not to entice men around her.
She came to the house one morning after Zainab had gone to work and removed her baggy clothes so he could see her body. That was how it started and it had been going on for more than a year. It wasn’t daily but she always dropped a hint about when they would meet. They never met when her husband was around, it was too risky. Zainab catching them red-handed wasn’t funny at all. She could decide to end the marriage.
He had unconsciously rubbed her leg as he sat beside her. He didn’t tender an apology or ask to explain. He thought she would just forget about it or cry her eyes out. Zainab walked out on him. She went to the other bedroom where she stationed herself to spend the night. He was surprised. He went in there and asked her what she was doing, but still no response.
“You are giving room for me to take another wife because I don’t understand.”
That infuriated Zainab at this point. She flared up. “Take her as a wife. Would you kill your uncle to have her? You are already plotting his death by sleeping with his adulterous wife and now you want to marry her. Go ahead.”
“What are you talking about? Which wife?”
“You want to pretend I didn’t catch you today with your uncle’s wife in our bed? Is that what you are saying?”
“What are you talking about?”
Zainab sprang up from the bed in a fit of anger Bashir had never seen before and rushed out of the room. She wanted to leave the flat when Bashir stopped her. “Where are you going?” he asked her.
“I am going to your uncle to tell him what is happening since you want to make me sound like a mad person. I know some people in this compound know about this. Once I say it, they will come forth and expose both of you. Do you think I didn’t investigate? Watch and see,”
Bashir became sacred. He stopped her again. “Don’t do that. Why would you want to embarrass me?”
“Say that again. Who wants to embarrass you? What do you call what you did to me? You are shameless. You were still rubbing my body. You will have sex with her and still have sex with me? Are you a sex addict or a pervert? I know you were carrying women but I didn’t know you were determined to destroy your life by sleeping with your uncle’s wife. Don’t cover my mouth, everybody needs to know what both of you have been up to. No wonder you didn’t want me to cook, you wanted her to bring food for your stomach and the other for the bed. Everybody will know what a despicable human being you are.”
Bashir at this point knew he had to calm her down. He went on his knees and begged her to be calm, “I did it. I am a terrible person. Are you going to expose your husband instead of helping him? I am sorry. I am begging you to please calm down. People will gather soon at the rate you are going. I messed up, my eyes have cleared now. E jo o,” he pretended to be in tears. Zainab calmed down. She kicked his hand away from her body and walked back into the room she was in.
Bashir believed he had her where he wanted her but he never saw this side of her. This girl was a fighter and very strategic. He knew what he wanted to do with her but he had to break her wings first. He was going to teach her a lesson. He will deal with her for making him kneel to beg her. He was going to taunt her. She will regret ever making him beg.
He still desired her. She had matured a bit and her body was still as beautiful. It was more rounded but she wasn’t fat. Thinking about her body was driving him insane. He loved to watch her naked whenever she comes out of the bathroom. She made his desire rise all the time. She had that hold on him.
Zainab started cooking in her flat as she rejected food from his uncle’s house. She made only what she wanted to eat as he was still receiving food from the uncle’s wife. The night he tasted one of her meals and he stopped. Nkem had taught her how to cook different delicacies. He gladly dropped money for food and she made very good use of it.
They still slept in separate bedrooms and she had refused him to touch her for three weeks. He had apologised several times but she never responded. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore, so he came into the room where she slept. It was a struggle but he was stronger than her. He had his way with her. She lay there like a log of wood with tears streaming from her eyes.
“You made me do it. I am tired of this. Why are you crying, I am your husband and I have a right to your body anytime I want it. You are making it look like I am wicked, I am not. What is all this? Ok, I am sorry. How do I make this better? I have stopped eating at my uncle’s house. What else do you want?”
“I want us to move into our house. We should be able to live together away from all your temptations. Why should I live in the same compound with the woman I caught you in bed with? Why? I will snap one day and disclose all I know.”
“I don’t have money to buy a house now and it makes no sense to rent when there is free accommodation here.”
“How much do you have to buy? I want to take a loan from my office so we can buy it.”
“Why should I use a loan to buy a house?”
“That house is worth more than thirty million but they are giving it to us at twelve million. It is not open to everyone. It is just a select few of us that want to buy it. Only thirty units. You can ask your father to help you out while I ask my father.”
“In the next two years, I will be able to buy a luxurious home, why not wait?”
“Well, I am going to buy it and move in there since you don’t want to buy it. I cannot live in the same compound as the woman I caught you in bed with. Who knows who else you have caught on your web.”
“It has ended. Why don’t you move on from it? If you move out of here, know that the marriage is over and I can bring in another woman.”
“Go ahead. She will still catch you with her. If your people ask me why I moved out, I will tell them the truth. I am buying the house with a loan.”
Zainab could only get a loan of six million naira, she had to raise the other six million naira. She called her father. He sent her six million naira. That was how she was able to buy the house. It was at the completion stage when she paid for it. It took a month to put finishing touches to the house. She was the least cadre staff that bought the houses. It was by virtue of where she worked that she was able to get a slot. She was the last to pay too. Her senior colleagues that also bought the houses were ready to move in. She didn’t have money to furnish the house. She didn’t want to go back to her father for more money. She decided to use her savings to furnish the room and get necessities for the kitchen. Finally, after two months, she told Bashir she was moving out. He couldn’t believe his ears. She came during the day when he was out and moved out of the house.
Bashir went wild when he came back and met her wardrobe empty. She had removed everything that belonged to her in the house. He called her but she didn’t pick up. His mind ran riot. Did she go to meet another man? Was she with him? He decided to ruin her reputation.
First, he called his parents and told them Zainab ran away from the house and he didn’t know where she was. He claimed she had absconded with a man he suspects has been her lover. He also said they worked together. He told many lies against her. His parents were surprised. His mother categorically said she didn’t believe it. Zainab is a good girl and would never do that.
His mother dropped the call and called Zainab. She answered the call.
“My daughter, how are you?”
“I am fine, maami. How are you and Alhaji?”
“We are good. Your husband called us and said you have left the house. Is that true?”
“Yes, maami. I have left. I asked Bashir to move with me but he would rather stay back at his uncle’s house and live in sin.”
Read – Betrothed to a playboy episode 12 – 13
“He knew you were moving?”
“He knew. He refused to move with me.”
“He said you absconded with a man you work with.”
“Maami, please ask him the name of the man. Bashir wants handouts, he doesn’t want to be responsible. I bought a house through the Lagos state government. I asked Bashir to contribute and let us buy the house, but he refused. He wants to remain in his uncle’s house, eating different types of meals from his uncle’s wives. I will not be a party to such evil. If he claims I absconded, he should leave me and move on with his life.”
“This is not my Zainab talking, you are angry. Something is bothering you. Oya I buy you a ticket so you can come to Ilorin over the weekend so we can resolve the issues. Is that ok?”
“I will come.”
Bashir was surprised when his mother told him Zainab claimed he was irresponsible and was eating his uncle’s food from his different wives. He panicked and also rushed down to Ilorin to talk with his family. He told his mother whatever Zainab tells her is a lie and that she was trying to destroy him and his reputation.
His mother could see he was panicking. She decided not to see Zainab in the house. She lodged her in a hotel and that was where they talked. She told her, “My daughter, I am Bashir’s mother. I know he can be a handful. Please tell me everything he has done that made you so angry that you left him. Please tell me.”
“If I tell you, it will ruin the relationship you have with him. He crossed the line.”
“Tell me. I am a mother, my heart can take it. We are built differently, I need to know to save him before he destroys himself.”
“Ok. I caught him in bed with his uncle’s last wife.”
“What? What did you just say? With who? It is not possible. Ah! Bashir has taken his waywardness to another level.”
“I suspect she is not the only one but because I didn’t want to get my heart broken further, I didn’t investigate. When I refused to have sex with him again, he raped me.”
Iya Bashir was no longer listening after she said that. She was devastated. Her thoughts went to different places. Bashir was her first child but she was the third and last wife. She couldn’t afford to expose Bashir to his father because he was brash and could disown him. How was she to manage the situation without exposing Bashir? She asked Zainab, “What should we do?”
“Well, I asked for us to move out of the house. I told him about a house for sale since he said he didn’t want to rent one. I agreed to take a loan and we could buy the house from the government at an almost giveaway price. I wanted him to bring some money but he refused. He said he didn’t have money and he didn’t want to leave his uncle’s house. He is staying there because of your uncle’s wives who lack self control.”
“Ah! What did you do?”
“My father gave me half of the money and I took the loan. I bought the house and I am living there. It is not furnished but it is mine. It is in a good location and worth far more than I paid for it.”
“So you need to furnish the place?”
“Yes, ma.”
“How much was the house?”
“The house was twelve million naira.”
“I will refund the money for the house to you. Pay back your father and the loan. My husband will give you money to furnish the new house. Let me have a list of things you need. Is there any other thing?”
“Let Bashir be responsible. There will be bills to be paid, he has to bring money for them. I earn a stipend so he has to act as a man should by providing. I have done my part by linking him with someone that can get him contracts. He should make the money and be responsible before I start having children.”
“That is true. I didn’t want to ask but now I have to, why aren’t you pregnant?”
“Apart from the negative comments Bashir has made about pregnant women, I also can’t give birth in the place. Where would you or my mother stay? It was not conducive.”
“Please forgive Bashir. He will move out of that house and I will ask my brother to send his last wife away or relocate her to where he is.”
“The second option is better. He hardly comes back. Bashir shouldn’t have taken advantage of a vulnerable woman. He should know better. I am hurt because I saw them with my eyes but I am ready to move on if Bashir does prayers and rights his ways and leaves the house.”
“I will sort it out.”
Tbc