Chapter Nine

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Muhammad would have loved her to lash out at him, at this point he'll appreciate her rude way of talking to him, he'll appreciate anything but the silence.

He saw the tears that gathered in her eyes right before she shut the door to her room, retreating.

It's been two days and yet he had barely seen her, she wasn't out of her room before he leaves for work and she was already in her room when he gets back, the only sign she was in the house was his dinner that was always waiting for him on the table.

He'd decided he couldn't take it anymore, the silence was killing him, the thought of not knowing what Amirah was feeling, how she was mourning. So that evening when he got back from work, he stormed past the dinning table where his dinner was and went straight to knock on her door.

As he expected, she didn't reply.

'I won't leave here not until you open the door." He promised as he kept on knocking, his knocks switched from gentle to furious and he finally resolved to pleading.

"Please Amirah. Please open  the door let's talk about this, it isn't good to grieve alone."

He kept begging her and when he heard the door click indicating it has been unlocked, the surge of joy he felt was unexplainable.

She opened the door and his heart clenched in pain at the sight of her, her eyes were puffy, her hair disheveled and it seemed as if she was still in the clothes he'd seen her on the last time. Without thinking twice, he immediately enveloped her into a hug.

"I'm sorry, I know how close you were."

His hands were wrapped around her while hers laid limbly by her side and she stood in a still manner in his arm. He quietly pulled back from her ashamed of how much of his emotions he'd let show.

The silence between them became awkward.

"Do..." Her voice sounded rough like she hadn't spoken in a while, she cleared it before continuing,

"Do you want to come in?" Muhammad nodded his head gleefully and went into her room with her, she sat on a chair by the corner staring at him, he cleared his throat before settling himself on her bed. Her room looked squeaky clean, he'd only been in it when she had chosen it. Her tidiness endeared him more to her, Amirah wasn't flawless but he'd rather her to anyone else on this earth.

"Have you eaten?" He asked, she simply nodded her head before turning her attention to her nails.

"I'm sorry about your loss."

She nodded in reply again, silence fell upon them both. Muhammad had a lot to say to her, he wanted to apologize but he couldn't even fix the words together, his thoughts were jumbled as he stared at her knowing she was sad yet he couldn't do anything to take away the pain or... Could he?

He opened his mouth to suggest something before the shrill sound of her phone interrupted him.

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Amirah had wanted it to be false, he probably couldn't recognize Mrs Jane. But when two days passed and no word was heard from the older woman nor was her number going through, the truth finally dawned on her.

She rarely became close to people, most of her friends were Khadijah's. Even when she became friends with some people, she made sure they weren't close but the past months spent with Mrs Jane had taught her to be close to someone again, Amirah shuddered as she remembered the last time sge'd seen her.

Just as soon, he phone began ringing, it was Khadijah.

Khadijah's tone was anger-filled, "this is the last straw! I've had it with Hajiya so if you love your mother it'd be good if you called and warned her."

Amirah was taken aback, Khadijah hardly ever got angry to the extent of shouting at her, of all people. What had Hajiya done this time?

"What is it?" Amirah answered trying to be calm.

"Why don't you call her and ask." Khadijah hissed before abruptly hanging up.

Amirah turned and saw Muhammad giving her an questioning look, ignoring it, she dialed Hajiya's number. It rang for awhile without an answer.

Mummuring to herself about being tired of Hajiya's incesstant hunger for trouble, she dialed Zara's number and Fareedah's chirpy voice was what she heard from the other end.

"Ya Amira, ya Zarah isn't home."

"Where's Hajiya?"

"Ehen, you don't know what Hajiya did. She had a huuuuuuuuge fight with Aunty amarya and then she went and brought police, they packed their van outside the house and they took Aunty amarya and ya Samir."

Amirah's jaw slacked, leaving her mouth wide open in shock.

"Hajiya arrested Aunty amarya?" She asked for clarification.

"Yes that's what I said, and ya Khadijah is very angry, she and ya Zarah were arguing and she slapped ya Zarah toh ya Zarah has gone out that she's going to call thugs who'll beat up ya Khaijah. Also ya Lawal travelled back to Zaria yesterday but I heard he's on his way to Kano now."

"Where's Baba and why is Hajiya not picking up my calls?"

"Baba went to London last week, Hajiya wemt with the police van that came to carry Aunty amarya. And do you know what caused the fight, ya Samir went out with..."

Amirah cut off Fareeda who'd gotten an opportunity to show off her gossiping skills, "That's enough! Go look for Zarah and tell her to call me or else if she does something stupid, I'll make her regret it. Tell Khadijah I said she should calm down and Aunty amarya will be released soon."

"I can't go close to ya Khadijah, she'll..."

"Do as I said!" She screamed at Faridah before ending the call and began to dial Hamidah's number. Hajiya had gone too far this time around.

"What's wrong Amirah?" Muhammad's voice reminded her of his presence in the room, she stared at him up and down before totally ignoring him again, this was none of his business.

"You better be calling me for a damn good reason." Hamidah's voice barked out

"It's Hajiya, she's gone and arrested Aunty amarya and ya Samir. Khadijah and Zarah had a squabble, Baba isn't around and the whole house is in sheer chaos."

"Toh may Allah grant them serenity over there. Is that all?"

Amirah was apalled, Hamidah's nonchalance towards matters concerning family issues wasn't a new thing but this was just uncalled for.

"Is that..."

"Have you called Adnan?" Hamidah asked and Amirah flinched hearing her elder brother's name. Adnan was the one she disliked most amongst all her siblings.

"His number isn't going through." She lied.

"Alright, I'm going to bed though. I really don't have the energy for your family problems, it'll do you good if you ignore them and focus on your husband."  The line clicked indicating Hamidah had ended the call.

She saw Muhammad open his mouth to speak but a call from Zarah stopped him short, Faridah was at the other end and she sounded frantic.

"Ya Zarah is here with thugs and they are beating up ya Khadijah."

"Innalilahi!" Amirah cried out, the call ended again

"Talk to me, what's going on? Hajiya arrested your step-mother why? What's happening?" Muhammad asked coming to bend in front of her.

"The only thing you can do for me now is secure a flight for me to Kano. I need to go home first thing tomorrow morning!" She was seething. How dare Zarah? What had come over her?