Chapter Four

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"Is my Amirah shy all of a sudden?" Muhammad asked in a teasing voice. At twenty nine, Muhammad was a surgeon, he stood tall and handsome. His face had been what drew Amirah to him at first but she had a problem, she easily got bored with people, she rarely had any attachment to men and was a strong disbeliever in love unlike her sucker for love new husband.

"I'm not shy, just hiding my tears from you." She replied using her veil to shield her face more as she turned away from him. He bent in front of her.

"Hey, it's okay to be sad, I don't hold that against you after all I'm the one who's come and taken you from your family. This is a new journey for the both of us, scary but exciting and I want you to know how glad I am that I'm starting this journey with you. We might face many obstacles along the way but I want you to know that we'll be together every single step of it In Sha Allah and I'll never let go of your hand as long as you don't let go of mine either."

She finally raised her head up to smile at him, he was blown away by her beautiful she looked, he kissed her forehead and said,

"You must be stressed, go change so you can eat sleep, we have an early morning flight to catch. I'll bring your dinner."

He exited the room leaving her to herself, Amirah sighed and went to her mini box that Hajiya had packed for her, she took out a knee length sleeping gown from it and went into the bathroom. The warm water touched her skin, miraculously soothing her fears about this whole marriage thing. She took in a deep breath before turning off the shower, she cleaned her body with the towel and changed into her night gown then headed out.

A plate of rice was been set up on the stool by her husband, he smiled at her when she came out.

"Your hair is dripping."

Her first instinct was to immediately cover up her hair then she remembered he was her husband, she nodded and took a towel from the toilet wrapping her hair with it.

"Thank you." Amirah said before sitting on the bed to begin eating.

He settled on the other end of the bed and began sorting through some files.

"Aren't you eating?" She asked.

He looked up at her with a smile and her heart constricted with how much love this man had for her, knowing she couldn't reciprocate the feeling was bad enough but knowing she didn't deserve half of it was worst.

"I'm satisfied if you are."

"You and your sappy pickup lines, turns out being a married man hasn't changed that fact about you." She said and they both laughed.

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They arrived Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos by 9am. A car was already at the airport waiting to drive them to their new home.

This was the first time Amirah was travelling this far from home, the farthest being when she visited ya Hamidah in Abuja.

"We'll be staying at an estate provided by the hospital." He informed her as they both settled in the back seat of the car.

"Are they all doctors there?" She asked.

"It's for the hospital top staffs, I'll br paying for ownership before the end of the week In Sha Allah and the house will become ours." Amirah nodded, she had no idea how much his salary was but she knew he was living comfortably on it which was why Hajiya had quickly given her support, he seemed well-off.

The drive was almost forty minutes long before finally the car paused in front of a large gate, a man in uniform came out and requested for a form of identification. Muhammad showed his work I.D and the man went back, it took few seconds before the huge gate opened up displaying a tarred long road ahead, the driver drove ahead.

Amirah noticed that there were different gates on each sides and house numbers placed by the side of the fences. The drive-in took another five minutes before the car finally stopped in front of a black gate, Muhammad got down and Amirah watched as he brought out a key from his pocket unlocking the gate and opening it wider to allow the car access.

Gardens! those were the first thing Amirah noticed

as soon as she came down from the car, the gardens were well trimmed in front of the house beautifying it, the floor of the compound was covered with beautiful stone designs that impressed her.

"Welcome to your new home Mr and Mrs Muhammad Ibrahim."

"Thank you." They both said and Muhammad collected the key to the brand new car that was handed to him.

Muhammad gave her the house keys as he went behind the driver to lock the gate after him. Amirah opened the door to their new home with shaky hands, apart from her luggages which had been delivered earlier that day, the house was clean and looked to be in a perfect condition.

The living room was painted grey giving the house a dark, soft look, the floor was tiled with a lighter shade of grey, the couches were the same shade as the floor with different colorful throw pillows well arranged on it.

A modest looking chandelier dangled softly, the lights illuminating from the ceiling were a little bit low and a grey and black colored curtains covered the windows, the center rug looked very chic with a rich color of white and maroon. Amirah fell in love instantly with the parlor.

Suddenly the house was illuminated with brights light which disturbed Amirah's eyesight for she had become immediately used to the low lights, she turned and found out Muhammad was the culprit, she glared at him.

He shrugged, "what? The house was too dark and what's with so much dark colors? Don't they know we are newly married, we need bright colors in our life, I'm going to renovate."

"No! please don't, this is beautiful." He raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded,"I love it."

"I love you." He said smiling sheepishly at her and she shook her head at him smiling back at him.

"Well, let's explore our new home for this is where we'll grow a lot of kids." He said it jokingly but Amirah couldn't help the tightening in her chest at his utterance.

He didn't notice the gloomy expression that enveloped her face as he went ahead exploring, she followed behind him quietly.

It was a four bedroom apartment with three toilets, the first room had a bathroom and wardrobe, it was painted a deep and dark shade of blue.

"I guess this will be our bedroom." Muhammad said looking at her for approval, she turned away and said,

"Let's see the other rooms." She was about to walk out when she felt his hand on her wrist halting her movement. Amirah couldn't turn to look at him for she knew what he wanted to say.

"Amirah please look at me."

She turned her head towards him.

"I know this whole marriage thing was my idea and I basically forced my opinion on you and I'm sorry about that but I did it out of love for you wallahi. I love you so much Amirah, I wish you know how..."

"Please don't start this talk, you didn't force me into this so do not worry, we have our whole lives to live, let's tread softly."

He nodded in agreement, "thank you."