ENSHROUDED

6

Nasir walked out and Aisha walked to the bathroom after that. She washed her face before she walked after him, she knew Mama was waiting for them and it was time to meet their father. She had always loved a whole family, where you can have a father and mother altogether. Maybe it was her dream being fulfilled, who knows?

She saw them seated on the dining table and there was an elderly man seated too. Her whole body trembled, anxiety surged into her as the tsunami surged into an ocean. Numerous questions made the chaos of her brain, and the first question she was cleared of was; would he accept her?

"Come over, Aisha. You shouldn't be slacking behind." Mama said from over the dining table, she had sensed Aisha's reluctance of walking to the dining table.

Aisha gulped down a lump in her throat and wiped her sweaty hands over the soft fabric of her dress. She got to the dining table and dropped down to her knees. "Good afternoon, Alhaji." She greeted because the scrutinizing look he had been flashing her ever since she walked out of her room had inflicted his fear in her.

"Good afternoon, Aisha. How are you feeling now?" Mama had never imagined he would answer her. Because when he came back, she made sure he was in his before she walked in and met him taking off his clothes while he was trying to take his bathe.

She sat down at the edge of the bed and heaved a sigh, he sat beside her. "What's wrong, Hajia Maryama? What happened to you?" He asked because Mama is a very cheerful and bubbly lady, whenever she looked down, it was surely something huge that happened.

Mama looked at him and her eyes got misty. She knew the best way to make him do something he didn't want to. And it was through her tears. She wondered if there was anything he hated in this life apart from her tears. "Subhanallah, Hajia Maryama, what happened? The patient died?" He could remember her asking him to follow Abba to the general hospital today to see Nasir's patient. And if it was surely the patient that died. Alhaji Tijjani knew that he had a lot of work to do today. Because she would spend her whole day mourning over that.

She shook her head softly, "She didn't die. But I brought her home with me. I want her to live with us henceforth."

And he stood up at the mention of that. She had never done something without his knowledge. Then why this now? "How can you do that without even telling me not to talk of asking for my permission, Hajia Maryama?"

She stood up as well, finally letting her tears to fall on her cheeks. "I know it's wrong of me to do that, Alhaji. But please you should understand my condition, I had no choice but to do that. Because I couldn't dial your number while she was sitting in the car. She's only seventeen, but she got raped by five men, and those five men are her uncles, unfortunately."

He was silent for some minutes before he spoke, still not buying the idea of adopting a grown-up girl like Aisha. "What of her parents? Doesn't she have Family at least?"

"Baba, she doesn't know her family apart from those uncles and their family, that's what I understand from how she was acting. And she asked us to take her to the car park when we asked her where to drop her. When I asked where she was going from Bauchi she said she didn't know. How can I let a girl like Aisha wander on the streets of this frightening world, Baba?" She sometimes called him Baba. And whenever she did that, he couldn't help but do whatever she wanted.

He might be a little bit strict when it comes to the matters of his house, but he was soft to deal with as well. But the thing is, whenever he said, no one can ever change it to a no. Same applied when he said a no, nothing, absolutely nothing on this earth can change it to a yes. Not even Hajia Maryam herself.