The Cost Of Retribution( Not your usual Hausa love story)

Chapter 16

I was just coasting, never really going anywhere,
Caught up in a web, I was getting kinda used to staying there,
Out of the blue,
I fell for you,
Now you're lifting me up, instead of holding me down,
Stealing my heart instead of stealing my crown,
Untangled all the strings round my wings that were tied,
You give me butterflies.

Butterflies - kacey musgraves.

*Amani*

"He made you soup?" Diana sighed dreamily and I rolled my eyes, this was the umpteenth time she was bringing up the period cramps rehabilitation story, yup, that's what I was referring to it now. I told her all about how Ali brought me soup and crackers in bed and ran me a hot bath, well shower anyway, and she's been looking to the ceiling and sighing dreamily ever since.

"It was canned soup, he just microwaved it" I explained.

"Oh it was still so sweet" she gushed.

That's what everyone says, I thought. After the let's try and make this marriage work and the its you and me against the world speech that Ali gave that night, I made a conscious effort to try to let my guard down, to try to at least let us be friends who could rely on each other at the very least, but the next morning he was in a fowl mood that I noticed almost immediately, that was after he banged the doors to his room, the fridge, the front door, the back door and knocked down a tall golden vase near the foot of the stairs.

I had assumed that it was the suspension that was getting to him and I felt even more guilty, to top it off he barely said a handful of words to me throughout the weekend, he buried himself in paperwork and stayed glued to his laptop all day. I didn't think it would affect me that much but I was miserable, so after a long phone call with my mum and sister, I thought going out would do me some good, I informed him that I'd be out for a bit and he replied with a curt nod and asked if I needed to drive one of his cars, to which I replied No. A part of me had hoped he would offer to drop me wherever I was going, I ended up calling an Uber instead.

I went to my father's house of all places, go figure how I felt that would bring me any sort of comfort, I missed Layla and Mama so much it hurt physically, it didn't help that my roommate was a grouch.

But my stepmother and grandma ended up being great company, we talked about so much and it beats me how I managed to just let loose and go with the flow as they both offered me endless advice about married life and also socialite gossip, but I did and I had to admit that I had a great time, one of my brothers was still pretending I didn't exist and the other one taught me how to play his play station 4 after I made him promise to come visit me sometime, so by the time I called another Uber and went home I was exhausted and carrying multiple gift bags I'd been sent home with.

My grinch husband was nowhere in sight as I made my way to my room and retired for the night.

By Monday his suspension was over and he left for the hospital really early in the morning, muttering something about having to see the chief before he began. I swallowed the building hurt that swarmed my throat and tried to concentrate on getting ready for work in a silent house.

Its not like I had expected to be courted and treated no less that queen by him, I had just thought that since he'd been making little promises here and there that we could actually have something here, but I could not help but feel that he blamed me partly for his suspension, which the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as if he'd just controlled himself and moved on then he won't have to deal with it in the first place.

I'd told diana the story of how he helped nurse me back to health that monday morning just to be sure that I hadn't dreamt it. I didn't understand how he could go from making me tea to acting like I didn't exist.