CHAPTER 65

Ima finally escaped the psychiatric hospital where she has been receiving treatment for a few months. After Ima weighed every options of escaping and realised that there was none, she finally came up with an idea to befriend a nurse who works there. The nurse is one of those people who are very greedy and are not satisfied with what they are being paid so she collects money from Ima almost every time. Because of the money that Ima gives her, she gives Ima preferential treatment.

Ima was allowed to tint her hair into the colour of the nurse's hair as the nurse does not know that Ima has a different plan in mind for doing that. On this fateful day, she brought Ima's drugs as usual but Ima was not in the room and as she turned around, Ima kicked her directly on her forehead because she was hiding behind the door when the nurse came in. She quickly held onto the nurses neck and hit her until she passed out then she changed into the nurses clothes and styled her hair the same style.

She took the nurse's ID card d dressed up like her as she walked out of the hospital without anyone suspecting anything. When Ima took off the nurse's clothes, she did not bother replacing them with hers as she left the nurse naked and ran out so that she will not be caught before she makes her final move. She couldn't believe how wonderful it feels to be out in the open once again. The first thing that Ima did when she walked out of the hospital was to raise her two hands up in the air and laughed out loud because she has been in the cage for a long time and coming out, feeling the fresh air on her skin, and seeing people are things she thought that she would never have the luxury of experiencing again.

The last time that her mum came to visit her, she told Ima that she will be traveling to Paris and since then, she has not heard from her mum again. She knows that she can not go back to her father because her mum has told her everything that happened after the case with Shulamite's daughter. She looked at the nurse's bank card that was in her hands and laughed. "Today, I will empty your bank account as I take back all my money that I have given you all these months with interest." 

 Ima and the nurse really got very close during her stay there and she asked the nurse all sorts of questions even to the point that she ended up knowing the nurse's bank card password. While Ima was asking all those questions, the nurse never imagined that she would want to escape soon as she kept replying Ima because of the money that she wants to collect from her. Sometimes, she was tempted to lie to Ima but she never did that because she felt that Ima will never get out of here and even if she does, she is going to jail directly.

 When Ima got to an ATM, she fearfully tried the password after inserting the card and fortunately for her, it worked. She smiled while checking the nurse's account balance. "How dumb can you be to really tell me the password of your bank account card? Even with all that money you extort from patients, you still do not have enough money here. Such a broke stupid woman. You only have two hundred thousand Naira and how am I supposed to survive on that?" 

Ima withdrew everything from the account and left town. She knows that if she stays behind, she will be easily caught by the time she is declared wanted. Ima has been saying it all this while that she is not crazy but nobody wants to believe her and the only person who knows that she is not as crazy as they portray her was her mother.

When the nurse was finally discovered in Ima's ward, she was interrogated and she lied through the whole process. She knows that if the truth ever comes out, she will not only lose her job but also end up in jail. Within her heart, the nurse she was praying that they never find Ima because she knows that once Ima is found, her secret will be revealed. She has been asked why she took Ima's food to her room in the first place because every patient is supposed to come to the cafeteria at mealtime to have their food.

"She did not show up at meal time so I felt there was a problem and checked up on her. When I got there, she told me that she was sick and I could see it from the way she was shivering so I decided to get her food over to her first before I alert the resident doctor but little did I know that she had a plan in mind. If I wanted the patient to escape, why wilI put myself in harm's way by letting her beat me up blue and black?" The nurse played the role of the victim to the letter and was even talking like the hospital was not being fair to her.

The hospital authority tried to reach Ima's mum but  couldn't because she was not in the country so they contacted her father and the alerted him that Ima is on the loose. By the end of that day, they also made a public announcement so that thoes who knows that they have one issue with her or the other will be alert.

 They were busy issuing out warnings unknown to them that she has skipped town. She's not stupid as she knows that the police will keep an eye on her parents and Shulamite because they believe that she is likely to pay them a visit. 

After Rainbow heard the news, he decided not to alert her mother because the woman has been through a lot and she deserves this vacation that she is on. Rainbow never liked Ima in the first place because she is the daughter of someone that he does not really like and she's evil. Her father promised the authorities that he will not fail to alert them if he sees her as he instantly doubled the guards around his house.

Just as Najiba's parents agreed on the previous day, her father decided to travel to Saudi Arabia the next day to see Zahid's father. Fortunately for him, he had a friend who promised to take him in his private jet. As a man, he was not surprised to see Zahid when he got to his father's house. He smiled at Zahid and patted him on the shoulder before walking in to greet  his father.

The two older men greeted each other and began to discuss about other things as they pretended like nothing was wrong with their children's marriage. Zahid was left outside to cool his heels as the older men did not want him to join in their conversation and he felt like it was being done on purpose. The two men had a great and lengthy conversation before he was called in two hours later.

His father asked him to sit when he came in. After sitting, his father did not ask any questions as he has refused to hear anything since he arrived this morning and the first thing his father told him was to apologize to Najiba's father for treating his daughter the way he did. Zahid could not believe that his father could support someone else at his detriment. "Baba, whose side are you on? I am your son and you are supposed to support me in this, so why are you telling me to apologize to Najiba's father when he should be the one apologizing to you for what his daughter has done? Baba, you are acting like you don't know what is happening. I have been insulted and defamed as well as this family so we deserve an apology and not give one." 

Zahid was surprised as his father said "when you are done giving your lame excuses for treating a woman like a criminal, find better words to apologize to her father." 

Even Najiba's father was very surprised at the man's words. He turned to Najiba's father and was surprised that a man in this day could still be like this. He said within his heart "now I understand why this man is very famous for being wise. It's quite a shame that his son does not share in this trait because if Zahid was one percent of what his father is, he will not be famous for all the bad things that he is famous for. Simply put he is in famous. "Najiba's Father sighed within him and sympathized with Zahid's father for having a son like this.

Zahid turned towards Najiba's father and said "my dad said I should apologize for the way I treated your daughter so I am sorry." 

Zahid's father did not even look up at him as he said "I will only sit and address the situation when you properly apologize as a good son-in-law should. When I asked you to apologize to your father-in-law, I expected you to show sincerity in your apology but what I am seeing here is the stupid display of an egomaniac who feels that his ego has been trampled on when he himself is a street dog. It is true that you are my son, truthfully put, my only son and because you are my only son, I will not watch you ruin your life by disrespecting your elders. If you do not apologize properly and let us address this issue today, never come back to me about the situation on ground and you can never divorce Najiba until I say so. Her child that you are claiming is not yours will end up becoming yours by force if you do not do what is right, now."

Zahid looked at his father and was surprised that the man will treat him this way in the presence of a visitor. He couldn't help but complain to his father "If you treat me this way in front of outsiders, how do you expect them to respect me? I have a reputation out there which I need to protect and this treatment that you are giving me does not paint a good picture of me. Baba, I am not saying that I will not apologize, but I need a good reason to apologize to my wife's father because I have done nothing wrong as his daughter was the one who cheated me in marriage."

 I have told you that I will not discuss that issue now until you properly apologize. I think the pot should look at itself properly before it begins to call the kettle black. All the women that you have been roaming around town with after your marriage, are they your sisters? Or have you suddenly become United Nations women ambassador? The fact that I am in my house and have never called you to answer for your promiscuous lifestyle does not mean that I do not know what is going on. If you know what is good for you, you will shut up and do what your father has asked you to do because refusing to apologize to your father-in-law is not a disrespect to him rather you are disrespecting your father because you refused to do what he has asked you to do. If you disrespect me like this in presence of others what do you expect people to say or do to me? Don't you think that they will say that it doesn't matter what they do because my own son also disrespects me and I do nothing?" 

 After Zahid saw that he has no way out, he decided to do what his father said even though it was against his will. He prostrated and apologized to Najiba's father saying "I am very sorry for how I disrespected your daughter. I was wrong for treating a woman that way because women are to be protected and cherished and not to be threatened and abused. I am sorry for disrespecting your wife by not listening to her because, as my mother-in-law, she is also a mother to me and disrespecting her is the same as disrespecting my mother. I am sorry for also disrespecting you by not tabling the matter before you and taking laws into my hands. Please forgive me and I promise that it will never repeat itself." 

Najiba's father who was not expecting an apology in the first place had nothing to say except "get up my son, I don't feel offended at all because I understand how you feel so it's alright but just keep true to your words by not laying your hands on my daughter next time. I would really love it if you can do that for me and report her whenever you are having issues." 

 After the whole apology and forgiveness, Zahid's father cleared his throat and said "so what brings you here?" Zahid was confused as he did not know whether the question was for him or his father-in-law so he decided to be quiet before he will be told again that he has disrespected an elder by speaking first. Zahid did not know whether to say that it was a bad thing to have parents. With all the respect that people accord him when he goes out there, his father was still forcing him to prostrate to someone who was not up to their standards and now he is even afraid to speak up so that he will not speak out of turn.

"Zahid, I am talking to you or have you suddenly forgotten the reason why you came here?" 

"Baba, I'm married to three wives and we have been together for years but recently, I married my first wife and it's not up to a year already she is telling me that she is pregnant. I am not saying that it is too fast for her to get pregnant rather what I am disputing here is that the child is not mine. Baba my wife is cheating on me with someone else who she is pregnant for and wants to pass the child off as mine. I have been insulted and deceived so I deserve to know who the father of the child is and why my wife did what she did. I know that I handled the situation wrongly as I wanted to get the answer from her through violence which did not help but escalated the issue. I want you to call my wife over and let her tell us who the father of a baby is because she is hiding away from me right now and I know that she wouldn't tell me."