Chapter 48
How could she possibly wear dresses and cover herself from head to foot, confine herself in the house, no social media, no male friends, no more lengthy artificial air and no flirting! Damn, she was sure to go mad and probably lose her sanity forever. She was not used to any of this, so how was she supposed to cope?
"Um... Major..." She carefully began now. "You know that this is new to me and I'll also have to discuss it with my parents, why don't you give me some time to think about it, please." She requested.
"Fine...think about it all you want." He pushed his chair back and stood up, abandoning his cold lunch. "But you only have a month to make up your mind, Susan, a month." He said and walked away.
When he was gone, Susan slowly sat down now. She still felt like she was dreaming. Was the Major only trying to pull her legs? Was this just a test or he was only trying to scare her off? She knew that the Major was aware that he was putting her in a tight corner by making such impossible requests from her. She knew that her parents would never allow her to switch religions, not even for marriage. She had presumed that when he married her, he would let her practice her own religion but his new demands were a shocker.
Susan began to think now, calculating all her odds and chances. In fact, she concluded that if Major Ali was indeed serious about all he had just told her, then there was no way she would want to marry him anymore. She decided that she'd stall a bit but since she didn't want to be made an object of ridicule, she began to plot her way out of her dilemma, and just then, Stephen came to mind.
She knew just how much he had been in love with her and she was confident that he was still in love with her which meant that it might still be possible for her to worm her way back into his life. Deciding to start looking for an easier way to crawl out of her situation without entirely losing out, she decided that she would have to see Stephen again. She had to go see the one man who had always genuinely loved her and would give her any terms and conditions.
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After stirring in her sleep, Susan woke up and gently sat up on the bed, yawning and stretching. I realized that the Major was already up and active and she watched him move around the large room, getting dressed and preparing for work. She had woken up late as usual and had found him dressing up but his countenance was hard and unreceptive.
Ever since he returned from Zamfara three days ago, he had made no attempt to sleep with her and he had also barely spoken to her except when necessary and all her attempts to make him warm up towards her like before had proved abortive. In fact, his new attitude towards her made it very obvious that her days were numbered in his life and that he was also at the verge of discarding her. She knew that he was now tolerating her and whatever love he had once felt for her either vanished when he married his third wife or when he found out what he had done to Stephen.
"Good morning." She finally said with a second yawn when he sat down at the foot of the bed to put on his boots.
"Morning." He replied stiffly. "You woke up late yet again. A good woman wakes up before her husband to prepare his breakfast." He scolded her.
Susan frowned and scornfully eyed him by batting her artificial eyelashes, but since she was seated behind him, he didn't see the expression she had just made. "Major, you and I know that waking up early is not my thing. I was very tired last night." She bemoaned.
"I don't see any reason why you'd be tired when you do absolutely nothing with your day!" Spat the Major.
"Haba, Maigida, don't say that nau. I know that you really want me to adjust and I promise you that I will."
"Will you now?" He turned his head to look at her then rose to his feet. "Or do you want me to bring my niece over here so that she can spend some time teaching you how to behave like a proper Muslim wife?"
"No o, haba, Major! That would be an insult to me. Besides, Hausa and Igbo have their different delicacies, so why do I need to learn from her?"
"Well, you'll have to learn to prepare Hausa delicacies such as kwai da kwai, Tuwo and the likes."
"But Major, are all these things necessary? Do I really have to do all these things? Can't I just be myself? Major, you have the money, can't you just employ a cook and a maid to do all the things you want?"
"I have no problem employing a cook and a maid but you should at least know how to do these things yourself. You're a woman!" He replied.
She pouted now. She was not going to be a slave to any man all in the name of marriage, so, she switched the topic instead. "Major, what about the money I asked for?" She asked.
"I've written you a cheque already." He pointed at the bedside table and she reached for it. When she read the cheque, her brows instantly creased with a frown, "One hundred thousand naira?" She held the check towards him now with one hand "But Major, this is not what I asked for, I asked for three hundred and fifty thousand naira!"
"The sooner you know that I've got a whole lot of other responsibilities to attend to, the better for you. I don't pluck money from trees, Susan, and from now on, the needs of my wives will be met first before yours, and you should know that you are no longer allowed to compete with them in any way!"
"Major!" Susan exclaimed but when he ignored her, she glared at him and said nothing more. She tossed the cheque on the bed and began to sulk.
As Major grabbed his hat, he turned asked her now, "You said you will not be around tonight?"
"Yes..." She grudgingly answered. "I'll be going to see my parents." Her displeased frown remained.
"Very well then, send my regards to them." He simply said after grabbing his sunglasses, but as he was about to walk out of the room, she quickly asked,
"Major, is that all you will say?"
He paused and turned to look at her. "What else were you expecting me to say?"
"You are supposed to give me money for them na. Money to buy them things, including my siblings and all..." She grumbled.
"I've already given you a hundred thousand naira, do whatever you wish to do with it for your parents." He told her.
"But Major, this is for me alone na."
"Whether you like it or not, Susan, I have no other money to give you." The Major resolutely stated.
Susan sighed. Things were really spiraling fast and she also needed to act fast. Remembering what her father had called to discuss with her the previous week, she said now, "Major, my dad has been complaining."
Major paused again after wearing his hat "Complaining about what?"
"He said that you no longer send him money like you used to and you still haven't bought him the car you promised him two months ago."
Major Ali bent his head and quietly chuckled. When he looked up again, he had a sober look on his face now. "Now, look here, Susan..." He pointed a finger at Susan. "...I want you to tell your father this when you get home. Tell him that he's a man like me and should get off his ass and stop being a leech! Secondly, tell him that he's not my in-law yet and I'm not responsible for taking care of his needs and that of his family! I was doing all what I was doing because I thought something good could actually come out of you, but now that I'm certain that you're not well-brought-up, I think they had better start looking for another suitor pretty fast because they are about to lose this one." He poked at his chest.
"So, Major, what are you saying now?" She grumbled. "Are you saying that you'll no longer buy him the car?"
"No, Susan, I'll no longer buy him his car. I'm not his retirement plan!" The Major stated and walked out of the room and Susan suddenly went into a fit of throwing her limbs around in rage and kicking down a pillow to the floor. Why was this man so impossible? Why was he now treating her like this? Is it because he was now married to a younger wife or what? Why was he so mean all of a sudden? She knew that she really had to work fast now. She had to set the ball rolling before it was too late! She didn't want to return to her family house when the Major finally threw her out because that would only make her a laughing stock.
So, she got off the bed now and began to pace the room as she began to think of what to do. Finally, an idea occurred to her and she paused in front of the dresser mirror and stared at her reflection just as the perfect evil plan came to mind. Deciding to get to work as soon as possible, now that she was home alone, she hurried down the stairs to the kitchen, opened the tall fridge and pulled out a plastic containing small cubes of ice. She took a napkin, spread it on the counter and turned the cubes of ice on the center of the napkin then she quickly held the four edges of the napkin like a sling.
Holding the napkin by its ends, she braced herself as she mustered all the courage she could then she swung it towards her face, deliberately catching herself in the left eye. Susan suddenly howled in pain letting the napkin drop to the floor and it came loose and scattered the cubes all over the kitchen floor. The pain was so intense that she continued to cry out in agony as knelt on the floor with her hands over the aching eye.
After staying like that for close to three minutes, waiting for the pain to subside a bit, with a hand still over her injured eye, she got up and returned to the upstairs to the bedroom. When she sat in front of the dresser and took her hand away from her eye, she stared at her red eye in the mirror. She knew that the injury around the eye would become very obvious several hours later before she left the house.
Hoping to cause more marks on her skin in order to successfully carry out her evil plan, she took off her nightgown over her head, reached out for a thick USB cord and folded it in two. Grounding her jaw to brace herself, she swiftly swung the cord backward and struck her back hard. Hissing in pain and arching her back, she squeezed her eyes shut and swung the cord over her shoulder again, again and again till she had left several marks then she beat her arms four times each, leaving additional red marks. By the time she stopped, there were painful sincere tears in her eyes.
She was aware that since she was fair in complexion that red marks and bruises would easily appear on her skin. What she had just done was so painful but she hoped that it would be worth it because if any of this was to go to waste, she would be so mad and might transfer her aggression on anybody. Getting up now, she examined her body before the mirror then took and put on her short nightgown again.
After that, she moved to the bed, took her phone from under the pillow, stood near the window and took several pictures of specific parts of her body, and when she was about to take pictures of her face, she scattered her hair and finally released the tears she had been keeping at bay so it seemed like she had been crying, then she took several pictures of her dark eye.
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After the date night, things changed between Violet and Stephen and it was as if they grew closer and began to bond. He opened the other bedroom and together, they cleared up Susan's stuff, putting them into bags so that Violet could own the room for the next six days. Almost every day, they hung out with Rufus and Doris and sometimes Anne whenever she was chanced to join them.
They were all happy and Violet soon found out that Rufus and Doris were already officially dating and having sex since they could hardly get their hands off each other in public. Anne was lovely as usual and Jerry announced that they had picked a wedding date and would be wedding the next year, as early as January. Anne was elated and couldn't contact herself.
The only two people that were still restraining themselves were Stephen and Violet. Ever since they kissed at the restaurant to spite the Colonel, they hadn't done so again because they were skeptical about what the other person would feel and didn't want to seem too forward so they kept any emotions that they might be feeling towards each other at bay, because they knew that they would eventually part soon, so why start something that had no future?
As they remained sitting next to each other in the midst of their friends who wouldn't stop doting on each other, they both swallowed hard and could barely say a word to each other and each of them felt awkward about the situation.
Violet had to reach for her bottle of Smirnoff ice to take a sip so that she could hide just how nervous she was while Stephen kept secretly clenching and unclenching his right hand, trying to muster the courage to say something. He was the man and he was supposed to start the conversation. He knew that they were so free with each other at home that they played like kids.
They often played Watt cards and Ludo, and in both games, she had thrashed him mercilessly. He didn't know why it was so difficult to flow with her in public and his heart began to pound in his chest as he even grew more nervous as the awkward silence between them ensued. After mustering enough courage, he parted his lips to speak to Violet when Doris beat him to it and cheerfully said,
"Hey, guys!" When she had gotten everyone's attention, she said: "I'm officially quitting my job. Rufus..." She turned her head to lovingly look at him as they entwined fingers. "...said that I don't have to work anymore and that he'd provide for both of us."