"You guys should take care of yourselves" Hajia maryam said facing the new couple. Hajia maryam and her husband accompanied Nadia and Abdallah to the front of the house to bade them goodbye as they left for their new home,

"we will insha Allah" Nadia replied since Abdallah didn't respond,

Hajia maryam gave her a wide smile in return,

"Goodbye ummi" Abdallah said, before heading to his black Mercedes-Maybach completely ignoring his dad presence,

Nadia didn't know why he did that, but from what she has noticed, he seems not to have a good relationship with his dad,

"Goodbye ummi, goodbye abi" Nadia said slightly bowing in both their directions, before she followed Abdallah who has already ignited his car.

She stood beside the car contemplating whether she should seat at the front or back because his looks alone petrifies her even if he's beyond handsome.

She ended up opening the front door and seating there uncomfortably, deliberately avoiding his gaze,

"you really wanted to seat at the back?" he asked, "am I your driver or something?" he gritted his teeth, but she didn't reply, she only nodded negatively.

He revved his engine on purpose and speedily drove out of the compound.

They arrived at their new home after about 25 minutes of swift driving, which Abdallah did purposely to terrify Nadia, but instead he found her smiling as though she were enjoying it. The gate man wheeled the gate over its railing after the honk sounded,

"ranka ya dade (may your life be prolonged)" the gate man happily said, throwing his hands up while hailing him,

Abdallah flashed him a smile and waved at him in return,

Nadia looked at him surprised when she saw the faint smile on his face, but it disappeared after a second,

"So, he does smile" she thought to herself, she didn't know why that thought gave her an ounce of hope.

They both got out of the car at the same time like they planned it, but it was purely coincidental.

The view of the exquisite building became clearer as she stood in front the house, she followed Abdallah's lead, timidly entering into the house.

The house wasn't a mansion but a simple and exquisite duplex. At the entrance, they met with a small lobby painted ash, with two black sofas on each side of the wall.

In front of the lobby, there was a huge living room with a lot of cool but expensive designs, it contained a huge curved TV, a shining golden chandelier, four sets of comfy nude coloured sofa, everything complemented each other perfectly. Nadia likes the house because it's a combination of gorgeousness, coolness and easy maintainability. Abdallah undeniably has a good taste.

Nadia continued following Abdallah behind until he climbed the stairs, there were about four doors upstairs, she didn't know which will be her room because she definitely knows she can't share a room with Abdallah.

At least not yet.

"That'll be your room" he pointed to the door immediately after the stairs,

"this is mine" he said pointing at the door opposite Nadia's room, "In case you need anything important" he said stressing the 'anything important', she understood perfectly his words beyond his imaginations.

She got into her room and she loved it immediately she set her eyes on it, the room was painted dark brown, it had a large king-sized bed which was perfectly laid with cream bed spread and a dark brown duvet, a bedside wardrobe which had a mirror, Nadia walked inside closing the door behind her. She saw a door as she scanned the room, she slightly bent the handle and pushed it open,

"absolutely perfect" she muttered as she was met by a walk in closet, she saw different types of shoes, bags, Abayas, hijabs and all.

Staring at it was bringing back old memories, and she didn't want that, she quickly shook her head and closed the door.

Nadia moved towards the bed, she touched the bed to feel its softness before she jumped on it, rolling playfully from side to side,

"it's good to be happy" she muttered under her breath with a smile playing on her lips, she stared up at the ceiling blanking out.

****

Nadia woke up to see the time was already 5:00 pm, immediately after offering her zuhr sallah, she slept off and completely lost track of time, she quickly stood up to perform ablution and offer her asr prayers before her mind was at peace.

She remembered neither her nor Abdallah has eaten anything after breakfast, not like she cared about herself, but Abdallah!

"Subhanallah, I'm being a bad wife on the first day of marriage" she muttered before quickly sauntering out of her room to the kitchen.

She easily located the kitchen since she caught a glimpse of it in the morning when she arrived.

The kitchen was as expected, a sparkling white U shaped kitchen, with high-quality cabinets and counter tops, modern technologies and appliances, and proper interior designs.

She searched the kitchen to find the proper food she will prepare for dinner. She finally decided to make Nigerian jollof with grilled chicken and coleslaw.

Furthermore, she found some mangoes in the fridge, so she made mango juice to top it.

***

Nadia beautifully set the dining table before going up to call Abdallah,

"who is there?" Abdallah asked when he heard a knock on his door,

"your food is ready" Nadia announced not attempting to open the door,

"okay I'll be down" he said,

"okay" she replied before leaving for the dining room.

Nadia sat down at the dining table not touching her food waiting for Abdallah's arrival, she raised her head up when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching, she saw him coming towards the dining room wearing a black T-shirt and ash sweatpants that fit him perfectly, she quickly averted her gaze to prevent him from noticing that she was checking him out, He drew the chair directly opposite her backwards and sat on it,

"salam alaykum" she tried her luck,

"walaykum salam" he replied,

She heaved a sigh of relief before proceeding to serve his food,

Abdallah didn't know why he was feeling a sort of satisfaction because Nadia waited for him before eating, maybe it was because he has been lonely for too long, but he quickly shrugged it off because he labeled it as nonsense, They silently ate their food, not until Abdallah broke the silence, "I'll be going to work by 8:00 am tomorrow" he said,

"okay" she replied,

assuming she was the outspoken type, she would have said more, but she was far from that, maybe she ought to change that aspect of her if she wanted the union to work.

****

Abdallah left for work the next morning after taking his breakfast leaving Nadia all alone in the empty house, she now wished she actually had a job, she'd have asked her uncle, but she didn't want to work in his firm, she wanted to do something she likes, something interesting.

She jerked up from the sofa she was lying when a wonderful idea crossed her mind, "why haven't I thought of this before" she whined as she marched to the kitchen with her phone,

She decided she was going to be a food content creator, she'll make videos of her cooking, then post it on her Instagram page. She decided she was going to make lasagna, she set her phone in the best position to capture everything perfectly.

After about 2 hours of arranging and cooking, she was done.

She edited the video properly making sure that her face wasn't seen, and only her voice could be heard, before posting it on her page.

She had gained more followers from just two days that she got married to Abdallah - she can as well use that to her advantage.

In less than two hours that she posted the video she had gained more than a thousand views and comments, Nadia was very excited and fulfilled - but she didn't know something was looming.

****

Abdallah sat in office working tirelessly when Qasim barged in, Qasim was the managing director in Abdallah's company - that explains why he never misses a chance to get on Abdallah's nerve.

"I always knew sis in law got a lot of potential" Qasim said walking into Abdallah's office completely engrossed in his phone, "I agree to that" he laughed pointing at the screen of his phone,

"what are you doing?" Abdallah asked Qasim inquisitively because he heard him mention something like 'sis in law',

"just watching sis in law video" he shrugged, "can you believe she has over 5,000view in just 3 hours?!" he said demonstrating with his hands,

"Who is your sis in law?" Abdallah asked,

"your wife of course" Qasim shrugged,

"let me see" Abdallah said gesturing with his hand,

"I'm sure you won't believe it also" Qasim said while handing his phone over to Abdallah.

Abdallah collected Qasim's phone to see the video he was talking about, he watched the video and agreed that it was okay in his perspective, he wanted to hand Qasim's phone back, but he decided to read the comments first,

Wow she has a nice voice

I'm sure the owner of this voice will be so beautiful

She has an angelic voice

while watching this video I was smiling widely

Abdallah read through different comments complimenting Nadia, and it was mostly from guys, men!

Abdallah felt enraged immediately, he handed Qasim his phone back in anger, he picked his car keys from the table as he head towards the door,

"what's up man, where you going all of a sudden" Qasim asked,

"I'm going home" Abdallah replied,

"you never leave work before closing hours, or are you missing sis in law already" Qasim wiggled his brows to tease Abdallah,

"goodbye" Abdallah said walking out of the office, not even caring that Qasim was still in his precious office that he never allows anyone into in his absence.

zinat Abdulkadir ✍️