ALLURED : [#bound by attraction]

Chapter 22

General

He drove hurriedly onto the compound as the gates opened , quickly got down from the car and went to the door knocking heavily.

" ya ammar , what are you doing here" layla asked opening the door for him to come inside.

"Wait did it happen with sumi" layla asked looking at the troubled expression on his face.

" how did it happen, didn't you take your pills" bilal asked as he sat with maryam at his side.

They all looked at eachother worried waiting for him to talk.

" I took them this morning but I don't know what happened " he said rubbing hands on his head.

" what exactly did she do " maryam asked and he replied " she went to the supermarket with eman to get some fruits and then I called her to pick up some bananas for me , but it was eman who picked the call and I could hear her talking to some guy that she called ya imran. And then I just couldn't take the fact that she was talking to another man".

"You Should have calmed down , sumi wouldn't speak with a man unless it's necessary and if it's the ya imran i know , he was our teacher in arabic school" layla said with a worried expression.

" I think you should sign up for psychotherapy" maryam said and all of them nodded in agreement.

"So how was she when you left" layla said bandaging his hand.wa

" I don't know I ,just left , I didn't want to hurt her more" he said

"Layla do you know any psychologist "bilal asked and layla nodded and replied " sumi is the only one i know but I can contact someone from our former company" .

" what do I tell her " ammar said rubbing his hands together.

" yeah you should think about that cause the sumayya I know will want to know why you acted like that before she decides what to do" layla said before taking the treatment box back inside.

" everything will be fine man" bilal said and he nodded thankfully .

Sumayya

" bring me a stick of cinnamon from the spice drawer" I said to dede, we were cooking for dinner in the kitchen.
I decide to cook the biryani and let dede handle the tuwon .

I heard the living room door open , then I heard voices but I could distinguish layla's voice.

"Sumi, I'm here with here layla announced, I smiled and told dede to watch the food before walking more like limping to the living room , though I quickly fixed the limp before anyone notices.

"Lala" I said smiling and she and maryam came over to hug me . I looked at ammar but he looked away.

" aunty Laya" eman came in and ran to hug her legs "how's my favourite baby" layla asked and she replied "fine" before hugging maryam too.

"Do you think this will be enough" I asked layla nervously, "yes , you made more than enough, you even made dessert" she said rubbing my shoulders.

Though dessert is not common in a nigerian household, but we always had while u grew up cause its a normal thing for Egyptians . There was biryani, roasted chicken, tuwon, fried plantain, salad, danwake , masa, miyan zogale ,miyan kuka for main course .

For dessert there was alkali, tuwon madara[milk candy], fura [yoghurt], cake and fruit pops.

I went upstairs to get dressed while all the other were in the parlour.

My arm was aching so I took a soothing bath before drying my body with a towel and putting on a tube to go out.

I stood infront of the mirror applying some ointment on my arm, I gasped when I saw ammar standing behind me through the mirror, I just ignored him and tried to put on a pain relief patch.

" can we talk" he said in a low voice
" later , we have guests now" I said before going inside the closet to change my clothes, I could feel his gaze on my calves as i walked into the closet.

I wore a dark green A shaped Ankara gown with a cream hijab and some flats , by the time I came out of the closet he was gone.

" Salamalikum hajiya" I said greeting ammar's mom, she just gave me nod, I just put on a big smile before greeting the rest of the family including his father.

He had a quite big family , some of his cousins and aunties also came, there were also a few kids who I set up a space for in eman's playroom. Maro watched over them while the adults were at the dinning table.

" amarya where did you learn to cook biryani like this" ammar's cousin , yusrah asked me .

" I learnt from my mom,she's egyptian" I replied and she nodded.

" did you make the tuwon yourself" hajiya ask with a hard stare.

"No ma , dede and I made it together" I replied and she frowned before saying
" are not supposed to have learnt how to cook hausa food before marrying my son" .

I could feel layla squeezing my hand under the table when she said that.

Everyone gave me empathic stares, while we ate. After we finished eating though I didn't eat well since my appetite went away after hajiya talked.

"You grown fatter since the wedding you're just eating my son's money" hajiya said as she came into the kitchen, I was busy arranging the plates of dessert for dede to take out.

" you're feeding us this sugar so that everyone can become an hippopotamus like yourself " she said before sliding the cake to the floor.

The plate shattered in to pieces along with the cake, I could feel my tears at borderline. Maryam came in with layla

" mom why are you acting like this, she's ya ammar's wife" maryam said with a worried look on her face.

" I will never accept her as his wife , I told him to marry an hausa girl but he wouldn't listen to me" she said facing me , I just looked down silently .

" But no he decided to choose an hippopotamus for a wife" she said and I just felt like crying at this moment. I mean I know she didn't like but not to this extent.

" I'm sorry" layla said rubbing my shoulders while maryam took her mother out . Ammar came in after maryam , I just bent down to clean the cake and glass pieces but he stopped me holding my hand.

I just snatched my hand away and cleaned up the mess, he had an apologetic look when I looked at him.

I went our to join everyone for dessert after composing myself.

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Thank you so much guys.