The tragedy of life is not death but what dies inside of us while we live
Norman cousins
I made a mental note to make sure to accompany the minister on any of his trips going forward.
At no point ever again would I be left alone with his beast of a son.
As I was dishing food to the minister bowl, I felt Ibrahim's all too familiar breath on my neck. "I hope you are dishing some for me."
I tried to shrug out of his hold. "Please stop this. My husband is back."
He chuckled. "Your husband. You don't know how ridiculous it is hearing you call him that."
I heard the minister's footsteps approaching and proceeded to summon all my strength to wrestle myself away just in time.
Or was it?
There was a look on Chief's face I couldn't quite decipher. His brows were furrowed, and he wasn't quite as bubbly as he'd been only moments before.
"You will love the food, sir. Ire we go again."
"Anyway, we can talk more of that later. For now, I just want to rest. It has been a long journey, and I just want to enjoy the company of my beautiful wife."
"I finally convinced madam maria to allow me cook for you," I declared proudly, taking my seat next to him.
He simply nodded in response. I looked at him, puzzled by his indifference. Maybe he was just tired?
"I'll allow you lovebirds enjoy dinner," ibrahim declared. "I have a date in town. See you. Don't wait up!" He winked at me as he left the room, and I quickly looked away.
When I looked up, I saw the minster looking at me.
"Is everything okay, sir?" I asked.
He continued looking at me, before finally chuckling. "zeynap, my beautiful wife. I think I have waited for long enough. I want you to warm my bed tonight. Why don't you meet me in my room by about 9pm, after I have taken a small nap."
My heart crashed into the pit of my stomach, and I felt a cold sweat break on my forehead. "To..tonight?" I stuttered. "Don't you want to rest tonight?"
"I have been resting for too long, my queen," he said, kissing my hand. "I think it's high time we consummate our marriage, or don't you think?"
Those were the words that haunted me for the rest of the evening; consummate our marriage. Whilst it had been a scary thought when I'd first arrived, after a while, I'd grown to expect and even anticipate it. I was happy even with the age difference.
But after Ibrahim's violation, after he had taken what it was the minster was expecting to receive, it was now an even more frightening thought than before.
I spent an hour in the bath, trying to luxuriate in scented soaps and oils. Maybe if my skin looked and smelt so good, Chief wouldn't notice anything else.
I took extra care to apply my makeup, and wore the silk night robe mama had given me before she left.
When I walked out of my room at a few minutes before 9, I knew there was no way he would be able to resist me."Come in," he bellowed when I knocked on his door.
I had only been to his room a few times, and those had been on the occasions he had been too tired to stop by mine upon his return from work.
"sir, it's me," I said, unnecessarily announcing my arrival.
I had never made so much of an effort in my appearance for him, so standing there before him, looking so beautiful, even I couldn't deny it, I was expecting his typical showers of praise.
I was expecting him to lose his mind over how stunning I looked.
But his face was set like stone.
"Get in the bed," he ordered.
I was taken aback. This wasn't like him.
"sir, is everything okay? Did the food upset you?"
"You really want me to say it twice?" he retorted.
"Undress and get in the bed."
He sounded so much like his nasty son, I was tempted to turn around and run far, far away.
But instead, I braced myself, slipped first out of the silk night robe and then out of my sheer negligée, standing before him completely naked.
For someone who was supposedly crazy about me, he was surprisingly indifferent seeing me in my naked state, I forgot for a second that there was nothing special about me like papa said.
Without another word, I got on to his large bed, the luxurious bed sheet feeling like I was lying on flowers.
But the vibe in the room was so tense and hostile,
I might have as well been on thorns.
Wordlessly and without any of his usual endearments or acts of affection, he took off his only item of clothing, a loose pair of jogging pants, mounted me and began to thrust aggressively.
I winced, to try to simulate a woman doing it for the first time. Luckily, it didn't last as long as it did with Ibrahim, and I felt like I'd somehow gotten away with it.
When he was done, he rolled off me and got off the bed. I watched as he put his jogging pants back
on, walked across the room and lit his pipe.
"I thought you said you were a virgin," he said, looking at me with what I could finally see was revulsion.
"There was nothing virginal about the woman I just lay with."
I sat up, not knowing whether to lie or admit that he was correct.
"Answer me!" he shouted, making me jump.
In one single stride, he walked back to the bed and dragged me off it. "Tell me why I shouldn't throw you out of my house this very minute! I married you thinking I was getting an angel, only to get a woman with an expressway for a vagina!"
"sir, please! Please!" I screamed, shielding my face lest he attack me. "I swear, I came here a virgin. It was…it was Ibrahim. He raped me. When you went to London, he raped me. He's been raping me…" I dissolved into tears, not able to say any more. I knew that by telling the minster, I was jeopardising my brother's welfare, but at that point, I was willing to take the risk to protect my own life.
"ibrahim raped you," he repeated sardonically, pulling me to my feet, his fingers digging deep into my skin. "Ibrahim raped you, or you threw yourself at him the minute I turned my back?"
I stared back, flabbergasted. "No, Sir. He's the one who came to me. He came to me. Please believe me"
He slapped me on the face with the back of his hand, the large ring on his finger cutting my cheek.
"You're nothing but a harlot! I heard all about how you've been seducing him, keeping him locked up in your room from morning to night. If he 'raped' you, why were you accommodating him every day?"
I just stared back, clutching my bleeding cheek, my mouth agape.
"As if that wasn't bad enough, they tell me you also slept with my younger son, sliva," he shouted, his fists balled in his rage.
"I didn't sleep with Anayo," Iwhimpered. "I have never met him before."
Another slap hit me across the face before I could even finish talking.
" This is a scandal!" he yelled, kicking me on my chest before grabbing his belt that lay on his sofa.
"You sleep with a father and his sons? This is an outrage! An insult! No wonder your fatter treasts you like trash"
No matter how I tried, I couldn't dodge the whips of the belt, as it landed indiscriminately on every part of my body; my face, head, chest, stomach, arms, legs…no part of my body was spared.
I screamed, but it was like the more I screamed, the more incensed he became.
He was a bull seeing only red, and he attacked me just like one. It wasn't until I lay motionless on the floor, that the flogging stopped.
"I have a good mind to send you away," he panted, also spent from his attack. "You're nothing but a very bad investment. You are not worth a single penny of the millions I have wasted on your unfortunate family."
I can Escape this life, can I?