Chapter 73: Chapter 73

She kept shaking her head as he walked towards her in an expression she've never seen him with. Tears were dripping down onto her bosom, not being able to do anything about her new faith.

How could this happen to her? Out of all the people she loved and respected; it's Inas that would be the reason of her heart shattering pain. And Laith; before she assimilated what was happening in her surrounding, she felt him hovering over her; his red eyes that were clouded with lust fixed unshakable on her chest.

"Please, I beg of you; L you can't do this to me when it's just a day to our wedding. We've waited this long, why not a single night?" She cried and tried pushing him off her when he landed a striking slap on her cheek; which took her unaware.

"Laith you slapped me! Laith you're trying to rape me! It's Laila, you can't do this to me!" Her drained voice that was devoid of any emotion slurred, unbelievably looking at him with her raining eyes.

"Let me tell you one thing; it's either you keep shut and I get what I desire in peace or have it by force. And who are you to be sure that this bad boy here wouldn't do anything to you? That wasn't me, this is the real me!" He thundered and turned her around, unzipping her gown with a single slide of the zipper.

She screamed and blocked her chest with both hands, trying to fight and get out of his hold. She kept monotoning every single prayer she've memorized in her life. She knew he's the person she wants to give her virginity to, but he couldn't just have it like this. Laith couldn't rape her!

"La-it-h," her voice breaks from each letter uttered from her shaky lips, she couldn't believe this is happening to her. And it's none but her Laith.

Forcefully, Laith removed the fabric she held close to her rest. "Ya Allah, save me from this evil soul!" She cried. And she felt as he did whatever he wished for. She felt as a down pour of fire kept dripping on the coating of her skin. She felt as his voice that felt more enigmatic than a hungry lion's roar kept running into the organs of her ears down to the breaking house of her heart.

***

She had her body hugged by her two hands at the end of the bed, and the bedsheet she removed covering all the visible part of her body. She was crying profusely, and so was the man she couldn't believe she've ever loved.

"L, would you stop crying and let me explain? Today is our wedding day; we don't have to be like this!" Laith cried from where he stood at the door, trying to get them out of the room but it was locked_and it's already 7am in the morning.

"Don't ever call me that name! We don't have anything sort of an endearment between us. You're nothing but a heartless rapist to me! And marriage you said? What's there left in the girl you've never loved but had lust wrapped in the box of love towards her? What's there left when you've raped the girl you were to marry? Just tell me what's there when this girl has no one she hates more than you!!!!"

She pointed at him and stood up to where she saw her phone laying on the floor. She wore her gown and took her phone, crying as she dialed Diasy's number.

"Please would you come to get me at the place we had that event yesterday? Where I told you I'll be going?" She cried, when she heard the sleepy voice of her friend.

Daisy woke up widely, she squinted her eyes and removed the phone away from her ear to make sure it was Laila that called her. How would Laila sleep there when she is to be wedded today?

"What happened Laila? Something happened to you? Are you alright? Why are you crying?" Daisy spoke agitatedly and stood up, tapping a sleeping Walsh beside her; they got engaged last month.

"Don't worry, call me when you're at the rooms please." And she ended the call without answering Daisy's unending questions.

She looked around and found Laith kneeling down beside her, his hands brought up into a praying manner. He wasn't touching her, but seeing him this close to her suffocates her. She bulged her eyes as if she had seen a wild animal and squirmed far away from him.

"You have every right to hate me. I too hate myself for what I did to you. But Laila it wasn't totally my fault. I couldn't remember what happened after Inas and Will brought me a drink, trust me; it wasn't intentional!" He begged, his mulatto skin had turned into a reddish-pink complexion, he had been crying since since morning, when he had realized the mess he had done.

She cleared a strand of hair and looked at him with all the hatred in her heart. "They gave you a drink, but you can control yourself after knowing it was me. You can stop yourself after hearing my crying voice begging you to! Oh, what do I expect from a notorious bad boy apart from me? You know what? You've never loved me, it was lust!"

"Subhanallah! Laila wallahi I love you! Please don't say that to me. Allow me to marry you please, I'll show you how much I love you."

She scoffed and snarled at him. "Do you think I'm that foolish to let you marry me? Let me tell you something Laith, I'm going back to Nigeria today,I'll get married to the guy that even in his dream would never think of raping me! And; I won't marry you!!!"

She heard her phone ringing, checking the caller Id, she saw it was Daisy. She turned to a crest fallen Laith before picking the call, "And oh; a word like Subhanallah shouldn't be coming out of your mouth. I'm done forever. And I'll never forgive you for this!"

And that was it, Daisy and Walsh opened the door because Inas left the keys there. She walked out in tears, and Daisy took her to their home, while Walsh helped Laith took a cab home.

Inas called Laila before it was time for her flight and asked her to meet in a cafe, they met before Laila finally drove to the airport and back to Nigeria, where a new fate awaits her.

***

"Now, can I have it?" She asked amidst tears, stretching her hand towards a numb Al-amin that was unable to move a finger.

"What?" He asked, after so much minutes of silence. His head is locked up, and he doesn't know what to do right now that he couldn't regret it later.

"My divorce letter, I know that's what you've been contemplating wether to do or not. No matter what, I know you'll forever see me with this; just divorce so it'll be easy for us all." She spoke with a drained voice chugged with pain.

"Do you want me to divorce you? What reason are you going to give Hajia and Abba when they ask you why you got divorced? How would you live your life knowing you're still not yet to find love?" He just couldn't bring himself to how she's feeling.

He know what he had towards Laila was never love. But she was his sister and now his wife, how does she lived her life while someone raped her before? The person she've loved with each living fiber in her soul. And now, if he divorces her, what will they tell their parents as a reason? How would she endure the pain of being raped and divorced at the same time? For she's still not over the trauma; he could see it from her eyes. No! He couldn't be that heartless.

"Divorces nowadays doesn't have a significant reason. A husband might just be tired of his wife and will divorce her, it doesn't have to be a good reason. And Yaya, don't feel like I'm so pathetic and you'll live with me like this, do what you know will put your heart in rest."

"I can't and won't divorce you, Laila. Even if I'm not your husband, as a brother; it's my role as a brother to protect you and our family's reputation. Now let's have a deal," Al-amin said and strengthen himself on the bed, where they sat down facing each other.

She palmed her face with both hands and cleared her tears. "What's the deal Yaya? But would you promise not to tell anyone please? I'll be a topic of discussion, Yayah." She cried again, looking at him with her puppy eyes that were pouring out water.

"You don't have to worry about that. My my deal is that; we should consummate our marriage today, because Laila you can't be living all your life with a trauma of rape."

Her eyes bulged out as big as a saucers. How could she start telling him that she still loves Laith more than she could ever voice it out. How could she tell him that she has no man running freely through the veins of her soul but Laith. How could she tell him that she still has the dream of marrying Laith and she isn't willing give herself out to anybody but him; bet it him-her present husband.

"You've been staring at me for long, you have to talk." He brought an end to her train of thoughts, and she heaved a sigh_staring at him.

"I'm sorry, Yaya, but I can't. Would you please let me be your wife with just the title?" She asked, hopelessly praying that he wouldn't spark over this also.

It took Al-amin a few minutes before he finally brought himself and asked her the question that had been gnawing at him. "You still love him. And don't you dare deny this fact." It sounded more life a proclamation than a question.

She hurriedly shot her head up and the fear he saw on her face proved his instincts. She still loves Laith, the man that raped her and insulted her dignity as a girl. She's his wife, but couldn't give him his right because she still love her ex.

"Yes, I do." This was what she wanted her heart to believe over the months she spent nurturing her broken heart, but each time she brought up the question; she couldn't bring herself to answering it directly.

"It's good then. I won't divorce you, but you too would live the life you made Ummi lived in her matrimonial home without knowing the sin she committed. And be rest assured, you would love it more had it been I divorced you." And he stood up, walked over the door and unlocked it_motioning for her to leave his room.

"Yaya I don't get you, what did I made Ummi went through?" She asked, afraid he might heard something the day later in the day, because she was sure she heard the front door being closed.

"I'm talking about the pictures you got from her ex classmate. The pictures you sent to her phone knowing fully we were together in Mashi. The letter you made your friend wrote and sent it to her. And lots more I don't have to tell you, because it would just be like a remembrance. Would you get out of my room and get your sorry self ready for a life in hell?"

Her lower jaw almost dropped to the floor. She looked at him and saw all the seriousness she've never seen on his face; plastered. With her body trembling in fear, she walked over the door and held the knob.

"Would you please hear me out?" She asked, directly looking at him in the eye.

"Those were the exact words she had been begging me; for over six months but I've never payed heed. Go and taste the kind of pain she sipped as if it were a juice!"