Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Lakki's cries of hunger woke up Emelinia. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the time. To her surprise it was 10:00hrs. She picked up Lakki and took a look at her mother who was still unconscious. Emelinia went into the kitchen to cook breakfast for Lakki. While it cooked, she gave him a bath.

Feeling too upset to eat, Emelinia did not bother with her breakfast. As soon as she fed Lakki, she let him play while she cleaned the house. In the midst of cleaning, Emelinia stopped and angrily looked at the mess. She threw the broom across the sitting room and clenched her jaw. Emelinia picked Lakki up and she wrapped him on her back. She checked on her mother and when she saw that she was still unconscious, she closed the door.

Emelinia stepped outside and locked the door. Some of the neighbors saw her and they warmly smiled at her. A couple approached her with their hands put together. Emelinia glared at them and they were puzzled with that.

"Good morning, Emelinia." The man greeted her.

"What is good about this morning?" Emelinia rudely answered him back.

"Dear, we don't mean any harm. We are only greeting you. How is your mother?" The woman asked.

"Why do you care?" Emelinia asked her. "Where was your care when she was being brutally assaulted by that fool? Where was your concern when my brother spent hours crying because he was alone and hungry? My mother is unconscious. I don't even know if she will wake up. You could have at least taken her to the hospital and took care of my brother but no you chose not to interfere. I can't imagine what would have happened to my brother hadn't I come here." Emelinia sternly said to them

"Dear they were having a marital dispute. How could we have interfered?" The man asked her, bewildered.

"Please, return to your homes and continue ignoring us the way you ignored my mother's screams and my brother's cries. We don't need your fake sympathy. Get out!" Emelinia pointed at the gate.

Emelinia furiously watched them leave. She sprayed daggers at the other neighbors and they turned away from her. Emelinia quickly locked her gate and angrily walked down the road. She walked for a while until she stopped and faced the Women's Rights Association building.

I am going to make you pay for everything Erny.

****

Naian got up in the morning. He looked at the empty space on the bed that Emelinia would have filled and frowned. All he wanted was to have her back home. He would have loved to follow her to Vanimaq and do all he could to bring her back. Unfortunately for him, Sharumez made it clear that he was to do no such thing. It saddened him that his parents were very angry with him. It was as though no one believed that he was innocent.

Naian got down the stairs and found Sharumez drinking tea while reading the paper. Akirexer served him his breakfast and when she saw Naian, she went into the kitchen to get his breakfast. Naian watched her put his breakfast on the table but he turned away from it and headed for the door.

"Aren't you going to have your breakfast?" Akirexer asked him.

"I am not hungry." Naian answered blankly. "What's the point of eating?" He asked her.

"Naian, don't be stubborn. Sit down and have your breakfast." Sharumez firmly told him.

"No papa, I would rather not. You all have deemed me guilty and lost trust in me therefore I have no appetite. Please don't force me to eat. I'll eat with you when you believe that I am innocent." Naian answered.

"I believe that you are innocent. Will you eat with me?" Sharaina asked him.

Everyone was shocked to hear her voice. Akirexer screamed when she saw Sharaina standing up the stair case in her pajamas. Her hair was shaggy and she was scratching her stomach as she yawned.

Alainara ran up the stairs and hugged Sharaina so hard that they fell to the floor chuckling. Akirexer ran up the stairs and she picked Sharaina off the floor. She hugged her tight. Sharumez and Naian smiled warmly at them.

"How are you here Sharaina?" Akirexer asked her overjoyed with a smile stretched from ear to ear.

"King Meelzib gave us a two week break." Sharaina mirthfully answered.

"Why didn't you tell us that you had arrived?" Sharumez asked her, amused.

"You were all sleeping when I got here." Sharaina stated. "Naian, will you eat with me?" She asked him with a pout.

"Okay I'll eat." He answered much to Akirexer's relief.

****

Emelinia entered the building and strutted to the secretary. She took one bored look at Emelinia through her glasses and flipped a page of the novel she was reading.

"I want to see the leaders of the Women's Rights Association of Vanimaq." Emelinia boldly demanded.

"They are having a meeting so sit down and wait like everyone else." The secretary used her pen to point at the women sitting in a queue.

Emelinia ignored the secretary and she burst into the board room. The four women in the meeting looked on, surprised by her behavior.

"Young lady, how dare you interrupt our meeting?" One of the women asked her.

"I am here to report a case of domestic abuse." Emelinia said.

"You and every woman you found in the queue outside. Follow the procedure and we will assist you accordingly." The same woman said and the rest nodded their heads.

"I don't have time to do that. As we speak, my mother is unconscious because her stupid husband brutally attacked her. He also left my brother -his toddler son all alone and destroyed things in the house. My mother might fall into prolonged hibernation if nothing is done. She needs to go to the hospital and that bastard needs to pay."

"What?" One of the women stood up.

"Come with me to my home and I will show you that I am not lying to you." Emelinia offered.

The women cancelled their meeting and they followed Emelinia to her home. They were completely astonished to see the state of the house. When they saw how beaten Channy was, they became furious.

They sent for gamarax manipulators immediately. They then went back to the office and rounded up twenty women. Emelinia had a feeling that Erny was at the local bar so she led the angry women to the bar. Erny was stunned to see women dancing the angry dance as they approached the bar. He was even more surprised to see Emelinia amongst them.

"What is this?" Erny asked Emelinia.

"It is your punishment." Emelinia answered him.

"You have done a disgusting thing. Today we will make an example of you." The top leader said.

Some women pounced on Erny and dragged him out of the bar. Erny's friends tried to stop them but they were beaten up. They retreated and left Erny alone at the hands of angry women. The women began to whip Erny in public.

Whip "So you thought you were a big dog when you raised your hand against a defenseless fourth class woman?" Whip "You are an idiot." Another whip.

"He is a useless coward and a piece of shit father." whip whip whip

One woman carried sand in her hands and poured it on Erny's head. Erny opened his mouth to protest only for it to be stuffed with sand.

"Scoundrel!"

"Bastard!"

"Good for nothing fool!"

"Spineless He goat!"

Whip whip whip.

Emelinia watched everything with a powerful scowl on her face. The women forced Erny up and Emelinia walked to him. She gave him a tight slap and hit him in the balls with her knees.

"How dare you lay your hands on my mother?" She slapped him again. "Did you think that you were going to get away with it?" Emelinia gave him another smack. "You don't even care about your son. I don't know what my mother saw in you." Emelinia slapped him again but harder this time that her hand hurt. "You will never ever hurt her again. I will make sure of it."

At that point warriors appeared and they rescued Erny. The leaders of the association told them of Erny's crime and he was immediately arrested. Emelinia hurled insults at Erny as she watched them take him away from there. Some women held her back until Erny could not be seen anymore.

Emelinia calmed down a little. "Please let me go. I'm okay now." she requested and they obliged.

"We are sorry about what happened to your mother. Please, should you need anymore help in the future, don't hesitate to come to us." The top leader said.

"Thank you for helping me get my mother justice today. We will forever be grateful." Emelinia expressed gratitude with her hands together.

"Go home to your mother dear." Another leader suggested.

"Yes, of course."

The women bid farewell to Emelinia and dispersed - murmuring amongst themselves. Emelinia turned to leave too but suddenly felt dizzy. She halted and held her head.

Why I'm I feeling so weak? She wondered. Oh yes, I didn't have dinner last night and I missed breakfast. Emelinia brushed the feeling off and she walked back home.

****

Sharumez and Naian were stunned to find the carpentry closed. They looked around and there was no sign of Janala. This puzzled them because Janala was always the first to arrive.

Sharumez took out his set of keys and opened the shop. The first thing he and Naian saw when they entered was the cupboard they left Janala working on. It was completely finished.

Naian thought that perhaps Janala had decided to sleep in the office. He knocked at the door but he and Sharumez got no response. The two of them exchanged surprised looks. To their relief, a woman walked in.

"Good morning ma'am, would you mind checking if our female colleague is sleeping in our office?" Naian asked her.

"Oh not at all." The woman agreed with a giggle.

She peeped inside and turned back. "There's no one in the office." She told Sharumez and Naian.

"Thank you for your help." Sharumez said to her with a gentle smile.

Naian watched Sharumez go to the counter with the woman. He wondered if Janala was okay. He had a bad feeling that he couldn't shake off.

****

Sharaina sat in the living room chatting with Liss and Mayla. They were soon joined by Akirexer. Liss apologized to Akirexer for Tamithra's behavior. She told everyone that Farali forbid Tamithra from going close to Naian. She also told them of how Farali threatened to cut ties with Tamithra if she disobeyed her.

"I honestly had no idea that she and Naian were once in a relationship." Liss said. "At least now I understand why she would get so angry with me when she saw me flirting with Naian." she laughed softly.

"Your cousin is sick and she needs help." Sharaina snarled.

Mayla chuckled. "No arguments there. She just has to accept that Naian has moved on."

"What if he hasn't moved on? Tamithra keeps ranting about how they are still in love with each other. My mother had to slap her to stop her from saying that Naian belonged only to her." Liss argued. "There could be some truth to this." She lifted her shoulders and Akirexer frowned.

"Oh please give me a break Liss." Sharaina rolled her eyes in distain. "There's just something about females in your family. You have this possessive attitude towards your lovers. I mean look at what you do with Nelex. You dump him and when he moves on, you declare that he belongs only to you. No offense but your family is made up of delusional females. This is exactly why I never let you get close to Naian" Sharaina coldly said said and everyone laughed.

"I just hope everything gets back to normal. Naian and Emelinia are suffering greatly because of this." Akirexer lamented. "To be honest I am really missing Emelinia."

"She will come back mama. This is her home." Sharaina comforted Akirexer with a warm smile.

"Yes, you are right." Akirexer returned the smile.

****

Emelinia had succeeded in making Erny pay for what he had done to Channy but she still felt miserable. She slowly walked home lost in her thoughts - dragging her feet down the gravel road.

She thought about Naian in Tamithra's hands and it made her feel so hurt. She felt her tears coming and she held them back. The painful lamp in her throat made it difficult for her to respond to the nurses greeting her at her gate when she arrived home.

They handed her the medicine Channy was to take. They also gave Emelinia the prescription and promptly left. Emelinia went into her Channy's room and she was overjoyed to see her awake. She put Lakki off her back and carried him to Channy's bed side. Channy shed tears when she saw both her children and this time Emelinia couldn't hold back her own tears. She hugged Channy and cried.

"Why did you want to leave me mama? You have no idea of how much you scared me." Emelinia croaked.

"My child I didn't mean to worry you." Channy sobbed.

"Why won't you leave that useless man?" Emelinia asked her.

Channy sat upright with a moan of pain. "I made up my mind and gave him divorce papers. That's why he assaulted me." She explained. "Now that the Women's Rights Association have been involved, the divorce is assuring." Channy said with a smile. "I will be free. Marrying that man is by far the biggest mistake I ever made."

Emelinia wiped her tears with a wide smile on her face. "I am so happy about that mama. It is about time you got rid of him."

"That's not the only good news child." Channy said. "Quick, hand me the brown envelope in my closet." she pointed.

Emelinia went to the closet and she pulled out the envelope. She sat on the bed and handed Channy the envelope. Channy smiled at Emelinia and pulled out some papers out of the envelope.

Her eyes beamed with joy as she looked at them and then she handed them to Emelinia who was burning with curiosity. Her eyes widened in shock as she read.

"Mama you bought a piece of land in Gemhules! How were you able to do this?" Emelinia asked her with a wide smile on her face.

"I used the money paid for your dowry. I chose to secretly buy a piece of land in Gemhules so that I can be closer to you. Now that the land is officially mine, I figured that I would leave Erny and start life afresh." Channy said with so much excitement. "I have been saving up some money and it should be enough to build a house. Once it is ready, this one will be put up for rent. The money I'll get from the rent will be able to sustain Lakki and I." Channy further explained.

"Mama this is great news. Naian and papa with the help of Jenu can help you build your house!" Emelinia said and immediately remembered about what had happened with Naian. Her spirit dropped and a frowned manifested.

Channy saw how distraught her daughter was and she immediately got concerned. "Emelinia, did something happen between you and Naian?" She asked her.

"Please don't tell me 'I told you so' mama." Emelinia said in a low tone.

"Oh Emelinia." Channy hugged Emelinia. "Are you sure that he has betrayed you?"

"I saw him with my own eyes mama." Emelinia stood up and folded her hands. "I never want to see him again. He and I are through." Emelinia angrily said.

"Child no he is your husband. This is his first offence. Surely you can sit down and talk things through with him. Don't give up on your marriage so easily." Channy softly said to her.

"No mama, I am not like you. I refuse to be hurt over and over before finally deciding to leave. I don't want anything to do with that man."

"Emelinia I understand that you are angry but please don't make decisions when you are mad." Channy tried to reason with her.

"Mama what I saw was enough. I'm not changing my---" Emelinia paused and held her head. The dizzy feeling was back.

"Are you alright honey?" Channy asked her.

"I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little dizzy. I haven't had anything to eat since last night." Emelinia said and walked out of the room before her mother could say anything else.

****

Commander Ouman chatted merrily with his family at a lodge. He, his wife and three teenage sons decided to visit his in laws in Lano. He took a day off in order to spend time with his family. Ouman was a workaholic so his family rarely got to see him. That day, however, was a special day because it was his mother in-law's birthday.

Ouman was watching her unwrap a gift when he caught a glimpse of Sharaina. He gasped suddenly when he saw her again and this startled everyone at the table. He looked at her at the bar ordering a bottle of wine. The more he looked at her the more he was convinced that it was her.

Sharaina turned to leave and Ouman got up without excusing himself. His family looked at him baffled. Ouman followed Sharaina out.

Sharaina turned and joined Liss and Mayla who were impatiently waiting for her. Commander called after her but Sharaina did not stop but instead took a turn with Liss and Mayla. Unfortunately, when Ouman took the turn too, she was gone. Ouman punched a hole into the wall in frustration.

Hiding not so far away were the girls. Sharaina noticed that he was following them and she alerted Liss and Mayla. The three opted to hide. When they saw him give up his search, they breathed sighs of relief. Sharaina scowled at Liss and slapped her at the back of her head.

"What was that for Sharaina?" Liss asked her, annoyed.

"It is for whatever you did that caused Commander Ouman to follow us. I have to return to the Academy in a few days. I can't risk getting expelled because of you. From the look of things, he wanted to throw us behind bars."

"Oh shut up I haven't done anything wrong." Liss hissed. "Not yet anyway..." She smirked and this time Mayla hit her at the back of her head.

****

Emelinia went into the kitchen and got lunch started. She sat down and held her head. She couldn't understand why she was feeling so dizzy and weak.

"I don't understand why I'm feeling this way. I have starved before and it took at least a week for me to feel this way." she pondered.

Emelinia started to cut the vegetables when Channy weakly walked into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. Emelinia was bewildered to see Channy put a vini leaf on the table. She looked up at her and saw the serious look on her face. Emelinia jerked her brow up and asked;

"Mama, what is this?"

"It is a vini leaf." Channy quickly answered.

"I know that it is mama but I'm wondering why it is here." Emelinia said to her.

"Stop playing dumb Emelinia." Channy admonished.

Emelinia scoffed. "Do you think that I am pregnant mama?"

Channy looked at the leaf and said. "There's only one way to find out."

"I am not pregnant mama." Emelinia felt irritated.

"Oh really? Explain the dizziness then." Channy folded her hands.

"If I take this test, will it make you happy?" Emelinia asked Channy and she nodded her head. "Alright let's get this over with."

Channy remained in the kitchen as she waited for Emelinia. She was too weak to get up and go to the sitting room. Emelinia urinated on the leaf. She walked back into the kitchen with a green leaf. She placed it on the table. She and Channy looked at the leaf. Channy's heart raced while Emelinia felt indifferent.

The part of the leaf that came into contact with Emelinia's urine turned into bright red before their eyes. Channy shrieked in joy but Emelinia on the other hand covered her mouth with her hands in shock. She sat down slowly and with shaky hands, she picked up the leaf. She couldn't believe it.

"Mama, I am pregnant?" She asked. "I am going to be a mother?"