One.

ABUJA, NIGERIA.

Amani sighed for the nth time on the soft ruby cushion she's being sitting on for the past four hours. She used her ruby duster to remove the lint on her sewing machine whilst humming to 'It's You by Ali Gatie' in the background. That week, Ali Gatie is her obsession as she changes them every week and sometimes won't do so for three weeks, that is the longest she's took though. She likes listening to soft slow songs but also a fan of rock music and the ones that have your legs moving even while sitting. And she is also a great dancer.

She has planned the amount of clothes she wants to sew that very day and she just completed them before six in the evening so she will have time for her precious daughter again. Her baby girl has being sleeping since one in the afternoon when she breastfed her. The girl loves sleeping not that she expected more from an eleven month old baby who has already started teething and throwing tantrums.

After folding the clothes and gently placing them in the white leather she usually puts her sewn clothes. She arrange them in the room by the side in a huge pecan brown cupboard made for sewn clothes before standing up and stretch out all her sour muscles. She is used to sitting for longer hours especially at nights if she is going to sew her friends clothes since they are the only ones she collect clothes from after her deadline. They can be very persistent.

She loves her profession but it is really tiring and demanding most of the times. She still likes it, it gave her joy while doing both her work and listening to music or her baby girl's laughter in the background. As she sew one, another style will pop into her head and she will immediately draw it in one of her many sketch pads stacked just before the cupboard. She even has desk and a chair with silver lantern on it and lots of pencils.

She ambled to her baby's room and open the door silently so that she won't wake her up if she is sleeping. She is taking her evening nap though she usually wakes up around six and then sleep back around eight or nine when her father gets back home and plays with her. At first, Amani thought her baby was a daddy's girl but with more time he doesn't spend in their home, she stopped being daddy's girl but still gets super duper excited when he is around and can't keep cool.

Her baby girl is stirring in her crib making her smile as she knew why she is doing that. The eleven months old girl has her wrapped around her little fingers without meaning to. She walked further to the rose pink crib and waited for her to wake up by herself whilst she stared at her like a stalker. She can't just get over the fact that that baby is her daughter. The daughter she created with her husband, it still amaze her how much Allah has in store for them. She never though she would have a daughter at that age, she thought she will need more years before it happens but then again, there is nothing you plan that won't be changed if that is not how Allah has planned it. All she could do is keep thanking Allah about that cute blessing.

"Anaan am, wake up sweetheart." She has been moving her hands for quite a long time and that means she has her diaper is wet and it is uncomfortable.

Amani is Fulani from both father and mother and she will proudly speak the language wherever she is. Her mother is from Maiduguri while her father is from Adamawa state making her Kanuri/Fulani but she didn't live hearing much of Kanuri except for Fulani which her mother and father both speak fluently. She don't get how her mother started speaking Fulani when she Kanuri, she still is great.

She grew up with her parents and brothers' speaking it to her all the time and she try understanding it since she was a baby so she didn't have much problem doing it when she grew up amidst three older brothers that like speaking in their native language making their English slightly accented but it makes ladies drool, she's seen that a lot.

She picked up her baby and place her on rose pink diaper changing mat and begin changing her diaper. When she was done with that, she picked her teething baby and meandered out of the rose pink and taffy colored room to the dining table where her food is waiting. She gave her the well boiled sweet potatoes and fed her gently till she was done not before adjusting her sky blue bib around her neck. Amani is surprised that she didn't throw any tantrum that day when she usually don't eat without a fight, well, if her father isn't there.

She gave her her small fuscia pink feeding bottle filled with sterilized milk. She feed her both milk and breast milk but she likes giving her warm milk at night so she sleeps without any disturbance. Mid into giving her baby the milk, her husband walked in looking exhausted with huge bags underneath his eyes showing just how much work he's done the day before since he didn't spend the night there. His work needs lots of attention and the day before was one of them. Being a pilot is no fun sometimes, she thought.

"Dada..Dada..Dada." Anaan started clapping her hands loudly letting go of the feeding bottle Amani managed to place in her hands as a new way to show that her daughter is growing up.

"Perle, Pearl." He beamed at the sight of his precious little thing before moving his hands to her moving arms and swiftly took her away from her mother, not daring to brush any of their skin.

For the past nine months, the relationship between them has been shaking on a broken table. She is the cause of it all and is not trying to do anything to bring them back and he was also tired of trying so he let her be. Any man would stop after what he did, well, maybe not all but he is not always patient and don't like his emotions being played. He loves unconditionally and when his hearts get broken, he finds it hard to find solace in anything.

He's tried and for as long as she is not ready to be cracked, he knew she won't ever be cracked, that much, he knows. And in all truthfulness, he don't understand who his wife is anymore. He feels like she is a whole new different person and he's never known or courted her before they got married. He feels like she is not the Bushra Amani that fell hopelessly in love with him and didn't stop herself from showing him off on all her social media accounts but now, even her fans ask about him and she makes up excuses.

He took a decision without even telling her since they hardly talk. He gets food on his table twice a week and they talk maybe once in a week so what is the use of telling her when it won't bother her? It is not like he took the decision to make her feel jealous or anything, no, it is a must for him to take that decision because he needs a wife by his side not a baby breeder. She bred him a baby and stopped giving him any attention of the day as though that is what she was looking forward to all along. He needs to feel that love especially after long days at work.

He sometimes feel like she just married him to give birth and then dump him though that is not the case since she was afraid of having a baby the first time they found out she was pregnant. She wanted to spend some more time with him since their wedding and getting to know each other only took two months and she feels like she didn't know him much but now, he doubts she ever wanted to know who he is in the first place. He feels like she only wanted a baby with him and after getting it, she kept him aside.

So many times he tried taking her on lunch or dinner like a date after she gave birth to their daughter but she repeatedly turn him down and said she wants to stay with her daughter because she needs her at that stage of life. He sometimes even bring his phone out to call one of his siblings to stay with their daughter for at least two hours but she will say that she just can't leave her baby with anyone. He understands that and ask them to go all together and she will bring another excuse that babies shouldn't be going out much so he stopped trying. There is no use.

"I know you missed me." He raised his daughter aloft with her back to the ceiling and her front looking at him. She looks happy showing her bottom lateral incisors that are slowly trying to grow resulting to her shitting all day and night.

She babbled again making him laugh at how she badly wants to talk to him while imitating whatever he does with his hands. He played with her for awhile in the living room before passing her back to her mother who was silently watching some drama in the television without giving them any attention, not surprising.

He walked into their room that looks like some train passed through it before getting to train station. There are clothes almost everywhere and he is the one to pick them up and place them on the couch in the room. She sometimes clear the room and most of the times, she don't try doing that.

Their room was a sacred place when they got married. There always is some amazing scent dancing in his nostrils the first few months of their marriage but not anymore. She has the whole room in her hands when she was a new bride and he is almost afraid that the house will one day burn to the ground because of too much incense burner but he never complained. She was very attentive to his needs and wants while he does the same to what she likes and dislikes.

He even changed one of the rooms into a tailor room with everything any tailor would need. Being a seamstress does take some of her time but that doesn't stop her from giving him all the love he needs. That doesn't stop their love from blowing. The room is any seamstress's dream and he has fulfilled that dream of hers. He surprised her with the room a month after their wedding evoking shrills of laughter from her beautiful lips and too many kisses in return. He never will forget that moment.

There are nine bedrooms, five living rooms, a laundry room, kitchen adjoined with store and two boys quarters outside the house. He was never fond of upstairs because of children and when Amani asked him to accept, he did in a heartbeat and arranged the whole house with more security for their daughter. The house was provided to him by his father even after he told him he wants to do it himself but his father emotionally blackmailed him and he has no other choice but to do so since Amani was concerned.

He fell head over heels in love with her after talking to her just twice. He does not know how or when but when his father asked whether he agreed to marry her, he didn't hesitate and accepted and when he heard about her acceptance too, he was overjoyed.

He shook his head out from the thoughts and went to take bath after removing his white uniform that has four stripes across his shoulder and removed his pilot black hat then placed them neatly in their closet. Taking the bath as he thought, he walked out and luckily that day he has food on his table but he can't hear any sound coming from the living room and he is sure she has already placed Anaan on bed and also slept next to her on the bed there. That was his life routine.

•••

The next morning, Amani woke up and dressed her girl in white overall before feeding her. When she was done with that, she took her baby's walking crib and took it to her tailoring room. She plugged her phone to the speaker in the room and played a soft song because of her baby. She sometimes likes blasting the songs before she gave birth to her baby girl so she would stand up and dance together with her husband when he gets back and find her dancing her time away.

She smiled at the bittersweet memory before playing 'Don't let me down by The Chainsmokers ft Daya' then removed the new brand wine expensive lace from it's paper bag and read the description then took the photo inside the paper bag that has the style the customer wants and she smiled. It's a beautiful fitted gown that she will add stonework around the chest and waist then a matching cape will be draped behind but with silk.

In no time, she has the fitted gown and remaining only the cape to be fitted from the back to the floor. It looks like bridesmaids outfit and she already sew three of them which means someone important is getting married in the country. The price she use to sew clothes is not a child's play and only wealthy people bring their clothes to her. She will find out about who it is when they will come to collect their clothes and that is the next day.

Her phone rang on the sewing machine table, she paused the song and answered the call. Her sister in-law, Kauthar is the one calling her.

Kauthar Malik Masari is the first female child in the Masari family who just clocked twenty three and got engaged two months ago to be married in the next two months. She has her bachelor degree in business and wants to help her uncle's company as her father isn't into business. That was her dream though, she wanted either her brother or father to be a businessman but that didn't happen so she became one.

She already has started her job and has enough money to make her own living making her a great woman in business. She deals with business like a man and Amani advised her to start her own business when she grows bigger and wiser. She will make great deals, more than a man and Amani is very sure of that.

"Yo, beaut." Amani greeted into the phone with a huge smile adorning her lips hoping she will ask her to open the door for her. She always says that whenever she picks her calls but not that time around, she said something totally different.

"Don't beaut me right now." Came Kauthar's reply in her usual strict and businesslike tone that makes her look older than her own age.

"Woah, woah there woman. What got into your pants this bright day?" Now she has Amani's full concentration. They usually have light conversations over the phone and deep ones face to face.

"You didn't tell me your husband is marrying another woman in twenty one days and I'm just finding out from my coworkers." Kauthar said in one breath making Amani's breath to get caught in her throat. Her own breathes totally abandoned her when she needed them the most. She really needs to breath!

"W-what are you talking about?" Amani's brows are tightened in deep concentration to get what the heck is her sister in-law talking on about with her husband.

They don't joke about those stuff she would've thought Kauthar was trying to pull at her legs, which she likes doing. And as far as she knew, it is not April but rather January so what on earth is going on in the business woman's head that bright day?

"Yes, you heard me right. Don't tell me you don't know about it." Kauthar is not the confused one because she thought her friend and also sister in-law knew about her husband getting married in twenty one days but it looks like she has no clue about it too.

"I don't." She breathed into the phone, her breath abandoning her whole.

"MM didn't tell you about it?" Came Kauthar's voice filled with perplexity and flummox.

"He didn't, Thar." Amani breathed in and out before she hung up the phone without goodbye. She doesn't have the energy or peace of mind to bid her a proper goodbye but Kauthar will understand what is going on.

She was just told that her own husband will be getting married in twenty one freaking days! Why didn't he tell her about it?! She sighed knowing they are both at fault here and she don't have the right to point a finger only at him.

Her husband is really going to get married I'm twenty one days?

What is she to do now?!