Chapter 6 — Pain

"Stay here, I don't want to see you in or around the living room!" My mum said about going out to help nanny Safiyah in cooking dinner. She never wanted me roaming about the house these days.

"But mum, I am bor..."

"No, you can't be bored" she said while putting on her cardigan due to the cold weather. "The TV is ON and, I got your pad loaded with games recently..."

"Old games" I blurted out adjusting the hood of my Sweater. It was cold!

"Umaimah dan Allah kada ki sani surutu! Da naki zan ji ko na baban ki?" She squealed. "Just stay here, understood?"

"Yes" I nodded reaching for my kiddy pad, it was in the far end of the bed.

"Good" she said with her hands in both sides pockets of her cardigan and left.

The lego games she installed in my kiddy pad weren't really old but I just didn't like them, I really hated lego!

I dropped the pad aside and was about changing the DStv channel to my favourite when something began buzzing, it was actually my mum's phone which was laying on the bedside table. I checked the caller I.D and found out it was Ramadan. One mind told me to convey the phone to my mum while the other warned me of the possible outcome, I was cautioned after all!

That was how I let the call slide, while contemplating. And just as I was about dropping the phone it began buzzing again, this time around I didn't wait for a second thought... I ran out with the phone to my mother in the kitchen.

"Mum, dad is calling you" I said handing over the phone to her.

She quickly rubbed her hands in her kitchen attire and collected the phone from me. "Hello..." She started. "Wa'alaykumu Salam" She said sitting on a stool. "No, I am in the kitchen ne ai..." She protested. "Yes, we are fine" She glanced at me. "When are you coming back?" She asked. "Toh, dinner dai na kan wuta tukum fa" She smiled. "No, zamu gama ai kan ka dawo kaikuma!" she said. "Okey, sai ka dawo" she grinned. "I love you too..." She dropped the call and slid the phone into the right pocket of her cardigan. "Safiyah lets hurry up and finish, he's coming back soon..." she appraised.

"Alright, madam" Nanny Safiyah said smiling. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure, Safiyah" Mum stood from the stool and joined her in cooking.

"Yesterday, I overheard Oga telling Zubaidah her two children are not his liability. I think she wants him to treat them the way he's treating Umaimah"

"Safiyah I don't really like backbiting but this is an interesting topic" Mum paused and continued. "Seriously, I don't mind if Ramadan treats all the kids the same but what I hate is seeing mine bullied by hers. I can't have that gaskiya, that's why I don't allow Umaimah to roam about these days..."

"Good, one more thing is she really hates seeing her children scold by someone other than her. If they are doing something bad and I told them to stop she will tell me to mind my own business. I don't really know why..."

"Safiyah stop complaining, if you had heed my advice that day this wouldn't be happening. But you said you can't..."

"How could I, madam?"

"Toh ai ga irin ta..."

They kept talking, forgotten I was still there. Thus, I slowly moved back and walked away. The two children of Aunty Zubaibah were Amirah and Najib. The former was my age mate while the latter was three years younger. They were the ones that nearly stole my Kiddy Pad that day, they stole everything they liked. I wished I could tell Ramadan to send them away!

I was walking back to my mum's apartment when I found both Amirah and Najib tempering with the TV in the living room. "Stop that you brats!"

"Stop what?" Amirah glared at me.

"Stop what you are doing or I will tell my mum right now!" I threatened.

"Go and tell her" She hissed.

And that really angered me. I didn't even know when I swiftly walked to her and grabbed the remote control. "Don't spoil our TV!" I squealed.

"Uwaki!" Najib insulted me.

"Kai, da ni?" I nearly slapped him when Amirah pushed me to the couch and quickly grabbed the remote from me.

"Touch my brother and I will break your head with this remote" She said.

"Give me the remote" I ordered.

"The remote belongs to our second daddy, it's his house!" She protested.

"And I'm his daughter!" I squealed.

"Says who?" A voice interrupted us, it was that of Aunty Zubaidah. She was standing with her arms akimbo. 

"Mama!" Najib ran to her.

"Yes, my boy" she said.

"Maimah pushed Amirah!" He lied.

"I know" She gently dropped her hands wearing a mischievous smile on her scary face. "Umaimah, you should know that Amirah is not your mate, she senior you with two consecutive months. And as for Ramadan, he's not your..."

"Enough!" A very high pitched voice saturated the whole mansion. We all had to cover our ears. "Enough is enough, Zubaidah!" It was my mum.

"Wayyo, kunni na" Aunty Zubaidah complained while covering her ears.

"Come here you stubborn girl!" My mum said walking swiftly to me. "Didn't I warned you to stay in the room?"

My heart began pounding vigorously. I didn't even know when she grabbed me and dragged me to her room. She flung me down and locked the door in order not to be interrupted by nanny Safiyah. 

"Yau zan nuna miki ni na dauki cikin ki wata tara na haife ki" She angrily said as she went through the cupboard for any of Ramadan's belts. I begged her but to no avail. As soon as she found a belt, she held its head and gave me two strokes of its tail. It was a normal belt so the pain wasn't that ugly but it mistakenly touched me on the head and that made me to start feeling headache.

"Madam please forgive her, she's just a child..." I could hear nanny Safiyah begging my mum through the door.

While I cried holding my head, my mum dropped the belt and sat wearily on the bed. "I'm sorry, Umaimah" she said tears rolling down her cheeks...