“How am I okay, Dad? God knows this woman has made my life miserable! Can you imagine she wanted to BEAT me? If she had caught me she would have beaten me! I’m almost 21 yet I have no respect in this house. Can you imagine?” she said, frowning.
Daddy hugged her again, trying to reassure her.
“Shhhh… it’s okay. I promised you I’ll put a stop to this.”
With complete disrespect she said:
“When? You’ve been saying that for ages, yet nothing has changed! Honestly I still don’t believe that woman is my mother. A woman who doesn’t love me at all? Who hates seeing me happy? Every path she knows can spoil my joy, she follows it. Everything I do in this world is wrong to her. She controls everything I wear, eat, do — I’m tired! Imagine not having freedom in your own house? As the daughter of Alhaji Farouq Dan Faranshi, his ONLY daughter — and I don’t have freedom? Look at my friends who don’t even have a fraction of our wealth — they live freely, they enjoy life — but me? Me, the whole ZAINAB FAROUQ DAN FARANSHI?”
She burst into tears again.
Daddy hugged her tighter, deeply affected by her tears.
“It’s okay, darling. Please stop crying, don’t make yourself sick. I told you, I’ll fix this.”
“Till when, Dad? I told you to send me abroad to finish my studies, but you refused. You let her convince you to put me in that useless school full of touts! You agreed at first to send me to the UK but after she spoke to you privately, you changed your mind — suddenly it’s Umaru Musa Yar’adua University. Me? In UMYAU? Daddy please!”
She hissed loudly.
Daddy sighed deeply, not knowing what to say, then finally said:
“For now, it’s okay. I don’t want you upset, it worries me. And about studying abroad — it’s not because your mum refuses. I just can’t stay that long without seeing you. You know how much I love you — I don’t want even a mosquito to touch you. You’re my life, my light. The only one who brings me peace. Don’t upset me with your anger. I promise you — you will get the freedom you want, okay?”
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