Jabali's Redemption - Episode 25

 

Neema pushed the master bedroom open and peered in biting her lips nervously. She hoped Jabali wont chose that moment to venture upstairs. She had stalled at the dinner table in hope that he would finish up quickly and leave. He did just that and retired to the study room where he had been for the last hour. Neema had taken her time before going up the stairs where he had earlier shown her the master bedroom was . He had directed the servants to take her suitcase inside the room and stamped down her arguments about occupying a different. She wanted another room inside the ten-bedroom mansion but Jabali stubbornly insisted that won’t happen.

‘Surely you are not being serious,’ he had crossed his arms on his wide chest staring her down. His ardent gaze causing butterflies to jump up and down inside her stomach. That was the reason, she wasn’t going to share a room with him, her body behaved different with his nearness.

‘What is wrong with wanting a little bit of privacy?’ she stared straight back at him, hoping he won’t notice her lying through her teeth.

‘Privacy?’ he scoffed, ‘that is a lie if I have ever heard one,’

‘I also don’t want to invade your personal space, so give me my own room,’ she instead

‘That wont work, we are married. We sleep in the same room,’ after that he refused to listen to anymore argument.

After the introductions to the house staff, he gave her a tour inside the house

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. It wasn’t the first time he was doing that. Years ago, she had walked on the same wide corridors that had since been changed. The wooden floors were turned to marble. The heavy drape curtains shielded the house from the cool mountain air. The two-story mansion with a basement was equipped with modern day facilities including a state of art open granite kitchen. On the ground floor was the memorable study room, a huge sitting room, dining room and the kitchen. A bathroom was also present. On the second floor, the bedrooms all en suite were present. A fully equipped gym was on the basement. The servants’ quarters were outside behind the house.

‘It is beautiful,’ Neema marveled as she gazed out from the visitors’ room on the second floor. The gardens were carefully manicured and from afar Neema could see the town, down at the valley. The Tea estates were green and provided a breath-taking view.

Neema would have enjoyed the view later. She turned back to the issue at hand. She had to somehow survive her first now with Jabali.

She closed the door behind and turned to the large bedroom. A heavy bed canopy bed was at the center of the room with white fluffy pillows. Someone had even gone to the extent of spreading rose petals on the bed, the scent wafting inside the room. Neema ignored the bed and turned to the sofa beside it. Perfect.

Jabali could go ahead and have the whole bed for himself. She would be perfectly comfortable on the wide sofa beside it.

Quickly closing the door. She hurried inside the walk-in closet where her suitcase had been kept. Neema had never seen so much clothes in her life, Jabali had all the clothes anyone would think of. Surprisingly they all had price tags. They must all have come from the shops. Her small suitcase appeared lonely at the corner. She pulled it out and took out her nighty. Pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, she went to the bathroom.

The bathroom proved to be a puzzle she couldn’t solve. Appliances she couldn’t use and instructions she couldn’t understand. She wrongly pressed a button and ended up getting drenched in ice sold water within seconds, water seemed to come up from everywhere. She released a loud scream as the cold pellet like waterdrops hit her naked skin. In her attempt to turn the tap off she only made it worse, this time, the water hit her squarely in the face, practically blinding her. She screamed again trying to cover her eyes and move away from the direct hit, she slipped on the floor and fell down. Painfully twisting her ankle.

‘Neema!’ Jabali’s frantic calls could be heard and Neema panicked. She couldn’t let him see her naked. She had locked the door but he was practically braking it down calling out her name, his panic rising by the minute.

‘Am fine,’ Neema huffed as she tried to sit up from her position but her ankle was badly twisted.

The door finally gave way and Jabali came in just in time for her to reach for a towel and throw it on top of her body,

‘Neema, what happened?’ Jabali still in his clothes bend down towards her, simultaneously turning the spraying water off. ‘Are you hurt?’ his voice was soft and his eyes swept all over her trying to find any visible injury. His perusal was like a personal touch, he didn’t touch her but Neema could feel it. His finger lightly pressed on her injured foot, she whimpered.

‘The water,’ Neema spluttered, she could now talk better since she was not drowning. The bathroom floor acted as a sponge and the flood was almost disappearing inside the floor. She avoided Jabali’s concerned gaze and focused on keeping the towel covering her essential parts. On top of being practically naked under the obscenely short towel, she couldn’t stand up. Neema cursed her foolishness, why didn’t she ask for help? None of these would have happened. Now she couldn’t even stand up. Urghh, she internally groaned.

‘Let’s get you out, and look at that ankle?’ Jabali voice was laced with amusement when he reached to carry her up, adding to her embarrassment.

‘No,’ Neema pushed his hands away. What was he doing? She was naked. ‘Get someone else to help me,’

‘Everyone has left for the day. Its just the two of us in the house,’ she could see he was trying to hold back from rolling his eyes, ‘besides, its not as is I have not seen you naked before,’

Neema was visibly surprised and he took the chance to swoop her up, not heaving or panting with her weight. She whimpered but the towel bless fully stayed on. One of his arm went under her thighs and the other supported her back. He was warm and Neema reluctantly held back from burrowing her head on his chest. She remembered the last time he carried her like this along time ago, where she didn’t have much reservations like she did now.

‘You might have hurt yourself really bad,’ he set her down on the edge of the bed, Neema quickly gathered the bedspread around her, the rose petals sprayed all over her. He raised his eyebrow looking at her bundling the bedspread close to her body but didn’t say anything.

He crouched to be inspect the injured ankle well, ‘You should have called for me to help,’ when his held her leg up, she tried to snatch it back, his large hand had wrapped around her ankle ‘stop moving you will only hurt yourself,’ he didn’t let her go and sent her a stern look, his warm hand reduced some of the pain on the ankle. She quieted down and resisted from fidgeting on the bed.

‘I will put ice on it, it will be fine,’ Neema tried to tell him but Jabali responded by applying pressure and she bit her lower lip in pain, her eyes shutting.

‘You were saying?’ he asked pointedly and stood up. ‘wait here, I will bring the first aid kit,’ he walked to the closet and Neema took that chance to secure the bedspread on her body. Her ankle would not allow her to walk or dress up.

‘Found it,’ Jabali came out and to her utter horror, he had removed his wet shirt. His well-muscled chest out for her to ogle. Like a thirsty woman, her eyes drank him in, broad shoulders, smooth skin and wash board abs. Neema nearly swallowed her tongue, he looked so good.

‘Now if you just sit tight, I will have this wrapped in a minute before we ice it,’ he went back to his previous position and Neema got the clear view of his broad back as it flexed with each of his movement.

Something shifted in Neema’s heart. Seeing him caring and concerned for her, she became fearful. Jabali was supposed to be cruel to her and not gentle with her. She was not supposed to feel safe with him, she was not supposed to yearn for him.

‘Hey, don’t be sad. You will be fine,’ Jabali touched her cheek and smiled at her, she wished he didn’t remove his hand, ‘I will now get the ice. Don’t go anywhere,’ he joked and walking out.

He left Neema wondering if she made the right decision agreeing to get married to him.

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‘So…you broke your leg last night? The time you were supposed to be consummating your marriage?’ Lulu cast a speculative glance at Neema. She didn’t believe a word from her friend’s mouth.

‘Urghh,’ Neema groaned, ‘what is it with you and consummating this sham of marriage?’ Neema wondered why Lulu was pursuing the topic.

Last night after Jabali had iced the swollen ankle. He wrapped her in his arms and slept. Neema could hardly resist him because her ankle was holding her down. She clutched tightly to the bedspread as he slept beside her, until she heard his breathing easing out, she didn’t sleep a wink. The next morning, she woke up to find herself alone in bed. He had already left for the office. a note was on his pillow. He promised to check on her later in the day.

‘Why are you smiling? Did something happen yesterday night?’ Lulu practically jumped out of her chair in glee, ‘come on Neema, you used to tell me everything,’ she pouted, ‘remember how you told me how it was between you and Jabali? How your first time was when you…’ Lulu voice had dropped conspiratorially.

‘Lulu!’ Neema exclaimed cutting her friend short, ‘why would you bring that up?’

‘Because you are holding back,’ Lulu shouted back and Neema feared the housekeeper would come and check on her like she had done several times and it wasn’t even noon. Because of her swollen ankle she couldn’t go downstairs. Locked inside her bedroom on the bed and her leg raised up. Lulu had laughed her head off when Neema told her how she ended up in that position.

‘What happened between me and Jabali will not happen again. The situation is different now,’

‘How different? Is it because you don’t love him anymore?’ Lulu asked

Before Neema could answer the door and opened and the housekeeper came with Ngao close to her heels,

‘Neema?! What are you doing here?’ Ngao asked coming close to the bed.

Read " The Dancing Bride And Her Spirit Warrior " by the same author ( Razia Iminza )

. He was still in his school uniform.

‘Ngao? You should be in school,’ Neema sat up more straight cursing her leg more and more, this was not the time to act up, ‘Its’s okay Laura, Ngao is my brother. You can go back to your duties,’ she dismissed the frantic housekeeper who nodded and left.

‘What happened to your leg?’ Ngao came closer to inspect the bandaged ankle, ‘did Jabali do this to you?’

‘Hey hey Ngao, your sister asked you a question,’ Lulu tapped Ngao on the back to get his attention.

‘My expulsion was recalled and I was asked to go back to my old school.’ he answered Lulu absently before turning back to Jabali, ‘mama told me you are married to Neema, what happened to your leg?’ he fired question after question.

‘I fell,’ Neema answered more interested to hear about what he had to say, ‘what is it about your school? Your expulsion was recalled? How?’

‘How did you fall? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?’ Ngao asked back in a surprisingly gentle tone. Neema had expected him to be furious and mad. Not concerned for her.

‘Ngao focus on your school,’

‘Um…Jabali came and requested the principal to listen to my case the second time. I came back to attend the meeting.’ He explained.

‘Jabali did that?’ Lulu smiled at Neema who was surprised as Lulu,

‘Is it true you are married to him?’ Ngao asked.

‘Yes, he is your brother in law now. So, you better show him some respect.’ Neema answered him in one beat. She didn’t want Ngao antagonizing Jabali. he was the reason she had married him.

‘My brother in law? When did this happen?’ Ngao was surprised and he took the seat beside Lulu.

‘It doesn’t matter, did you see Jabali? did he come to school?’

‘A lawyer.’

Neema looked at Lulu who was smiling at her but all she could feel was apprehension. What was Jabali doing? What angle did he have this time? Why did he make it seem like he was after her family and end up doing the purpose? Those question surrounded her head but deep down her wondered if she would come out unscathed this time. Years ago when she accepted Jabali into her heart it had ended badly for her. Would she survive a heartbreak the second time?

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