Chapter 7

• CHAPTER SEVEN
• Jamal did not come back home for the rest of the week and he did not call again.
• For the first three days, Adel stayed up late, hoping that he would return, but he did not. She later gave up waiting for him and decided to stop over thinking about him or the fact that they were married.
• There were times when she stared at her phone and contemplated where to call him, but she decided against her better judgement not to do so. She didn't even have the audacity to ring his phone.
• Grandma, whose presence made her feel better was not around. She had to travel to England for an urgent matter.
• Adele did her best to avoid Aliya and Shannelle because she new they would only makes matters worse for her with her words.
• That was a house she was supposed to be able to call home, but she could not.
• When she was adopted, she was brought to that house and lived in it for five years before relocating to England. Even now that she was married, she was living in that house, but surprisingly, it did not feel like home to her.
• None of the people she lived with at that moment treated her like family.
• "Mrs. King!" The driver's voice came through, shaking Adele out of her thoughts and that's when she realised that they had arrived home and the driver had opened the car door for her.
• She had no idea when he stopped the car and walked out.
• "Thank you Louis"
• She thanked the driver and stepped out of the car.
• She hid her left hand in her sweater and clutched her crossed bag close to her with the right as she rushed into the house to get away from the freezing winter cold. When she stepped into the warm house, she relaxed her body and headed straight to the staircase.
• She wanted to rush into Jamal's bedroom and lock herself up so she won't have any encounter with Shannelle or her mother.
• She ascended the staircase leading to the third floor and hastily took the East wing where Jamal's room was located. When she got to the door, she hastily opened the door, stepped in and closed it hard behind her. With her eyes closed, she leaned against the door and heaved out a heavy sigh of relief.
• She had managed to get into the room without meeting any of the two witches. That was indeed a blessing.
• "Is someone chasing my wife?" A familiar voice asked from the bed and she instantly opened her eyes.
• She almost had a panic attack when she saw Jamal sitting on the bed with his laptop before him. She froze in her tracks and looked at him for a long time.
• She blinked her eyelids and blinked again before looking and behold, he was still sitting on the bed with a serious countenance.
• "Jamal?" She asked, just to be sure.
• "Yes, it is Jamal in the flesh and blood. Is everything alright?" He asked concerned.
• "Ah… yeah… yeah… everything is alright"
• "But you seemed to be running away from something" He pointed out.
• "Ahh, that" She chuckled and threw her hands in the air. "I'm actually running away from two people. Your sister and mother. They don't seem to like me very much, so I'm doing them the pleasure of avoiding them so they won't see me often and lose their tempers."
• "Are they giving you a hard time?" He asked quietly and Adele looked at him.
• "What do you think?" She asked back and he looked at her pensively, before turning to his laptop.
• "Are we going to talk about my mother and sister's shenanigans after one week of not seeing each other?" He questioned calmly as he typed away on his laptop.
• "You insisted!" Adele replied as he stared daggers at him.
• "Don't you miss me?" He asked, still not sparing her a glance.
• "I don't have an answer to that question" She answered and that caught Jamal's attention. He stopped typing and stared blankly at the screen of his laptop before looking up at Adele.
• "Really?"
• "Honestly " she replied with a shrug and he gently nodded his head.
• "Your husband just came back from a tedious business trip that lasted one week, do you mind making him some good food? He was told his wife is a good cook" He asked with a sweet smile and Adele forgot about the anger she was feeling in her heart and reciprocated the smile.
• "You did not have to say it like that. Come on!" She said within fits of laughter. "What would you like to eat?"
• "Surprise me" Jamal responded vaguely and she quietly nodded her head as she disappeared into the closet.
• She was indeed going to surprise him.
• *********************************************
• "Jamal, why aren't you eating?" Jamal's father asked when he noticed that Jamal was not eating like everyone else.
• "I am waiting for the food my wife is cooking" He replied cooly and both his sister and mother looked at him like he had lost his mind.
• "Adele, cooking?" Shannelle asked in a mockery tone and her brother looked up at her.
• "Do you have a problem with that?" He asked coldly and Shannelle chuckled.
• "Of course I do, what makes you think she can even cook?"
• "I can bet my life she can't even boil water!" Aliya added.
• "Are you sure you are ready to lose your life? Because you would if you do" Jamal asked looking straight into his mother's eyes and she was taken aback by his response.
• "What is that supposed to mean?"
• "It means Adele is an excellent cook, so you both should mind your businesses and eat the food in-front of you" He cautioned in annoyance.
• Just then, Adele walked into the dinning, holding a dish with some servants following her closely with more dishes in their hands.
• They all placed the little dishes of food before him and he rubbed his hands together as he papered to savour what his wife had cooked for him.
• "Thank you very much. You are dismissed" Adele dismissed the maids and sat down beside Jamal who was looking at her expectantly.
• "So, what did you make?" He asked with a bright smile.
• "Skillet lemon chicken with spinach."
• "Sounds delicious "
• "Sounds like poison!" Shannelle mocked, but both Adele and Jamal decided to ignore her.
• Adele diligently served the meal and Jamal's mouth watered. He could not wait to taste the food.
• When Adele was done serving the food, she took her seat and began to serve her own food as she was famished herself.
• "This is magic!" Jamal commented as he carefully ate the food with so much appetite that caused his father to salivate.
• "Is it really that good?" Mr. Dominick asked, looking at Jamal's plate and he nodded his head.
• "You can have a scoop if you wish" he offered and immediately, his father took a spoon full of the meal and when he ate it, he pushed aside the food he was eating and he looked up at Adele.
• "Do you mind?" He asked and Adele immediately understood what he meant.
• "Of course not!" She rose up from her seat and served him some of the food before taking her seat once more.
• Both Aliya and Shannelle watched in horror as the two men emptied the entire bowl of food Adele had brought to the table.
• It was then they realised they were not just against an ordinary girl.
• They were against a girl who would one day become their superior in that household.
• "Come to my office after dinner, I need to speak with you." Jamal suddenly whispered to Adele and for absolutely no reason, her heart began to beat abnormally.