Enitan

“Welcome back Madame.” A worker greeted me as soon as I walked into my husband’s compound.

His greeting was echoed by the three other servants fetching water at the well beside the gate. I nodded in response to their greeting before turning to face the servant who had greeted me first.

“David, what about the big Madame?” I asked, maintaining a stoic face even though I was filled with distaste whenever I called that name or heard it.

“She’s in the kitchen area.” The servant said, stretching out his hands to take my box of clothes from me.

I nodded in response and put my box in his outstretched hands. “Thank you. Please give that to Abebi so she can take it to my room. I’ll go see the Big Madame.”

After speaking, I walked to the kitchen area with a stoic expression, even though I was very exhausted from my trip and just wanted to sleep badly. However, I had a belligerent mother-in-law, and it was impossible to get any rest at this time without heavy criticism and possible punishment even if I just returned from a 13-hour turned 18-hour trip.

Before walking into the kitchen area, I pulled the part of my veil covering my face back so that while my veil still covered my hair, my face was visible. Then I took a deep breath and released it repeatedly. When I felt like I had summoned my most patient and subservient mood, I walked into the kitchen area.

When I walked into the main kitchen past the two servants pounding yam in the empty veranda in front of the main kitchen area, my mother-in-law was as usual seated in a corner of the kitchen in her trusty chair that was positioned directly opposite the stoves with boiling pots of soups.

Even though she heard the sounds of the servants pounding yam in front of the kitchen greeting me, she didn’t turn to face me when I walked into the kitchen.

“Hey, that girl with braided hair, quickly remove the Ewedu from the stove. Do you want it to become dry? Have you lost your mind? Put the water for the Amala on the stove and prepare to turn it.”

I ignored the other female servants cooking with all their focus because the terrorist of our home, my mother-in-law, was seated behind them and kneeled at my mother-in-law’s feet to greet her. “Madame, good evening. I’m back from my trip.”

Usually, a good mother-in-law would hastily help her daughter-in-law to her feet and greet her after her long trip but my mother-in-law had always been a shitty woman, so she ignored me for a while belting out instructions to the servants.

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In response, I just remained kneeling, staring woodenly at the arm of her comfortable rocking chair which she’d placed in the kitchen when I married her son so she could supervise me and prevent ‘a low safe zone girl like me’ from stealing from the household meals to feed my low safe zone family.

Instead of courteously returning my greeting when she finally had time for me, my mother-in-law’s response to my greeting was a frigid question. “Why are you late? You should have arrived home about more than five hours ago.”

“We encountered a Wraith intrusion in Kwara District and had to hide in bunkers for a while,” I responded.

“You hid in bunkers with soldiers?” She asked, and my grip on the hem of my veil tightened.

“Yes, Madame,” I answered, trying to hold on to a blank facial expression as much as I could because I knew what my mother-in-law would say next.

“Stand up.” She ordered, finally focusing her attention on me, now that there was a chance that she could find faults with me.

I did as she said and stared at her quietly.

“Turn around in a circle three times without stopping.” She ordered.

I did as she said, holding onto the wall for balance after coming to a stop from turning around.

“Walk forward and back.” She ordered.

I knew what she was looking for, so I just did as she ordered.

“Are you sure you didn’t open your legs for the soldiers in the bunkers?” She asked, sounding like the crude mannerless woman she was.

“No Madame,” I responded, still holding onto my wooden expression with all my strength as my grip on the hem of my veil tightened.

She tsked and shook her head. “I’ve heard about women who fool around with soldiers in bunkers and then pretend nothing happened afterward. My son cannot take the sloppy seconds of some D, E, and F-rank soldier’s woman. This won’t do. I don’t believe you. Who doesn’t know that you and your sister were quite close before she married that soldier husband of hers? You probably both had the same ambition to be sluts married to soldiers so you could lie under all their comrades. We’ll have to call the doctor over so he can test you to confirm that you haven’t been lying under any and every soldier who gave you a glance in that bunker like your slut of a sister. Our family doesn’t accept soldier-used trash like your sister, okay?”

My left hand clenched into a fist and my right hand was gripping the hem of my veil hard as I bowed my head and fastened my gaze to the floor.

“Do you understand me?” She asked in a raised voice, looking pleased with herself after using my painful past to hurt me and humiliate me.

I pursed my lips before forcing a smile onto my face and looking up to face her while chanting in my head that she was nothing more than an ant. “Of course, Madame.”

She seemed a little startled by my forced smile, but she just nodded. “Good. What you need to do now is go take a shower and get dressed in the traditional Yoruba attire I placed on your bed. We’re entertaining guests today and you’re going to be the main hostess serving the guests. At least we’ll be able to see some use out of your pretty face.”

“Yes, Madame,” I responded like a woolen doll.

I was about to turn around to leave the kitchen, but I wanted to know whom we were entertaining. “Who are we entertaining today, Madame?”

“Some top members of your husband’s team and some members of the B-rank team that he’s currently trying to negotiate cooperation with. You must make no mistakes today. If you do, you know exactly what I will do to you.”

“Yes, Madame. I will go dress up now.” I replied in the most robotic tone I could summon before leaving the kitchen.