Prologue

“Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will” - Wikipedia.

~**~

"No, papa! I can't marry him! How could you ever expect me to marry the person I don't even know? That too, when I'm still so young, papa?!" The girl stated incredulously to her father while her eyes brimmed with tears.

"This is final! You are marrying him," her father replied decisively, scrutinizing his gaze on her.

"But, papa, why do you want me to marry him? Is it because of his wealth or reputation, huh?!" she said vehemently. "Is this how your parents forced you as well? No, papa! Please...why me? Can't he find another equally beautiful, rich woman other than me? I don't have anything; I'm not special and I don't know how to do anything…I'll only disturb and trouble him. I will only frustrate him, papa," she pleaded with her father, trying to reason with her old man.

"You either marry him or I disown you as my child," her father said dismissively and went inside angrily.

Still weeping, she knelt to the floor. But suddenly, she started laughing maniacally, an idea brewing in her head.

"I will make him regret the day he set his eyes on me. I'm going to destroy him; I'm going to make him divorce me" She vowed.

~**~

“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye make takeaway part of the dower ye have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness, on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good”. (Q4:14)

From the Quran it's crystal clear that forced marriage is haram.

Abu hurairah (RA) said that prophet Said(SAW), “A matron should not be given in marriage until she is consulted, and a Virgin should not be given in marriage until her permission is sought and her silence is her permission”. (Sohih)

Copyright©2017 Adeyemi Mariam (Um_royhan)

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, distributed,or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electrical appliances OE mechanical method ,without the prior written permission of the publisher, author, except in case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales ,or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Start: Jan 1st 2017

End : Jan 19th 2019

~**~

Chapter 1

“I plan; you plan; we all plan, but Allah's plan is the best”.

Sofia's POV.

"Ya Allah! What should I even do? Should I accept this or run away?" I whispered to myself with my head down.

"Goodness! I'm just going through my high school and college is still left. Oh my, what am I going to do? But Nikkah is a Sunnah and completion of half deen, SubhanAllah! But I'm not even ready and if I say no then papa is going to disown me. Ya Allah, help me!” I mumbled, nibbling on my trembling lips in worry.

I stood up and went to perform ablution to pray to my lord of the whole universe because He is all seer and all hearer. I raised my both palms to the Qiblah and prayed to Allah loudly.

"If this man that my father wants me to marry is good for me in this life and hereafter, Ya Allah let me be able to love him. If not distance us how you distance west from east." I murmured, weeping my tears stain cheeks, "Oh Allah guide me" I sighed.

“I don't even know what he sees in me, though I'm not pretty, intelligent or good; what I know is that I'm just an ordinary girl. I don't know what he sees in this plain Sophy, I thought loudly, staring at my plain hands.

After I was through with my prayers, I went to the dining table for my breakfast. My dad, mum, my younger brother and I-all started eating in awkward silence, everything and everyone was tense before papa decided to break the silence which made me almost choked on my food.

"Oyin*, you will be getting married next week," papa said while handing mama a black credit card. A tear glistened in my eye but I restrained from shedding it. *(honey).

"Um…, papa can I meet Maryam after Zhur?" I timidly asked and waited patiently for his reply silently praying that he would allow me to.

"You are..." he paused a little, wiping his mouth, "free to go!" he replied slowly. I was already sweating, nervously playing with my food. I beamed with uncontrollable excitement when I heard his response.

Do you know why I was happy?.

Do you know how it feels to have a person who understands you before you can open your mouth to talk?.

She was like a sister to me more than any of my best friends. We were quite opposite. Well, opposites did attract. I was still wrapped in this excitement when I found myself knocking on her door.

She opened the door, staring down at me with chips in her mouth, "Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, sugar bunny," I greeted her in a sad voice, pushing her away from the door.

"Sugar sweetie, what happened to you? You saw a ghost or…?" She tried to lighten the mood but that was not what was worrying me. She waited for me to reply but I couldn’t.

"Have you been crying? What happened to your face? Who's the motherf**k that made you cry?" Well, as I said, opposites did attract. She was so possessive of me like an elder sister. I loved her and everything about her but she liked swearing a lot. Tapping her foot impatiently with her arms rested on her waist, she raised her perfect brows in question, "Sophia, I am asking something and for God’s sake answer me."

"You know,…um..," I broke down in tears for the tenth time today, "I am getting married next week Insha Allah," I blurted out through hiccups, rubbing my running nose.

"What?" she yelled and stood up from the couch on which she was sitting while rolling her long sleeves dramatically and continued, "How? Why? Who? When? Where? " She bombarded me with these questions.

"Where-I don't know. How-I's not sure. When -next week. Why?-Ask papa. To whom-I don't know him physically but I know his name is Umar Yusuf,” I replied and closed my eyes as the pain rose to my forehead because of too much stress.

"Oooh! Gurly, you f***ing mean Yusuf? That hottie, special made creature? Wow! You are so lucky! I wish I was the one. He is freaking handsome and rich. I envy you!" she reacted with dreamy eyes as I chuckled upon seeing her reaction.

"Maryam is that all you're going to say? I said expatiate, caressing my temple softly. “I am getting married next week with the person I don't know anything about!" I almost screamed at her to reason with me.

"I know, but why would papa do something like that? Well, there's nothing you can do. You will have to accept your fate. And if he dares to hurt you by any means, I will kill him and bury him under my house," she stated strongly and I felt overwhelmed by her love. "But let's talk about reality. How does he know you? Why you? With all the girls he has been with?" my foolish, crazy heck of a friend was just using her brain. But I love her anyway.

I cried out in frustration. "I don't know!, but darling, I will make him regret marrying me. He has shaken up my plan and future," I vowed venomously.

"Um, well, nobody knows tomorrow," she said in a singing voice. "You could be the one who would be head over heels in love with him," she teased, pinching my chubby cheeks adoringly.

"I don't think so," I said doubtfully because I'd never seen him and neither did I know his personality. Besides, he was older than me by five years and I was only eighteen. I did not know what Allah had planned for me but I know His plans were always the best for me.

"Well best of luck honey, with your sexy hottie," she said winking at me and then hugged me.

I shook my head, sighed and whispered, "What a foolish girl she is!".

~**~

Chapter 2

Yusuf's POV.

"Alas! I'm free!" The meeting was so boring. Still standing in his chair he called Rim his driver to pick him up and within thirty minutes he had arrived.

"Good afternoon, sir," he greeted and as usual Yusuf nodded his head to acknowledge his greeting. He didn't give a damn about anyone except his family. His family is his priority.

"Go," Yusuf commanded Rim. Entering the back seat and rolling up the window. Yusuf was busy typing on his phone and when he raised his head to look outside the window, he saw an angel!-a very beautiful angel playing and laughing hysterically under the pouring rain. His blood was pumping vigorously; his cold heart beating widely and his mouth wide apart. His mind was screaming, 'she is mine! I will take her, love her, cherish her, protect her...'

"Stop the car now!" he growled out, not wanting his angel to disappear. Rim parked at the roadside. Yusuf watched his angel, how she was laughing in the rain. Within no time, he had started laughing together with her.

"Excuse me, sir, I hope there's no problem?" Rim commented looking at Yusuf through the rear mirror. He didn't bother answering him, because he was busy watching his beautiful angel.

~** ~

Reaching the office, Yusuf called Royhan, his best friend.

"What's up guy, how are you doing?" He said through the phone.

"I'm fine but I need some help from you. Can you help me with Ali Sofia's detail, please?" he had asked the ice-cream shop earlier about her name.

"Wow! You just begged? I can't believe it! Am I dreaming?" He said, sounding genuinely surprised before continuing. "I hope there is no problem?"

"No, there isn't. Thanks, bro."

'I can't believe I begged him,' Yusuf muttered to himself as he dropped the phone on the desk before adding, "But if it's because of my angel, I will do anything". A few minutes later, a message popped on his phone-a message from Royhan.

Name: Sofia Ali

Family: Parent alive and one brother

School: High School Graduate

Friend: Maryam

Age: 18

Relationship: single

After reading her profile, Yusuf decided to call his father well knowing he would help him out.

"Salam dad,'' he greeted.

"Uhm, I want to tell you something..." he trailed off,tugging his tie.

"Yes, tell..." the dad encouraged.

"Uhm... You remember that day when you and mum were hard on me to get married?" Yusuf asked rather nervously.

"Yes...so?".

Urg! Why is it so difficult?

"Actually I found someone." He said and closed his eyes in nervousness. Yusuf explained.

"Really? Wow! Who is that unlucky girl?" Dad asked playfully.

"Dad, I am serious." Yusuf exclaimed.

"Sorry. Ok tell."

"Her name is Sofia Ali," Yusuf revealed. and told him about her family and everything and he was pleased.

"Ok, I will try contacting her family," his dad promised.

"Thanks dad."

"It's a pleasure son." He could hear the smile in his voice.

Yusuf's dad was about to disconnect when Yusuf interrupted.

"Dad, wait! I have another request," he cut in before hastily adding, "I want this wedding to happen before next week''. He couldn't wait to have his angel with him.

"Why? Is everything alright?" he asked curiously.

"Yes dad.' Yusuf assured.

"Oh, so my son is getting desperate to have her with him so soon?' the dad teased.

"Dad!'' he said in a groan accompanied with a short laugh.

The door to his office was knocked and he commanded the person to enter. His secretary - labibah entered. A middle aged woman who was dressed in a white Shirt and a black pencil skirt. Her heels clicked the ground as she walked in elegantly. She was like a mother figure to Yusuf at work. She had Yusuf respect, she had been working with Yusuf's father before he retired.

"Sir, you've an appointment at 1:05 pm" She read out of the booklet while he grunted in reply.

"Is that all?" he asked tiredly, all he wanted now was his princess.

She was one in millions.

"Yes sir" the middle aged woman chirped.

"OK" he said dismissively as she wanted to open the door, he stopped her "wait".

"Sir?"

"Please cancel all meetings today" he spoke and stood up before walking out.

He needed to clear his head and the only way to do that, was to have a long drive. Then he thought of visiting his friend - Royhan who was a computer guru.

He arrived at his friend's office, the receptionist greeted him while opening up her cleavage and fluttering her artificial eyelashes. He rolled his eyes and walked to the elevator.

Why can females understand that no man knows what a cheap product is? He thought.

The elevator dung and he went out of it only to meet with his friend who was putting on his Harry Potter's glasses.

"Bro" they side hugged each other before Royhan turned to just the office.

They entered, Royhan called his PA to bring them refreshments.

"Sophia Ali, Uhn?" Royhan asked inquisitively because the Yusuf he knew does not date or have flings. Even though he was an arrogant guy when first known.

"Yeah" he caressed his smooth beard.

"She is beautiful and quite knowledgeable. She is a good catch" Royhan complimented while Yusuf scowled at him.

"Don't you dare go there" he glared, "she is mine".

"ooooh, what did I miss?"

"Nothing" Yusuf bit out.

"Okay bro, what is the deal because I know you don't date?" he spoke with seriousness while he shrugged his shoulders.

"I saw her this morning after my meeting with the Russian company. She is beautiful, she looks carefree with this money. She has a sense of purity and innocence around her" he wetted his lip, "I want her" he announced.

"You know she's a property to want".

" I know that's why I want to marry her," he responded.

"What?" Royhan's mouth was opened because he was surprised and shocked.

"Marry her".

~** ~