CHAPTER NINE.
Jamal and Adele went to bed without settling the dispute. Adele made sure to spend a lot of time in the closet and when Jamal got tired of waiting for her to come out, he went to bed.
He did not apologise.
When she woke up the next morning, he was long gone and she was even more frustrated than when she went to bed. He had wronged her and she knew she had all right to be mad at him, but she felt like she was being dramatic.
“Maybe I should just let it go.” She thought as she stepped down from the bed and walked into the bathroom so she could prepare for work.
When she was done preparing, she went downstairs to leave for work but to her greatest dismay, she met both her mother and sister-in-law in the living room.
She wondered if they had nothing doing, especially, Shannelle. She was always at home doing nothing and waited for the the slightest opportunity to pick fight with her.
“Petty!” She whispered to herself as she descended the staircase. “Good morning to you” She greeted once she got into the living room both none of them responded to her greeting.
Aliya showed her disgust in her by rolling her eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Adele who did not mind the fact that they had just ignored and disrespected her, walked into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.
While she was at it, she hummed a song to distract herself from thinking about the fight she had with Jamal last night.
“You are really good at this, aren’t?” Someone asked from the door and she immediately recognised the voice to be Shannelle’s. She turned to face her beautiful sister-in-law who was looking at her with a scorn on her face.
“At making coffee, yes” Adele agreed and Shannelle scowled as she swaddled into the kitchen.
“I’m not talking about coffee, silly.”
“Oh, really. Do well to enlighten me about what it is you are talking about” Adele replied sarcastically.
“You think I don’t know what your plan is? You have succeeded in getting my brother to marry you so that one day you will become the lady of the household, but let me tell you something, that is never going to happen!” She accused and Adele smiled in return.
It was has ever been her wish to have an altercation with Shannelle, but she seemed to be overstepping her limits, so she wanted to put her(Shannelle) in her place.
“Well, I’ve never really thought about that, but it sounds really cool. Just imagine all the things I would do to you if I were in charge. The first thing I would do is make sure my husband slashes your allowance by half and see if you will be able to live so lavishly again, after all, he works all the money.”
“You little brat!”
“What is it that you do again?” Adele asked as she sipped coffee from the cup in her hand.
“I am an international model!” Shannelle bragged and Adele scoffed as she emptied her cup of coffee and placed the empty cup on the kitchen island. She picked up her bag and took a few steps closer to Shannelle who was looking at her as if she had suddenly turned into a ghost.
“Let me tell you something about models. The society nowadays thinks models are the symbols of beauty. Almost every girl who doesn’t like studying, dreams of becoming a model. They make us think models are such exceptional humans, but the truth is, you models are empty creatures. The camera lens fills you with colour and texture and once in a while, even mystery. But just like there is no mystery in a vacant place, it is just there until you put something interesting on top of it… what I mean is, you all are just empty vessels that need to be filled with tones and tones of make-up, designer clothes, shoes, bags and all what not. Without those things, you are nothing and that is sad. Very very sad!
She dished out and pushed Shannelle aside before gracefully walking out of the kitchen with a satisfied smirk plastered on her face.
The mortified look on Shannelle’s face was something she was going to laugh about all day at work.
“Mother!” Shannelle screamed after recovering from her short moment of shock.
She rushed out of the kitchen to meet her mother with tears streaming down her cheeks.
She was very proud of her modelling career and she had never had anyone talk so rudely to her her entire life.
Adele just crushed her with her words and she not willing to let her go Scott free.
“What did she do to you?” Aliya asked in anger when she saw the tears streaming down her daughter’s eyes. “Did she hit you?” She asked panicking but Shannelle shook her head.
“What she did was more than hitting me mother. She told me I’m an empty creature. She called me all sorts of names I cannot even remember. Mother she insulted me!” Shannelle cried as she crashed into her mother’s arms. Aliya calmly stroke her daughter’s hair as she began to wonder what Adele could have possibly told Shannlle to make her cry that much.
“Mother, she cannot keep staying here, you have to do something to get that girl out of this house. She is a thorn in my flesh and I cannot stand her presence anymore! I hate her!”
“We all do my dear. We all hate her and with everyday that passes, her presence irritates me even more. I have to find a way to send her way from this house indeed. Even if I have to jeopardise her marriage with my son, I will do so just that to get her out of our lives. That I swear”
She swore with all her heart as she stared blankly at the family photo that hung on the wall.
She clearly remembered the day that photo was taken. That was about ten years ago. Grandma had insisted Adele joined in the photo because she was family, but she had told her that would only happen over her dead body.
In the end, she won and Adele did not join them in the photo. Out of Anger, grandma decided not to take the photo as well, but she cared less.
She decided that she would send Adele out of that house just like she sent her out of the family photo.