CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.
The same calm atmosphere was maintained between Adele and Jamal for the rest of the week. Adele did not want to see Jamal most of the time and Jamal made sure to make himself less available in her presence. Grandma tried her best to talk to them, but Adele had already made up her mind.
Her friend Linda, successfully found the house and paid the rent. Adele had also found a way to furnish the house, all without Jamal’s knowledge. Everything was set and now, all she had to do was think of a way to escape his claws. She knew Jamal had always wanted to keep their marriage a secret from the world, so she intended to use that fact to blackmail him once she escaped and he tried to forcefully bring her back home. She knew she cared about his reputation more than anything else in the world and was not going to sacrifice it for anything, not even her.
Ever since she got back home from the hospital, Jamal had assigned more guards for her protection. There were guards guarding the house all day long and even when she went out, she was accompanied by a group of men dressed in black.
At the hospital, only the doctor and a few nurses knew she was related to Jamal and Jamal had made sure neither of them spread word of his marriage.
That morning, she had an appointment with her doctor and she planned to escape after that. As she packed her handbag, she put in a different set of clothes, specifically a pair of ragged jeans and a big t-shirt accompanied by a shawl and a pair of dark sunglasses. Her plan was to change into that attire once she gets out of the doctor’s office and escape from her guards.
As she zipped her bag, the closet door opened and Jamal walked out of it all dressed up for work.
“Are you done?” He asked, walking towards her and she nodded her head. He looked at his wife from head to toe and the butterflies in his stomach rose. She looked stunning even in her sick state. He wanted to hug and kiss her, to hold her in his arms and inhale her pleasant cologne, but he knew she was going to throw a tantrum if he dared to do that, so he respected her boundaries.
“Yes, I’m done.” Adele replied calmly.
“I would have loved to go with you, but I have a board meeting to chair in thirty minutes. You will have to go with your guards.”
“No problem. I can manage on my own.” She said, shrugging her shoulders. That was the first time in her life she didn’t mind the fact that he could not accompany her to the hospital and it was because she was planning to escape after that appointment.
“My meeting is going to last for two hours and after that, I want us to eat something together. I have made reservations for us at Monteplaza. Your guards will take you there after your check up and I will join you shortly. Does that work?” He further explained and asked and Adel just nodded her head.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Call me if anything comes up.” He emphasised and on a normal day, she would have reminded him of all the times he had forwarded her calls to voicemail right after making that statement, but at that moment, she didn’t care, after all, she was leaving.
“I will.” She said as she turned to the bed and carried her handbag to leave.
“Adele.” Jamal called and Adele turned to face him.
“Yes Jamal.”
“Can I get a hug from you? Please?” He pleaded almost in a whisper with his eyes getting teary.
He missed Adele. He missed everything about her.
He missed her hugs, he missed her kisses. He missed making love to her, he missed cuddling her in his arms all night.
He missed all the times they would crack jokes and laugh together. He missed the times they would have little arguments which ended up in them making love all night.
He missed her so much that his heart hurt and he couldn’t take it any more. All he needed from her at that moment was a hug, otherwise his day was going to be a shitty one.
“Sure.” Adele agreed with a careless shrug and he immediately walked over and drew her in his big arms, giving her a bone crushing hug.
His heart skipped when Adele hugged him back and a fat tear rolled down his left cheek.
Adele let him hug her for the last time before she escaped his claws.
When he broke the hug, he planted a soft kiss on her forehead and thanked her before they both left their bedroom.
When they got downstairs, their parents and Shannelle were shocked to see them walking together.
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“Mrs. King, your tests show that you are healing properly and that is a good sign. In a few weeks, you will be physically strong as you used to be. However, you will need therapy in order to recover from the trauma of losing your pregnancy.” The doctor explained.
“Thank you doctor, but I don’t think I need therapy. I’m doing just fine psychologically.”
“If that’s the case then, I won’t insist.”
“Please don’t.” She pleaded. The only therapy she needed to heal psychologically was a divorce from Jamal, but he had already made it clear to her that he was never given her one, so the only thing she could do was leave his home and go live on her own. She needed to be far away from that man else she was going to get suicidal.
“There’s something you need to know.” The doctor announced after a long moment of silence.
“What’s that, doctor?”
“Your husband is the only one who knows about it.”
“Is it about me? Does it concern me?” Adele asked curiously and he nodded his head.
“Yes Mrs King, it is very much about you.”
“Doctor what’s that?” She questioned as hot air escaped her nostrils. Her heart was throbbing hard in her chest and she was so nervous that she felt like she was going to faint.
“Your husband made me promise him not to tell you, but I feel like you need to know about something as vital as this. Mrs. King, your miscarriage almost cost you your life and it did great damage to your uterus. Your uterus is highly injured and as a result, it will be almost impossible for you to conceive in the future.” The doctor announced in his calmest voice the news hit Adele like an asteroid.
Her breath hitched in a windpipe and sweat rolled down her temple. She opened her mouth to scream, but she did not find her voice. She closed her mouth and swallowed dryly, looking at the doctor and wishing he could smile and tell her what he just said was a joke.
“It’s not impossible, but you’ll need close medical follow up before you can conceive and successfully keep the pregnancy.”
“Doctor please stop.” Adele pleaded in tears as she rose to her feet. The doctor did the same with a worried look on his face.
“Are you alright? Should I prepare a room for you to rest?”
“No… no need for that. I’ll just go home.” Said Adele as she walked out of the office almost staggering. When she got outside, she was even more irritated to see one of the guards standing by the door.
“Are you alright ma’am?” The concerned guard asked when he noticed her state and she quickly nodded her head.
What the doctor said had only fueled her determination to leave that man called Jamal and that was the time she needed to escape.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I… I… I just need to use the restroom.” She said walking away from the guard to find a toilet where she could change. The guard, who obviously could not follow his boss’ wife to the toilet, stood there by the corridor to wait for her.
Adele took a different turn with the intention of finding a toilet far away from the guard.
When she found the toilet, she got in and quickly began to change her clothes. As she did that, tears fell down her cheeks and she fought with her tears as she struggled to wear her clothes.
This was not a marriage she wanted either, but out of respect for the woman who had adopted her and given her a better life, she chose to get into it in order to please her, but her grandson did nothing but treat her poorly. He even made her lose her pregnancy and now she just found out that she was never going to be able to have children again.
He had rendered her barren.
She hated Jamal and she wanted him to pay for everything he had done to her by sending him to jail, but she knew it was impossible to make that happen because of how powerful and influential he was in the country. The entire police force and court of laws would take his side.
The only thing she could do to relieve herself was to get away from him. And if he tried to forcefully bring her back home, she was going to threaten him by mentioning the fact that she would tell the public about their marriage.
When she was done dressing, she brought out her phone from her bag and took the sim card from it. She destroyed the sim card and the phone to prevent Jamal from tracing her.
She then took out a brown envelope which contained all her important documents and phone numbers of the people she was going to keep contacting.
She packed the rest of the things in her hand bag and kept by the sink. When she walked out of the toilet, she took a hallway different from that which the doctor’s office was located to escape the guard who was waiting for her.
She walked all the way to the lobby, trying her best to not look suspicious. Her head was completely covered with a shawl and she had on a pair of sunglasses. Her disguise was perfect and even when she walked out of the hospital, the other guards standing by the car which had come in did not recognize her.
The moment she crossed the road, she was gone, never to return.