Noorur-rahman

Surprise‼️

"Don't  leave the door open!"

"I wasn't the one that opened it!"

"Then you should still close it!"

"Mama, who took my slippers!"

"How will I know?"

"Mama, tell Khalifa to stop walking like that, he's making me dizzy!"

All these voices? And what the hell is wrong with my bed? I inwardly groaned, my eyes still closed.

Damn it!

Abbah's first ex-wife! My brain registered. It's as if I woke up at the Danja's, because it's never that noisy at home. At least I didn't forgot where I slept.

Squeezing the eyes shut, then opening them wide and shutting them tight in an effort to stay asleep, all was in vein. The window's curtain was too light to cover the light of dawn that seeped directly to the location of the bed. (Who be could the dumb architect that built that window there?) And bringing with it, a flurry of early-morning activity.

"Yaya Noor!" Again, another an uninvited voice landed in my ears. I rubbed my bleary eyes and sat on the bed. And there stood the chatty girl that kept me company last night. Can anyone tell her It's too early to intrude into a guest bedroom like that.

"Naana, don't wake her up, just let her sleep, it might be too early for her!" Their mother's raw voice came from somewhere in the house.

Too late! I don't know that people shout to refrained others from waking one from sleep, especially since I am a very light sleeper. But they don't know.

I wanted to hiss at both their intrusion, but I couldn't avoid the girl's grim on me, it's that of joy and excitement. Yeah that's if I can read emotion very well.

"Good morning!" She beams.

"Is your name Naana?" I asked.

She nodded with a smile, "yes, Naana Bilkisu!"

"Okay!" I replied a bit distraught. I really need to sleep right now. The last night I didn't had a wink until an hour ago. And now I woke up to unfamiliar voices filling my head. Though, my chest wasn't as tight as yesterday, the video call I had with abbah has helped eased a lot in my mind, I'm not as confused anymore.

However, I know it will take more time for me to completely get a grasp of the entire situation, and get to settle my bewildering heart. 

"Did you sleep well?" Oh, this girl is making me hungry! She is still smiling from ear to ear. Goodness, it's too early in the morning,  although it's the right time to display how good your toothpaste is. And that's what she's exactly doing.

"Are you alright?" She asked again when I didn't bother to answer her question.

"I am. Could you get me hot water, I need to bath." I instructed getting up from the awful mattress, it might be the reason for my insomnia last night. It's like a bed of rocks, who could have been the unfortunate owner.

"Yes, right away!"

About ten minutes later, Naana came back with plastic bucket, which I assume is the hot water I requested for. And this reminds me of the time when Hajiya raised chaos about having a water heater in her bathroom, just like the one we have in our house. That happened during one of her earliest visit there. I can still remember her face when abbah bought her an electric kettle telling her to manage it for the time being. It had been years, but abbah never go back to talk about the water heater again. The woman get more than she deserve from abbah, and maybe I will forever wonder why he's being nice to that capricious human being.