Hearts In Tune (Book One Of The In love Series)

Chapter 23

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Hearts In Tune 23

She sat up after her first alarm rang, she wanted to catch him before he woke for the day. Ever since she offered to go with him to his campaign stops, on days when he had a stop, he would intentionally get out of bed before fajr, shower and pray from there take off to the office and would be unreachable the entire day. He had done it twice and she had now caught up to his own game.

He roused as his own alarm woke him about thirty minutes later, he had been hugging his pillow and now slowly woke up. The moment his eyes met hers, he jumped up.

“Are you okay?” He asked, throat still hoarse from sleep. She would have enjoyed the sound of it, had she not been ready to get him to take her with him. She was a woman on a mission.

“I’m okay. I wanted to wake up before you, to make sure you haven’t been sneaking off before I wake on days when you have a campaign stop.” She watched him palm his head slowly, but he didn’t say a word, it just looked like he was getting himself together. So she waited.

“It is nothing like that. I’m just-“ He started to say and stopped but her annoyance began to fan before she even knew it.

“You’re just what? You cannot start talking and stop, Aminu you must have an answer, a prepackaged response because that is the only reason you’d wake up, sneak out of bed three times in one week!” She found herself suddenly unable to sit still so she pulled herself into a sitting position, her arms worked in overtime to put a pillow behind her to rest well but he preempted her action and put a pillow he’d been hugging behind her back himself.

“I’m just worried about you, I cannot in full confidence let you go with me knowing we caught snipers in Wudil. My security team combed and found two snipers. There’s nothing Kabir will not try and call me whatever names, I’m not putting you in danger for a few minutes on the microphone.” He cleared his throat after speaking, angering Sameerah who hated throat clearing especially when there was nothing obstructing his airways.

“Your PR team, what have they said about it?” She asked quietly, as she got out of bed, now fully in press forward mode and walked to his side of the bed. He looked like a rabbit caught in headlights as he answered that they’d told him he was playing with fire by keeping her off the campaign trail.

“At least, one person on that team is thinking, Alhamdulilah. They’re not being macho men who think they married a spineless fool. Kabir will not dare have me shot, I will spin the story so well you’ll win with such a large landslide his head will spin. They know this, I don’t know if you know it.” She watched him sit up, but was caught unaware when he pulled both her hands to himself. It seemed like an action he’d done before thinking about it because she watched him look down at their joined hands in surprise.

“I don’t think of you as a spineless fool, please don’t ever say that about yourself, don’t.” She nodded but waited for him to unhand her, it was all she could think about, the feel of his midway between hard and soft hands on hers. She wanted to know what it would feel like to be in his arms without the many mental barriers between them.

“Let’s pray Fajr. We’re going to Doguwa today. We also need to return in time for our weekly lunch.” Sameerah didn’t know when laughter bubbled out of her throat, she wanted to hold the lapels of her housecoat together but he still held her hands firmly so she could not.

“Why are you laughing? Did I say something funny.” He asked with mock menace and next thing Sameerah knew, the man dropped her hands and tickled her until she was screaming and laughing.

“Stop… stop please.” By this time, she was on the bed, wiggling to get out of his grasp and he was standing over her, a warm smile on his handsome face. So many emotions passed through her in the thirty seconds that they spent looking at one another, the one that trumped it all was how much she wanted to kiss him.

“I’ll set out our mats, let’s pray.” She nodded, got up and went to the closet where her outfit of the day hung waiting. She pulled out her navy blue jilbab and quickly brushed her teeth, performed her ablution and returned to him waiting with his head bowed and the bed made.

“Did you even let the water touch your head, how come you’re so quick?” He lowered his head for her to touch it. The short crop of hair glistened of water, so she looked away and took her place to pray fajr.

************

The helicopter hadn’t even touched the ground yet at the Sani Abacha stadium in Doguwa when a roar went through the crowd. Sameerah saw how visibly worried the man beside her was, so she packed up all the confidence she had and got off the chopper with his help.

“You remember all the rules?” She nodded, sending him a sunny smile now that they were outdoors. She also let him hold her hand till they got to the door of the stadium reserved for them to come in from, when she dropped his hand before they were accused of excessive public displays of affection. 

Small community scholars on the side of the opposition had used videos from their wedding as cautionary tales of what to do at a wedding as the bride and groom. And their wedding dance, it was chopped up into at least a hundred videos and their emotions critically analyzed by opposition bloggers.

“You cannot be zoning out right now, Sameerah. Please focus.” She sent him a roll of her eyes but knew she’d been deep in her reverie. This was supposed to be an easy breezy affair but their opponents behaved like rabid dogs.

Aminu campaign song rang out in the stadium as they finally walked in flanked on all sides by senior members of the ruling party that Aminu belonged to. Aminu stayed close to her side, she could almost hear the tell tale sound of him grinding his teeth and his anxiety was almost palpable. If she was in a much smaller room, she might have laughed at him. It was a little strange to have someone be so worried about her.

As they walked further, the teeming supporters screamed and waved, their hands and flags, shouting Aminu’s political nickname, ‘A.A’ and his campaign slogan ‘Rano na Kano’ to such thunderous levels. If she didn’t see the man slave over all Kano matters till midnight every day, she would like to know his medicine man because this was crazy levels of love.

She noticed that on one side, the crowd was pressing on the barricade, screaming a greeting to her husband. Aminu raised his hands with a grateful gesture and expression but this seemed to excite that particular crowd more than others, she watched as they got right in the middle of the line that was the barricade that it suddenly unlocked from the others and almost a hundred people spilled into the walkway.

She had no recollection of, she just knew she was now fully in Aminu’s arms, before he tucked her behind him, a police barricade in front of him as they calmed the crowd and locked the barricade back. Sameerah felt his hand shake as he felt for hers and held it. She held his hand but all that crossed her mind was, it had rapidly gone beyond their grasp.

He was treating her too much like a loved one.

******************

Hiiii.

No vex. Abeg.

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And didn't we say we will drag this out babe to see an optometrist? She really needs one o.