A Promise From My Heart

5.

How could I not have noticed? There were dark circles around her eyes, an evidence that she seldom sleeps. Her bold feline eyes are sunken, deep into their sockets and I could see the tiredness in them. The colour of her skin has faded and her once glowing skin looked ashen. I noticed all that as I carried Noor in my arms into her room.

She had turned over in bed, to have her back against us when I dropped her. Noor fainted. Dad and I found her unconscious on the floor with my sobbing grandmother bent over her. While she slumped in the living room, the glass of water she had gone to get for my grandmother fell. It was the sound I heard and the scream was my grandmother's.

I was so worried. Fear gripped me. It was the fear of losing someone who's so dear to me again. It took few callings of her name and splashing water on her face to have her regain consciousness. I almost fell back with relieve when her eyes flustered open.

"You need to see the doctor. I will give Mummy Joseph a call." I said referring to the retired nurse who lived few houses away from ours. Alhaja sat beside her, worry imprinted on her face. She stroked Noor's head, her caresses soft.

"I am perfectly fine." Noor replied, voice icy. Weariness made it low and nearly inaudible.

"You just fainted making everybody worry yet you are saying you are okay."

"Doyinsola mi (My Doyinsola), please let Mummy Joseph come and check on you." Alhaja persuaded in her usual gentle voice. "I do not like the way you look."

"I am fine, Alhaja"

"You are not fine, Noor." Dad spoke.

"Noor, it best if I call Mummy Joseph." I pestered.

"Just leave me alone! I said I am okay!" She shouted, yanked her blanket and threw it over her body, her arms and head the only visible part of her body. Her response angered me a bit yet I tried to stay calm.

"You will not go to bed on an empty stomach. I will bring your food." I turned towards the door.

"I am not hungry."

"You are losing weight." I voiced out my observation. I noted the deep hollows in her neck when she passed out. Has she not been eating well? How could I not have noticed?

"Noor, please eat something." Dad begged.

"I am perfectly okay." She rolled around to face the wall.

"Oko mi, please eat something." Alhaja begged again.

"I will still send your food." I walked out of the room.

I let out a shaky breathe once I closed the door. It was not easy trying to act calm to her foul behaviour. Losing appetite for dinner, I walked to my room. I noticed Amatullah was not in bed when I entered neither was she in the room. I heard the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom. I wondered how long she has woken up. The shower stopped then there was silence for a while and she stepped out of the bathroom in a powder blue bath robe. She granted me her radiant smile. That smile used to light up my world until now. My foul mood sucked up its brightness making it appear as dull as I felt.

"You are back?" She said walking up to me.

"Yeah." I answered, sitting on the bed.

"I thought I heard some commotion downstairs." She slipped in between my legs then lowered her body to my lap. Soft fragrance of jasmine wafted into my nostrils. The scent disrupted some of my thoughts causing my jaw to tighten.

"Noorie fainted." I ran a hand through my face. She gasped.

"How is she feeling?" She asked, one of her hands perched on my back.