The Silence Within

Chapter 62

Atikah tried to concentrate on the images in the television but her eyes kept wavering back at the phone in between her trembling hands. The muscles in her stomach were tangled into a very hard knot and her thoughts and feelings were muddled. Each time the phone buzzes, her heart skips in her chest as she checks her phone with her fingers shaking and their pads damp on the screen. Every time, disappointment clouds her face. Why won't he call her? Her shoulders slumped, an unconscious pout formed over her lips. She wants him back. She needs him. Whatever she had done in the past was due to uncertainty and silliness. Now, she knows what she wants.

Unaware of her sister's curious gaze at her, she dropped the phone next to her lap and out of habit, done out of nervousness, she started to scratch her neck.

"You have been looking at that phone like you are expecting a call." Hauwa spoke, looking over at her sister. "You appear restless." She pointed out her observation.

Atikah dropped her hand from her neck. Her chest shuddered at the heavy expel of air from her nostrils. "No. I am fine." She tried not to meet her sister's probing eyes and suspicious look.

"You look troubled." A smile tickled the corners of Hauwa's lips, her eyes glistened with pleasure for seeing right through her sister.

Atikah chewed at her bottom lip, dread crawling to her throat. How could she have been so dumb and maybe selfish? Jafar does not like her. He can never like her. "He loves her." She blurted out, a thought that had lingered in her mind for weeks, since the last time she saw them at the hospital.

"What?" Hauwa laughed out.

"Jafar loves Osasere." There was a weighty breather. Hauwa stared at her, her eyes encouraged Atikah to continue. "No matter what I do, I will never be able to have his heart." She lowered her head, dejection gloomed over her. She was pursuing what would have never been hers. "I am regretting shutting Mustapha out. He was a nice man."

Hauwa kept her eyes on her Atikah. She saw Atikah's thoughts. The lady wants Mustapha back. She tried not to laugh. How wonderful? She had never thought she would witness a day like this. She knew a day will come when her sister will regret letting go of such an amazing man and here it was. Both sisters were like two sides of a coin. Atikah was an extrovert, has a lot of friends and more outgoing than Hauwa. Hauwa was the introvert, very careful before she befriends anyone, cautious in what she does in life and prefers to stay in door as long as she got light, television, internet and her phone. Their way of dressing contradicts one another. Atikah does not use the headscarf and dresses in whatever pleases her but Hauwa wears the headscarf and clothes that covers her up. But then, neither of the sisters will not miss their prayers for anything especially Atikah.

"That will make you a player." A frown settled on Hauwa's lips. "I don't like what you are doing." She blurted out with a disapproving look in her eyes. "You are toying with Mustapha's heart just because he is soft at heart and loves you."

"I can't help but want him back. He was a good man. I have pushed away a gem." Regret caused her eyes to turn misty. "He has not called or messaged me for days."

"You still enjoyed his attention despite how you treated him." Her sister teased with a mocking laughter.

"This is Amina's fault." She grumbled out. "I should never have listened to her."

Hauwa sat up, crossing her legs beneath her. It is time her sister saw what she had been blind to. "Do you know Amina has feelings for Mustapha?"

"That's not possible!" Atikah cried out just as she had expected with her eyes wide with disbelieve.

Hauwa hissed at her elder sister's naivety. "You might be older than me but you are really gullible, ya Atikah. She tries to hide it but fails terribly at it."