Hearts On Fire

Seven: The Trip

She looked at him and hated the fact that she'll speak to him first, "What do you mean by pulling a brake now?" she asked, but instead of an answer, Al-mustapha ignored her and got down from the car, she didn't get down.

She watched as he began looking at the two front tyres, while hissing slowly. That gave her the impression that something truly happened, but what was it? She slowly got down from the car and the right tyre got punctured real bad, and they were in the midst of a forest. She lifted up her phone but there was no service. Are theyhoked here? Alone?

"What are we going to do?" She asked, with a voice quivering with fear.

But before her lips got back to each other, she felt a thunder-like voice spoke at her, "Are you mad?! Can't you for once shut up?! Don't you your voice is irritating or has anybody never told you that?" His eyes had turned bloodshot and the way he was angrily looking at her, she knew he wasn't only angry because of the tyre or because she spoke to him, he was still holding that grudge against her.

So she stood straight and looked directly into his eyes, unbeknownst to Fatima Zarah, she gave him the chance to read her expression. And when he did, he knew he couldn't hold his anger back anymore. "Why are you trying so hard to hold it back? Is it because we're alone and you know you can't be of use now that you're wearing your royal attires and not khaki and you don't have either Steph or Small together with you? C'mon, Acp, unleash that fire and see if I'll get burnt."

Al-mustapha looked left then to the right but there was no sign of human, he knew Umma might send someone to them but he hadn't seen a sight of anyone. And so he took enigmatic steps towards her, she was afraid, gut wrenching fear, but she held everything back and had a stoic and strong expression on her face.

"Repeat what you said," he demanded, his bloodshot eyes looking directly into hers, and Fatima Zarah tired pushing him away from her, but instead, he held both her two hands in his and looked directly into her eyes.

"Why can't you repeat what you just said now that we're barely an inch apart and see wether I can't be me unless I'm wearing my khaki? Are you the one being the coward now?" She was struggling so hard to get out of his hold but everything was proving futile, he was more stronger than her than she could ever imagine.

"Let go of me," her voice came out in a warning tone, but deep within, she was quivering with fear. And all this time, no one had passed and she was getting even more frightened.

"What? Aren't you a baby dragon? Set that fire on me and burn me, young lady." She clenched her eyes shot at the mention of the name. She had never hated it when someone called her young lady, why? Because she was one, but now that Al-mustapha found it amusing to address her, she hated it with every fibre of her being.

His eyes was a shade of mahogany, and now that she stared into his eyes for more than a minute, her walls began to unnerve, she closed her eyes and opened them again. "Will you let go of me or what? Don't your thick skull know that you can't hold a woman that isn't your mahram?!" She clamored, and something changed in his eyes, he could remember Umma telling him this more than times he could count, ever since he was 11.

Instead of him to let go of her softly, he flung her down on the road and her knuckle get brushed with the hot coaltar, a scar left and she winced, but he didn't even spare her a glance. Nothing like guilt or remorse in his eyes, she expected to see something. May be he regretted what he did, but nothing came. He didn't feel anything because he had never felt, and she thought of him as a merciless human being.

She got up from where he flung her and got into the car, she wanted to cry, but she was stopping herself from doing so. Whenever she was truly angry, it was either she let out the volcano in her or she made a downpour with her eyes to douse the rattling fire within soul. But now, there was no chance for any of this, and she had to be clutching her hand more while she stared at her scarred knuckle.

It got time for Asr and they were still stranded there. He came in the car and took a bottle of water which he used to pray perform his ablution and she was more than glad that she was still on her period, she wouldn't have known what she would do. He took a praying back at the back seat and prayed outside, and to watch him pray alone was torturing to her soul. Just pray, prostrating to Allah, it was torturous. If only Ammi let her use her own car, all these wouldn't have happened.

It was getting to Maghrib, and the snack she had packed in her bag, she brought it out and began eating. He was now back into the car while staring at the public vehicles that passed them in a blurry vision. What was he going to do? She picked one of the meatpie and placed it by his side, not saying a word to him. She did that not because he deserve anything good from her, but because she knew what humanity meant.

Al-mustapha picked the meatpie not because he wanted to, but because he was angry beyong words could tell. He hadn't even had his lunch when they left Sokoto, all his thought, he thought by now he was already back in Sokoto and he knew he was in Umma's house taking one of her best meals. Even though he knew she had nothing good to say but about his marriage with Drakaina, or he'd rather call her a baby dragon because she wasn't even up to a woman that he could refer to as Drakaina, which meant a female dragon.

He had already prayed Maghrib and he still didn't ask her to pray, because he felt she can do whatever she liked. Isha came, and he prayed as well, it was getting too late that Fatima Zarah got scared for her life and just because she spurted out the fire in her, a police vehicle pulled beside them to ask what they were doing there. Al-mustapha went out of the car and spoke, "My name is Acp. Al-mustapha Muhammad Maccido. My tyre got punctured, can any of you change it with my spare tyre?"

The moment Fatima Zarah heard about the spare tyre sitting prettily in his trunk, her anger didn't get doused by the chorus of their 'Yes Sir!!!'. She angrily came out of the car and stood in front of him, "So you have a spare tyre and you made us wait this long? Aren't you man enough to just change the tyre yoursef? We would've arrived since, Al-mustapha!!!"

He smirked and pointed at the guns they had on their shoulders, "Do you see that? They have guns with them. I can use whatever gun I like to kill you and discard your carcass in this forest. Have you forgotten? The darkness of my khaki is back. Get in the car and shut your mouth up, you dumbass Dragon!" He thundered his last words, and Fatima Zarah presumptously stood there, he collected one if the guns and aimed it at her, that was when she rushed into the car and placed her hand over her wildly beating chest hen she had her seatbelt fully secured on her. What just nearly happened?!