His Personal Queen (An Islamic Novel- Nigeria)

22

When we were just teenagers, we'd pray to Allah so our parents can let us be, so we can have our freedom and live life on our own terms. We were eager to go to university and be away from home, do what we like and not have to bother about our parents reprimanding us on our behavior. As we get older in life, we begin to miss them, we begin to regret why we wanted them out at some point in our life...when this feeling gets terrible is when they get older, and of course you also get older and probably get married. You begin to see a new phase of your life and so many things your parents always tell you about come into play, of course back then, we were fed up with their daily nagging and lectures, now we crave them.

This is exactly how i feel right now everyday as i watch my mother on her sick bed, she looks so hopeless and tired. Sometimes she'd tell me, she might not be with me for much longer, I'd always keep hope alive and be positive but to be honest, sometimes even i lose up and think I'll lose her sooner than I expected. Her sickness just came out of the blue, though i know age is on her side as well. Maa is already 59, so you can imagine.

Whenever i sit by her side, and i have a chat with her, i miss baba more than ever now...i wish i had him by me during these tough times. He'd have done a better job at keeping hopes alive than the emotional freak i am.
Let me give you a bit insight of who my dad was really like.

Alhaji Yusuf Buhari, as you might all know, was renowned business man and very humble. All his employees praised and prayed for him always. He was the type of man that never differentiated between the rich and poor, in his words: 'We're all equal in the eyes of the lord, we're just blessed in different proportions'. Those were his words.
Though he has a lot of positive attributes, he also had some flaws, after-all he's only human. My father had a temper to be fair, well not all the time, only when things didn't go as they were meant to. He was very protective of us, more than Maa was infact, it almost seemed like he was overprotective.

We loved and cherished our father with all our heart. Always eagerly waiting to see him once more after his long business trips abroad, until he came back from Italy, that was the last time we saw baba. The driver went to pick him up from the airport that night and on their way back, they had a terrible accident...kullu nafsin za'ikatul maut. I remember before he left for his trip, i kept telling him not to go, I didn't have a good feeling but by the time he landed in Nigeria i felt at ease but my instincts were still drawing back to an image...Allah gave me the gut feeling I might never see my father again.

I really miss baba...

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"Babe! Please can you make a cup of green tea for me...I'm so exhausted," Khalid called out from the living room and i was in the kitchen. I quickly made his green tea and took it to him in the living room. His right arm was over his eyes and his tie undone. He was clearly very tired. We barely got any sleep yesterday because we had to finish packing for our trip which was in just two days.

"Here you go," i handed him the cup and sat beside him. He wrapped his left arm around me as he sipped on his hot tea.

"How was work...erh I'm sure you had a stressful day," i said as i bent down to remove his shoes and socks. I put them away i their respective spots. By the time i came back he'd finished his tea already.

"Uh come upstairs, you should freshen up, then come eat," I instructed. We both went upstairs.

"You know the hot bath I'm about to take would be much better with you," He smirked. "Is this the person that's so tired...hmm, you're not serious," I chuckled and turned away to put his clothes away when i felt his arms around my waist.

"I'm sure you know I'm serious," he whispered in my ears and his deep voice sent shivers down my spine. I grasped the clothes on me tightly to neutralize what i was feeling. His hands reached for my zipper and he began to unzip my dress slowly.