She felt a soft tap on her shoulder and she groaned, for the sake of the Almighty, Wafiyya should let her sleep. Yes, she knew she loved sleeping in her room but this room gave her a new vibe. It was so amazing that she wished she could sleep here forever. When the taps and her name being softly called persisted, she had no choice but to open her eyes with a whiny expression on her face. "You should have let me sleep some more, Wafiyya." She said as she sat upright while fixing back her veil.
Wafiyya sat down and stared at her with a smile, "Fear Allah, Jalilah. You have been sleeping for more than two hours, isn't that enough? I woke you up so you can pray your zuhr salah and also, the ceremony is starting soon. You won't be able to miss it."
She stifled a yawn and nodded her head, "You'll have to add some touches on my face, right? I know I've smudged my lipstick and a lot of things. I'm a bad sleeper, right?" She was turning her face sideways so Wafiyya will have a better look at her face.
She shook her head and smiled, "No, everything is fine. You'll just put on some powder and also a balm on your lips, you're good to go." Wafiyya said and Jalilah was about to stand up when she called her name again, holding up the screen guard. "I was out while you're asleep and I saw a shop selling phone accessories, I got you this. Where is your phone so I can put it for you?"
Jalilah's smile grew wider and she roughly side hugged her, "You're one of the sweetest souls out there, Wafiyya. Thank you for being considerate enough. It's in my bag, I'll be in the bathroom." She walked into the bathroom and before she was out, Wafiyya had already helped her put the screen guard on her phone and she was checking the edges to make sure she didn't have bloat.
Jalilah collected the phone and examined it while she thanked her again, "It looks better now, thank you Wafiyya." She was about to start praying when she saw that Wafiyya was getting out of the room and she called out to her. "You'll be back to tie my headgear, right?"
"Yes, I'll just go and check how things are moving. I'll be back before you even know I'm gone." She smiled and recited her Takbir before she started praying. After she was done, she sat down on the prayer mat and brought her knees to her chest, she realized she wanted to go home. This place felt so strange and weird and she just wanted to be alone with herself.
There was a soft knock on the door and she muttered a muffled, "Come in." She was sure if someone that knew her voice heard that, he wouldn't be able to recognize her voice.
The intruder walked into the room and she lifted her head in time to when he spoke, "Wafiyya? Your service is needed there." Their eyes accidentally met and she realized he didn't know that Wafiyya wasn't in the room. He made an O gesture with his lips and took a step back. But before he walked out of the room, Wafiyya made an appearance.
"Were you looking for me, Yazeed?" She asked, and he sighed out of relief before he turned to look at her.
"Yes, your service is needed. We have tons of guests you should serve." When his eyes were off her, that was when Jalilah got the chance to have a better look at him. She had seen him in kaftan not even once or twice, he wore them mostly on Friday's but this Kaftan was the best she had ever seen on Yazeed. It gave him a cool look that she felt it was so hard to take her eyes off him. How could a man be so beautiful for god sake? Even the way he was conversing with Wafiyya, a teasing smile on his lips as she whined about how tired she was with serving their guests and that she wasn't their hired waitress, it felt like torture to her heart. At some point, she thought he was doing it deliberately. He was making himself look so beautiful that it would be so hard for her to take her eyes off him and he would catch her staring at him, which will be the most embarrassing moment of her life.
For a split second, she took her eyes off because she felt he might look at her. There was something about him that whenever she stared at him for long, he felt it and looked at her, catching her red-handed. She didn't want to be disowned by Farha, she would have kept looking at him until they had an eye contact again. Realizing that if she kept sitting there while hearing their conversation of how he kept urging Wafiyya to go out and serve their guests while she told him she had things to be before that, she might either disgrace herself or found herself shouting at him for the guts he had to have such a voice and beauty at once that had the effrontery to unnerve her soul without him even speaking to her.
She stood up, folded the praying mat back before she walked to the bed. She wanted to take her hijab off, but there was no way she could do that without a veil over her head. "Yazeed, I'll just help her wear her headgear and then I'll be back even before you notice I'm not there. It's not like your guests came here famished that if I didn't serve them immediately they would die, or did they?" She sarcastically asked and he glared at her.
"Be sure you're out in five minutes." He was out even before his voice began echoing through her ears.
Wafiyya came to where she sat and smiled apologetically, "They've exhausted me today, Jalilah."
Jalilah chuckled as she began tying her headgear and spoke, "But you're doing a good job, I'm sure they all appreciate you, Wafiyya. I'll help you with the serving, it's not like I have something else to do."
After she was done, she looked at Jalilah with an appreciative smile. "Are you sure? I would have appreciated it. Get your veil and let's leave, you can leave your bag here, I'm going to lock the room because they can't add more pain to my body by making a mess of it."
Jalilah stood up and did as she was instructed before she took her phone and they walked out of the room. They moved to the kitchen together, Wafiyya served the food in plates while Jalilah helped arranged the drinks in trays. They took them together and walked out while Wafiyya complained about how Yazeed always made sure he stressed her life enough to the point that she couldn't even move a finger. They walked to Sulaiman's guest living room, which was where his friends were, which were also Yazeed's acquaintances. It wasn't weird to him that he had no friends, just a few acquaintances that were always Sulaiman's friends.
Before they entered, Wafiyya turned to look at her with an understanding smile. "I know you haven't spoken to me about it, but if you'll feel uncomfortable being there, I mean, he's inside too, I'll understand. Just wait until I take this inside and I'll be out to carry your tray as well."
Jalilah shook her head, "Oh come on, you're truly making a big deal out of this, Wafiyya. Let's get in already." But truth be told, she was nervous. She felt anxious even. She wanted nothing but to run back to the comfort of her room and never get out. But she knew this would be like an opener to her, she knew she had to get used to seeing him and know that things weren't like they used to be before, they would never get back to how they used to be.
Wafiyya turned the doorknob and they walked inside together. Jalilah ignored all the eyes she felt on her and she fixed her eyes on the floor, the way she walked, the way her feet looked. She squatted and placed the tray down while she began arranging the bottles with the cups again. She heard Sulaiman's voice out of the blue as Wafiyya walked around the men and was handing them the plates.
"Oh my god, Wafiyya, how could you make Jalilah work?" She had planned that she wasn't going to look up to them but she knew she had no choice but to do that now, it would be rude if she ignored Sulaiman's comment.
She looked up with her signature smile and shook her head, "She didn't make me work, I have nothing doing and she busied her legs frantically moving around, so I offered to help. Congratulations once again, may Allah bless his life."
He smiled and nodded his head at her, "Thank you, Jalilah. I've asked where you were and Wafiyya said you were asleep."
She shyly smiled and nodded her head, wondering how in the hell Wafiyya was conversing freely with the men. From all indications this wasn't the first time she was seeing them, they have known each other for a long time now. "Yes, I was." She stood up and wanted to serve the men with their drinks as Wafiyya did, but the first one she handed the cup shook his head.
"Oh, come on. Making a beautiful lady work is a hideous crime. Wafiyya, come here, you have to do all the work." He collected the cup nonetheless, and there was an uproar of laughter.
From the other end of the living room, she heard someone's voice, "Jibril, I only heard your words as 'I've seen the full view of her face and I don't like you guys to see it.' You're so wicked." The guys laughed again and they kept throwing pleasantries at Jalilah which she all answered with a smile.
Wafiyya turned to look at her, "Let them serve themselves, Jalilah. You're tired, right? You know when someone looks this yummy, making that person work is a crime like Jibril said." She was about to say no to what Wafiyya had said when Sulaiman urged that she should just let them serve themselves, and she couldn't be more thankful.
She could feel the gaze of the guy named Jibril on her until they were about to walk out of the living room and Wafiyya turned to look at him, "Jibril, you can't be staring at her this hard, you're going to make her lose her step. If you need her number, ask Yazeed, he'll give it to you!" She practically ran out of the room because she knew it would be fire if she looked into Yazeed's eyes at this moment. She was laughing when they walked out of the living room. Jalilah laughed too even though it sounded like forced laughter.
"You shouldn't have said that, Wafiyya."
She nudged her shoulder and rolled her eyes, "I know what I'm doing, Jalilah. You two are only suffering yourselves, I could see this leading to something..." She wasn't about to finish when Jalilah's phone began ringing and she slid the answer button.
Wafiyya waited until she was done before he asked her who it was because the way she spoke showed that whoever called her wanted her to go out. "It's a delivery guy, I made a gift for Ilham."
"Wow, that's so nice of you. Can I come with you?" She asked, and Jalilah nodded her head with an appreciative smile before they all walked to the gate.
After she collected it and from the way Wafiyya saw it, she was so eager to know what was inside that Jalilah had to tell her that she wasn't allowed to open it until Ilham did that first. They walked directly to Ilham's room because she had gone there she changed into a new set of clothes. "Ilham! Jalilah got a gift for you!" Wafiyya squealed as they entered the room and Ilham asked her sister that was tying her headgear for her to wait.
"Oh my god! Jalilah you've woken up already? I kept checking up on you and you were peacefully sleeping that it felt like a sin waking you up. Thank you so much for coming, what have I got in there?" With a nervous smile, Jalilah returned her hug and after they broke apart, she handed her the wrapped up gift.
They all moved to her bed as she laid the gift and opened it with a wide grin. "Oh my god!" Was what escaped their lips when she opened it and the gift was revealed. It was a medium-sized frame, in it was a painted picture of a mother's hand holding her baby's hand. It was perfectly painted that Ilham didn't know when she began tracing her fingers on the texture of the painting. On the right edge of the frame, there was a carefully crafted note.
'Being a mother is an amazing gift from the Almighty, Ilham. Cherish it and try all you can to turn that gift into the greatest treasure of your life. Happy first birthday to Yazeed Jr, I wish he lives a successful life full of love and faith. With love, Khadija Fufure.'
Ilham had tears in her eyes when she turned and took Jalilah into a hug, Jalilah smiled and hugged her back while she felt as her heart got filled with happiness. This was the first time that she had revealed her painting to the outer world apart from her close relatives whom she was sure even if her painting was trash, they would still hide that under their fake appreciative smiles. But getting this reaction from Ilham had given her the boost up she had been wanting for long.
They broke their hug and Ilham held her hands while clearing her stubborn tears, her smile unwavering on her lips. "This is one of the most amazing gifts I've ever gotten in my whole life, Jalilah. You have no idea how happy this makes me feel, I'll cherish this painting for the rest of my life, and Yazeed Jr is so blessed to have someone with him such a unique happy birthday."
Wafiyya hugged her as well, "This is so amazing, Jalilah. I've never known that you paint. You've got to be kidding me, you painted that? Freaking amazing!"
She laughed and nodded her head, "I don't paint often unless I have so much on my mind or I'm bored. But I think I'll have to do that more often from now."
"Yes, please. Do that more often, this is one hell of a paint." They chorused at the same time and Ilham wrapped her veil over her head, not minding about her headgear that was still on her bed.
"I'll have to show this to Sulaiman, now." She was out of the room with the frame hugged to her chest and they watched as she occasionally pulled it up to have a glimpse with a smile on her lips. Jalilah wished she could follow her back to the living room. She wanted to see his reaction, how he would act. Maybe he would pretend he didn't see what she was showing to show? Because she was sure all the men in that living room will throw a word or two at the painting, but he didn't need to do that.
Wafiyya noticed her expression and she leaned into her, "Come on, he'd be a hater if he said that painting isn't terrific. And I assure you, even if he acts as if he didn't notice the painting, deep down I know he would be overwhelmed with the art that you are and the magnificent art you have created. Trust me, at least I know him that much." Wafiyya whispered into her ear and she wondered. Was she so transparent that Wafiyya knew what she was thinking of without her voicing it out? Or as she said, she had known him that much, which gave her the ability to predict the two of them?
She turned and flashed her a sly smile before Wafiyya dragged her out of the room, to somewhere fun, unbeknownst to her, somewhere fun to Wafiyya was where the blasting song was coming from the courtyard and when they arrived, she watched as Wafiyya happily began dancing to the tunes but she stood rooted to her spot. She didn't have it in her to dance the way she wanted.
"Come one! You have to dance, Jalilah! Get it out of your chest!" She smiled, because right now what she wanted wasn't this blasting song to get everything out of her chest, she wanted the soft and calming tunes of a piano and the therapeutic steps of ballet to get everything out fo her chest.
Wafiyya was so persistent that she had to dance, for a second or two before she claimed that she was tired and she found herself a seat on one of the abandoned chairs by the dancers. She stared at the way they all danced with happiness dripping from their faces, and that was when she figured out that she missed her family. If it was in Adamawa, and it was the naming ceremony of someone among her family or even a wedding, which she loved the most, if she began to dance, one of her ancestors had to walk back to earth and beg her to take a breather before she could do that.
But right now, since she couldn't do that, just seeing these people extremely happy and living their best lives was enough to fill her soul with happiness. She wished all their smiles would never fade away.
❤︎
She had never felt this bored all her life, and trust her when she said that she had known all the shades and colors boredom had ever worn to hide its true self. But since she came back to work, which had been three weeks now, all she knew of was boredom. She thought that when she was working together with Yazeed, that was the hardest her life could get, because she didn't have a breather, it was always working and a little time for talking that's when she ignored the heap of work she had in front of her and asked him a random question.
She swirled her chair and heaved a sigh, nothing appealed to her anymore. Not even her Korean dramas because she felt like watching a Korean drama while seated on her table will be like wastage of resources. She loved watching her dramas when she was in her baggy dresses and cuddled up with her blankets with the lights turned off and enough junks she knew would threaten to end her life whenever her monthly cycle struck. She was even tired of playing games, tired of doing anything she knew she had once loved. And there was no way she could bring her canvases to work, she would have had something to ease off her boredom.
She stood up and wished she had something to do because whenever Sulaiman brought something for her work on, which wasn't often in a day, she made sure she finished it within the blink of an eye. She hissed softly and decided to search for something about ballet, maybe she would gain something out of this boredom of hers. She began scrolling through the screen of her MacBook. The first thing that caught her attention after she nearly gave up was, an advert of 'Rhythmic Dancing School, Lagos.' They were hosting a competition for ballet dancers, but before you could qualify for the competition, you will have to take their three months classes, and a week after the classes were over, the grand competition will hold. She kept searching through the details of the competition, it was going to be a grand competition nationwide, Jalilah felt something inkling her heart. She wanted to do this!
She pulled her phone and dialed Farha's number without realizing that they had just finished having a phone call barely an hour ago. But she felt a certain rush of adrenaline that she knew she couldn't tame alone. She sent the link to the advert through her email before she picked, and when she did, Jalilah spoke with a dejected tone. "I want to do this, Farha. From the deepest core of my heart, I've never wanted to do something like I want to do this, what should I do?"
Farha was silent for a while because she didn't understand what she was talking about. "What are you talking about, Jalilah? What do you want to do this bad?" She asked, and Jalilah felt tears pooling the brink of her eyes, the worst thing was, she knew even if she was dying and being resuscitated again, Mama would never let her leave.
"Check your email, I've sent you a link." She waited as she heard the sound Farha made on her laptop as she checked the advert, every ticking clock that came with her silence felt like a thunderstruck to her heart.
"My amazing god! Jalilah, I'd love you to do this! What are we going to do? You don't have to say it, I know, Mama is the obstruction." They were both silents for a while and Farha figured out that if she didn't raise her hopes, there was no way Jalilah wouldn't cry at this instant today. "The registration will end in two weeks, we need to act fast, Jalilah. Maybe I should ask Baba to speak to her? What do you think?"
Jalilah shook her head as if she could see her. "You know that wouldn't work, Farha. Remember when he spoke to her about it when we were in school, it was to come to Abuja for a week, but you know what she did to me. She told him that she would let me leave, but that woman took months without talking to me, I can't risk that. We need to find a new way out."
Farha gave out a dejected sigh, "What about you tell her you've been sent to Lagos by the company you do your service in? Will that work?"
She shook her head again, her tears finally getting down onto her cheeks, "That wouldn't work either. She will have to tell Uncle Yusuf, and he would have to make inquiries. If it's only her that will ask around, I can ask Sulaiman, out HR to cover it up for me. But you know Uncle Yusuf can travel down to Abuja to confirm everything."
"But you know you have to do this, right?" Farha urged, she could feel the way Jalilah was slowly giving up, even though all she wanted was to do this with everything she had, with every power she had gotten in her soul.
"I know I have to do this, if I could sacrifice my life to do this, I would, Farha. Baba would love me to do this too because it's me walking towards my dreams. Mrs. Rosey will be so happy that I'm finally showcasing my talent to the world because she always makes me believe that I have an amazing talent when it comes to ballet. I'm...my heart is slowly giving up." She didn't know when she broke into tears and felt the way the walls of her heart were echoing with her grief.
Farha's heart dropped hearing the sound of Jalilah's cry, "You know I hate it when you cry, Jalilah. Please stop crying, okay? We will find a way out, you'll do this even if it's for once."
Jalilah kept crying to her heart's satisfaction because she felt that was the only way she could feel alive, she would feel so much like herself. Because she knew deep down, she didn't have a chance to do this as much as she wanted to do it with all her soul. She would just have to be sad for all she could before she bounced back to her normal self and life would continue as she had never gotten the chance to be what she wanted for once and she watched the opportunity leave.
An email came, it was from Sulaiman. "I have to work now, Farha. I'll call you after I'm done."
Farha's voice was low when she uttered, "I'll call you after you close, don't worry about it too much, okay? Take care of yourself, Jalilah. You'll get what you want this time, Insha Allah." They ended the call and Jalilah asked to the bathroom before she washed her face and came back to her desk. After she finished her work, she pointed out all the documents and made sure there wasn't a hint that she had cried on her face before she left for Sulaiman's office. On her way out, she didn't let her eyes take a look at his office, that's what she had always done, and it worked for her so far. All she knew was, he had gotten a new assistant and it was a man, serving as well. Even though she would hate to admit this, she was relieved that it wasn't a woman.
She knocked softly on Sulaiman's door and turned the doorknob while she walked in with a faint Salam on her lips. He was working when she entered and he looked up to her with a smile, "Sit down, please. I'll just finish filling this and we can cross-check that together." He pointed at the documents she had in her hand and Jalilah nodded her head before she sat down as he said.
It wasn't unto five minutes when Yazeed barged into the office with his eyes clouded with rage, she wondered what riled him up to this extent and prayed that he wasn't here for her because nothing could stop her from sending him to the hospital and her, to the police station. "I just got an email, Sulaiman. Of all the people to choose from in this department, I chose to go to Lagos for the three months course? I thought we spoke about this and I told you not to write my name?"
Sulaiman looked up at him with regret brewing from his eyes, "Alhaji personally called me and asked me to put your name, I have no choice but to oblige, Yazeed."
Yazeed heaved out an exasperated sigh and palmed his face before he sat down on the chair opposite her without even realizing she was there. "We spoke about this yesterday, I told him I wasn't going anywhere. Ya Rabb!"
"I think we will have this conversation some other time. Jalilah, can I see the documents?" That was when Yazeed noticed she was in the office and he figured out it was Sulaiman's way of telling her that this wasn't the right time to have this conversation.
She turned to look at him, doing all she could to ignore Yazeed's presence in the office and his eyes she was feeling on her face. She placed the documents on his table and found it so hard to look into his face, Sulaiman chuckled softly. "What's with you two? He's angry and you look sad. What's wrong, Jalilah? Or we will have this conversation separately too?" He smiled and she looked up at him with a rueful smile.
Shaking her head, Jalilah replied to him. "Nothing, I'm just, moody?"
"No, you aren't moody. Or are you sad on his behalf?" She tried to smile but failed and he turned their conversation on the documents. When they were done, Jalilah took the risk of looking at the chair he sat, and their eyes met which she found so hard to take her eyes off him. She didn't mean to look so hard, but she had noticed that something was off about him. The last time she saw him was during Yazeed jr's naming ceremony, and it had been three weeks now. Because she did all she could to avoid him in the company, which she succeeded.
He looked tired, sad, and cold, just like the first time she had seen him. He had even lost some weight even though it wasn't prominent but she noticed it anyways. Sulaiman cleared his throat, and that was when they both noticed that they had held each other's gaze longer than usual. She quickly ducked her head down and began fiddling with her long sculptured fingers, with tears pooling the brink of her eyes. She just realized that she had missed him, everything about him. She wanted to see him smile again, hear him laugh, and speak freely as he had occasionally before. And she wanted to go for her ballet class as well, it felt like an avalanche of emotions for her.
"If you miss each other this much, why don't you call this childish fight of yours off? You're just hurting yourselves. I'm not saying that you have to love someone for you to miss them, no. Missing someone only shows that that person meant something to you, he or she could be a friend, a relative or even a colleague. You can miss someone without necessarily romanticizing the relationship. I know you both miss each other, even if you're going to spend the whole day denying that you did. Do you want me to give you two some time to set things right? Um, Yazeed?"
Yazeed stared at her and her tears didn't go unnoticed to him. He didn't know why she was crying, but whatever the reason was, he didn't like it when she cried. He turned to look at Sulaiman, as much as he wanted to set things right with her, they both needed to apologize to each other and move past what happened between them, he couldn't do that. Because he knew Alhaji sent him off to Lagos to warn him without words, and he did that so he could distance him from her. Any form of closure with her will only harm her.
He lightly shook his head, just when she had expertly cleared her tears and looked up to him, waiting for his reaching. "Sulaiman, I don't think that is necessary..."
She didn't wait to hear more words from him when she stood up and excused herself, "I'll go to my office." She wished anyone of them would notice that there were more words than just what she had uttered. As she walked back to her office, she kept having a flashback of that head shake and it struck a heavy emotion to her heart.
Hey guys! How about we do this?
You tell me what you're feeling about the book so far. A review, simple comment, just anything to put a smile on my lips🥰
And if y'all don't, I'd just assume you guys aren't feeling it and take a break from updating, right?🥺
And again, don't forget the complete book is available on both OkadaBooks and Selar, don't wait until we're done updating half the book😍 why not binge-read everything at once💃🏼 the links are on my bio💕