A/N: {Few more chapters to go, In Shaa Allah!}
Enjoy!
ABUJA, NIGERIA.
Those eyes were the lightest shade of brown she'd ever seen.
When she was a kid -with a normal family- her parents would compliment her for her beautiful eyes even though there was nothing special about them. The usual dark brown eyes you'd normally see, one wouldn't even know they're brown until you took a closer look.
Those eyes... they did things to her. Her heart specifically, but why?
Sadiya couldn't stop thinking about the light brown-eyed stranger whom was staring at her outside that cafè the other day. Yes, she saw him. In fact, the moment her eyes met his, everything around her seemed to be of less importance. Everything including Omais. Most importantly, did he feel the connection... the... whatever when he stared into her eyes?
Eff! she sounded like a lovestruck teenager.
Sad news was, she didn't do love. 'You don't 'do' love, stupid! You feel it,' that was her conscience mocking her.
Sadiya slapped her temple hard like she had lost her mind. "Why are you slapping yourself?" A voice behind her asked.
She jumped in fright and turned to glare at her brother.
"What are you doing here?" She was trying hard to not release the fake frown from her face.
"Firstly, this is my penthouse and second of all, you didn't answer my question. What made you slap yourself?" Omais repeated.
A particular set of light-brown eyes...
But of course she wouldn't say that. She shrugged, "Nothing," answering his question curtly, a sign for him to let go of the topic.
He understood but kept looking at her warily. "Oh and a friend of mine is visiting in..." He checked the wall-clock on the other side of her bedroom. "...10."
"Didn't know you had a friend, in Abuja," Sadiya said. Demanding for an explanation.
Omais nodded and sighed exasperatedly, "He was a client of mine but one way or the other, we became friends," he clarified.
"Alright then, I'll just go change into something more presentable," he left the bedroom to give her a needed privacy.
***
"Sadiya, he's here!" she heard Omais' voice, yelling her name from the living-room.
'And why the hell is he yelling my name in front of the 'guest' of his?!' Sadiya thought.
"I'm coming!" she grumbled, not really sure whether he heard her or not.
Rounding the hallway, she could hear her brother and another deep voice, seemingly having a conversation. Left to her, she wouldn't have even bothered to greet the so-called 'guest', but her mother taught her well enough to know that it was rude to ignore a guest.
The moment her flip-flop clad foot touched the cold tiles of the not-too-large and not-too-small parlour, two pairs of eyes settled on her as soon as she muttered her Salaam, cutting their words off.
What was she seeing? Could she be hallucinating?
There he was, her light-brown eyed stranger. Now where did he become 'hers'? She herself wondered. It was shocking! How could he be there? How did her annoying brother know him? How did they become friends? Most importantly, did he remember her? What br-
"Don't just stand there," Omais cut her thoughts short. 'Way to go, Sadiya. What a way to embarrass yourself!' She mocked herself in her mind. Did Omais even have to disgrace her for goodness' sake?! Or was she the one staring at the brown-eyed stranger for too long. Oh God!
Now she really needed to stop calling him by, 'light-brown eyed stranger', he wasn't a stranger anymore, fair enough, right? Since her 'oh sweet' brother decided to be friends with him.
(Sarcasm inserted here).
"Sadiya?" At this moment, the question was, how long had she been staring?!
Sadiya cleared her throat, faintly hoping for a rush of boldness to overcome her nerves. She took a seat because her knees were threatening to betray her. She looked up at him straight in his eyes, now what? Was she expected to greet him?
"So uhm... Zayyan, this is my sister and only sibling; Sadiya. Sadiya, Zayyan; a friend of mine, also client." At least he saved her this time. So, Zayyan was the name? Hm.
"Assalam Alaikum, miss Sadiya?" What was with the courtesy?
And oh, his voice was so... Masha Allah. The Arabian accent there couldn't be mistaken. Come to think of it, why did he look... Arab? Was he one?
At this point, she wondered who had the balls to kidnap the sassy side of hers. "Wa'alaikas Salam, and please, Sadiya's fine." Sadiya smiled and he returned it with a small one.
Omais broke them off of their little world with a clear of his throat. "Now that you two have met, let's head to the table for lunch."
***
Sadiya stared up at the ceiling in her bedroom, thinking over the past. The time she went to see her Aby at the hospital two weeks ago. It went well, to say the least. He apologized continuously for his past acts and she couldn't stop herself from forgiving him. Though she forgave quite some time ago. They say; 'To err is human, to forgive is divine'.
He looked regretful, she forgave him with the thought of forgetting everything that had happened even though the scars would never cease to just disappear. Forgiveness was part of healing.
Sadiya was a couple of meters away from Omais and Zayyan because they were still in the living-room. A knock came on the door. "Yes? Come in," she sat up on the bed. Omais swung the door open and walked in. "Hey," he whispered with a small smile. "Hi, your guest left?" She laid her head on his lap when he sat on the side of the huge bed.
He nodded and softly stroked her hair like he always did when they were younger, before circumstances separated them from each other. "You okay?" He asked her softly. "Yep, am good," she answered.
"You know you can't lie to me," he raised his brows.
"Yaya, seriously... It's just that..." Sadiya sighed, "I've been thinking of Ommi," she confessed.
He sighed and looked up, "I do that a lot too you know?"
"Really?" Sadiya asked curiously.
He hummed, "of course I do. What am still worried about is you."
Sadiya creased her brows in confusion, "Me? What about me?"
"I mean, you were alone with her through out her sickness and after her death. I keep asking myself, 'how did you cope all alone in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people?'"
Sadiya shrugged, "Well I guess... Allah? He provided me with strength. And you know what? I think you shouldn't beat yourself on it. It's all in the past. I forgave you and Aby a long time ago. As for Ommi, In Shaa Allah, she's in a better place and I'm sure she would have done the same."
She hugged her brother. "May Allah bless you, sis."
She rolled her eyes playfully, "Now you sound like my father."
Omais laughed, "And about Aby--"
Sadiya cut his words off, "like I said before, I've forgiven him a long long time ago," she squeezed her brother's hand reassuringly.
He only hugged her once more, this time, tighter.
He was truly glad and thankful to Allah for bringing her into his life as his sister...
"Now about Zayyan..." He began.
"No, no, nah uh! We are not going to talk about him!" She tried to cover her reddened cheeks.
Omais laughed out loud, "Why? Why does even his name affect you so much?" He was pushing her to say something out of the ordinary, and she knew that.
"Nothing, it's just- it's just that I don't want to talk about h-him," she nervously said.
"You like him, don't you?" He asked seriously, even though he knew her answer because from her actions, it was just too obvious.
She looked at her brother for a while, "if I say 'no', will that make me a bad liar?"
"Yes."
"Fine, I do. I do like him. A bit."
What a lie.
Omais looked taken aback for a while, knowing fully well she didn't mean the last part, "And he likes you too."
^-^
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