He was the one that guided Khalid's relatives to the house when they arrived in Bauchi. It wasn't an easy task driving in Bauchi with no precise location and he had been on phone with them until he was fortunate enough to get the right location they were in. Something was surely bothering him, he didn't know the kind of life Aisha had been living in that house. She had no phone with her, and whenever he pestered Nana to call her, they would have to wait until Abba got back home and he would give her the phone to chat briskly with him. And from the way he sensed the way her voice trembled whenever Nana called if he was there, he was sure Abba was beside her.
And it had been three months and days, but they couldn't reach Aisha. It was always one excuse or the other. She was always sick as he claimed, but Nasir knew him better to buy that lie. The sickness got intense that Firdausi started expecting she was pregnant, and that night Nasir couldn't sleep. He stopped spending his weekends in Katsina because of that. It took him months before he overcame the heartache and consoled himself. She was Abba's wife, and she was surely bound to be pregnant with him for days. It was hard and painful, but he was able to overcome it.
Mama had him packed with food before he left today, saying that he shouldn't go and eat all those junky foods he loved so much. She had proper food for him and he should also come back home for breakfast. As he drove into the house, he looked around and his fists clenched. This was the house Aisha was brought into as a wife, not his wife but Abba's. He hopped out of his car and moved forward the entrance door. Using the extra key Mama gave him, Nasir unlocked the house and was surprised to see everywhere cleaned. Then he thought, Mama must've had some women came and cleaned the house for him to live conveniently.
He silently walked to the dining table, it was midnight after all. And what Mama didn't know was that he had his junky food already before he came into the house to wish her goodnight. He dropped the food and walked directly to the extra room he knew of. It wasn't clean as he predicted but the dust wasn't so much that he couldn't sleep in the room. He finished his daily routine and laid on the bed, his brain a bunch of Aisha's thoughts. There wasn't a day he didn't think of her, especially when he was going to bed. And it was becoming rather unbearable.
The next morning Nasir woke up and bathed himself, there was no point in staying in the house that had no one in and also a place Aisha had resided as a bride. He walked to the kitchen to get himself a cup of water but what freaked him out was the food he saw boiling on the cooking gas. He looked around in horror and there was no trace of human in the house. What happened? Who could be here?
He walked out of the kitchen and went back to the room he slept, he checked the room but no one was there. He entered the room that looked like Abba's room, but still, there was no trace of humanity. In fact, it was the most uncleaned room in the house, evidence that it wasn't ever since they left Bauchi. And whenever he came home to visit Mama, he stayed at home never coming to this house. He hadn't brought Aisha, not for once. All his excuse was that Aisha said she couldn't pull up for the hour's drive from Taraba to Bauchi.
He took tentative steps to the room he knew belonged to no one but Aisha, as he opened the door; he heard the sound of water gushing down from the bathroom. That freaked him out. Who had been living in this house? He locked the room from outside and rushed to the gateman.
"Malam Musa, have you seen someone living here for a while? Did Abba bring someone here? Maybe a woman?" He asked, and the gateman shook his head with a smile.
"No one has ever stepped his legs into this house ever since Alhaji Abba left, you're the first," Malam Musa answered, looking amused at the frightened expression he saw on Nasir's face.
Nasir pinched the bridge between his eyes and looked at Malam Musa yet again. "Wait, do you mean not even the women that came yesterday and cleaned this house before I arrived?" He dreaded the answer, but it came anyway.
"Alhaji Nasir, you're the only one fah." Nasir nodded his head in understanding and he rushed back to the house. He looked around and the house was exceptionally clean now, evident that whoever was it that stayed in the house had cleaned the house again.
He took halting steps towards the room and unlocked it with hands that shook in fear. He knew he didn't know who was it, or rather; who was her. But he knew it would definitely be a woman and here would be the place Abba spent his weekend or where she stayed whenever she came to town. But how did they manage to do that without the knowledge of Malam Musa?
The view that came to his eyes was that of a beautiful and slender woman seated on her vanity stool as she stared at her reflection through the mirror while she applied lotion to her body. She was humming soft music to herself and she looked neutral. She was neither happy nor sad, it loomed that she was just living. Hiding away from the world and anyone that knew her. Hiding away from the world, that's something only Aisha could do.
"Aisha?!" It wasn't just a question, he was scared to the whole world for her to turn around and only for him to see someone, not her. He didn't mind the towel that was wrapped around her bosom, all that mattered was her face.
And even more frightened than he was, she turned and their eyes met before she screamed. "Inalillahi! How did you get here?" She looked extremely shocked and her body trembled with fear. She knew the end of her life had come, Abba had finally found her hideout.
Nasir stood there mouth agape, he couldn't believe this was Aisha. All the how's where pushed out of his mind and he took tentative steps towards her. He was an inch to touching her face to check if she was the one when he backed his hand away with aplomb. She was married, he warned himself and restrained himself from touching her. He looked at her and the pounding her chest was making. He was sure he heard the lub dub sound her heart was making, she was afraid and he knew it.
"I'm sorry, please. Get yourself ready, I'll be waiting for you in the living room." He said and took off his eyes from her chest. Nasir couldn't feel his legs when he walked out of the room and silently closed the door behind him.
He walked to the living room and sat down on one of the sofas and he palmed his face. He couldn't wrap his hands around all that had been happening lately. He couldn't perfect the puzzle that was laid before him on a cold table. Yesterday when they called Abba together with Firdausi, he said Aisha wasn't feeling too much and she had exams to write, she won't be able to make it. He would be busy to come over for the naming ceremony and he had Nasir took numerous pictures of Farha and he sent it to him.
Aisha froze in her position, she couldn't believe the person she saw with her own two eyes. Hiding away from the world was equally painful and peaceful, but Nasir was the last person she wanted to see. She looked around her room and that's when she saw the towel that was wrapped around her chest. He saw her like this, but that's the least she could care for. She walked towards her wardrobe and pulled out a plain gown and she wore it on herself. She wrapped her head with a veil and put on her hijab over her head before she walked out of the room.
Nasir watched as she moved frankly to the kitchen and that showed him she had been living in this house, alone, for a very long time. She did what he assumed to be turning off the cooking gas before she walked back to the living room and sat on the far at the far end of the room. She ducked her head down and greeted him, "Good morning, Nasir."
This was the first time he saw her after all those years of painfully craving for her beautiful face. But he didn't miss the coldness of his name as it slipped out of her lips. He could remember begging her to be calling him Nasir but she had never conceded but today. And now that she did, it sounded cold and heartbreaking. It meant that she had no more business about him, and he knew that too himself.
Nasir squirmed on his chair and nervously looked at her. It hurt sitting down with her while knowing there was an invisible barrier between them. "Aisha, I should get straight to the point and ask you. How did you come back to Bauchi and still not go home? Also, for how long have you been here? I called Abba even yesterday and he said you have an exam to write that's why you couldn't make it to the naming ceremony."
She looked up and their eyes met. Aisha quickly averted her gaze and smiled weakly at Nasir. "He told you that? Let's leave it that way then. And who's naming ceremony are you talking about?"
"Nana gave birth to a girl and yesterday was the naming ceremony. She was named Farha. He told us that you were extending your good wishes. Tell me, what's happening, Aisha?" He was curious and yet afraid to know the truth.
Aisha coldly shook her head, she felt that she had nothing to do with Nasir and all men in general. She knew that she still loved him but her fantasy of ending with him in future had vanished ever since she was fortunate enough to hide away from the world. It was the most painful yet peaceful decision she had ever made for herself. She had wallowed in depression, the most painful of its kind. She felt as her self esteem crashed down and how self-pity crowned itself on her head. She was being fortunate to know that she deserved nothing good in this life, and that's why she felt that cutting everyone off from her life was the best thing she could ever do to herself.
"If that's what he told you, let's leave it that way. But please, Dr, promise me that you won't tell anyone you saw me here. Please?" Her eyes were sharp and straight as she looked at his eyes and asked him the question she knew would be hard for Nasir to comply.
Nasir felt threatened by her eyes, it looked as if his Aisha had been changed. This one looked matured, cold and even more aware of her surroundings. She wasn't that naive and innocent Aisha anymore, and she unnerved him. "I can't make that promise. If you can't talk to me because you feel it's not right, I'll bring Mama over and I believe you can talk to her right?" He stood up and brought out his phone.
"Nana, ask Mama to get ready please, I'll come and get her now. Something urgent has come up." He didn't spare Aisha a glance when he walked away and she heard as he locked the door from outside. She smiled to herself, she knew he wasn't certain that he'll come and meet her in the house that's why he locked her from the outside. But what he didn't know was that she had the keys and she was going to walk out of this house as fast as she could.
She ran back to her room and began packing her clothes in the fastest way she knew. She knew this wasn't what Mama or even Nasir deserved from her, but her peace of mind was the most treasured thing in her life now. She cursed herself for being too comfortable in this house that she had her things everywhere kept, and she frantically ran to and fro getting her things back into her trolleys. She knew she had nowhere to go, but Aisha was certain Mommy took the case to the police station and from there she would easily locate Mommy.
That would reveal her identity, she knew. That would publicly be announced her being the daughter of a prostitute, but that's the least she cared for. All that she knew was she had to run away from Abba and everything that had his family involved. She was done packing her clothes and she took all her trolleys out and was locking the house so Nasir couldn't find any evidence that she had left. And before it called for an alarm, she would've left already with no visible traces.
She heard as the humungous gate flew open and Nasir car drove into the house with an agitated Mama in the passenger's seat. Mama's hands flew to her chest when she saw Aisha standing o the entrance with her trolleys on set, she looked ready to leave. Mama hardly let Nasir parked properly when she pranced out of the car and she had Aisha engulfed into her arms. Mama broke down the moment she felt Aisha in her arms and Nasir flashed Aisha a look that was rich in accusation before he unlocked the house and they all entered.
They sat down on the chairs but Aisha had her head hung down. She felt embarrassed when Mama found her trying to leave the house. "Aisha, tell me, what happened?" Mama cried, hugging Aisha even tighter.
"Can you please excuse us?" The look Nasir flashed her almost made her laugh. But she felt no humour nor sadness ever since she walked into this house. She was always neutral. And being numb was the best feeling Aisha had ever experienced.
Nasir nodded his head with a grimaced expression before he walked out of the living room and drove out of the house. He went directly home, the missed calls Firdausi had been pestering him with were making him on edge. He knew she needed some explanations because all he told her as he saw Aisha in the guest room before they left together with Mama. As soon as he entered the house, Nana rushed to him and took him to Baba's living room where there wasn't anyone there.
"Tell me, Nasir, how? What happened?" He laughed at the eagerness of her voice, and he laughed too because he wanted not to believe what he saw too.