The police came in and both Humaira and Abba were handcuffed and taken to the police station for further investigations. Humaira had been crying all the way, she had been in the police stations for times she couldn't care to count, but today was a different case. She had never thought of killing someone, but today she was a murder suspect. Who called the police in the first place? That's a question for another day. All she had been doing was stared at her blood-stained hands non stop. She couldn't believe the blood in her hands was Rafiq's, that Rafiq was gone forever. Who killed her Rafiq?
They were taken to the interrogation room, and Abba had turned to someone she couldn't realize. He had turned mad, looking flustered as he stared at his blood-stained body as hands. As if he was waiting for someone to tell him he wasn't the one that killed her Boyfriend, he came to the house and met him dead already. They were taken to different rooms but Abba could see her through the glass that was made a barrier between them.
She was silent for all the questions that were being thrown at her, her heart cold and nearly pumping the right blood into her body. She had her eyes fixed on her hands and she breathed ceaselessly. Abba turned to the police officer in front of him and shook his head, "I didn't kill him, she didn't too." That was all he was able to get out of his lips. But he knew he had no way out of this, he was the only suspect they had, then Aisha. And she came in and met him together with Rafiq's dead body.
Even though the police officers were so persistent, neither Humaira nor Abba uttered a word out of their mouths apart from "I didn't kill him." It was in less than an hour when they were taken to the same cell. They sat there silently and all Humaira could do was to stare at her now dried hands. She still couldn't believe what had been happening to her, she couldn't wrap her hands around the saying, 'Rafiq is dead.' How could he die when she didn't fulfil his only wish of getting married to her?
The door turned and an agitated Daddy walked inside the cell. A chair was brought to him and he sat down, looking at Humaira that had herself wrapped around in the farthest corner of the room with legs brought up to her chest as she stared into space. "Aisha," he called, and to Abba's surprise, she looked up and crawled to where Daddy was.
"Daddy, wallahi I didn't kill him. You can trust me this time Daddy." She placed her head on Daddy's laps and that's when tears finally rolled down her cheeks, she felt the knots in her chest slowly loosening and she broke into tears. All that happened had made her flustered that she seemed not to feel or know how to act.
Daddy patted her head sadly and lifted her face from his laps. He knew Humaira can do everything apart from murder, not the one she loved. He could remember her telling him that she loved Rafiq and might as well settle down with him when she felt like. That was what he slept being joyful about, only to be called in a meeting and he was told Humaira and someone had murdered Rafiq.
Daddy cupped her face into his hands and smiled at her, even though ruefully. "Aisha, I need you to calm down and tell me everything that happened. Who was that guy and what was he doing in your house?" He pointed at Abba, who had his head rested on his knees as he thought about the possible way to let his family know. Or even Nuriyya.
Yes! Nuriyya's father was an Assistant Inspector General of police, he knew she could be of help. That gave him a slight feeling of hope, he knew he might be out and he would beg Aisha for her forgiveness. He knew whatever was happening to him now served as a punishment for what he did to Aisha. Nuriyya, he had to call Nuriya.
Humaira choked on her words as she told Daddy how they spent their night yesterday with Rafiq and she was the one that asked him to be at the house before she got to the house, and she stumbled on Rafiq's dead body when she went there. "He always follows me around, he claims that he knows me and I know him too. He said I was married to him but I dealt with him and asked the guards of A & H not to ever allow him in. I saw him behind our car yesterday when I went to show Rafiq the house, and I met him with a dead Rafiq today. Daddy, I didn't kill my Rafiq." She was crying so hard that her whole body shook. Daddy took her into an embrace, drawing some soothing circles on her back.
"It's fine, Aisha. You just have to calm yourself down, I'll try all I can to get you out of here. And he'll pay for killing your Rafiq." Daddy stood up and he was led into the DPO's office. They spoke and what she said was confirmed, Abba didn't deny it. Because he had no other way out, that was the only thing he knew too. Just like she stumbled upon Rafiq's dead body that's how he did. But they didn't buy that part of his words.
"You killed him because you feel like he has taken away the woman you love?" The only question Abba answered while shaking his head, he couldn't speak. They had his tongue-tied.
Humaira was bailed out by Daddy but she would have to report to the police station whenever the need arose and also she would have to be at the court when the case was taken there. Abba watched as Daddy slung his hand around her shoulders and they walked out of the police station while she cried bitterly over her loss. She couldn't believe she had lost Rafiq, she couldn't believe the last time she saw him was yesterday and he looked exceptionally happy. Didn't he fell that he might die the next day? What happened? How was he killed? Was it that psychotic man that killed him?
Ilham hugged her the moment Daddy walked with her to the living room. "Humaira, oh my Allah." Ilham cried as she took her to her room, it was dark already.
Humaira clutched more onto Ilham's body as she cried non stop. "Ilham, he begged me to marry him, but I didn't. I always laugh it off and brush it off as a joke. I didn't know he would be killed, I would've married him, he's the only man I truly love." Her shoulders were shaking vehemently, it was now that she believed Rafiq was dead. And it was one of the most terrific feelings of her life. If not the most painful.
Ilham sat down beside her and Humaira rested her head on her laps. "That's what was written in his book of destiny, Humaira. There's no way you can change that. Let's pray he rests well in his grave. May Jannah be his final abode." Humaira could only cry, it was even more painful when she breathe and knew Rafiq was already covered in sand and he would never see the light of the day.
Ilham stood up, "You should go and bathe, Humaira. Crying won't change the fact that Rafiq is killed. Daddy would take care of the case and make sure justice is served. You should only pray for him." Humaira nodded her head and watched as Ilham walked out of her room.
How can she calm down when Rafiq was killed? He was the only man she had ever loved and had planned a future with. She was only playing hard to get, how can he do this to her? How can he let him kill him? His only mother and sister, how could he just give up like that and let himself be killed? She thought he was strong and truly determined. She thought he had goals to achieve and dreams to accomplish like he always said. "Humaira, whatever happens, I'll make sure to be rich and give my mother and sister the best life they deserve." Him being killed was him being successful? Humaira didn't know when she broke to even more tears and screamed at the pitch of her lungs.
Ilham brought food to her and she stared at the food, unable to take a spoon to her mouth. She couldn't believe she was going to eat while Rafiq was there; alone in the damp and darkness filled hole. He was being shrouded with only white clothing and he was there to meet his lord. She cried, even more, contemplating whether he had done enough good deeds to meet Allah yet. What if his sins weighed more than his rewards and he would be punished with hellfire...
"Ilham!" She cried, looking truly terrified at the thought. "Can I do it? How can I make Rafiq gain more rewards even though he's dead? He owes me that, Ilham."
Ilham placed her hand on both her shoulder and smiled ruefully at her, she had never seen Humaira shed a single tear over something but she was the one crying profusely before her today. She didn't mind saving the face and acting cold like she always did. She was truly terrified.
"Humaira, I get it you love Rafiq but crying over him won't bring him back, you know? You have to set your mind at ease and stop these tears. Rafiq needs your prayers, not your tears. Pray for him as you've never prayed for anything or anyone in this world. Fast on his behalf, give out a charity on his behalf, build a mosque or a well on his behalf. Just do anything rewardful even if it's a smile towards people and he'll be rewarded. You should stop crying this hard, you're bound to lose him. What are you going to do if you wake up and find Daddy died on his bed just like your mother died before your eyes?"
Talking about Humaira's mother that a forbidden act, but Ilham didn't care about that rule today. She could barely remember the day her mother died, she was only a girl of five years old. She came back from school and met her sick before she was taken to the hospital, she had already died. That memory was fresh in Humaira's heart more than every other memory of her life.
Humaira closed her eyes and more tears cascaded down her cheeks, "Ilham, I'm going to miss him so bad. Just like Mother, he's a huge part of me." Ilhan finally made her eat and she left her to herself, she noticed she needed some time alone to absorb this kind of pain and truly believe it.
Humaira prayed tirelessly that night, she had never felt this religious all her life. She felt that Rafiq's death was like a warning sign sent to her from Allah. She woke up the next morning and found out that she slept on the prayer mat she prayed, and she walked up to her window and opened it, giving room for the morning wind to wash away her pains.
They set out with Ilham and two bodyguards with a driver to Gashaka local government, that's where Rafiq's mother lived with his only sister. He worked in the city of Taraba as a banker. Humaira felt her tears rushing back to her face when she saw the throng of people gathered in front of their house, Ilham hugged her and consoled her before entered the house and met his mother. She wasn't crying, but she had the colour of her eyes turned into bloodshot and her eyelids barely opened properly due to how they had swelled up.
They conducted their condolences and Humaira couldn't hold back her tears when she saw his sister; Yusrah, seated at the far end of the house. It looked like she wanted no one near her and she had her knees brought up to her chest as she stared into space. Humaira walked slowly towards Yusrah, with her tears dripping down with every step she took towards the girl. She squatted down beside her and Yusrah looked up to her before she took off her eyes from Humaira's face.
"My name is Humaira, and you're Yusrah right?" Yusrah jerked up at the mention of Humaira's name and she hugged her.
"You're the Humaira Rafiq keeps talking about? You're the one he said he was going to marry and promised me that I'll spend my holidays at your house. He was killed Humaira, brutally murdered." The kind of gurgle that escaped her lips broke Humaira even more than the revelation of Rafiq's death. She was even more flustered than the time she went into the bathroom and washed Rfaiq's blood from her body.
"It's going to be alright, Yusrah. Rafiq is dead only in your eyes but not your heart. He can live in your heart for all the years you have left in this world, right?" Yusrah looked up to her, and even though she had tears cascading down her cheeks unchecked, she nodded her head.
"Then I want you to stop crying, you need to be strong for your mother. You're all she has now. She lost your father then Rafiq, won't you give her the good life Rafiq always wished to give her?"
"I will, but it will be hard now that Rafiq isn't with me. What's more left for my life?" Yusrah cried even more bitterly, looking at how their mother was smiling with so much aplomb at the guests that were leaving as she thanked them for coming over.
Humaira opened her bag and pulled out something, "Here, I can't give this to your mother because it's quite crowdy over there. Here's a key to a car, you can either use it or sell it or even give it out on hire. And this," she handed her a cheque and continued "This is a cheque of twenty million nairas. It might not wrap up the loss of Rafiq, but it can be of help. I'll give you my number so you'll call me whenever you guys have a problem." She wrote her number on a sticky note and handed it to a stupefied Yusrah. She knew Rafiq had once told her that Humaira's father was a tycoon but she had never imagined this from Humaira.
"I can't take this from you, Humaira. It's too much." Yusrah tried handing her back the key and the cheque when Humaira smiled and put them down on her laps.
"You have to take them Yusrah, you can't deny this. I'm your sister, even if Rafiq is no more between us. The car is parked some miles away from this house by your right, you can have someone take it away because of the children playing around." Yusrah escorted them to their car, not having the right words to thank Humaira. All Humaira did was smiled as she kept repeating, "Make sure you call me, Yusrah. I'll come back when I get the chance to." She rested her head on Ilham's shoulder as they drove off the town.
That's it. Do you think Abba will be out? Abi Nuriyya no dey love him?😂 Allah zai saka ma Aisha o😂
With this, we've come to the last preview chapter and the complete book can be gotten through okadabooks and selar. Link on my bio❤️