Kano State, Nigeria.
2012.
Falak woke up the next day feeling very happy and super hyperactive! She got dressed herself in the other set of uniform she has. Her mother asked her not to wash it and that the maids will do it but Falak being Falak didn't agree because she said 'I do all the washing clothes back at home' so her mother let her with a sigh.
They walked into the bathroom together yesterday night and washed the clothes together, she washed while her mother rinsed and spread. Falak was so happy, prosperous and cheerful because her mother told her that they will talk about her life when the time comes so she is happy with that. It's a reassurance and that alone is what matters, they will talk, now, tomorrow, in a week or closer.
After washing the clothes, they walked together to the dining room where everyone was sitting and waiting for them. They got stared at from the servants, guards, maids, the Royal brothers and also the king. They know they look utterly alike and they knew it so they released a smile at the same time before sitting themselves. The duo look more like sisters than mother and daughter, it took everyone's breath away. Not lying but even their smiles are the same.
The dinner went uneventful and monotonous like always except for Falak who kept babbling to Humaid, Huzaif and Suwaid since they are the only ones she's comfortable with. The other brothers gave them weird glances across the table since they didn't know when they bonded. Shaddad was surprised at first but then settle his face, he doesn't like that she is getting too cozy with his brothers.
Now, she manage to get out of the bed and get dressed because she is looking forward to the breakfast ahead. She sighed and combed her hair, she will have to pleat her hair or she will go crazy, it's very long full Fulani hair. She packed it in a low ponytail and add the beret on her head before taking her backpack then sauntering out with Ashir and Khamis. She did enacted a gradual rotary motion in front of the mirror before leaving.
"Good morning everyone!" She greeted, sitting herself between Yazid and Masrooq, they are her next target and she will make them talk to her whether by force or with fire and volcano.
Everyone around the table chorused back a morning except Shaddad and true to Asad's words, Masrooq's voice almost scared her but she grasped herself last minute to sit down and then massaged her racing heart. It was so deep and hard, almost close to Shaddad's but still deeper and harder. Hmm, this should be interesting for her.
After breakfast, she took her lunch box from her mother and left the house with her guards. She kissed Humaid, Huzaif, Suwaid on the cheek before leaving, she left a very shocked Shaddad because he wasn't expecting that, no, not at all. How can a village lass know how to give her brothers' a kiss on the cheek and a bye? This girl is getting beyond him, how?
Falak laughed when she saw all their surprised, astonished, flabbergasted faces. Jabrayah did it to her yesterday before she left and she told her that she always does that to her brother, sister and mother before leaving the house so she also did it to her brothers, she's not really comfortable with the King at the moment so she will wait for another time. She can't do it to her mom and not do it to her stepdad, that will look like she's siding with her mom.
School went great but Falak was trying to get Jabrayah to tell her what happened to her but she didn't, she said she wants to confirm if her father is joking to her or not before she tells her. Falak only sighed and ask her to do as she wants, she is not forcing anything on her. She looks more sad today than any day, not even yesterday.
Shaddad was sitting in his office checking on the hospital links. He sure as hell was exhausted with two surgeries at the same time, he had to. Those two patients were at the verge of dying because it was an accident, it's just that their lives are not at the end or they would've died instantly. They were badly injured and that alone is a lesson, Allah is great, the greatest.
One of them had thoracic trauma, sternum and cardiac bruising. When the vehicle summersaulted, the front passenger suffered spinal cord injury and that had Shaddad feeling bad, spinal cord injury is a huge problem but since it wasn't broken, she can still stand. Her chest was pierced by the debris of the broken windscreen, it was bad. If you're not used to seeing those kind of things, you would vomit all the contents in your stomach, including your intestines.
Shaddad sighed and stood up, he should check on how Intimah is doing, he likes the kid so much because she always manages to take his mind off a lot of things. If it was up to him, he would've took her home and live with her or maybe exchange her with that village lass that can't keep quite and makes him talk even when he doesn't want to. She just manages to push his buttons without doing a thing, even her gaze makes him mad somehow.
"Oh here you are! Shaddad please go get Falak from school, her guards manage to get stuck in your father's escorts since he just went to Bauchi for a Royal meeting, please go get her. She's been there for an hour, hurry." His stepmother pleaded, frantically talking to another nurse.
"I can't." He grumbled the two words, feeling like she's strangling him instead of begging him. He can't just up and go to that village lass's school to pick her up, she'd burst his brains before they move.
"I beg of you, Shaddad. Harith is in the surgery room and I can't find Masrooq." She beseeched, leaving him in the middle of the hospital lobby with some nurses, she needs to check on another baby that was born yesterday because he has breathing problem.
Shaddad sighed for the nth time that day before walking out of the hospital, trying his best not to alert his guards and he manage to do just that. He got into his 2012 Ford Edge and rolled out of the hospital compound, alone without his guards. He sighed, his father is getting stricter with them taking guards because his younger brother Suwaid was once attacked. They didn't succeed though, the guards were hiding.
He parked the car outside the school and saw her sitting all alone on the bench, she was busy staring out at some cows that are being guided by a Fulani man with tattered clothes, she had a small smile but you could see that it's clear in her eyes she's thinking about something like a treasure. He rolled his eyes heavenward, she is always dramatic and he knows she's thinking about something stupid.
He backtracked to what he just did. Did he just rolled his eyes again? O' Allah, this girl is really getting on his nerves. She isn't even talking to him but he is rolling his eyes? Isn't that too girly for him? How can she even make him roll his eyes just by looking at her being her dramatic self? He sighed again, he really should distance himself from the crazy lass.
Rolling down his window, he beeped the car, alerting her of his presence hut she didn't raise her head up from the cows. Or was she once a cow too? He chuckled at his weird imagination and now when was the last time he chuckled, dayumn, this is getting worse. Not even Intimah could bring a chuckle out of him but now just a small stupid thought brought out that chuckle. No, he's not a sadist or depressed person, he just don't see any reason why he should keep laughing and chuckling.
He beeped again, this time with more annoyance because she really is getting on his nerves with her ignorance. How can she not hear him beeping the car just because she's looking at some damn cows? Her head snapped up to the car before she stood up and walked there, leaving her bag on the bench? How insensate is she?
"Oh, it's you!" She beamed, looking at him from the passenger's side window that he rolled down just for her to know he was the one from where she's sitting but she still acted like a fool and had to come and see if he was the one.
"Yes, now get your bag and come." He had to grip the stirring wheel tighter so as to not yell at her and cause himself another torture from her.
"Okay? You're taking me home then?" She asked, tilting her head sideways to look at him even though the car is taller than her.
"Yes!" This time around, he yelled out the word. How stupid is she? He almost cried for himself, because he knew this ride will cause nothing but pain to him.
"Oh okay." She frowned and skipped back to get her bag not before stopping to talk to the man guiding the cows, the man smiled and looks like he's thanking her. That got Shaddad curious, what did she do to him? It's not like she gave him money because he can see that she didn't.
She made her way to the back, opening the door and ready to slide in. What does she think she's doing? Shaddad asked himself. Is he her driver now?
"You can't sit at the back, I'm not a driver. Come back here." He pointed at the passenger's side with a tilt of his head since he knew he must explain everything to her.
"Oh?" She shrugged and opened the passenger's side, settling herself in. She just wanted to touch the leather seats, it's so sleek.
She didn't say another word till they reached the hospital. Yeah, he brought her there because he can't take another ten minutes to take her home. He will just send her to her mother and then go back to his office and see what he has next. He is a doctor and he shouldn't be leaving the hospital all the time.
His presence made her feel small because of how brooding and big he is. It's weird that his car also makes her feel intimidated and when he yelled that yes, she almost peed herself. His voice was very hard, commanding, authoritative, emanating it's own power to settle someone down. And his eyes? They were telling her to follow his orders or she would manufacture a problem for herself and she knew she can't get out of that contorted, twisted, puzzle she conceived.
The only thing that made her kept quite, he could crush, bruise and destruct her and no one will find out since they are the only two in the car. And, she's being thinking about Jabrayah's weird behaviour and wellbeing. Most massive and largest, because she felt like a midget, sandfly next to him.
****
Yoyoyoyo!
How are you again? So, what is going on up there? Shaddad and Falak in the same car? O'my, O'my, who saw that coming and what do you think is going to happen? Hahahaha, I can't wait for you to feel Falak's stupidity. . .
RQ; Would you rather be transported permanently 500 years into the future or 500 years into the past? Hehehe, me I want future o. What will I do with past since it's already gone? You?
©Aishatu.