Alex's point of view:
I stared at her for a while before looking around the restaurant. Well, the truth is that mind is not on the view of the restaurant but on her, she is a Muslim indeed, she rejected the menu since it is full of pork and her so called haram food, she ordered only soda. when she dropped the menu she looked up at me and smiled.
Well all I did was to frown, tell me the stuff you know about me and stop smiling; I have to pick up my son from his school.
"You are a Muslim?" I asked her. This is my first time communicating with a Muslim, hijabi to be precised.
"Yes, I am a Muslim" she replied as she smiled at me.
"Where are you from?" I asked her.
"Greece" she answered curtly.
"Are you living alone?" I asked her. She might be wearing a happy face but she seems like she feels lonely.
"Yes. Before you ask me about myself. I am schooling here, but I am from Thessaloniki." She explained.
"Okay? You came all the way from there, you must be lonely" I told her.
"I always do" she said.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.
"I don't have a family. The family I have is the Muslim community that took me in since when I was small, I didn't know my family. I don't even know my parents. I was taken in by the community. They are the family I know since I was going up and they are blessing to me from the almighty.
They told me the truth about my self. I don't know but since then I always wish I had my own family. I always wished until know that I realised that what I was doing was wrong. I should be thankful to the almighty Allah instead of being jealous of others, so I set out to make friends since most of students in my department never wants to make friend with me. Then I met you. I guess we can be friends" she narrated.
Her story hurts but she is lucky after all she was taken care of by some people.
"How old are you?" I asked her
"Twenty two years old." She replied.
"And what of you?" She asked.
"29 years old" I told her. She raised her eyes in surprise.
"You look so young to be of that age."
"Thank you"
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Alex and you?" I asked her.
"Aliyah" she said.
"So can you tell me what has been bugging you?" She stared at me like she is observing something.
Maybe telling will lesser the problem off my shoulders
"There is this that I had affair with five years ago. I was his personal assistant and he was my boss. I had affair with him despite knowing he was married.
I was so stupid in love with him that I didn't even think about the consequences of my actions.
I was warned about it but I decided to turn my deaf ears to the warning.
I got pregnant with his child but unfortunately for me he rejected us and chose his family over us. He gave me sum of money to abort the pregnancy and get out of his life. To sum it up well, we were exposed at the same time, I was tagged with bad names in the society. I was humiliated and he was spared.
The worst is that, I got disowned my my parents.
That was when I knew that my dignity, image and values had been damaged by my own stupid act. It was the time I knew I was a disgrace to motherhood and I was no body again. I left the city to start a new life with my child" I paused as I cleared my throat.
"I left his life five years ago and now he is back in my life. And he is threatening to take my child away from me. Now, tell me why would I be happy after all?"
"He is bad" she said.
"Bad? He is Lucifer and a jerk" I said angrily.
"Those words ain't allowed in my religion" she smiled.
"Oh! Okay" I said in realisation.
"I am not criticizing you but you were involved in something bad. You guys were involved in Zinâ. You were involved in fornication while he was involved in adultery. It's a sin in my religion" she said.
"I know it is a sin" I told her.
"But seriously,he is bad. She should be even remorseful of what he did to you instead he is still threatening you on what is yours" she said.
"So what are you planning to do?" She asked.
"I don't know seriously. Maybe I should just run away" I told her.
"You can't do that. You have to be strong and brave. You have to show him that you are not a weak woman that he might think you are. You just need the almighty in this and I am certain everything will be great. He is capable of solving problems no matter how big it is" she said.
"How can he solve it?" I asked her.
"Just move closer to him" she replied.
"How?" I asked her.
She removed a book from her backpack.
"This is my English Quran, you can read it. It will be your wish whether you want to worship God or not. That won't be business. I won't force you. Worship him if you want and if you don't. It is okay. It is your choice.
Please don't make the mistake if touching the Quran without being pure. Being pure means you have to get your self cleansed by taking holy bath called ghusl. You can search about that later.
And this is our flyer. If you need anything, you can just call the number below. We will be glad to help you. It is not a must you choose this religion if you don't want to, there are religions out there that you can. I am just telling you about my religion because that is my religion and it benefits me." She said.
"Let me help you to keep the Holy book,when we get to the compound, I will give you" she put it back in the back.
"What if I don't want to practice any religion?" I asked her.
"It is your choice. It is between you and your creator. It is not my business. Even if you don't want to be religious. Have faith and believe in him. That is the least you can do" she said as she gulped down her drink.
"Nice meeting you, and mind you. We help to fight for individual's right in our community mostly women and children right according to Islamic laws. We can help you in fighting your battle if you want." She said as she took up.
"No, I guess I can fight it myself. Where are you going?" I asked her.
"I am running late for class. I hope I helped you today. We are friends don't forget, I will see you at home" she said as she left.
Now the ball is in my court, I have o play it well but what is all this. The questions run through my mind millions times before I went out of the restaurant to my house but not before I paid her bills. I don't know but I feel we share a connection. Not just a connection but a thick and strong connection. She made me forget my sorrow for a while, so why can't I keep her? I need people like her in my life.
I hope to see her more often.
........................................
Plot changed. What do you think about it?
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And I have a new book on booknet, the title is the Hire a maid don't worry I am beginning it to wattpad when it is the right time.
*****
I want to use this medium to ask for your help, as you all know that I am a Nigerian, and you must be seeing what is happening on social media but you choose to ignore it because it is not your business, please now I am begging you to please help us raise our voices. People are suffering and dying.
Our leaders are meant to be our protectors but instead they are embezzling money every freaking day and killing the innocent beings, they don't care about us. Hunger is the fastest thing that kills and it is Nigeria. Please help to raise our voices on social media, enough is enough!
#ENDSARS
#ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY
#ENDSWAT
#BETTERTOGETHER
#BETTERNIGERIA
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Love you, bye.
Zainab