She tossed and turned over in her bed for a few seconds before finally becoming fully awake, she rubbed her eyes to clear the sleep, she wasn’t sure what had disturbed her sleep, turning over, she peeked at the bed side clock, it was just 3:30am, wondering what her woken her, she sat up as her ears picked up a strange sound, something musical like a person humming in a distance. Puzzled she frowned automatically coming to stand on her feet “what is that?” she wondered confused, standing up, she walked towards the sound, strangely, it was coming from the wall, getting even more confused, she slipped her slippers on and walked to the wall, putting her ears against the wall she listened holding her breath. It was a beautiful sound she admitted to herself, slow, beautiful and melodious. She could not quite place her finger on the music, the more she heard it, the more she was captivated by it. Who could be making that sound she wondered, obviously, it was coming from t
And so, it ended with a morning victory for Farhan or at least so it seemed. At work he found he knew absolutely nothing about running the business, everyone one had been instructed to be nice and helpful, he was thrilled at what he had been able to pick up on his first day, Alhaji had not been oblivious about the fact that he was not trained for such a position, so everyone had been duly instructed to help him settle in without trouble, most of the serious work was still been handled by the former manager. Hence Farhan felt he could relax and learn at his own pace, despite everything, he was determined to excel, for although he seemed not to have control over every other aspect of his life, he was determined to do his best at the one thing he had a free hand in, his work.By 4pm when he finally closed for the day he was very tired and very hungry, he had not had a stable meal for about four days, his appetite had deserted him, but after a long days’ work he felt he could
Farhan awoke with a sharp pain at his temple and an awful taste in his mouth, the room looked dark but from the sounds outside he guessed it was already day break. His whole body ached as he struggled to sit up, getting to his feet, he proceeded to perform his ablution and perform his salaat, he couldn’t remember the last time he missed the morning congregational prayers, the whole change was affecting him badly, judging from how he was feeling, he seemed to be coming down with a cold, since that Risha girl had emptied a whole bucket of cold water on him. About 20mins later he was ready for work, all the time his stomach gnawing with hunger, he couldn’t remember ever feeling this hungry in his entire life, he had gone to bed with a very empty stomach, to his disgust, he had discovered that the stores in the neighbourhood hardly stayed open beyond the Maghreb prayer, he missed his own lively neighbourhood, yes the areas was definitely over populated and noisy but it was lively also you
***Risha pressed the pillow to her face in a desperate attempt to block the annoying sound and find some sleep, it was around 1am and still she could not sleep.“Uurh!”, she exclaimed in disgust as she heard him sneeze loudly again and again, “when will he stop? He is driving me crazy.” She felt like screaming into the pillow. A few minutes passed without any sound, hoping she had heard the last for the night, she tried to find some sleep. But just as sleep began to take her on its wings, he sneezed again. “Aaaarh!!! That’s it,” she exclaimed jumping down from her bed. Angrily, she raced for his room, debating what to smack the fool with. As she barged into the room however, she stopped at the sight she saw. He was covered in thick blankets, shivering, his nose running free. Seeing him like that diffused some of her venomous anger. Although his eyes were open, she could tell he had not noticed she was there.He sneezed again.“Stop it”, she screamed, “stop it right now, you are dri
He stirred in his sleep, stretched and opened his eyes, he wasn’t sure, but he thought he could hear birds chipping outside or was he dreaming. Sitting up, it took about 10 seconds to register where he was. “How did I end up here?” He thought trying to remember. Then it all came to him, the night before, the fever, her barging into his room, giving him drugs, cooking that stuff she called food, all of it. Slowly, he got to his feet, the headache was gone and he felt slightly better than the day before. It was then he realised it was morning, he could see the rays of the sun as it shuns through the window, quickly he looked at the wall clock.“Subhnallah” he exclaimed as he realised what time it was, 10:17am. He was about to stand up when he realised she was sitting on the chair beside his.“Good morning to you husband, hope you had a good night rest? It must have been good considering how you slept like the fool you are.”Farhan stirred at her in amazement? “Why didn’t you wake me?”
It was a dark evening with cool gentle breeze, the beauty of the sunless sky obscured by mocking rain clouds, the sounds of the dry leaves on the ground, complaining how unfair it was that they had been cast down from the trees and the response of their comrades, affirming to hang on and continue the struggle against the wind.The clouds had moved a bit permitting a little light from the full moon, that glowed into the distant lake below and the lake in turn returning the favour by reflecting the beauty of its heavenly counterpart. The deem glow casting a shadow upon the trees and flowers as the night grew darker; everything emitted such undeniable beauty and calm.She shuddered and inhaled deeply in the scent of the flowers, the lake, the sand and the imaginary scent of his person, closing her eyes she exhaled, as a beautiful tear drop saturated her chin finding its way to her slightly parted lips, raising her head a little, she stared at the beauty of the moon as the dark cl
The guards stood up abruptly, each trying to look serious and business like, they held themselves straight, while trying to adjust their facial expressions; occasionally, they looked at their uniform to ensure all was in order. Hard as they tried, on such occasions, they were nervous as hell, it wasn’t every day that the brat showed up, but when she did, she always gave everyone something to remember, or more appropriately, something one would rather wish to forget, but wouldn’t dare to, because of fear of a repeat. Walking up the few stairs nonchalantly yet majestically, ignoring everyone and their silly salutations, coming up the few steps to the door, she jerked her head upwards, tossing her hair stylishly in the process as she waited for the door man to get the door. She passed through ignoring them all as if they were non-existent.So far so good, it seemed today she was in a good mood, content simply with ignoring everyone. But they had all learnt from experie
The receptionist looked down and whispered in a very weak voice as he passed her, “I am sorry sir; I really tried to stop her”. He paid no attention to the receptionist and walked straight for his office.Flashing everyone a crooked smile, Risha turned proudly and walked into her father’s office.The receptionist hurried back to her seat wiping the sweat from her fore head with a handkerchief.“Risha what is wrong with you” Alhaji Shehu demanded, as soon as Risha walked in and closed the door behind her.“What?” she asked raising her hands innocently, “what have I done wrong?” She asked rolling her eyes.“Everything” he said weakly, slumping into his comfortable chair, his hands over his face. He stayed that way for almost a minute.“Uhm dad, am still here you know?”He brought his hands from his cheeks to rub at his temples, a tired look on his face. &l
Risha froze at her place, the voice and those words stimulating something deep inside her being. She turned and a slight involuntary gasped escaped her slightly parted lips, hardly audible to anyone but herself. It was the person her father had been speaking to. He was a young tall figure, with sharp serene eyes, lean figure, frank looking face and beautifully pointed male nose, not too build but not bad looking either, he had those exceptionally handsome face features calm piercing eyes, small thin lips and thick brows, that made ladies stare, just as she was doing now.She tried failingly to stop her heart from analysing the enigmatic wonder before her. He was smiling charmingly at her a few steps away; he had come to stand close to the secretary.Risha quickly looked away, blinked quickly as she tried to regain her rattled composure. She realized he was still speaking. “If Hanifah was rude to you, then I am apologizing on her behalf” he said smiling at her.