46

Humaira sat down beside Daddy on the sofa he was sitting on and looked at him, “Daddy! I can’t go to ATBU!” she spoke and Daddy looked up from his phone and glared at her.

“Aisha, you have to go. You’re not going there to study, just to spend some days in the VC’s house. He’s a very good friend of mine, I’m sure he’ll take very good care of you. If not, then you have to follow us to the umrah, that’s final.” They had been having this argument with Daddy ever since he said they were going to Umrah and she said she wasn’t going to follow them. And he said she had to stay in the Vice Chancellor's house in ATBU before they came back.

“Daddy, can’t I stay here with the maids? I promise to be a good girl, Daddy. Please. I thought you hated Bauchi,” she was trying in every way she can to coax Daddy until he agreed and let her stayed, but it loomed she wasn’t going to succeed.

“That was then, and I’d rather have you stay in Bauchi than for you to stay here alone with the maids and guards. I know the moment our flight takes off you’re sending them off, and I might come back and find this house turned into a graveyard.” She whined and placed her head on Daddy’s shoulder. Whenever Daddy wanted to make her do something she didn’t want to, he brought back the issue of Rafiq’s death.

“Daddy you so well know that murder wasn’t me and even the suspect wasn’t the culprit. What again? Please, Daddy, I don’t want to leave.”

Daddy shrugged her off his shoulders and stood up, “We’re leaving in two days if you’re going to follow us it’s fine, if now; you’re leaving to Bauchi tomorrow. Tell Ilham I’m out and I’ll be back during dinner.” She knew the moment she saw Daddy’s retreating as he walked out of his living room, she had to choose either of the two. Going to Umrah with Daddy and Ilham which was equivalent to being tortured for the two weeks they were going to spend in Makkah and Madina or going to Bauchi where she knew no one but that meant freedom? Because she was going to the state as the rebel she was.

She smiled and stood up on her feet, “Bauchi then, it’ll be an adventure I know.” She walked directly to her room and called for a maid to pack her clothes as she pointed at the clothes she wanted to go with. When Ilham got to the room, she looked surprised at the clothes Humaira had thrown higgledy-piggledy on her bed, as she checked out the ones she was going to give out.

“What’s happening here?” Ilham asked as she sat down on the bed, looking at how busy both Humaira and the maid looked.

Humaira looked at her for a split second and took off her gaze, “I’m going to Bauchi tomorrow, so I’m packing and also choosing the clothes to give out.” She answered and continued doing what she was doing.

“Can I be of help? Humaira, it’s frightening how thrilled you seemed, last time I checked, you wanted so bad to stay at home.” Ilham flashed a look that was full of suspicious and Humaira threw her head back in laughter.

“I had a change of mind some minutes ago,” she answered and laughed more at the bulged eyes of Ilham, “No one is going to be killed, Ilham. I promise.”

Ilham only shook her head and helped Humaira in packing her clothes before Humaira recalled about Daddy’s message and she conveyed it to her. During dinner, Humaira made sure she squirted a huge amount of money out of Daddy’s pocket as a compensation, and she slept that night with a feeling of excitement gliding into her heart. She chose to travel there by road, despite how Daddy had been so persistent that she took the flight there, Humaira declined.

She woke up early and found the maids already making breakfast because they knew she was leaving and they had some snacks and yoghurts packaged for her in case she felt hungry on their way. She silently ate her breakfast without waiting for Daddy or Ilham and she went back to her room and got ready. She was packing her hair when Abba’s thought crossed through her mind and she wished she won’t run into him in Bauchi. That Psycho freaked the senses out of her. And she hated the fact that she can’t stop thinking about him.

“Aisha, promise me that you’ll be a very good girl and not give Alhaji Wada a hard time, please?” Daddy spoke as he hugged her, they had escorted her to the car and she was looking as if she was going to cry. But Humaira was known to be cold, she wasn’t going to cry.

She laughed humorlessly and nodded her head at Daddy. “I promise, Daddy. Don’t you trust me again?”

He laughed and patted her head before he said he trusts her. She moved to where Ilham was standing as she smiled at them, Humaira hugged her and Ilham whispered to her, “Make sure you find a handsome suitor for yourself, Humaira.”

Humaira backed away and whined, she stomped her legs on the ground and looked at Daddy, “Daddy, tell Ilham to stop doing this to me.”

“Ilham, what did you do?” Daddy laughed as he asked Ilham.

“Daddy, I asked her to find a handsome suitor for us, I want to have a grandchild next year by this time.”

Daddy laughed as he looked at how Humaira had her face grimaced, “She said what I’ve been wanting to tell you that. Now that Ilham had said it, you should try and do so please.”

“Daddy!” She whined and got into the car, and Daddy closed the door for her while he laughed. “You can’t be eating my food and you don’t want to study at any university. What more use do you have than to get married?” His words fell into deaf ears as the car drove out of the mansion.

He sighed and slung his hand over Ilham’s shoulder, “I pray she doesn’t give Alhaji Wada any trouble during her stay. I purposely sent her there so maybe the environment will inspire her and she might want to get into a university.”

Ilham rested her head on his shoulder and smiled at him, “I pray so too, she’s a lovely girl.”

❃

No matter how Baba tried to get that thought out of Abba’s head, he seemed to be hell-bent on Humaira’s matter. He still couldn’t come to the fact that she wasn’t the one he was together with the day before he left for Bauchi. It got to the point that Baba restrained Abba from entering the main building of the house unless it was time for lunch or dinner and that too under the supervision of Mama or him, or Nasir when he was able to come back for the weekend.

He always freaked Aisha out whenever he set his eyes on her, he was always confused and need an explanation about why she played as two different people, in two different states with two different names. He felt he owed her an explanation. He told Baba that he was going to Taraba today and if he saw Humaira in Taraba, then there must be something enshrouded somewhere. But if he didn’t, then Aisha was Humaira.

Baba told him that if he found Humaira, he should come back with her or called them so they will all go there and meet her. Because it proved that he was going nuts about all this Aisha and Humaira matter. He embarked on the journey, and he drove directly to A & H when he entered into the city of Taraba. The staff knowing him as a VIP customer, he didn’t meet any difficulties in acquiring Humaira’s address.

He drove to the given address and silently prayed he would find a hope to hold onto. Or even a hint he could solve this puzzle with. The guards looked at him and shook their heads, “We’re sorry sir, Humaira has left to Bauchi and her parent went for Umrah two days ago. You have to come back in two weeks if you want to meet her.” That was what he needed, he knew Aisha was Humaira was Aisha.

He hardly slept in the night and could barely wait for the blue sky to unwrap itself on the canvass when he hit the road again. The moment he went back home, he found Aisha seated in the hut as she wrote, and he held her hands and made her sat upright and he hugged her to his chest. “I knew you were Aisha and also Humaira, I…” Aisha pulled herself out of his hold and slapped him hard across his cheek.

She didn’t know what she did until she saw him packing the cheek she slapped, and that’s when her whole body broke into a shiver. She took her journal and ran away in so much fear. She banged on a hard chest and screamed, afraid it was Abba that ensnared her and was going to give her the beating of her life. “I’m so sorry, Ya Abba, I didn’t know wh…” her voice was breaking as she kept moving backwards with her eyes clenched shut and her tears already spilling out of the slits.

Nasir pulled her to himself and hugged her tightly on his chest, “It’s okay, Aisha. It’s me, I won’t hurt you, okay?” She seemed to have calmed down for the seconds she laid there silently on Nasir’s chest.

She looked up with her teary eyes and innocent fluttered her eyelashes at him, “I mistakenly slapped him, Dr Please hide me away from him, he’s going to use his belt on me.” She was looking frantically around them as her heartbeat at an unhealthy rate.

“It’s fine, Aisha. I saw what happened through the kitchen’s window, you did the right thing. He won’t hurt you, I promise.” And slowly, Nasir guided her to the living room and she sat and gulped down the water he handed her before she saw Mama and Baba that was seated on the sofas. Nasir told them all that happened and Baba infuriately asked him to call Abba.

He did, and when Abba came he cried while telling them that she was Humaira. Baba shook his head and stood up, it was evident that Abba had gone nuts. “I’ll have you transferred to ATBU, Abba. Maybe someone enchanted you with a spell in Taraba. You aren’t going back there.”

Mama nodded her head as she knelt beside Abba and he cried in her arms. “Mama I’m sure it was Aisha. Please you should, believe me, Mama. I know she can’t get back to me, I only want you to believe me.”

Mama shook her head sadly and stroke her hand through his hair, “We can’t believe what you’re saying, Abba. Aisha had been with us for all the months she stayed in Bauchi after you divorced her, Maybe you mistook her for someone, but she can’t be two people in two different states.”

Aisha trudged to her room and locked it before she broke into tears, this was getting more unbearable as days passed by. Everything was painful, and she dreaded the revelation that would come out of this. She could sense it at the pitch of her stomach, this confusion would surely not end in peace. It was surely going to be a pave for a more painful phase of her life. That she was sure of. She watched through her mirror as Nasir passed by, and she wished she could feel herself in his arms to calm her down.

❃

Humaira was neither happy nor sad about her stay in Bauchi, she was always on phone with Daddy and Ilham and for a split second, she wished she can run into her Psycho. She knew he didn’t live in the staff quarters of ATBU, hell he didn’t even work there to start with. Even if he worked for staff in ATBU, she was sure he lived at home with his family. She got tired of sitting in her room and came out to the living room.

“Mami,” She called at the wife of the VC, as she heard her children called her. “I’ll take a stroll around the compound, it’s so boring sitting here all day.”

Mami nodded her head, even though she wanted to ask Humaira to put on a hijab, she zipped her mouth shut. She could remember her husband warning her not to indulge in Humaira’s affairs, she was a spoilt brat and a very stubborn girl. She watched as Humaira put on her earpiece and walked out of the house. As soon as the soothing evening wind caressed her body, Humaira smiled to herself.

She didn’t know she walked that long until she found herself in the academic staff quarters, she looked around and saw a car speeding towards her. The car was parked before her and she pulled her face into a frown. The guy came out of the car and rushed to where she was, he nearly bumped into her, Humaira took a step back. “Watch your steps, mister.” She snarled and glared at him.

“Aisha?!” Jaafar muttered in so much surprise and wanted to touch her face to make sure she was the one. “Ya Allah, I can’t believe I finally saw you after all these years. I’m sorry, Aisha. What happened to you all these years?” He was taking a few steps towards Humaira took a step backwards and he got so close to her that she had to slap him hard across both cheeks. She intended not to break the promise she made to Daddy but this man had provoked her that she had no other choice but to do what she did to him.

First, he called her Aisha which wasn’t his name and no one in this world was allowed to call her that except for Daddy. Second, he got so close to her that she felt his breath fanning her skin. She concluded that the Bauchi state was full of psychopathic fools. First, it was Abba, and now this fool she didn’t even know of his name.

“First, take your dirty body away from me, and don’t you dare move close to me ever again. And a concrete warning, don’t you ever dare call me Aisha again, not even in your dream. For goodness sake, is Bauchi full of ignorant fools? Move out please, idiot!” She spat and turned to her heels but Jaafar held her wrist.

She stood in track and thought for a moment she had to use her combat mode. The moment she turned, she clenched her fist and gave Jaafar a hard unexpected blow on his nose. He looked taken aback and released his hold on her wrist. Humaira hissed loudly and shrugged off invisible dust from her shoulders before she walked away, leaving a stupefied Jaafar behind.