Hearts On Fire

20: Accidental Hug

Al-mustapha wrapped his both hands over her back and he held her in place. She tried to get out of his hold but couldn't, and she softly punched his chest, "I need to leave, Al-mustapha, will you please tell me everything I need to know so I'll let you rest in peace?!" She asked and he slowly let go of her. She lifted herself off from his chest with her heart wildly beating against her chest and she wanted so bad to place her hand over there and feel how it moved.

"Listen, I won't repeat my words more than once..." and then he told her everything. From his assumptions to how his words might be true with all the evidences and all. She kept looking at him with eyes bulged out and head nodding, seeing all she had been cracking her head up being solved without must hassles.

"That's it, I pray you don't have a dull brain that forget everything easily. Don't make me loose my sleep for nothing." He glared at her and she chuckled before she stood up from the bed. Al-mustapha watched as she playfully saluted him with a broad smile on her lips.

"Thank you, sir! Your labour shall not be in vain!" She chuckled and walked out of the room, and he found himself following her retreating back with his eyes intensely. He didn't know what he felt about her, but the smile she flashed him with her hand positioned on her forehead, he loved it.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to go back to sleep. But with each beat of his heart, he felt her soft body on him when she fell on his chest, and he quickly aborted the thought, just as immediately as Alex's thought crossed his mind. He lain down on his bed for long, thinking about the best way to flow with the case he had in hand, and he prayed it would be a success. A shrill from his phone jolted him out of his trance and he picked it up.

It was one of his cousins, "Hello, Al-mustapha, I know you might be sleeping now or you're at the office, but I figure out you might need to know what's about to happen." Those words were the first that came to his ears and he wondered what happend that Faruk would call him at this time of the day.

"What's going to happen, Faruk?" he asked, silently preparing himself for the worst.

"Sarauniya just announced that all our cousins will be having lunch in your house today, and I know you might not be aware of it, because I doubt even Mama Fulani knows." Al-mustapha didn't know when he sat upright and rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes. What the hell did he just heard? All his what? That's more than fifty of them, for those around, whom aren't in schools, other states and whatnots.

"Thank you, Faruk. I'm so glad you informed me." Sarauniya was the first wife of the Sultan, and the Mother of only Zubair and Rahma; The royal gem. He knew this lunch idea came from no one but Rahma, and what the hell was he supposed to do?

Call Ummah! A part of him urged and he dialled her number without second thoughts, because she was arguably the only one that could help him in this situation. And Fatima Zarah isn't even at home. Wait, even if she was, he knew she couldn't cook for almost fifty people, all in the name of his cousins.

"Assalamu Alaikum, Al-mustapha?" Ummah asked, because whenever he called, something had surely happened or was about to happen and he didn't know how to go about it.

"Good morning, Ummah. Faruk just got me that Sarauniya had told all my cousins they're having a lunch in my house. All of them that currently live in the palace, Ummah." He was worried, because he knew this would make Ummah up the creek.

Ummah was silent for a while before she heaved a sigh and spoke, "Hmm, she's trying to shame me, not you, Al-mustapha. It's okay, I'll prepare the meal over here and send the servants that'll serve them and everything. All you have to do is, get Fatima Zarah home before they arrive, I'll send you a text when their cars start to leave. You two should be very careful and act on your best behaviours, okay? Tell that to Fatima Zarah." She ended the call even before he got to reply and he knew she had already started throwing orders at the maids. If one was to walk into Mama Fulani's chamber now, it would surely become his or her least favorite place.