A Trial On Love

03

It was as if their tongues got tied, because there was no way they would've been staring at him with their mouths slightly opened and not being able to form a word. Then he realized he was the one that was supposed to talk to them first, right? He was basically the intruder here, and not the other way round.

So, he cleared his voice and spoke, "Assalamu Alaikum, Yan makaranta (students)."

They squealed almost at the same time and he couldn't stop his chuckle. "Wallah yana jin Hausa! Where's Rayhan? She should come and ask him her question!" The one he noticed was the loudest amongst them said excitedly and he chuckled again.

"I'm sorry if I had intruded in your conversation." They were already shaking their heads to show him no offense taken and in fact, his presence was highly appreciated. "But I overheard your conversation a bit, if I may expose myself. My name is Dr Kurfi and from the name you all know that I'm a Hausa man, right?"

They were smiling from ear to ear, if he could do justice to the looks on their faces, he could say they were even outwardly swooning. He smiled and pointed at the food they had in their hands. "Can I buy your food? But only if you promise to stop referring at a certain Dr Kurfi as Dan Bature, deal?"

They threw their heads back and laughed. The one Rayhan had referred to as Nafisa had this dreamy look on her face when she said, "How I wish Rahi was here, she would've spoken to him."

"Who's that?" He asked, after he paid for their food, bought much more extra that he was sure she would be able to eat as well. Because obviously, the reason she refused to eat was because she didn't have any money, that he could tell without even asking.

"The girl that just left, have you seen her?" He pretended to think for a minute, as if she wasn't even the reason he had come out of his car in the first place. And once he nodded his head, she continued. As though he had asked.

"Well, her name is Rayhanatu Muhammad Salis, but mostly everyone in this village either calls her Rahanatu or Rahi, and she hates both names. She prefers being called Rayhan." She stared at him for a moment before she added, as if that would make him understand who she was talking about better, "the one with the silver eyes, that's Rayhan."

It was as though she knew that Rayhan's eyes were the first thing noticeable in her. The first feature one would take note of once one saw her. He simply smiled at them, nodded his head and head back to his car. They thanked him profusely before they left and he kept repeating her name in his mind.

Rayhanatu Muhammad Salis.

Rayhan.

Before Mukhtar called him so he can come out to get his card signed, Nameer had thought of a thousand and one things. Most of his thoughts were about the girls that had just left and their conversation. It felt each one of the four girls fell into each category Mukhtar had told him about.

And the last one? The one he wished he could help at least one or a thousand girls out of, happened to be Rayhan. He didn't even know how it was possible only less than an hour after meeting her but he was already referring to her with her name in his head and thoughts. Another call from Mukhtar jolted him out of his trance and he stopped midway and hopped out of the car, reminding himself to get Hajia her Fura and Nono before he head back to Katsina.

•••

She listened intently as none of them could stop to take a breather and they all wanted to be heard by her while they rambled about 'Her Dan Bature' as they had unofficially named him. She didn't know why them calling and referring to him as hers felt so good and it always internally made her giggle whenever one of the girls said that.