A Trial On Love

07

Rayhan stood in the wake of the dust brought to life by his car. She kept staring at the corner it had disappeared into and she couldn't believe what he had told her. It was only now that she wasn't seeing his face that she felt the intensity of what had just happened and what that possibly meant to her life. Inna had agreed to her going to school. And if she had agreed, that meant the wedding with Musa might or mightn't take place.

Because, who took a bride to a boarding school? No one, right?

She heaved a sigh and palmed her face with both hands, because she really needed to set her heart right before she walked back into that house. Inna might all but act to them that she did agree when in reality, she did not. But with hopeful eyes and a heart that desperately begged Allah for his divine intervention, she turned back and walked into the house.

She saw Inna seated on the mat Dan Bature had sat on just minutes ago and she realized she could never get to remove the image of him in their house. As she served them water and he looked up to her with a look she wasn't able to decipher its meaning. Even though she was in agony and her heart was beating faster with each minute in fear of what the outcome of the meeting would be, Rayhan tried and smiled at him, and she watched the way his face changed before he took his eyes off her.

"Inna," she called out, because it seemed that the way Inna was seated with her back to the entrance, she was doing something so important or more. Like, acting all cool and luring Rayhan back into the house so she could do whatever it was she planned for her.

Inna turned to her with the brightest of smiles. And that was when Rayhan saw it, a bundle of cash. No, she was going to correct that, bundles of cash. "Come inside quickly!" Inna waved her over as if they had such a bond that if something good happened to either of them they rejoiced together and same goes with the bad ones.

But seeing that smile and how Inna was busy counting the money? She wasn't going to act cold. If one thing was certain in life, it was Inna's love for money. And since she had seen this much money Rayhan was sure she had never seen put together in her life, she had hope that maybe what Dan Bature said to her about Inna's acceptance was true.

She sat down stealthily on the other side of the mat and Inna looked at her with eyes shining with her greed. "This man, Dr Kurfi, they said his name was, right?" She asked and tentatively, Rayhan nodded her head at her.

"He gave me two hundred thousand cash! He wants to pay for you to continue with your studies and he promised to sponsor everything down to the very last thing you'll ever want. You're going to FGGC Daura just like Nadia, that Malam Bishir's daughter, remember?" How could she ever forget Nadia? One of the luckiest girls Rayhan had ever had the fortune of meeting.

"Yes, Inna. And you agreed?" She wanted to make sure of her acceptance from her. Even though she could easily change her mind, but it seemed as if this man, this very savior of hers, knew the right way to Inna's heart and he wished not to shy away from it.

"Of course I do, can't you see? Look, this isn't just it, you know? He said he is going to pay me off for all that I'd write about the money your mother hasn't paid me if only I'm going to revoke your marriage plans and have no problem with sending you to school. And I don't, all that matters is the money."

"So, he's going to bring more?" Rayhan couldn't even believe her ears. Who was this man and how the hell did he have such huge amount of money to leisurely spend carelessly on strangers he didn't know anything about and might even not likely meet again?

"Dubu Dari biyar! Half of a million Naira! That's exactly the amount I requested for and he didn't even flinch when he agreed to it. He said he will bring it to me tomorrow, this was the only cash he had with him, and I'm not supposed to calculate with them, he gave them to me for free. And do you know how much it is? Two hundred thousand. I think I'm relocating from this village, someone might..." It seemed like Inna had gone crazy from the time she had seen that money and the ones she's expecting, because there was no way she was talking this way with Rayhan as though she was some sort of her dotting granddaughter.