ENSHROUDED

23

She was seated on the vanity stool staring at her reflection in the mirror. She was no more the Aisha she used to be. And now that she thought about it, Nasir made her walked through the most painful phase of her life. It was late at night, but she couldn't sleep. She had been staring at her reflection, calculating the days left for her life to end. The day she would be married off to Abba Muhammad Tijjani. The most dreaded day ever.

She palmed her face and fought her tears back. She was tired of crying that she felt her eyes paining whenever a tear slipped out of them. Count, Aisha. 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 18, 20, 21! Tada! She had only twenty-one days left of her freedom. And to talk about it, the last time she saw her would-be husband was the day he proposed that he wanted to marry her.

As she walked down her painful path, Aisha felt a soft knock on her window. She thought she was hallucinating, but she prayed it wasn't just her ears teasing her. She rushed to the window, not minding how half of her hair wasn't covered. She wanted what she heard to be true, it should be. Please.

She tore apart her curtains, and her hands shook as she opened the glass. He stood there with a small smile playing on his cheeks. "Wait, I'll be out in a bit." She didn't want to chat with him from her window today. She wanted to watch the stars with him today as they converse.

He looked at her with a small smile and had never appreciated someone as he appreciated Aisha for reading out what wasn't voiced in his mind. She put on her slippers and walked out of the room, she didn't mind even if Mama saw her today, this would be the last time she was going to see Nasir with her freedom all over them.

As soon as she appeared before him, Nasir let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. She looked at him with a smile and motioned for him that they walked away. "Let's go to the pool," she suggested and they walked into the garden together. Walking side by side together with her and trying all he can not brush even a hand with her was taking a toll in him.

They sat down and dipped their legs into the water. Aisha looked at him with a beautiful smile on her lips. "Happy Birthday, Dr Welcome to the 25th year of your life, I pray it provides you love and happiness." Her words were genuine, and she looked as though she wasn't going to cry.

Nasir looked at her, with the moon glowing on her skin. Her hair that was slightly revealed, her ever radiant face, and how she looked happy playing with her legs inside the water. He didn't know if it was possible to love someone as much as he loved Aisha.

"Thank you for your gifts, Aisha. They mean the world to me. And your poems, you should put them out, they're the most real words I've ever seen." She smiled and before he knew it, Aisha had her hands full of water as she splashed it on his face.

"What's with the formality? I'm not yet married, please. And you didn't tell me you love me today, what's with that?" She laughed, and Nasir splashed water on her face too.

"I love you, and you know it. Saying it out loud will only cause more harm than good. So, Aisha, how have you been?" He asked, intensely staring at her that she had to look away. She knew they had confessed their love to each other but still she was feeling shy.

"Stop looking at me that way," She whined, palming her face with her hands.

"What? You feel those butterflies in your stomach again?" He teased and laughed at how she palmed her face, giggling.

"Even more than those butterflies, Dr Please stop making my heart flutter with your looks, I love youuuuu!" She giggled at him and Nasir felt as if a weight was lifted off his heart. This was the best moment they will ever have with Aisha, he knew.

"Can we talk about the letters then? No rules applied right?" He asked when she opened her face and smiled at him, playing with the water using her legs.