Embraced (#2 Natives series) #ProjectNigeria

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

            THIS WASN'T A GOOD SIGN, Fatiha Hassan thought as she stared with furrowed brows and pursed lips at the text message on her phone.

Aslamualaikum wa rahamatullahi wabarakatu, Fatiha. How have you been?

For the fifth time since she'd woken up to find the message, Fatiha had felt light and weighted both at the same time. At first she'd thought it was Faisal but something gnawed at her as she reread the message over and over again.

It was an unknown number and the text message had arrived an hour before fajr. The greeting of peace written in full was something Faisal didn't do, unless he had found hidaya during his time away.

Who could it be? she pondered. She hadn't given her number to anyone recently. The person could have gotten it from her business account on WhatsApp, she concluded but decided it was best to check who had the number.

She was just about to go to her TrueCaller app when another text appeared on her screen. Clicking on it, Fatiha's breath came up short as she read the short note that had been sent to her. Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you, it's me, Munir.

Munir? Fatiha's body tensed in discomfort, but the slight tickle in her belly denied fully that distress.

Why was he texting her? How did he get her number? She had a ton of questions to ask him but from past experience she figured it would be better to avoid talking to him on such an important day even though they had agreed on a truce.

I got your number from your business page. Hope you don't mind.

I do mind, she thought but didn't reply back. At least he had the decency to tell her where he'd gotten her number from. On second thought, it made her feel like she had been stalked. She would have preferred it if he'd asked his sister for it personally. Or if he'd just asked her for it.

"You've gone insane, Fatiha Hassan. I swear." She muttered to herself as she got up from her prayer mat. She tossed her phone to the bed, folded the mat then dropped it in its place on top her closet before heading for the bathroom.

The sound of her notification led her back to her bed. I just wanted to let you know. You can save mine. Rolling her eyes, Fatiha dropped the phone. He was really taking this no-longer-enemy thing to the fullest, she thought and just then another message came in.

If you want... That is. It read.

"He must have money to waste," she muttered as she did the maths in her head. Twenty naira for a couple words, she thought with little amusement as the derailment of her nearly empty bank account and airtime balance mocked her.

Fatiha's fingers lingered over the keyboard. Her eyes skimmed severally over the short text messages as thoughts of her saving his number flirted with her brain.

Don't do it.

She didn't have to think twice. There was no way she was saving his number. She tossed her phone back on her bed, watched it bounce three times before it landed facedown.

Fatiha threw her hands in the air around her head and face as if warding off evil. Today was a big day and she wasn't going to let Munir Adam Madaki ruin it for her. She had a fiancé to meet and one hell of a conversation to have.

A few hours later, Fatiha was nearly hyperventilating with stress.

It's for your own good. Regardless of how nerve ranking it made her, she continued to repeat the words her sisters and friend had tried to hammer into her skull since the day before.