His Scandalous Bride

16: Then

Junaid was staring but wouldn't say anything. Aisha hated his eyes on her but she refuses to do anything about it. It has been a hell of a day and just the mere thought of having a roof over her head was already a win, she wasn't about to push her luck by worrying why Junaid was here. Yet she couldn't help but wonder what kind of sick joke was this as she tries not to mind his unwavering gaze.

"I'm sorry, my J for keeping you waiting," Farida wraps her arms around his neck, giving him a loud kiss on his lips.

Aisha looks away trying to fend off her slamming heart. What were the odds that the girls would come looking for her after their release and actually find her? Or that Junaid was Farida's beau and it was his place she was bringing her?

"I have a friend who needs a caregiver for his grandfather." The grandfather suffers from Alzheimer and lives with a reclusive relative.

"Just until we get settled." Nene had promised after explaining they couldn't go back to their house for reasons she hadn't thought to share. Just that they would be out of the country and that she would be safe. Tolu had promised or said nothing. But she had side hugged her before both had been let out to waiting cars by the Mando roundabout.

Aisha hadn't mind. She was merely grateful of having people in her corner. Now, she wasn't entirely sure. How was she to know safe was staying with Junaid? He might not be entirely a stranger but he is a stranger nonetheless. Why would the girls entrust her to him? And what was he doing here in her old neighborhood? It's a long way from his home in Malali

"Aisha," Farida beckons in joyful bliss with her fingers smiling and awkwardly, she covered the distance between them in five unhurried steps trying not to notice Junaid's eyes or his hand on the small of Farida's back. 

"Meet my J, or rather Junaid," she introduces in excitement, "and J, meet Aisha."

Aisha was hesitant as she stared at this not stranger in knee length Khaki jeans and a white hoodie and her unlikely friend in a white tank top and jean bum short. They looked great together she finds herself acknowledging despite the awkwardness rife in this bizarre happening and wondered;

Should she tell her they know each other? Does he want to be associated with her? But what would she think?

"I hope we get along," his voice, neutral and cool, hits her ears forcing her to look into his eyes. Humor lay naked in those gorgeous eyes of his and something awfully resembling a dare.

Aisha smiles brightly. She was never the kind to back away from a challenge and since he was obviously offering her the chance to define their relationship, she refuse to disappoint.

"Me too,"

There was no reason to tell Farida she went to school with Junaid. It is nothing. He is nothing to her. They were practically strangers as far as she was concerned. However, hours later, she would still wonder if she did the right thing. Junaid might mean nothing to her and the knowledge that they knew each other might not be a big deal but deliberately concealing information has never led to anything good no matter how trivial. And no matter how much she wants to justify her reasons for deception, none could clear her conscience.

She will tell her the next time they meet or talk; she did promise to check in as soon as everything settles, she decides as she takes in the room which has become hers for the duration of her stay—however long that may be.

The wall paintings were scratchy, odd, yet colorful like a huge canvas covered in all shades and the furnitures are vintage in a Victorian aesthetic like fusion between a forgotten civilization and a civilization yet to come. The room was clearly someone's idea of a canvas or the tantrum of a rebellious artist. However, she'd never felt more at home than in this misplaced clash between art, culture and nature which smells of kajiji with an undercurrent of paint, musk, sandalwood.