Entwined by Destiny

Chapter Ten

   It's Abdallah's fourth birthday and as it always happen ever since his first one, they were greeted first thing in the morning by the delivery man of Fed Ex courier services bearing the usual mysterious gifts. Like all those times in the past, the two men of the house queried the delivery guy, even bribing him with money just to give them a clue of the mysterious sender but to no avail. The guy told them the plain truth--he hasn't the slightest idea as his job was just to deliver.
 
    After he left, Mahmud opened the parcels and just as they expected, there were gifts for everyone, most especially the celebrant. There were toys, kids'story books, clothes, assorted sweets and biscuits then a children's ipad tablet for him; two teddy bears one each for Ihsan and Ikram; a handbag each for Walida and Iman; a bottle of perfume for Mahmud; a diary and novels for Fateema; one veil each for Mama, Ummi, Umma and Mummy;neck-ties for Daddy and last but definitely not the least, an envelope containing wad of dollars not addressed to anyone in particular.

    Immediately they finished going through them, Mahmud packaged everything as it was before and loaded them in his car before taking them for storage along with the previous ones before them. They had decided to be safekeeping all the non-perishable gifts and save the money in the bank until their mysterious sender finally revealed him/herself cos it could be blood money and ritual gifts as far as they're concerned. They
kept them in the store of Daddy's old house where he lived before his father's death.

     The rest of the family members didn't even bother checking out the gifts, most especially Fateema whose beloved son was obviously the mysterious sender's main interest. Like she does every morning and night, she held her son's head and recited some chapters of the holy Quran and some special du'as for protection and warding off evil eyes.

    Iman had decorated an aeroplane-theme cake for the little celebrant cos his dream is to be a flying officer--soldier serving in the air force. Walida prepared delicious meals and fresh fruit juices and so they had a swell time celebrating the little boy's birthday party. They ate, drank, danced and took pictures in a joyous mood. In the midst of it all, Fateema kissed her little boy goodbye and hurriedly left the party to go and get ready for the Computer training she registered for .

   She had decided to enrol into the institute on a part-time basis that is, only during the weekends since school has reopened for the new session. On getting there, she drove to the parking lot to park her car and guess whose car she found parked there? .She could never fail to recognise that car anywhere--it has that same shiny, wicked glint as its owner. What was he doing here?.Oh well, the world is a small place.Maybe he came for one business or the other, nothing to bother herself about.

    She discovered she was late as the introductory class was already over.She however met the coordinator who gave her a printed copy of their time table and asked her to check the group she belongs to on the notice board. They were many in the class and the desk top computers are not enough for individual use that was why they were grouped into eight.

     Upon checking the board, she saw her name on the group labelled 'Admin 6'.There were three of them in the group. Alhassan Mu'azu is the first, then Fateema Naseer and lastly.....No! This can't be happening! .Her eyes must be deceiving her.She blinked them and looked again and sure enough, there it was--C.J Ezeawata written boldly and clearly! .

   She didn't know when her mouth opened and verbalized,"Wai ni mutumin nan kodai maye ne! (is this man a wizard?) .Everywhere I go?!."
   As she turned to stomp away in anger, her eyes fell on the subject of her misery, poised in a carefree way as his eyes scanned through the list.He didn't appear to recognise or even notice her as she sidestepped him and hurried towards the parking lot, cursing her ill fate.

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   Prof Naseer was shocked when Alhaji Abdulfatah called him in a joyous mood to convey the 'good news' that Iman and Safiyyah had gained admission  into ATBU, Bauchi and so he's looking forward to accomodating her in his house.