As long as she lives | ✔️

The same

Before they stopped the car, he was already out the door while the car still moved. He almost got hit by a car and then narrowly escaped being kicked by a bike which caused him to lose his balance and roll on the floor. He picked himself up, as if he didn't realize the near death experience that had hit too close for comfort and dashed towards a group of people on the side walk.

It was just along Gidan Murtala. They were coming in from the wide doors opening to the overhead bridge so popular in Kano city. He ran past Nuhu Bamalli hospital and entered a remote lane. He could hardly hear the commotion he left on his wake. His mind and spirit were urging him towards that elusive Aairah. His mind has one thought. To catch her before she disappears to another city once again!

And he ran so fast, he almost caught up in five minutes flat.

She turned around as she ran just to see how much he was gaining on her and panic seized her when she saw that he was closing in with alarming speed. Damn you for being so fast! She wailed inwardly.

She knew she had lost. Aariz would spoil everything! He would destroy her life with his unwanted attention and her family would pay the price.

What is good about catching the emir's attention? Nothing! She knew only heartache! Well, she could hardly blame herself for the stupidity. It was Aaidah's fault! She had wanted him for herself and look who is suffering for the slight in good judgement!

So she stopped running abruptly, giving up the chase. From the way he was running, it was surprising he could control the speed enough to stop before he reached her side.

Inches apart, they stared at each other once again. After five good years. Unfortunately, the result is still the same.

Aariz looks to be getting more upset as he gazed upon her resolutely unapologetic face. The deadlock refused to abate until Aairah realized she could run. That he wasn't holding her and she knew the area better than he did. If she zigzagged through the walkways thinly traversing the area, she could emerge through Yakasai and then find a public tricycle she could use to get back to her house which is located near the Emir's house, just shy of Hasiya Bayero.

But her plan disintegrated when she felt strong arms around her. She screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to set herself free...

She finally realized they weren't alone. His guards filled the area like troops to war and his whole entourage scattered about looking strange in the extremely normal setting, frightening poor souls and angering her to death!

Aariz did not look like he saw them. To him, they probably seem like the normal thing. After all these years at the palace, it's no wonder he did not care about the commotion they were making. He walked towards her with tensed strides and when he was close enough, he ignored her screams of protest and used his right hand to let loose her nikaf, exposing her beautiful face.

He released a secret sigh of relief and said "we need to talk" as if they weren't captor and captive from some really weird angle.

She glared at him through fierce eyes and said "won't you release me?" It took a considerable effort on her side to sound so civil. How could he shame her so, in front of his men no less? True, they had the sense to let the women hold her. But to think she would see so many of her native people in one place under such damning circumstances, it was a bit too much for her to bear.

I'll never get my dignity back, she mused to herself.

They used to insult her and call her a third leg in the royal house. Her mother is Ghanian and so, she is naturally a third generation nobility even though her father is Mrithi Abdulaziz. A foreigner in your ancestor automatically makes you a third generation in Maicki. Unfortunately, Aairah is a part of the sorry list.

Seeing her in the garb, thrashing about about wildly, would only serve to make her look even more of a common woman. At least in their eyes. And she wished she didn't care. But she did.

It hurts each time people look at her and her sister and automatically treat them differently from all of the family just because their mother is a foreigner. They were never invited to balls or events of import because no one wishes to fraternize with them. People, including their father's wives, used to say that their only saving grace is their beauty which might luckily get them married into simpler nobility clans. Their mother, despite the overwhelming love she shared with their father, went back to her home country and refuse to come back. Not even for her kids. She could no longer take the degradation of being a foreigner in a noble clan!

Imagine the great shock when the new Emir had wanted one of the twins as his wife!