The Trust She Broke

32. Bewildered.

32.

Enjoy.

***

Ruqqoyah starred at her phone screen for the umpteenth time, rereading the message again and again.

'I will send my driver.'

The message was sent to her phone earlier that day by the unsaved number which she has come to recognized - and even knew it offhand - while she was preparing breakfast for herself and her husband.

She has tried calling the number but it didn't went through and she sent a message instead.

'When?'  But she didn't receive any message in return. She has since then being checking her phone every passing minute hoping for a reply which never come. Throughout the ride to work she couldn't stop checking her phone and when Ilyas won't stop asking her questions about it, she pretended to be playing Cooking Fever.

She was checking their newly imported wares in the store when her phone rang and with a fearful heart and shaky finger, she picked it up from where she placed and when she saw who the caller was, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Iyawo." She teased her friend.

"Ore Iyawo." Samiah teased back.

"How are you?"

"Bored." Samiah replied with a fake yawn.

"I've been there."

"I mean how could they convict me in my own house? It's cruel."

"You don't get to complain, I stopped going out a month to my wedding, you have just been indoor for over two weeks."

"Whose side are you on, traitor?"

Ruqqoyah laughed. "Sorry ehn, you have less than a week left."

"Can't wait to go out again. Have you confirmed the consignment?"

"I was on it before I was rudely interrupted." Ruqqoyah said, dragging the rudely.

"I will leave you to it, I'm done getting insulted for today."

"We will talk later."

"We won't." Samiah said then hung up.

Ruqqoyah sighed and shook her head at her friend's antique. She wished she could just be as worried free and full of life as Samiah. How her life turned out as it presently was, was beyond her.

She resumed the work at hand when a knock came on the door and one of the attendants came in. "Someone is asking of you ma."

"Who?" She queried.

"I don't know ma." As if on que, her phone dinged indicating a message. She picked it up and it was a message from the unsaved number.

'Follow the driver.'

The awful message she was expecting but she didn't want to receive has finally arrived. How she could be anticipating it, yet doesn't want it to come was a mystery to her. Such an irony.

"You can go." She told the attendant who was waiting for further instruction from her.

She walked back to her office, and headed for the restroom. She stood in front of the mirror for a while, she opened her mouth to give herself some words of encouragement but she closed her mouth and sighed instead, knowing it will all be useless. She entered the office again and picked up her bag, all ready to face her doom.

"Where is the person?" She asked the attendant.

"She's outside ma."

"She?" She muttered to herself and chuckled mockingly.

"I may or may not come back, just do the necessary." She said and walked out of the boutique. She contemplated texting Ilyas and inform him she's going out but decided against it. What is the point if she's going to lie anyway. She thought.

The honking of a car brought her out of her reverie and she walked toward the waiting car. The driver unlocked the car and she hopped into the backseat, her gaze met that of the driver in the rear view mirror and she noticed she has a mask on.

'How dramatic.' She thought.

Without saying anything the driver zoomed off.

***

Almost three hours later, the car came to a slow down and entered a secluded area, almost at the outskirt of the town, before it finally came to a halt in front of an hotel.

'Prime Hotel' She red out loud.

"This is an hotel?" She stated questioningly, but got no answer in return.

The driver packed the car and hopped out. She dialled a number on her phone and some minutes later, a man came out of the hotel and she gave her the key to the car.

Ruqqoyah watched the exchange and was on the point of freaking out not knowing what was going on when a knock came on the car door. The driver beckoned to her and she alighted from the car, while the other man drove the car into the large gate.

The hotel has two entrance, one large gate at the center which serves as the main gate and a small one at the far end of the hotel.

Ruqqoyah wondered why they were entering through the smaller gate and was about to ask when the driver talked.

"We can't risk being seen," She pointed to her head. "Not with the hijab" She said accessing Ruqqoyah with her eyes disdainfully.

On a normal day, Ruqqoyah would have give her a dose of her own pill but today wasn't a normal day, her normal days were over since she received the first text.

The driver led her inside and they take a detour round the hotel till they arrived at a even more secluded area of the hotel.

The owner must really put his patronizers reputation into consideration or must be into some kind of dirty stuff himself to...

"We are here." The driver said bringing Ruqqoyah out of her train of thought. She gave her surrounding a thorough look and her eyes came to rest on the tag on the door at the entrance of the room they were about to enter.

'VIP' It reads.

The driver knocked on the door and doesn't bother to await a reply when she opened and enter. Ruqqoyah took in deep breath to calm her enraged heart before she entered the room.

"We are here." The driver called out to someone, she removed her mask and gave Ruqqoyah a conniving smirk.

"You?" Ruqqoyah asked bewildered.