ALIYA

Chapter 29 - Aliya

While recalling what had transpired between me and Bilal earlier, I couldn't stop smiling at how decent I was throughout the event. Yes, I was so decent and that was because he had unimaginably prevented me from falling to the ground.

He was actually very strong, I could still recall how firm he held me despite my weight. Gosh, I couldn't even thank him for it. I huffed as the cab I boarded pulled over by the roadside to pick some passengers, they were three in number.

Even though I was in the front with the driver and they were going to stay in the back altogether, I still felt I wouldn't be comfortable the fact that I was going to be the only female in the vehicle.

And one annoying thing was how they began looking at me through the rearview mirror the moment they hopped into the car. Perhaps I should just ignore them, I mulled over adjusting my veil.

Our drive continued with my eyes on the road until my phone beeped, it was an alert and I couldn't stop myself from smiling. BLD had just paid me my salary, I huffed staring at the message. N145,000 as always!

However the smile on my face loosened when I found out one of the recently picked up passengers was staring at me again through the review mirror, this time around with a smile. "Stop the car!" I said to the cabman.

"Wha... what?" The cabman stuttered.

"Yes, stop the car!" I repeated my words and then continued. "I changed my mind, I am dropping here"

"Okay, okay ma" He said and quickly did as ordered. Thus I stormed out of his vehicle and then paid him off in full. "Thank you ma"

"You are welcome!" I said with a sigh and gently began trekking home. Our area wasn't that far from where I dropped, I could trek there in less than ten minutes hence I opted not to board or stop another vehicle again.

Ma Shaa Allah, I heaved a relief sigh the moment I was finally at the junction of our area. Thus, I crossed to the other side of the road and guess what? My eyes caught up with some roasted chickens in a Suya Spot.

Yummy! I salivated while staring at them. Maybe I should buy two or three but wouldn't three be too much for us? Well, we could store the rest in the freezer if in case we couldn't finish them all. I mulled over walking towards the Spot.

"Welcome, Hajiya" The man in charge said in his Hausa accent with a smile. "Na chicken abi na Masa (rice cake), or pepper soup, or..." He couldn't complete his words when I chimed in.

"Chicken please, three!" I said unzipping my bag. I had some change inside and my ATM card was there too, I used to carry it with me all the time in case I run out of cash.

"Okay Hajiya" The man said to me as he gently pulled the chickens out of the glass shelf and began cutting them gently for me. After that, he wrapped them with some A3 papers, put pepper separately before packaging them in a nylon bag for me. "Here, Hajiya"

"Thank you" I collected the nylon bag from him and gave him the N2,850 I had with me. "Here is my ATM card too, in case it's not enough or don't you have POS here?" I uttered.

"No, it is okay ai Hajiya. Though your money is N3,000 but no wahala, this one too is okay" He said beaming at me.

"Thank you" I beamed back at him and bade him goodbye.

"Toh Hajiya, goodbye" He bade back.

What a wonderful gesture from a stranger, I huffed. If only I had withdrew some money from the ATM along the road earlier, maybe I would have paid him his money in full.

Anyways, I turned and walked away until I was finally few blocks away from our house. Just then I spotted a black SUV parked by our gate with a young man in a new generation police outfit leaning by it, who could that be? I wondered approaching him gently.

It was after I was finally closer that I realized whom it was, it was actually the young police officer that once gave me a ride. I was good at remembering faces, you know? By the way, only God knows where I dumped the card he gave me that day.

"Welcome, welcome!" He gladly uttered with few claps and continued. "I was just thinking about going, and of course returning back another day"

"Oh, hmm. Good evening sir" I greeted him.

"Evening Aliya" He said making me to puzzle.

"How did you know my name?" I asked the fact that I didn't remember telling him my name the first time we met.

"Actually," He smiled with his hands in his pockets. "It was one of the security men I met by the entrance of your workplace that told me"

"Really?" I wrinkled a brow at him.

"Yes! I went there, described you to him and hopefully he recognized you and told me you left. That's how I got to know your name, Aliya" He said widening his teeth with a smile.

"Hmm, okay, that's good" I huffed not knowing what else to say.

"Alright, so... you threw my card away right?" He said making me to scoff.

"No I didn't, I just lost it" I lied trying to hide my face.

"Don't hide your face Aliya, I won't arrest you" He said making me to giggle.

And that was it, we kept talking until Fawad came back from work. Thus he lowered his glass, glared at us, lifted his glass again and then drove into the house as soon as our gateman opened the door for him. So strange of him, he couldn't even acknowledge my smiles.

"Who was that? Your husband?" The police officer asked.

"No, he's more like a brother to me" I replied with a wink.

"A brother? Nice, I thought he's your husband" He smirked.

"What makes you think he's my husband?" I asked.

"Because he looked jealous, angry, devastated..." He couldn't continue his words when I cut in with a laughter.

"Come on, he's just trying to sound protective!" I said and continued. "Mind coming inside? You may like to talk to him and also eat this meat with us" I giggled at him while shaking the nylon in my hand.

"Hmm, I am really grateful but I don't think I can. By the way do you trust me that much to have me dine in your house?" He asked.

"Do I have any choice? I want you to know my brother isn't what you think he is, he's just the best man in my..." I said as the thought of Bilal bounced into my mind.

"Aliya is everything okay?" The police officer asked pulling me out of my trance.

"Oh, yes... yes!" I said and then huffed. "I think I should be going inside now"

"Alright but I hope I didn't do something wrong?" He asked.

"No, no, I just... I need some rest, you know? I've been at work since morning" I said trying to sound polite.

"Okay then" He heaved a sigh. "Do you need a new card from me or should I just request for your..." He said as I cut in.

"Don't worry about that! I will search for your card where I misplaced it, it's definitely in my room. Bye!" I said racing towards our gate.

"Bye too, and take care!" I heard him uttered as I stormed into our house.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Finally, an update at last.

I hope you enjoyed it?

Sorry for the errs🙏