BFFs: finding love again

20. Confusion

Aqsam calls Sheikh Akhmad.

"Salam Ya Sheikh."

"Ameen wa alaikas-salam."

"I have some questions about this Fatima Abba Sulayman."

"Okay, Bismillah. "

"What gender is the Jinn?" Sheikh Akhmad puffs out some air.

"Her case is a very complicated something. Her Jinn is a male, a stubborn one at that. Throughout the two years she spent with me, he has never talked to us, and he attacks her almost every day. I don't know if it's hereditary but her parents confirmed it's not. I even contacted the teacher that did Ruqiyya for her the first day it attacked and he said that he didn't have to stress himself much, the jinn left on its own.

"But the baffling thing is that he said his name is Azan-something, I can't really remember the name. But whenever I was reciting Quran during an attack, he'd recite with me. I don't get it." Sheikh Akhmad concludes, confusion lacing his tone.

"But she said a female Jinn once attacked her. She strangled her and told her to stay away from her husband, how do we go about this?" Aqsam says, he doesn't know how to go about this.

"See? That's why I said it's a complicated something. But try and help her get rid of it, she's suffered a lot and she deserves happiness, not that she isn't happy. But there are somethings about her that I'm not in the right place to tell you, only her parents or herself. Just don't judge her." Sheikh Akhmad concludes confusing Aqsam the more.

"Okay. Ma'assalam." Aqsam cuts the call and rubs his forehead, just as he starts to scribble some things in Fatima's file, his phone rings. That laugh, that voice that happened to be his heaven on earth, may her soul rest in peace.

"Assalamu Alaikum."

"Wa alaikas-salam. Bro how far?" Hamza's voice comes.

"For Allah's sake Hamza we've talked about this!" Aqsam says frustatedly.

"About what?" Hamza tries to sound innocent.

"You know what? Just forget about it. Why'd you call me? I'm working on an annoying person with an annoying Jinn." Aqsam huffs.

"Muhammad Aqsam Shaddad..."

"My name is Muhammad Aqsam Abubakar. See, whatever you want to tell me, write it in a text and send, Ma'assalam! " Aqsam cuts the call. There are two things that push his buttons, his name and her.

"Azanraba mma." Maa calls slowly.

"Have you made your decision?" Azanraba goes straight to the point.

"Yes my dear."

"What is it?"

"I have decided to accept her. If you love her, who am I to judge? When are you going to start wooing her?" Maa says making Azanraba smile.

"Very soon In Shaa Allah." All the while, Anwe has been listening to their conversations. She thought she warned Maa not to accept that disgusting Muslim Fulani girl, she scrunches her face up at the thought.

Azanraba is Rabani's and Rabani's alone. There's no way on earth some useless Muslim human will come and ruin that, no way! Anwe walks out of the tree and walks into her won tree, she meets Rabani eating.

"I guess it'd be a good idea to stop eating and tell me where that Fate girl is!" Anwe booms angrily.

"She's in Dubai, Ibn Muhammad's Rehabilitation Madrasah." Rabani says confused but continues eating nevertheless, she wouldn't understand anything till she's full, foodie for life.

"Take care of the tree, I'm leaving. I need to knock some sense into that girl." Anwe says and walks out.

Fatima Abba Sulayman, Anwe is coming for you.

Fatima sits on the bed and huffs. This first therapy or whatever she should call, it was hard. Being forced to reminisce the event was really hard for her. It might seem like she's just being asked to narrate an incident but only she knows how it feels to remember a traumatizing event that changed her life for the worse.

She sits on the bed and closes her eyes, taking in deep breaths to calm her palpitating heart.

"Fatima Abba Sulayman." A voice she doesn't know calls her. She opens her eyes to see a woman in white flowing gown which sweeps the ground, floating in suspense.

"Huh?" Fatima says the first thing that comes to her mind, her face contorted in confusion.

"I'm here as Azanraba's mother in law, to warn you. Stay away from my son in law. He's betrothed to my daughter, Rabani. So I highly advise you to stay away from him, okay? If not, I, Anwe promise to make your life a living hell." Anwe says making Fatima to chuckle.

" I don't even know who the hell this Azanraba guy is, talkless of who Rabani is. I don't know any of them. Moreover, I don't really give a flying fuck about this Azanraba. So y'all can go to hell for all I care. " Fatima lays back down. She's scared of Anwe but she won't show it, she's done being a coward.

Anwe smiles wickedly at her before tackling her down and pressing her neck to the ground making it hard for her to inhale which results in her gasping for air and coughing.

"A'udhubi kalimatillahi tammati, min sharri ma khalaq, wa min sharri shaydani lamma." Fatima repeats continously making Anwe shout.

She runs out into Aqsam's office holding her neck, gasping, panting and coughing. She jumps on Aqsam, which is the first thing her mind can think of as a solution, totally ignoring the person sitting in front of Aqsam.

She hugs him, holding him tight and muttering incoherent nonsense to herself, her heart beating so fast she thinks it's going to break out of her ribcage. She closes her eyes and squeezes him while trying to come closer to him - as if that's possible - so as to calm her heart.

Just as Aqsam tries to pry Fatima off him, Anwe comes inside laughing evilly and at the same time Azanraba appears. Aqsam looks around confused, they are both certainly Jinns, but which is Fatima's?

"Anwe, stay away from her." Azanraba says trying to calm his raging heart, seeing Fatima in a calabash as shown to him by Rabani after he had forced her made him want to rip someone in two.