Shadow of Doubt

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It has been a week since daddy came back and it has been a week since I last set Sa'ad in my eyes. Apparently he has been sick and he wouldn't return to work until Monday, today was Friday and Saif has been on my case to send someone to get his Jersey from Sa'ad because of the sports competition that was coming up for them on Saturday.

That very afternoon, I had to go down to Kubwa to pick my friend from the railway station because Badamasi was away on sick leave. I guessed the sickness was in the air.

Thank God Daddy was kind enough to grace me with a brand new car and much to Aunty's dismay, I was back to driving.

"Adda, Uncle Sa'ad ma fa a Kubwa yake." Saif said to me when we were on our way and I ignored him the first time. I was already regretting coming with him. Daddy didn't even know that we were going that far, he wouldn't have allowed us but I craved normalcy. I didn't like anything that would make people notice me.

Halfway to Kubwa, I received a call from Saadatu telling me that she missed the afternoon train so she was no longer coming. She was trying to come and catch a wedding dinner tonight but she obviously wasn't going to make it.

"Toh Adda let's go to uncle Sa'ad." Saif pleads. "Dan Allah Adda."

"Saif, we can't just go to Sa'ad's house, it isn't right." I told him. "A girl isn't supposed to visit guys."

"I'm the one going to him, not you." Saif says.

"We don't have his address." I said to him hoping this was the end of it because I can't say no to this boy.

"Badamasi does, we can call him." He quickly answered. "Ranar yace min yazo."

The only reason why I was agreeing to this was because of the inter house sports that Saif has tomorrow, I thought to myself. An annoying part of my brain laughed and said "yeah right."

I parked the car, called Badamasi and within one minute, I have Sa'ad's address on my phone. I sighed and put the address into my maps app and continued driving towards our new destination while Saif was all giddy about seeing Sa'ad.

When we arrived in front of the house, I took out my phone and dialled Sa'ad's phone number. My heart beats with the waiting time as I waited for him to answer the call but he didn't. "We should go inside then."

"I'm not going inside their house, Saif." I told him firmly. "Let me tell you something you don't know, it's wrong for a lady to visit a man that's not her Maharram in his house, it's not allowed-" a knock on my window frightened me as I turned around and saw a fair guy looking at us.

"Can I help you?" The guy asked and I looked towards Saif before turning around to look at the guy.

"Yeah, if this is your house, you can." I said pointing to the house and he only urged me to continue with a nod of his head. "We are asking for Sa'ad, if you would be so kind as to call him for us."

"Oh man, you speak in elites tongue." A smile appeared on the guy's face. "You're Hafsat."

"Iram." I corrected him. The name Hafsat sounds weird coming from someone else.

"I'm sorry, your majesty but Sa'ad is actually still under the weather. You can come in though." I hesitate and he quickly adds "our mum and my sister are in there."

"Hauwa?" I suddenly find myself asking and I wanted to smack myself for being so stupid.

"Yes, Hauwa." He smiled. "Sa'ad probably talks about her all the time?"

"Nope." I answered quickly. "Barely."

He looked disappointed at my answer but he shrugged nevertheless. "I see, well come on in. Don't worry about your precious car, the place is safe." He turned around and before I could say anything, my lovely little brother was opening the door and following him.