Newfound Destination

~ 10 ~

"Hassan ne fah(It's Hassan), He's finally getting married." Aunty Asmau, Halimah and Habibah's mom said to Aunty Raliyah.

Oh wow.

I simply continued my walk into the living room and served the tray of drinks in front of her.

"Ina wuni, Aunty." I greeted her still squatting down.

"Lafiya Kalau, Karimah. Sanu ko?" She said with a smile.

She went on to say, "Halimah and Habibah are not here with me because they went to visit their future sister-in-law."

Just to be on the safe side, I pretended I didn't understand, "Future sister-in-law?"

She grinned, "Oh, their older brother, Hassan is getting married by the beginning of next month.

I acted surprised, "Oh! Alhamdullilah!(Thank God!) May God let us see their wedding day."

"Ameen(Amen). Thank you, Karimah."

With that, I got up and left for my room.

I was about to go into my room when my eyes traced to Amir's room right across from mine.

I decided to go in.

"Amir..."

I trailed off as I realized that he wasn't in the room.

I felt a bit disappointed because I actually wanted to be the one to break the good news to him.

Sigh.

Boredly, I threw myself onto my bed and opened my laptop to see if there was anything new on Netflix.

Well...new series, 'Ginny and Georgia.'

Sounds good...

Just as I clicked on it, my phone screen automatically lit up beside the laptop indicating that I had a text.

It was a text from an unknown number.

The person sent: Hey.

And I replied: Hi, you are?

Unknown number: No one you're familiar with.

I decided I didn't want to go with this awkward conversation and just ignored it.

But the person texted me again.

Unknown number: My name is Mustapha Sani. I got your number from a friend.

This drew my attention.

Me: What's your friend's name?

Unknown number: I'm sorry but the person said not to tell you his name.

What the actual hell?

Me: I don't understand.

Unknown number: Please, don't get uncomfortable. I just want to be friends so can we just go past the fact that my friend gave me your number?

In an odd way, I was suddenly interested in getting to know the guy.

Me: Fine. My name is Karimah Usman.

Unknown number: I already knew that but I'm glad you decided to tell me on your own
🙂.

Um...Okay?

Unknown number: Can I ask you a few questions?

Me: Depends. I can't answer if they're too personal.

Unknown number: You don't have to worry about that.

Unknown number: How old are you and where are you from?

I didn't know whether to answer honestly or not.

Telling him my name was enough and I didn't want to give him too much information about me.

He's still a stranger.

But it wouldn't hurt to tell him, right?

Me: I'm 18 and I'm from Kaduna.

Unknown number: Oh, nice.

Okay. This has been awkward enough.

Unknown number: Can I see some of your pics?

Me: No.

That's enough.

Unknown number: I apologise if I made you uncomfortable.

Me: It's fine. I just have issues when it comes to trusting people.

Unknown number: I understand. Everyone does.

I laughed a little.

Me: That's very true.

Me: Okay, it was nice talking to you. I have to go now.

Unknown number: No problem. We'll talk later 🙂

It ended there.

Well, that was weird.

I would have to leave his number unnamed for now.

Don't give me one kind look, you'd do the same if you were in my shoes.

A knock came at my door, "I'm coming!"

I bounced off the bed and walked over to the door before opening it.

Oh, it was Amir.

"Hey." He waved at me with a cheeky grin.

What?

"Hi. What's up?" I asked.

He shrugged as he shoved his hands in his pocket, "I'm bored, do you want to go for a walk?"

"Ehn?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yes or no?"

"Sure..." I slurred as I slid out of the room and followed him downstairs.

We went out the front door and began to stroll down the empty and peaceful road of the neighborhood.

"So where did you go earlier?" I asked him.

"I went to Silverbird with..." He trailed as he stopped walking.

I stopped as he did and turned to him "Who?"

"Nevermind. I don't have to tell you."

"But who is it?"

"I said I'm not telling you again, did you not hear-"

"Ehn who?"

He sighed, "Salma."

"Be serious."

He just hissed and kept walking. I stared at him for a moment before catching up to him.

"Oh my God! Are you guys dating now?!" I squealed excitedly.

"Please." He mumbled as he quickened his pace.

"You are! I know you are, you asked her out didn't you?" I called out as I ran behind him.

He stopped and I caught up to him. He gave me a look, "You're crazy."

"I know."

"And stupid too. We're not dating, wawiya(foolish girl)." He started walking again.

"Oh, for real? I guess I got carried away. Sorry." I chuckled.

"Mmhm." He hummed.

After a while, we had turned around and we were walking back home then I remembered.

"Hey, Ya Hassan is getting married." I told him.

"Oh wow. Good for him." He responded.

I wondered if he was being sarcastic or not.