My Knight In Shining Kaftan (COMPLETE)

Chapter Seventeen

You can't hate yourself into a version of yourself you can love.
-Unknown

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Nine days, since Hadiza and Salma had talked like the sisters they were. Hadiza only spoken to Salma when it was absolutely necessary, aside from then, she'd been holding unto her anger over the fact that her parents seized her phone because of what Salma did which in her defence, was to keep Hadiza safe from the likes of Malik.

It was exactly nine days since Adam and Salma became more than strangers, or a caterer and her client. She wouldn't call what they had friendship because she felt she hadn't known much about him aside from his obsession with football and polo, she couldn't catch up when he starts talking about it. And then, there's almost everything he didn't know about her as well. He even had no idea she was turning twenty in five days.

Fatuma and Sadiq didn't seem like they were going to work out because all the times she had talked with Fatuma, she chose not to bring up Sadiq's issue and he on the other hand, dodge any conversation that had to do with Fatuma. She felt like she ruined it. And the guilt was slowly eating her up.

She was sitting on a pile of clothes before her wardrobe in her pajamas at eleven am rearranging them when Adam called. He began by whining then explained how he had fell from a horse. "You're already up and riding this early in the day? Huh?"

"It's eleven not seven" he'd said. She set the phone on speaker then kept it aside, she continued her business while listening to him tell her about her horses. She didn't bother that he always talked about his hobbies, she wasn't ready to talk about hers, or herself.

She had a lot of healing to do, talking to Adam is a first step because at least, she no longer resents men that are not Sadiq or her father. Though she still kept Adam at an arms length, Malik's appearance and disappearance into and out of her life thought her plenty valuable lessons, one of which is to never get emotionally attached to people unless you're sure they're a keeper.

"Are you still there?" He asked when he noticed she was quiet for while. She folded a shirt and kept it aside then said, "Yeah"

"If I'm bothering you just say so"

"No, you're not"

"Am I boring you with my horse talk? I guessed you might like horses because you were at the polo match that day so I figured it might interest you—does it?" He said all in one breath.

"I guess"

"You really sound bored"

She squeezed her face with her hands then fell back on her pile of clothes with a thud. "No"

"Then talk to me, tell me something—anything"

"OK so I do have something that's been bugging me for a while an I need to see it in a different perspective, like from someone that doesn't know this person so that their opinion won't be personalised, OK?"

"I get"

"There's this friend of mine, that has been in love with a guy for almost a decade. Her friends warned her—I mean we warned her about him because he'd been exhibiting some toxic traits that aren't good for her but she didn't listen until he broke up with her a few days before his wedding. Long story short, he's now married and she's broken into a million pieces, how does she get back up? What should she do?"

Adam was silent, then he said, "A decade? Lucky bastard!"

"You missed the point, what should the girl do now?" She sat up and slumped her shoulders, picking at the dried skin around her nails. She was really a mess.