Half Girlfriend

Chapter 6 - Imran

I trailed the young lady sent to call me into the house while looking around like the stranger I was.

The house was a bungalow with boys-quarters situated at one side and a parking lot in the other side.

The parking lot housed three cars, an old pickup truck and a sedan. Then a tractor parked adjacent it.

From all indication, someone was into farming in the house. Probably the head of the house or somebody else in the family.

As soon as we entered the bungalow, I saw Hajiya Farida in the living room sitting comfortably with a woman I had never seen before.

The woman smiled and welcomed me as I greeted her. She then asked the lady that brought me in to get me some refreshments.

"Please don't be shy, this is your home too" the woman said as I smiled.

"Okay ma" I gulped sitting in one of the empty chairs.

"Yawwa" she said and then cleared her throat, "Farida is like a sister to me, and that makes you my son. Isn't it?"

"Hakane" I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"Good, so... my daughter will soon bring refreshments for you and will keep you company okay? While Farida and I will go inside and have a conversation, business talks" she convincingly said as she gritted her teeth.

"Okay ma, ba matsala" I beamed at her.

"Good" she said and then turned to Hajiya Farida, "Muje ko?"

"Yes, Bintah" Hajiya Farida said.

Thus, they stood and left the living room to another room. Probably the woman's room.

While looking around me in the living room, giving away my identity as a stranger, the woman's daughter came in with a beverage, glass cup and some snacks on a plastic tray.

She bowed down and kept the tray in front of me. She then opened the beverage, poured it in the glass cup and kept it on the tray for me.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked politely.

"No, thank you" I responded.

She then stood and walked to the opposite chair and sat in it. "Imran, right?" she said as soon as I took a sip from the glass she just filled.

"Yeah, and you?" I asked returning the glass back on the tray.

"Barirah" she replied.

"Nice name" I said resting my back on the backrest of the chair I was sitting in, and my arms on the armrests. "You look like your mom" I commented while staring at her.

"Hmm, that's what people used to say" she beamed at me.

"It's really obvious gaskiya" I said.

"Thank you" she adjusted her hijab to cover almost half of her face, probably shy. "Mom told me you came back from Oxford recently," she continued, "how was it like to study there?"

"You want to study there too?" I wrinkled a brow at her.

"Hmm, yeah... but maybe when I am ready to do my master's degree" she said.

"You are done with your bachelor's degree already?" I asked.

"Yes, and I am done serving too" she proudly replied as she adjusted her hijab again, now revealing her face.

"Wow, what next then?" I asked taking another sip from the glass of beverage in front of me.

"Well, my mom wants me to..." she said as her mother appeared from nowhere, thereby interrupting our discussion.

"Una weldon o" the woman said as she walked over to the tv and turned it off. I didn't even notice it was on, probably because it was out of signal and was practically showing nothing.

"Thank you ma" I politely responded.

"Yawwa" she said with her hands now akimbo, "Barirah wai ke bakya jin zafi ne? You wore hijab as if you are not feeling the heat" she said to her daughter.

"Mama zafi kuma? But the AC is on ai, there is no heat" Barirah uttered, sounding confused.

"Oh, the AC is on? Then I guess the cooling level is not as high as that of my room, that's why I am feeling hot here" The woman said. "But still," she continued, "I think you should pull that hijab off gaskiya, you are home and the person you are sitting with is family too even though you've never met each other before. You should feel free dan Allah" 

"Okay mom, naji zan cire" Barirah muttered, obviously unhappy.

"That's my daughter!" The woman smiled joyfully and left the living room to her room.

Just as Barirah rose her hands gently about pulling off her hijjab, I stopped her. "Please don't" I said.

"Why?" she asked looking surprised.

"Because I can see you are not comfortable with what you are about to do, plus I am still a stranger to you" I said.

"Hmm, thank you for understanding" she smiled as she dropped her hands and lowered her gaze.

"You are welcome" I smiled back.

"So, are you single?" she asked making me to gulp hard.

"Well," I cleared my throat, "it's complicated. How about you?" I asked.

"Hmm, I am single" she said in what seemed like a whisper.

"Single, as beautiful as you are?" I sarcastically said. Although she was really beautiful, chocolate in complexion and had cute dimples.

"Me? Beautiful?" she shrugged, "Anyways, ku maza ai haka kuke. Kun iya hyping. I once gave someone my heart and he broke it despite calling me the most beautiful girl on the entire earth the first day we met"

"What? What happened?" I curiously asked.

"Actually, what happened was that he made advances to me and I humbly declined his request" she said.

"Then he left you?" I lifted my brows.

"Yes, and wallahi I was deeply in love with him but I just couldn't do what he was asking me to do" she paused and continued, "I even asked him to come and see my mom so we could get married in time but guess what? He said he wasn't ready for any marriage yet. Just imagine, and he wanted to sleep with me!"

"Where is he now?" I asked not even knowing what else to say.

"Wallahi I don't know for him, and I don't care. We broke up about four years ago and since then I haven't been in any relationship again" she explained.

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Chapter 6 is down,
Good morning.