...He sounded apologetic. She badly wanted to know who did, he sounded so true. She internally chuckled and walked away.
*
Aisha sat on the stool in front of her vanity table, looking at her reflection through the mirror as she did her night skin care routine. One person on her mind, thinking about if it was right if she leaves him or stays with him, she couldn't think straight and she couldn't talk to anyone about it except Hauwa who would just act as though it was all fine or tell her, ‘everything will be fine’ but that wasn't what she needed to hear, she wanted solutions.
Fatima, her mother, would be good for that but she felt they both needed to be strong enough before they could fight together, right now, she knew everyone would say it wasn't fair if she marries Jasmine's ex with Jasmine being her cousin and sister-in-law at the same time, and since they were not strong enough, everything would crumble. She made up her mind to perform istikhara again later, much later.
Her phone buzzed, jolting her off her trance. Quickly glancing at the phone on her bedside drawer, she bethought herself as to who would call her, she wasn't expecting anyone.
She groaned and stood up from the stool to get her phone. ‘Sadeeq’ was dancing on the screen and she felt her stomach churn, a feeling she couldn't name washed over her from head to toe as she answered and placed the phone to her ear.
"Hello, Aisha?" He said after a few seconds, he called her name so calmly that it made her smile.
Keeping a straight face so he shouldn't hear the smile from her voice, she said, "As-Salaam alaykum."
"Waalaikum As-Salaam." He replied. "I hope I'm not interrupting."
"You're not, I was just about to go to bed." She went back to the vanity to finish up. She put her phone on speaker and kept it on the vanity as she started to open the vessel of the mayonnaise and honey hair mask she made in the morning.
"Oh sorry." He apologised.
"Can I call you later?" She said.
"Yes, sure." She immediately terminated the call.
She was all smiles as she applied her hair mask, wore a nylon bag on her hair and a shower cap.
She went to the kitchen to get any food available.
"Abdulqaadir, you're not asleep yet?" Aisha asked when she saw her brother watching football in the living room.
"Yes. The match will be over in about—" he looked up at the wall clock above the TV set. "—forty minutes." He completed, his attention fully on the television without sparing his sister a glance. He had the remote control by his side and a cup of tea on the side stool.
Aisha looked at the clock without replying him, it was twenty-three minutes past eleven.
"Care for some spring rolls?" She yelled from the kitchen door, having seen frozen once in the freezer.
"Yes please." He yelled back.
"Tea?" She asked again.
"No I have some here."
She came back about ten minutes later with a bowl of spring rolls for the both of them.
"Here." she kept the bowl in front of them on a side stool and held her teacup to herself.
"For me?" Abdulqaadir smiled, his eyes glued to the television.
"For us." She replied, laying emphasis on ‘us’.
"You're so unaware of the chaos around, I like your easy life." Aisha made a comment on how her brother, Abdulqaadir was living his life nonchalantly.
"I'm not even around so I won't know nothing, not even by mistake. There are problems, I know but I don't want to see them at all, it's more peaceful that way. Schooling in a totally different state is good for my mental health, we all have our battles and I think my own battle is more than enough for me already." He looked her way as his voice sounded woebegone and deep.
