Abandoned Hearts

Chapter 5

S.A.L.I.M
📍Abuja, Nigeria

There she was.
The person he has been wanting to check on to know if she's okay or not.

But something was different with her, that feeling he felt when he first met with her wasn't there, something was not right and he knew it!

"Is it that she got chubbier and shorter? But that ain't possible because he just met her like 2 months ago, so what happened?"

He got snapped out of his mini battle with his subconscious self with a snap of a finger.
"Hellooooooo!! Guy where's your mind?"
Okay, way to go Salim.
Now she Gon think whether you're insane.
"Oh, err- sorry, I'm here to meet Hajiya Hauwa" Salim said still staring at her.
"Oh yes, I know, I know, but guy I know I'm a fine specimen, but you shouldn't be staring as if you gon eat me." she replied while laughing and dusting imaginary dust in her shoulders.

It's confirmed!
That's not the girl he met in the mall, cos who is this mad person again?!

Salim just sighed he doesn't want to talk again because by the looks of it that girl is a parrot. He just followed her to the house as the girl started walking without even telling him to follow her.

When he got in, to say he was mesmerized was an understatement!
The house looked like a palace but smaller. There were flower pots literally everywhere in the exterior, in pots, patches and even on the walls. The interior design was another thing on its own. The walls were painted white with splashes of gold. The walls looked as good as new with no scratches, dirt marks, absolutely nothing! It looks as if it was painted just yesterday.

The said girl led him to the living room, which was quite bigger than a normal living room. It had luxurious golden couches. There was a white fluffy center carpet and above them all was a huge golden chandelier

"These people really have a thing for gold" he mused to himself.

There were four standing air conditioners at all four corners of the living room. And not to talk of the lovely scent of bakhoor.

"Please sit." the said girl seemed to be acting nice now.
Wonderful!
"Let me get mama" she turned around and left the living room. He couldn't help but look around a little. Even though it wasn't as lavish as his own place. It was cute.

"Ina wuni" two voices said at the same time. He looked up to see two maids shamelessly ogling at him and giggling.
"Lafiya" he answered with a straight face. They were both holding plates, one containing samosas and spring rolls while the other plate had peppered meat. There was also a jug of homemade orange juice.
Wow! Do they expect me to finish all these here? He thought to himself.

"Hajiya asked us to bring these" one of the maids said. They kept the snacks in front of him while he just nodded with a straight face. They kept on gigging like teenagers in love. Well he's not surprised, he has acknowledged the fact that he is not a type of guy that a girl will only look at once,one of Abuja's most eligible bachelor. The girls took one last glance at him before they left while he pretended as if there were no people in the living room.

He continued looking around the living room till his eyes fell on something that piqued his interest; an award.
There were more than that actually.
There was an award for best graduating student, best student of the year, best commerce student, best accounting student, best maths student, best economics student, best further mathematics student, best marketing student, best geography student, and most social student.

That's a lot!

They all had one name imprinted on them. It read "Rukkayya Abdullahi Maidala". He felt as if he knew the said "Rukkayya" .

Well his mind must be playing mind games, but he must commend the girl's performance. He's proud.
Lol. As if he knows her.

"Sannu da zuwa, sorry I kept you waiting" he turned to see a fair looking beautiful woman adorned in a long hijab who looked like she was in her late forties. She was chubby and looked so much like the stranger in the mall and that weird girl he met earlier.
Pfft!

She sat in the two sitter, which was opposite him. He didn't say anything rather he smiled and quickly bent down to greet her. One thing Hajiya Fatima Aliyu Raji didn't let her children lack was respect. They exchanged pleasantries and she  started to talk to him about work and family. Knowing the Abba Tukurs', work and family matters to them the most.

"Hmmm.. let me not waste your time" she said to him while he just smiled because he really needed to go back and finish his work.
"Ramlat!" No answer
"Ramlat!" She called a little bit louder.
"Na'am" an answer came. So that weird girl's name is Ramlat.
Interesting.

Ramlat went towards her mother and knelt down in beside her.
"Ina Rukkayya ney?" There it goes again, he feels attached to this Rukkayya of a girl, and the annoying part is that he doesn't know her.

"Do you know where she kept the bag of laces?" Mama asked.
"Yes, I do." Ramlat answered.
"Yauwa, go get them for me, and be fast about it!" Mama said in her usual African mother tone.

Ramlat stood up and left the living room in a hurry; she knew better than to be slow. She returned with the bag and handed it over to Salim.

" Toh, aunty I should be on my way now, I don't want to keep Hajja waiting." He stood up.
"But you didn't even touch the snacks"
"No problem aunty, I'm okay." he smiled.
"No problem, it was nice having you" she  said with a big smile.
Mama escorted him out and said her final goodbye's before going back into the house.

Salim got into the car, kept the bag in the back seat and proceeded to the driver seat. He drove towards the gate and the gateman opened it but turns out it wasn't for him.

If Faisal was here with him, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

A black Mercedes Benz C300 drove in, he couldn't really pinpoint who the person in the car was because the glasses were tinted.

"Rukkayya, Rukkayya, Rukkayya Abdullahi Maidala!" He kept on chanting the said name.
He brought out his phone dialed a number and the number picked up at the third ring.

"Find out everything about Rukkayya Abdullahi Maidala!" He said in his usual authoratative voice and ended the call without waiting for the person at the other end.

He had a feeling that, that stranger might have a connection with this Rukkayya. One thing that Salim is known for is his smartness. It doesn't take him a minute to solve a complicated puzzle. He has to find out who that Rukkayya is and he will never back down. On thing with Salim is that when he sets his mind to something he must have it his own way.

...................................................................
Chapter 5 down, many more to go.
So Salim thinks the stranger is connected to Rukkayya 🤔

Anyhows, it's quite a long chapter to make up for not updating early.
Before you go kindly

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With love Rabiatu
And 
Aishatu..!