Adornments Of The Heart

11

Like she said, she had covered up everything for them for the semester and he had really missed attending her class. And he had no other excuse to go and see her in her office. The last interaction they had was the only thing he consoled his heart with and he didn't think he'd be able to forget about it any time soon.

Just the thought of how she was smiling, laughing at him as she smacked the back of his head with her wallet brought a smile onto his face. He was standing by his house as he wondered if she was going to Katsina today. He knew she had never missed a week without going back home, but then he still wanted to confirm.

Amir had called yesterday and had been begging him to please come, that was bored to his bones over there and Bilaal could only smile, because he didn't know when Amir became so obsessed with his presence. He was there, rooted to his spot when he saw her car passing and from all indication, she was leaving to Katsina. It was her usual time to leave, after all.

He immediately brought his phone out of his pocket and dialed Kamal's number. "Hey, man. Have you left already or can you please branch at my house so we can leave together?"

"I'll be at your house in ten minutes, then." Kamal said before he ended the call and Bilaal rushed back into the house.

He just took a few things and closed the house, immediately seeing Kamal's car moving toward him as soon as he walked out of the house. They said their pleasantries again and hit the road with Kamal chatting about everything and nothing that Bilaal nearly begged him to please keep shut. He was trying to think and he wasn't letting him be.

He had his eyes fixed to the road when he saw them move past a car that looked identical to her. Instantly, he turned and recognized it to actual be hers. What happened? He asked himself in terror because the only thing in his mind was that she had been kidnapped, because it didn't look like someone was in the car and he for one saw her leaving in it.

"Kamal, can you please go back to that car?" He asked, his voice shaking a bit as he recited all the kinds of prayers he could think of.

"What? It looks like that your lecturer's car, right?" Kamal asked, staring at the car through his rear mirror as he reversed. "What happened? Do you think she was kidnapped or something?"

"I hope not. Let me go and check, give me a moment." He hopped out of the car even before it stopped moving and rushed to her car.

He opened the driver's seat with his heart pounding in his chest and he didn't know when he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her still seated in the car. But her head was placed to her knees and her entire body was shaking. Before he made a move to her or said something, Bilaal brought his phone out and dialed Kamal's number.

"I think you can leave, Kamal. It doesn't look like she can drive."

"Oh, she's in the car? Is she sick?"

"Yes, from the looks of it. Let's catch up later. Thanks, man." He said and ended the car. Kamal honked at him before he drove off and he turned his attention back to her.

He couldn't tell whether she was shaking out of fear or if she was crying. Bilaal squatted in front of her with his chest still heaving. "Are you fine? Did something happened? Were you robbed? Is something wrong with the car? Are you sick?" He just couldn't bring himself to stop asking her about what was wrong and she still had her face placed on her knees.

She released a short cry that made him realized that she had been crying. Something tightened in his chest. He knew that the last time he saw her crying and followed her behind he thought it was unsafe for her to move alone at night, she ended up slapping him. But right now, that was the least of his worries. He wanted to find out what was wrong.