February 28

|9|

APRIL 2020. 
GARKI. 
ABUJA, NIGERIA.

"And where do you think you're going when the entire nation is on lockdown?"

"And I don't think that's any of your business, with all due respect, Mother!" Jaiyana retorted, earning gasps from the occupants present.

The reply set Safna in a state of shock as she stared at her daughter with disbelief. Jaiyana had never spoken back to her, let alone in such a disrespectful manner.

Jaiyana silently hissed and rolled her eyes before snatching her car keys from the console and exiting the house, heading to God-knows-where.

Ever since she was discharged from the hospital two weeks ago, she had returned as a completely changed person. Even her siblings, who were once very close to her, no longer understood her. Jaiyana was now rude and fierce, a far cry from her former cheerful self. She had become an introvert, staying in her room all day, and she no longer cared about her mother's actions. To top it off, she now spoke back to her mother—something she would never have dared before.

What no one knew was that Jaiyana was only pulling up an act, trying to make her mother realize how wrong she had been treating her. She wanted to become so distant and brash that perhaps her mother would remember that she still loved her. Jaiyana wanted her to realize how her actions and hurtful treatment had broken her, how deeply they had hurt her feelings. All she wanted was love, warmth, and most importantly, her mother.

Upon entering her car, Jaiyana buried her face on the steering wheel and cried her eyes out, praying to Allah to forgive her for talking back to her mother disrespectfully.

She wiped her tears just as the thought of someone popped into her mind. Mr. Unknown! A smile crept onto her lips. Where could he be right now? What might he be doing? Gosh! She badly wanted to see him again, but how? She had seen him in Kano, and now she was in Abuja. Lord! He must definitely be in Kano, right? Was there even a hope of meeting him again? No, she wouldn't give up that easily. She would do anything to meet Mr. Unknown again, even if she had to cross an ocean!

It was April, exactly six months until the year 2020 ended, and she had two goals to achieve before then. One was to make her mother love her again. The other was to meet Mr. Unknown once more! With that, she zoomed out of the estate, a determined smile on her lips.

***

Jaiyana returned home after her outing, which was simply roaming the streets. She made and had lunch before heading to her room, all without uttering a word to anyone. When she was done preparing the meal, she arranged the food in warmers on the dining table and went to her room without informing anyone, leaving them to find out on their own.

Lying comfortably on her bed, Jaiyana brought out her MacBook to watch a movie when an idea came to her mind, and she changed her plans. Grabbing her phone, she logged into Instagram and began searching for any male names that came to her mind, hoping she might find him.

Faruk Tahir, Muhammad Salis, Faisal Ali, Salim Salih, Junaid Abubakar, Sadiq Abba, Muhammad Auwal... those were the names she typed in, but there was no luck.

"Duh! What must his name be?" she pouted.

"But wait! What if he isn't even on Instagram?" she added before screaming and rolling on her bed, laughing at her own stupidity.

"Love is crazy," she muttered just as the door to her room opened and her two siblings trudged in. They took their seats on her bed and stared at her unblinkingly.