Embraced (#2 Natives series) #ProjectNigeria

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

             MUNIR HADN'T EXACTLY PLANNED ON meeting Fatiha again and not so soon, but he'd bumped into her auntie at the hotel's lobby just as he was coming back from the gym. She'd invited him over for breakfast and had refused to accept his excuse of not being able to join she and her niece for breakfast.

So, without washing but bathed with sweat, he had followed the older woman down to her room. As they'd stepped out of the elevator he was reminded again of the stupid mistake he'd nearly made yesterday. Grateful to the elevator for saving him, Munir had commended the inventor of such magnificence. However, his gratitude had been little in comparison to how embarrassed and shameful he'd felt. He was just thankful he'd avoided ruining the friendship they had just started growing.

Munir's plan however to evade Fatiha during the remainder of his stay in Abuja was a failure as he found himself standing behind her auntie whilst looking at her incredulous yet beautiful face. She was wearing a long ombre skirt, an oversized long sleeved shirt in black, and hurriedly wrapped around her face was a navy blue shawl.

"Assalamu Alaykum, Fatiha. Guess who I met on my way back?" Auntie Halima sang as she sashayed past her fidgety niece into the large room, numerous shopping bags in her hands accompanied a takeout box from an eatery.

Silently, Munir watched as the younger lady's face twisted with discomfort and he realised then—a bit comforted—that he wasn't the only one who had hoped to avoid the other.

With her gaze diverted and her brows creased, Fatiha looked completely different from the person he'd spent the day with yesterday. She almost looked like the Fatiha who had left him that night at the suya joint. It seemed like ages ago, Munir thought as the memory flashed through his mind. He should have messaged her last night, explained or apologized about his behaviour. He must have shocked her last night with his questions.

Seeing as she was probably filled with her own embarrassing memories of what had transpired between the both of them last night to talk, Munir broke the silence by sending her salaam and stepping inside.

With a jump, she took a giant leap away from him with widened eyes. Immediately realizing her mistake, she smiled to ease the tension brewing between them a bit, then she flung a hand towards the sitting area, encouraging him to take a seat.

She began to excuse herself but before she could do so, however, Munir asked if he could use the restroom.

"Um, it's right over there." She replied, pointing down to a corridor. "Feel free to use a towel." She added after a beat and then excused herself.

Munir watched her as she ran to a room, her skirt twirling around her legs as she hurried off in a flame of white and orange. Her feet barely made any sounds in the course of her escape. The side of his lips twitched into a smile. He dropped his phone and the small gym bag he had on him on the couch before heading to the toilet. Once there he took off his shirt then splashed water onto his face. He placed a towel he grabbed from the cabinet under the faucet and wiped his torso, washing away the sweat from his body, focusing mainly on his underarms. When he was done, he threw the towel in a basket then went out.

Back in the sitting room, he settled down on the couch, unzipped his bag and took out his deodorant. Generously, he applied it to his armpits, hoping to hide the smell of sweat his shirt had accumulated while he'd been at the gym. Finally done with that, he reached for the discarded novel on the coffee table he was certain Fatiha had been reading.

After reading the synopsis at the back, he flittered through the first few pages until he got to the page she'd bookmarked. Munir pulled out the cute origami cat bookmark with a soft chuckle while he used his fingers to secure the page. He placed the bookmark on the table top then turned his focus to the book.