SARAUNIYYA: Heartstrings

Chapter 6

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There were a few things about myself that I had managed to keep true throughout the course of my life up until the night that Imran Shehu-Abubakar beheld me in nothing but my birthday suit for the first time. (1) No one other than the members of my nuclear family had ever seen me unclothed, (2) I had never shared a bed -let alone spent a full night- with a person of the opposite sex, and lastly (3) I had never ever kissed a boy, not a single one.

Of course, all three became untrue that night.

I was by myself when I awoke, without anyone beside me -without Imran beside me.

I lay completely still as the events of the night before replayed in my mind. I could still hear us kiss, and laugh and then kiss again. I could feel the absence of his hands and his lips on my skin. I could feel all the places that his lips and his fingers had been just a few hours earlier. His absence did not go unnoticed.

I sat up, realising as I did that I was still naked under the blankets. Just then, my eyes wandered towards a spot on the bed beside me.

"Did he leave me his clothes?" I asked myself in a low voice, with my eyes squinted at the clothes on the bed next to me. He did in fact leave me his clothes.

I couldn't help the smile that crept upon my face as I stared at his overshirt from the day before. I also noticed a plain, white round-neck T-shirt amidst his overshirt and trousers.

Imran is almost always dressed in a white shirt.

"He must've been wearing that under the blouson." I thought to myself, as I picked up the T-shirt and sniffed it deeply. "Of course, it smells like him... fuck!"

I suddenly became excited to get dressed... in Imran's clothes from the day before (all except the blouson, as I was indoors), I laughed at the irony of the thought. Oddly, his trousers fit me well. They were baggy around my legs but more fitted around the waist. His shirt was a bit baggy on me as well.

"Cute." I excitedly blew myself a kiss in one of the two wall mirrors of the guest-bedroom before exiting it.

I headed straight for the kitchen, hoping that I'd be able to find myself some drinking water there.

"Good morning, my lady." I heard a voice greet me ever-so-politely as I searched the kitchen fridge for water. "I take it you've had a nice night?"

I turned my head to find Bruce, the butler, beaming at me with his hands behind his back.

"Oh Bruce, dear." I greeted back, grinning too. "Yes, my night went great. Thank you."

He was about to speak again, but then I cut him short and seized the opportunity to ask about the water which I was so desperately searching for. He sat me down at the bar table, and within five minutes, brought me a long glass of lemon water.

"Where did Zainab and Faati end up sleeping?" I asked him, taking small sips of my water as the image of them asleep on top of each other in the cinema room last night crossed my mind.

"I believe your friend spent her night up in the princess's room." He responded, gesturing towards the staircase. "I can show you to the room if you like."

"Yes please, but after I'm done with my water," I replied, and he nodded his head, took a slight bow and then left me to myself -perhaps to allow for some privacy.

Not long after Butler Bruce took his very polite bow and disappeared, leaving me alone at the bar table, I heard someone start down the stairs in a hurried fashion, with their footsteps getting progressively louder as they got closer to the bottom.