The One He Chose

Chapter 14

The Truth
           

Late summer of 1996, young Muhammad moved back to Abuja with his family. The nine year old was devastated when his Mami informed him of their moving. The only place he ever called home was Lagos even though he was from Gombe state, they never really visited. His friends, neighbors, his all-time favorite teacher Miss Josephine were about to become his past. He was starting in a new school and he was terrified. Engineer Abdulhameed's career was getting to its peak then when he got transferred to Abuja, so he had no other option but to move his family back with him.

           On the first day of school, it was the hardest, he got dropped in his new school with seven year old Ilham who didn't seem a bit concerned about the change. As soon as she was shown her class, she excitedly went her way. But Muhammad, he felt like an outsider with his classmates, especially when they started making fun of him. He was known as the chubby Lagos boy for the first two weeks.

                By the third week, his new teacher Mrs. Bello finally convinced him to go out for break with the other children. He reluctantly joined them and he went outside to the playground, he decided to join those who were playing on the football pitch. It didn't take long for one of his classmate Sola to push him to the ground. All the remaining kids gathered around him, including the supervising teacher, thankfully he only got a minor bruise on his knee. So the teacher selected one of the kids to take him to the sick bay to see the nurse.

              And the boy he choice was Usman. He escorted him to the sick bay and when the nice nurse asked him what was his name. Muhammad replied "Muhammad Zain Abdulhameed" She smiled at the little boy who seemed too enthusiastic about saying his name. Beside him was Usman, who watched the nurse clean Muhammad's wound. He had never heard the name Zain before, so it was new to him. When the bell rang to go back to class, Muhammad was surprised to still see Usman waiting for him. The two boys walked back to their respective classes. They were both in primary four but different classrooms.

             The next day, Usman surprised Muhammad by coming to his classroom during break. The previous day he had gone home and told everyone about his new friend Zain. Muhammad thought he was there for another thing but it turned out he was there to take him out for break. That was the beginning of their Friendship.

             In secondary school, they became even closer. Both their families have become acquainted. Usman used to have a crush on Ilham then, so he was always in their house but he never let Muhammad know. Muhammad was always the chilled one of the two, the simple one, the level headed one, the quiet one, the one who did their assignments, chubby boy from before was now growing into a handsome man. While Usman, good looking too, the charmer, he was the hot headed one, the talkative, the competitive one, the attention seeker between the two. They were totally opposite guys but they still managed to stay best friends. If you knew, Usman, you would also know Muhammad and the other way around.

             But for some unknown reason girls always preferred Muhammad between the two. Even though he wasn't interested, he would always ask Usman to step in and Usman was ever willing to do that, he had the ability to hold a conversation with any lady. He never complained and that worked for them. Usman's crush on Ilham went away as soon as they went away for University.

              When they went to University, things started to change. The two were in the same country but they had different schools. They would meet for some time to catch up because they lived in different cities. From meeting twice a month, to once a month, them it became during school breaks. But they still managed to stay friends.

                After University, work got between them. Usman was always never around because he was flying around the world and Usman got busy with his dad's company. They only got time when they both get a holiday. Usman had started dating one of his cousins, Maryam, a Fulani girl. While Muhammad, dated one of Ilham's friends on her insistence but he cut it off as soon as it started because she wasn't his type.