Only In Jannah

20: Challenges

Khalil woke up earlier than normal, he was so anxious to leave before Hidaya that he was up at three thirty in the morning. He sat up on the bed and rested his head on his knees, waking up at that time was in his favour, he would cry to his lord. He would ask for forgiveness and pray his wife wouldn't leave him for his past mistakes.

Khalil left home before six thirty, he needed to be away from the hot atmosphere of the house, he needed to get away from the smell of his wife which was now setting everywhere.

He banged his car door shut resting his head on the steering wheel for a breath of relief before zooming the car into motion, he found himself turning off the air-conditioning and dropping the window, he could hear his wife asking him to do just that, she would close her eyes and inhale deeply as a gush of wind forces its way in. Her scarf would flow in the direction of the wind causing her scent to fill the air, Khalil wanted so bad to pull the veil off her and let it sit on his face again.

It was all a lie, a little daydream. She wasn't there, she was far away. He shook his head to clear his mind and by the time he got to work it was evident on his face, even the security knew something was wrong. He made it up to his father's office without having to meet or greet anybody, it was only seven a.m and no one would be at work for another ten to fifteen minutes. Once within the walls of Alhaji Nuhus office he slumped down on the office chair throwing his head back, he could almost imagine Hidaya sitting at the corner flipping through a magazine but he forced himself not to, this was the only place he could control his mind, but even the tiniest bit of Hidaya in a place could change it. He gave the office a quick glance.

Yes, something was different.

Khalil closed his eyes needing to get some sleep, his night was rough and not in a good way. He needed the salvation of sleep, maybe he would be lucky enough to dream of something other than his beautiful wife, but he liked seeing her in his dreams. She made his nightmares disappear.

Ava knocked and entered gaining Khalil's attention, she secretly wished he wasn't the one sitting on Alhaji Nuhu's chair. All she wanted was to work without any distractions and Khalil was a major distraction, somehow since their encounter yesterday she found herself reflecting a lot, she had gotten used to the pain of loving him that others just didn't cut it, they didn't fit into her new reality.

"Good morning" she greeted as she tried to hold back a smile.

"Ava" Khalil adjusted his seating position "Good morning, how was your night?"

"Fine thank you and yours?"

He sighed "Fine" he lied because the last thing he wanted was for his ex to know about his marital problems but Ava was the perfect listener, she would know what to do. For three more hours they worked quietly, talking only when absolutely necessary.

Ava hit the edges of the papers she had in hand on the table arranging them before she stapled them together "You should go to your wife" she unconsciously said, she knew something was wrong immediately he greeted, he was too kind and she knew that was his way of covering up his true feelings.

"What?"

"You should go back to your wife"

"And what makes you think I need to go back to her?" he asked leaning back on his chair and bouncing on it.

She chuckled shaking her head a little "You have always - always - had this tendency to run away from the situation. I don't know if it's your ego...no not that, but you fear confrontation."

"Is that what you think of me Ava Marie Samuels?" a smirk tugged on the edge of his lips. Khalil got on his feet making his way to the other side of the table where she was seated, he sat back against the table "And when Toby tried to hurt you did I run away from the situation? All those times at the club when you decided to cover only fifteen percent of your body, your debts. I put you through college Ava"