Saved by my nightmare (A Nigerian Story)

CHAPTER 12

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بسم لله الرحمن الرحيم
Lagos, Nigeria.
2012

Dread gripped Zaharadeen immediately he woke up early that morning, he hadn't ever been one to shy away from people but that morning, all he could think about was meeting his Ruma.

Late last night, his mum had informed him and his two brothers about the ceremony that would be taking place for the handing over ceremony.

Curiously, he had asked her who the officer that was going to hand over the position was.

In retrospect, he never should have asked the question. It was the reason for him venturing into thoughts that were best left forgotten.

After all, it wasn't everyday the father of the girl you're deeply and utterly infatuated with hands over his position to your father.

He could feel the yearning for her so deeply rooted in his heart, that the pain of merely thinking about her overshadowed every other thing in his life.

He didn't know how and when a simple crush developed into....a feeling that turned his brain to mush, only that the feeling was ever present.

And the most ironic part of the whole situation was that person for whom he was restraining himself from stupidly going to his girl....from getting lost in her and feeling her skin against his was ignoring him.

He knew he had to keep away from Rumaysa and even if the thought alone made him want to pull his hair out of their roots...he couldn't lose his sister in the process.

A hand on his shoulder jolted him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, ya Khalid. Assalamualaikum bro" Khalid had been awake for quite some time, watching his younger brother groan in frustration.

"What's wrong Zahar?,  is it her again" it wasn't the first time he had seen his brother in that state.

It made something in him stir seeing his brother that way....always looking hopeless whenever he saw Rumaysa.

It wasn't a hidden fact that Rumaysa was a very beautiful girl, she had the demure nature to top it all off, but he didn't know the reason why his younger brother was that hung up on her.

His twin Khalipha was a typical ladies man....none of them had ever dated though, their mother would probably have their heads.

Their grandmother was a fulani woman, with all the genes on point. In her youth, she had very dark mid-back length hair, her skin mildly fair, eyes hazel in colour and extremely thin.

They all inherited the hazel eyes but amongst all of them, Maliya looked almost exactly like their grandmother.

It wasn't a surprise to him when a lot of of his friends would come to their house and spend hours gazing at his sister and while he was always annoyed at them, his little brother was livid.

Zaharadeen's overprotectiveness had led him to Rumaysa, he had beat up Rumaysa's brother and gone to their house later to apologize and when he came back home, there was this faraway look in his eyes.

When Rumaysa and Rayyan started visiting their house a lot, his twin had offhandedly made a comment about Rumaysa being pretty one night during dinner and Zaharadeen had glared at him and left the table.

At the time, both he and Khalipha had laughed it off, always teasing him over his crush. But surprisingly, instead of denying it, he would stare defiantly into both their eyes and ask them to stop bothering 'him and his Ruma'.