Impulse

TWELVE: SECRETS

Secrets!!! Everyone has a secret they'd rather keep to themselves, some secrets are more dire than others. Some secrets are shared between two or more people, but often people forget that only a secret known by one person remains a secret, those might be the only kind of secrets you take to your grave.

The big question here is how can we trust another to keep secrets we can not even keep to ourselves? And other secrets are shared between two people who would rather keep it from the world, what happens when one of them changes their mind? What happens when keeping quiet was no longer an option?

What happens when you become hunted for what you know, Teemah was a breathing corpse, what she knew would literally take her to her grave, the only reason she was still alive was because Fahad decided to let her live that night. He knew she was bluffing when she said someone else was watching them and would share the video if she turned up dead. It was obvious there was just one link to the transmitter, it took him on look to know she was lying. She was good at hiding body language but that night she was scared to die, it made it easier for him to read her. Fahad found her will to live interesting and her intelligence impressed him. He could have just killed her that night and no one would know, but he did he let her live, that was the first time he ever disobeyed a direct order from Barrister Kamir but he made sure the Barrister didn't know that.

He took an early morning drive to Abuja, if he was going to disappoint his boss, then he wanted to do it in person. The Barrister wasn't too pleased with what Fahad said to him.
"This is the first time you have brought me a problem without a solution" the Barrister said, he was more upset than he was letting out, he always treated Fahad as his own so he never mistreated him. The Barrister was many things, but he loved Fahad as his own even though he knew how much he damaged him with people's blood. He truly genuinely cared about him.

The Barrister had a way of damaging everything in his wake, Teemah, Fahad..
Barrister Kamir knew how dangerous they both were, he made them. In Teemah's case that was not entirely how he wanted to make her, she was meant to serve his needs, at times he would pimp her out to his clients, or have her seduce his counterparts for leverage. Fateema was his weapon just like Fahad, but she was smart enough to arm herself against him without him realizing.

"You came all this way to tell me this?" The Barrister asked.
"Yes sir"
"Then go back, keep an eye on her and find me a way out of this"
"Yes sir"
***

Secrets!!! Some secrets were worth dying for, Tahira had secrets of her own, those she would rather die than let anyone else know about and now Abdulmaleek threatened to tell her deepest darkest secrets to the world. She was sad, the sadness made her weak, every moment was measured by the first mistake she made when she opened her door to what was forbidden. Two days in a row, she refused to see Ajeay, she didn't know how to face him, she didn't know what to do.

Two days had passed since Abdulmaleek gave her a visit, and in two days she didn't hear from him until that night, she picked up "Hello"
It had been a long time since she picked his calls, now he made sure she had no choice "Ina waje" (I'm outside) he didn't wait for her response, now her secrets made him powerful over her.

Sadness ran through her veins and weakened her sprits, but she got up to see him anyway, not that he gave her a choice. As the last time he parked inside her house, that terrified because it made it obvious that he wasn't there to play. He was leaning on the car, by the passenger's seat, he opened the door for her, neither of them said a word to each other, she sat inside the car and he closed the door and went round to his side.

"Abdulmaleek you can't be coming here, what if Daddy was around?"
"Perhaps you do not understand the gravity of what I told you? I'm not going to be sneaking around like someone who has something to hide, if Daddy asks I will make my intentions known"
"Daddy will not take it, Abdulmaleek my wedding is in less than 2weeks, there is nothing that can be done? Please.."
"Tell Ajeay you're no longer interested"
"Why are you doing this to me?" Even from how she spoke he knew she was in pain, she was trying not to break down again in front of him but he knew he had already won the battle.
"You did this Tahira, I told you to call it off, I begged you. You gave me no choice." He insisted.
"you had a choice, to let me go so I can live my life"
The was a horn by the gate, Tahira felt her heart skip a beat, she knew it could be Daddy because most time he came back without informing anyone but when the car drove in she saw it was Ajeay. She didn't know if that was better or worse.

Ajeay saw the car, it was Senior's that didn't sit well with him. He called her number, it rang.  She looked to Abdulmaleek, who was fully aware "do not pick up" he instructed.

"Abdulmaleek this isn't fair"
"I know" he plainly replied.
"How do you expect me to handle this?"
"However you see fit, you're a smart girl"
"Then at least give me a chance to end it before you start showing up here, it complicates this."

Ajeay could not hold himself, he properly parked and went to Abdulmaleek's car, he knocked on the driver's window. Abdulmaleek looked in her eyes with intensity as if silently asking her if she was ready to face Ajeay, it wasn't like she would ever be ready to do that. She looked away, Abdulmaleek wined down the glass, Ajeay bent to see if she was in and to his surprise she was.

The situation couldn't be more awkward, Ajeay didn't know how to start the conversation, Abdulmaleek obviously had no remorse, in all honesty he seemed to be enjoying the situation. Tahira could not face the window where Ajeay was. "Senior" he finally said
"Maza yane wai" Abdulmaleek replied casually.
"Yau kai ne da kanka a nan?"
"Dama nan ai wuri na ne" Abdulmaleek replied boldly. Tahira felt something stuck in her throat, was it disgust or was it disappointment? She couldn't be sure.

Ajeay half laughed "da kenan ai, yanzu kam senior ai an wuce wurin"
"A wurin ka ba?" Tension was building, for how long was Ajeay going to tolerate Abdulmaleek, he didn't have the full guts to confront Abdulmaleek, they called him Senior for a reason, there used to be so much respect between them, now everything had changed.
"Tahira in kin gama ina mota" Ajeay finally said.
"Bafa zata gama da wuri ba, gwanda ma kawai ka dawo gobe" Abdulmaleek replied. Ajeay just stood there sheepishly, he wasn't going to push it for peace to rain but nothing about that scenario sat well with him at all. He went back to his car and waited.

"I can take care of him for you want, I mean tell him you're no longer interested" Abdulmaleek suggested.
"Let me try to talk to him first" she said.
"Ok" but Abdulmaleek had no intention of letting her handle it alone.

After a while Ajeay got tired of waiting and left, it was already close to her time limit for the night, even if he waited they wouldn't get to talk so he made the decision to leave.
***