| Life of a fraudster | ✔

▪LOAF 3▪

I keep my phone to give him my utmost attention because of his looks even though my facial expression and my behavior say otherwise.

"Excuse me. Good evening." He says and I nod slightly. "Good evening, she's at the back. She'll be back in a minute." I say looking away.

"Okay, this might seem absurd but are you Anisah Bashir?" He asked as I snapped my head to him. Act cool, act cool, calm down. I told myself internally.

"Yes, why do you ask?" I adjust my sitting position, admiring everything about him. His beard, hands, lips, eyes, protruding muscles and his dentition.

He wore a blue kaftan with his muscles showing but not so much though. He added a black crossed shoe with a blue and black cap.

"My name is Mohammad Tafida and I have been trying to contact you for some time now. I would like to indulge in your business." He says when I felt tense.

I can't fall for it. "Well, I am sorry but I don't know what you are talking about," I say looking forward.

"I understand that you don't believe that I have come with good intentions to be involved in your line of work but I do have good intentions." He says, impressing me.

I glance at him. "I can't recall any business of mine like that and I find it very offensive to claim that I'm someone when I told you I'm not. " I say stubbornly. I look at him as he nods.

"I apologize for making you feel that way." He says before clearing his throat and then smiling.

"A reliable source told me about you and your business." He says. "Yeah," I say not interested in this marriage proposal. "I decided to confront you about it." He says when I suddenly remembered what he said.

"Are you following me?" I ask, my guard up. He furrowed his eyebrows. "No." He says looking at me. "Then how do you know that I am here?" I ask clasping my hands together.

"Okay, someone did it for me and I came here." He says as Maman Zainab comes back in with a tray of bread.

"Welcome, would you like anything?" She asks him. "Yes, I would like two baskets in the same order as hers." He says before his head snapped back at me.

"Do you agree to work with me?" He asks and looks at his watch. "I can't accept anything that I don't know of."

I say shaking my head, he nods slightly. Maman Zainab places the baskets. "Three thousand, five hundred each". She says smiling. He placed the money on the table.

"Well, when you change your mind, please contact me." He slides me his card before walking away. I couldn't help but turn around to look at him and make model-like strides with his muscles.

"Who is he?" Maman Zainab asked me while she counted her money. "I don't know yet." I say sighing.

"He is handsome and looks rich." She says with a smile across her face. Even she knows. I look at his card that was placed on the table. Mohammad Tafida, let us see who you are.

Mohammad's Point of View

I walked out of the supermarket and got into my car. I sigh in frustration. I want to get this over with. "Did it work?" Sadeeq asked me as he sat beside me.

"She feigned ignorance but I gave her my card anyway," I say inserting my car key in the ignition. "Yeah, she might investigate." He says sitting up.

"I still can't rely on her 100% so please check for a woman who will agree to this," I say when I see her with two other men carrying the basket.

"But it is not going to be easy for a girl to just let you go after getting married to you. I mean, It is quite dumb but I'll check it out for you." He says pulling out his phone.

"I know," I say before I drive off.
*****

I came back from the office and just to let you know, it is tiring. I walked into the house with my blazer in my hands. I unbuttoned the first three buttons.

"Is it Mohammad?" She says from afar. I walked to the parlor as my mom saw me. She wore a white silky bubu with green small dots around the corners.

"Welcome home." She hugs me tightly. "Good afternoon, ma," I say sitting down. She smiles widely before taking my blazer and walking out.

I love my mom. My siblings might think otherwise but I do a lot.

My father has cheated on her one too many times and she still is with him even after I tried to persuade her to find her happiness but she stuck around because of us.

She couldn't leave us and besides she's old so she might as well finish it till the end, I quote. I hate that phrase because marriage is something happy but it turned out to be a burden on her.

She came in with a tray. "I know you're tired from all that hassle." She places the tray on the table. "Thank you," I say while she sits down beside me, placing her head on her palm.

"Do you know who can do this for you? Your wife." She sits here all day every day giving me speeches on marriage.

"Yes, mine is rocky but yours will be different. She will take care of you without any question or complaint." She continues while I just nod, smiling.

"I don't need to be doing this so I have decided that if you don't, I will tell your aunt that you will be getting married to Sadikka." She says crossing her arms.

I choked because of what she said. I took the glass of water and took a sip. "What? There is no need for that, she will be soon coming back here from Egypt. Just finished her University."

I lie fluently. "Really? What is her name? Tell me more about her." She says a bit. "It's Anisah, she finished studying medicine, 25 years ago and is an orphan."

I lie saying the first thing that popped Into my head. "Really? When will she be coming back?" She asks. "In two months." I take another sip of the water.

She stands up abruptly. "I better get ready." She walks to the door. "Isn't it too early?" I said but she scoffed. "It is never too early to start preparing." She says before walking out.

God, I need to get her. I stood up, calling Sadeeq.

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