Elhaam!

Chapter 5

8:24AM, maiduguri state, 2000

"Elhaam, what did you use to have your bath?" Ayan shot the question the moment he saw her walk into the room, with her tiny body covered in a cute cupcakes patterned towel.

From the looks of it, the cold water and the morning breeze started to have it's toil on her.

"Water" she sheepishly replied, her lips ever so slightly trembling from cold.

"Why, why didn't you wake me up. You know you never bathed yourself, I could have done it for you" Ayan complained, his voice strained, so his sadness won't be too evident

"Yes walaal. But you also never went the whole day without sleeping. And I'm a big girl now. I'll bathe myself" she assured, rushing to their duffel bag and retrieved a new set of clean clothes.

"Have you eaten enough? If you want you can have little of mine" Ayan offered, getting his stuff ready to rinse out the stench off him.

"No, i ate enough. Eat the rest. A woman stopped by, she said a teacher is coming here later"

"In that case, I better hurry"

Ayan gushed down his left overs, had his bath, and soon, the two sat in the living room waiting for the 'supposed teacher'  to arrive.

Not long after, a man not over his forties was at their doorstep.

"Hello there"

Though his voice sounded nothing close to soft, he sure intended to be gentle with the kids.

"Hello" they muttered back a reply

"Oh, you don't talk much, it's okay. I'll be as fast as I can. We just need to know what career you'd want to major on, that's all"

They gave a short nod, moving closer to each other for self assurance.

"So let's start with the girl, shall we?"

"No need for that. My sister won't be working. She'll just stay home. I'll do the earnings for us" Ayan spoke up quickly before the man would have any impressions.

"That's fast. In that case, she'll be trained as a housewife" scribbling something down on his notepad with a crease on his forehead.

So the rumors he heard were true. He could proudly testify to that, The siblings would die for each other. he now understood why Milan gave specific orders for them to choose their jobs here.

"Is that necessary?" Ayan probed, discomfort with the idea settling within him.

"That is quite necessary. She'd have to learn to cook, clean the house, nurse future kids, basically just so she can survive as a female. Nothing to worry about... as for you, I would call the spots according to rank and payments here, okay?"

"Umm...walaal?" Elhaam mumbled, dragging ayan's attention to her.

"Yeah?"

"Aabe always said we should choose our careers following our passion. I don't think you should here the prices, you might select a price and the job is not worth doing" she silently whispered, hoping the stranger with them heard nothing she said.

Ayan gave what she said a thought, her words all being true, he didn't want to make a decision that will cause them a lifetime. he had to be cautious, and what Elhaam suggested could just be the first step of caution.

"Can we skip the payments for later. I want to choose based on logics"

To say the man was taken aback would certainly be an understatement. This kids had something even the elders here don't have. They had something not everyone on earth was blessed with; wisdom. And the brutal death of their parents might just add to it.