Labiba

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Ever since I found out that Salim doesn't see Falila when he looks at me, I get into retarded mode whenever I see him. It's like I was a school girl with a crush but Salim has been distant lately. Whenever we are in the same room, he sits far away from me and he doesn't touch me or hold my hand anymore.

Right now as I come to sit beside him on the sofa, he stares at me strangely and I smile at him. "Are you going somewhere?" He asks as he gestures at my makeup.

I frown "No." I did it for him. "I just wanted to look good."

His attention goes back to the television as he presses the remote, "You always look good, Labiba." I'm also back to being called Labiba, all the nicknames are nowhere to be found.

I understand where he's coming from, he's not going to put all his hopes on me and I'll end up disappointing him. What he doesn't know is that I've already made up my mind. I've written my decision on stone and I'm not coming back from it.

"Aren't you going out today?" I ask him and he shakes his head.

"All the people I work directly with are undergoing training, I would be there to check their progress tomorrow."

I decide to dig deeper as I ask "Including Safiyya?"

"Nope." He says. Bringing an end to the topic and I sigh, he doesn't tell me anything anymore. "Do you need something at the mart?" He stands up from the couch and I shake my head.

"But I can come with you." I offer but he shakes his head.

"That's not my only stop."

Okay, now he's just avoiding me and he's not hiding it. "You said you're going to change the position of my bed, when are we doing it?"

He shrugs before picking up his wallet from the centre table, "what's the point, Labiba?" He walks away after that and I realise he's right. There's no point in him doing anything when he doesn't know my stand in all this.

We just have two weeks left in the six months and I haven't done anything to show Salim that I love him. I've made my decision for a while now but I don't know how to approach Salim with it. I can't bring it up if he doesn't and he always looks so moody these days.

Zahra is going to be staying with us for two days because Mummy and Daddy are travelling to Maiduguri for a family wedding and Zahra doesn't want to stay all alone. I had called her earlier to confirm when she'll be arriving and she'd told me that she was already on her way but she'd stop at Safiyya's first.

I felt like I was punched at the mention of Safiyya's name but I hadn't allowed Zahra to know my feelings towards her friend.

My major issue is where would Zahra stay for the night? The guest room is filled with Falila's stuff while the other room is not furnished. There's a bed for it but we've never discussed putting the bed because we rarely have any visitors. I'm not sure if Salim can assemble the bed or even if I'd be able to talk to him about it now that he sees no point in doing anything with me.

Zahra comes in a few minutes later and I watch as she converses with Laila in her blabber language while she plays with her phone. "Mummy said next time, you're going to Maiduguri together." Zahra tells me and I laugh.

"I told her that I've never been there and she was insisting that I had to go with them this time around." I said. "Has Salim ever-" I stop midway when his voice comes from the doorway saying Assalamu Alaikum. We answer as he steps in, holding different nylon bags in his hand. Zahra gets up to take them from him and I smile at the sight. Family is really a beautiful thing.