•Bashir

Today was fun, ok not so fun because I almost got killed but I narrowly escaped with bruises and a warning that'd left me timorous.

I'm glad Basma cancelled our meeting on Saturday. I wanted to cancel too but she beat me to it and I couldn't be happier because I didn't want it to seem rude cancelling first.

I was still wondering what I'd have told her.

We went to a fun fair at Maitama amusement park with a friend of hers;  Amina.

I took them there and paid for all the rides they'd rode and the food they ate. Later on, Rasheed; a friend from work arrived and it was like a double date.

From there, we went to the cinema to watch a movie before Rasheed offered to take Amina home and Basma followed me home in her car.

She didn't come in even after much lobbying.

That's understandable, she has manners.

I gave her a gift. It was a new phone and perfume. She was strongly affected, favourably because the phone was the latest iPhone now.

It really wasn't a pain in the neck to acquire such gifts now because my standard of living had evolved to it's pique with no point of depression.

She left not long ago so I decided to visit Salwa my sixth but unofficial girlfriend. I barely visited her so we were still at a getting-to-know-each other point.

*Peep peep*

The gate man was already at the gate waiting for me to arrive. He knew this was my usual time to arrive, whenever her parents travelled.

It became like a repeated cycle when I realized they travelled twice a month to Sokoto so I'd visit her when I was less busy with work.

I whined down my window to give the old man his monthly wage as he ran to go and call Salwa inside.

She was the only child, so there was no one to snitch on the damsel. Her parents were strict so I didn't know how she managed to live such a raunchy life.

I was currently the only one she hasn't slept with—I knew because she had a big mouth—and I'd made it clear that I wasn't interested.

"Baby yau kai ne a gidan nan?" Baby is it you in this house today? She asked once she'd opened the door and sat inside the car.

"In the flesh and blood." I laughed.

"How have you been?"

"I've missed you." I said shyly.

"I've missed you too." She blushed.

Her phone rang. As she looked at me, I was graced with a petrified look.

"What's wrong?"

"My dad. Shhh." She motioned for me to be quiet with her henna-ed finger as she answered the call.

"Barka da yammaci daddy." She greeted, wiping sweat from her face.

She put it on speaker because her hands were shaking so much then she dropped it on her laps.

"We're coming home now. We missed our flight."

"Da-da-daddy now?"

"Yes. Tell Hamisu to wash my other car because I'm going to Uncle Halliru's house immediately I come back."

"O-o-k Daddy." She replied, stuttering.

"Yes, infact we're at the gate. Tell him to come and open it now."

"Ok. Wait daddy you forgot to collect my message at the airport."

"I've already taken it. No need to worry, just go and tell him to open it. I'm even pressing the horn as hard as I can but he isn't at the door. Did he go out and you didn't know?"

The Hamisu they were looking for was repeatedly hitting the window of my car for me to open it.

"Alhaji ya dawo, dole ne ka tafi yanzu." Alhaji is here, you must leave now. He said, as he swallowed some saliva in fear.

He looked at his phone, "He's the one calling me now."

"But how do I escape without him noticing my car?" I asked.

Only women would be your death, Fareed once told me that and I was only starting to realize it.

"Just park the car by that part of the house then hide at the back and I'll tell you when they're inside then you can go."

I drove the car to the agreed point and hid behind the house while Salwa ran towards the main gate of the house to welcome her parents.

I leaned on the wall and tiptoed to the end of the wall where murmuring could be heard.

"Where were you when I was knocking?" A tall, chubby man roared.

"Sir, please listen." Hamisu shivered on the floor where he was kneeling.

"Daddy he was—" Salwa tried to formulate a lie.

The tall man who I assumed was her father rose his hand in the air for her to be silent.

"I don't want to hear it." He shook his head, "I asked where he was when we arrived and he couldn't answer."

"I'll answer."

Her father didn't say anything but looked at the security guard expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Sir, I was washing."

"Which clothes? I can't see anything on the ropes." He sneered.

"They've dried." He scratched the back of his bald head.

"You're unbelievable." He scoffed.

Her mother walked in silently without saying a word as if she had no care in the world.

"Daddy let's go in. We can settle—"

My phone rang, interrupting their mini investigative session. All eyes turned to my direction and I ran to the back of the house to hide myself.

I pulled the phone out of my pocket and switched it off once I was in room behind the house—could be the boys quarters.

"Who is that?" Someone asks from outside the door and I watch from the window as Hamisu, Salwa and her father search for the supposed, existing trespasser.

I stand by the door and my heart starts to beat so rapidly I prayed to loose consciousness at the moment so that they'd take to me the hospital—at least.

What made the whole issue worse was that her father held a gun tightly in his hands, ready to shoot.

Where did he even get it from so quickly?

I could see Salwa trying to persuade him to go back in and let Hamisu handle it but he refuses and asks her to return inside but she stubbornly insists to stay with him because she's too scared to return alone.

"Let me check here." Hamisu said and stretches his hand for the door handle.

Now that there was nowhere to hide, I just surrendered by sitting on the floor, awaiting my trial with her father who was about to be my executioner.

He pokes his head in, scanning the room until his eyes land on me in the corner of the room and he coughs, suspiciously—might I add— so her father's attention was drawn here.

"Is the person in there?" He asks and Hamisu only nods in the negative without uttering a word.

I fear his demeanor will send us both to our creator today but he surprised me by quickly covering up with a believeable lie before shutting the door.

Her father is still talking but their voices had become inaudible the moment I left the window.

I hear the door being opened again, I thought it was Hamisu so I remained relaxed until I'm standing face to face with Salwa's Titan of a father.

"I smell perfume that isn't mine or my wife's and neither is it Sal—" Her name gets stuck in his throat once he notices me and he frowns.

"Hamisu get here!" He commanded, "Who is this?" He yells, almost as if he would lose his voice.

His eyes meet mine but he looks away quickly so that he wouldn't notice the exchange, "I didn't see him, sir."

"Come out." He beckons to me with the AK47 and I act immediately without protest.

He laughed, turning to Salwa, "You think I'm a fool right? You think I didn't know what you were doing. Well, Alhaji Mansur my Friend told me he saw you at a hotel and I didn't believe him till last month when he sent me pictures of you and one man at the door of a hotel when I and your mother travelled."

I wonder what the friend was doing there too...

"Salwa why?" He cried, "I thought I trained you better than this. Your mother will be devastated once she hears this."

"Daddy please listen." She pleads as tears start pouring down from her eyes little by little.

He slaps her immediately and Hamisu flinches in fear as he notices the stamp on the side of her face despite her dark complexion.

"Listen to what? I don't have anything to tell you again, you're getting married and that's final. Don't bother about how to find a husband, I have the perfect person for you. Now go back inside before I slap you again." He says calmly.

"Daddy—" She tried to hold his hand as she kneels on the floor but he moves back as if she was diseased.

"This was a test by me and your mother and you failed woefully. This trip was just faked to see if you'd do something stupid. Clap for yourself. Your mother is waiting for you upstairs. I'm sure she has made up her mind to kill you tonight."

I felt bad for her and worse for me who was about to get murdered.

He looks away without looking at her a second time and he punches me deep in the guts. I spit out blood as I fall down backwards and I gape at how strong these hands were despite them being for an old man.

"And you, you'll be lucky if I don't kill you today. You're not marrying her so tell me why you're here?" He stomps on my stomach and kicks my back.

"I-I-I love her." I lied trying to appease him.

"Liar! If you loved her as you say you do, you would've come to ask for her hand but you didn't instead you're here teaching small girls how to do nonesense."

She coughs behind him on the floor, "Daddy he's not like that."

"You're still here?" He asks viciously, grimacing as he rushes to where she sat looking lifeless with puffy eyes.

She gets up and runs into the house from the kitchen to avoid his wrath.

He comes back to me and Hamisu and this time it's Hamisu that's at the receiving end of the brunt.

Her father elbowed his stomach and his lanky body fell beside me as he winced in pain. He threw the gun to the floor, kicked his stomach and pulled him back up to slap him

"You're the one that let him into this house! What do I pay you for?" He yelled at Hamisu.

He points at me, "Don't think I'm done with you."

I try to get up and he punches my face. More blood gushed out as my lip was blotched as well as my affected nose which was probably broken because I was sure something was shifted there.

"Get up!" He points the gun at us, "Are you deaf?"

We both do as he says and he asks us to walk to the entrance of the house.

"Now, both of you will leave my house." He begins, "Hamisu you're fired! As for you, I don't want to ever see you in this house again. Leave now!"

I run out of the gate, forgetting that my car is still hidden at the side of the house and I rush back in to get it.

Hamisu goes into his room and returns with all his belongings. I see the man counting some money to give to Hamisu and I drive out of the compound before he even calls me back.

I fetched my phone from my pocket to check for the caller that wanted to be the cause of my death today.

It was none other than Nadiya. What did the witch even want?

I'll just have to give her a piece of my mind before she regains her senses.

From today, I've learnt that Fareed will always be right about me and my women but that didn't mean I was going to forfeit what I had with them to avoid dying.

If it was all about death, I knew we were all going to die eventually so what good was not living your life to the fullest before you get old? If I'm being honest, there is never going to be a better time in your life to enjoy yourself than your youth.

"I told you that'd you'd encounter many troubles. This is just the beginning." A woman says from the backs seat and I stop the car in the middle of traffic to look back.

As usual, there was no one. I've already gotten used to her mystic appearances so I wasn't fazed any longer but I was more than curious to know why I was the only person she wanted to chase around.
_____________________________

Your thoughts....

~Aisha Safiyanu🥀