This chapter is for mournaeee Thank you for voting first and commenting on a spree first. May God bless your kind heart ❤️💖

The microphone of the mosque next door crackled for a few seconds, waking her, she rolled over and groaned, asking herself why she spent the good part of the night re-watching her favorite Korean series of all time, Vincenzo. She let her eyes open slowly, tying to get used to the nightlight beside her, the clock on the alarm said four thirty on the dot. 

She got up though, as tired as she felt and began the sleepy shuffle to the bathroom where she held unto the towel railing for a good minute before bending down to pull out a pair of bathroom slippers.

She was resuming to a new branch of Deizimane hospital, her emotions were jumbled up, balling themselves in the categories of scared, excited and jittery. The scared part took center stage and held unto her lower belly. 

She sighed and bent down, turning on the bathtub taps. She'd moved in two weeks before with her paternal uncle and his family and would finally resume to work later that evening, her first shift was a night shift. 

She walked back into her room, painted in off-white with blue grey brocade curtains to set it off to blue grey painted shelf and pulled out a wine set of praying mat, crepe jilbab and a praying mat she knitted herself. She took them out of their satin soft encasing and spread out the mat on the floor before pulling on the Jilbab.

The cool material slid to her feet and she adjusted the swaying cloth before stepping on the mat. She stood there for a few seconds clearing her head of all thoughts and focusing on the reason she'd set out to pray, after her two rakats, in the most humble tone she could muster, she prayed; "Ya Allah, this transfer; you know why it happened, you know how it happened. I do not know, I'm a little lost and for whatever reason it is happening, make it a good one for me. Help me make the best out of this opportunity, Ameen." 

She got up gingerly, feeling some pain in her knees from kneeling. She picked up the Qur'an she'd taken out, and sat on the mat, her back to the bed frame. The Adhaan for Subh prayers met her right there reading the third verse of Surah Maryam. 

She prayed Subh, this time sleepily, dropping into bed immediately after taking off her jilbab. She folded the mat into four neat corners and stored it. 

A knock sounded at her door four hours later, a covered head stuck itself into her room, she opened her groggy eyes and shut them back quickly, since the sun was streaming in and felt like it could blind her if she didn't shut her eyes. 

"UmmulKhair?" She called out, seeing as the head didn't move from that position. The door finally swung open and in came the owner of the covered head. 

"Good Morning, Ya Nadia." Nadia rolled over in her bed bringing herself up until she was leaning on the headboard and could see UmmulKhair's face clearly. 

"Good Morning." She croaked back in return after she got comfortable. The younger girl rocked on her sneakered feet and smiled. Caramel skinned and tall, she was a perfect contrast to Nadia's near milk-like complexion and petite stature, a complexion that Nadia cursed everytime someone attributed her success to it. 

"I made you break fast, it's in the microwave, uhm, I'm going to lectures now. Mama and Baaba won't be back until five, but I'll be back in time to help you with making dinner." Nadia nodded gratefully and got up from the bed with a groan. 

"When do your classes end? Do you need anything?" UmmulKhair shook her head, the stone encrusted clip she held the end of her hijab with shook along with it. 

"They end by two, and I should be back by three latest. I'm only going so I can submit a report and attend a class. Nothing special." Nadia nodded her head, pulling on the waist band of her threadbare cotton pyjamas up to her waist, she made a mental note to text her mother to get her a new pyjamas. 

"Have a great day, see you later." She answered eventually, dismissing her twenty year old cousin. She liked the girl well enough, but between the time she was trying to get into nursing school and working not to get kicked out, her relationship with her cousins had dwindled to absolutely nothing and she had no one to blame but herself. 

Her cousin left the room and Nadia plopped down back on her bed, wondering how she would start the day. She's gotten enough sleep so there was no more sleeping for her, instead she got up again, feeling a burst of energy and began to strip the bed to lay it. She pulled on the sheets and laid them with cut throat precision, she'd learned very early that making her bed made her ready for the day. 

She pulled on the Jilbab she'd taken off hours earlier and wore a pair of brown soft knitted inside home slippers, began the journey she determined arduous down the stairs. 

She entered the large airy kitchen, it was empty except for the sound of the robotex she was sure UmmulKhair left working was cleaning the floor leaving a whirring sound in it's wake. 

The large airy kitchen, painted in white and tones of dark grey, that seemed to make the whole place look lighter and wider that it in fact was. 

Her phone rang as she fetched some water into the kitchen kettle so she turned off the tap to take out her phone from her jilbab's pocket. The sound of Vincenzo's theme song blared at her until she swiped right and put the phone on speaker. 

"Assalamualaikum Mummy." She greeted her mom and waited for her mother's response. The connection crackled for a few seconds before the phone went quiet. Her phone rang again, she didn't try calling back, she knew her mother would call back. 

"My darling, Walaikum Salam. How are you today?" Nadia smiled as she placed a three fat strawberries in a metal strainer and turned on the tap on them. 

"I'm fine Mummy, miss me?" Her mother scoffed at her question, not responding to it as though she would rather eat nails than dignify her 'Miss me?' question with an affirmative response. 

"What are you up to today?" She tapped her tongue on the inside of her cheek, trying to find a way to tell her mother she would not be leaving the house. 

"I just woke up and I'm about to have breakfast, then I'll go back to my room to watch some series." Nadia heard her mother sigh in something that could only be classified as lamentation. 

"Has Ammar called you?"  Her mother asked instead, Nadia stopped and stared at the small bird perched on the fence outside the window.  Her mind fetched the picture of her ex-fiancee who had suddenly ended their engagement about six months before. It no longer hurt as much as it used to and she no longer remembered it at every waking moment anymore. 

"He didn't, I doubt that he ever will." She responded lowly and reached out to turn off the whistling kettle. 

"May Allah provide a better option." Nadia said Ameen but her mind was made up, the rest of the year would be spent trying to become Surgical Charge nurse, not fall in love. 

"What are you eating?" Her mother questioned, Nadia could hear the tension had left her mother's voice. 

She walked to the microwave and pulled the small door open to see five fluffy looking pancakes stacked upon one another waiting in the interior of the sleek black microwave. 

"UmmulKhair made us Pancakes before she left for school." She tore off a part of one and dipped it into the small glass bowl where she'd put some Hershey's chocolate syrup to eat with. 

"How's your relationship with your cousins? your daddy may not say it, but he sure hopes you can get along with them, he doesn't want you living alone outside, not with your condition." Nadia pulled on the urge to roll her eyes and succeeded. She didn't want to be disrespectful but all she had was PCOS, not a death sentence. 

"I understand. I'm trying my best- it's best to say we're all trying our best, In Sha Allah, our relationship will get better." Her mother muttered an Ameen and ended the call after praying for her 'technically' first day at work. 

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"You're ready?" 

She nodded, holding unto the recycled bag that held her work praying mat, a black floor length hijab and a small Qur'an. She hoped the branch in Abuja was like the one in Kano that had lockers to keep things in, she used to have a mini changing room in her Kano locker. 

"Take this." Her aunt handed her a small insulated bag, Nadia's facial muscles widened into a grateful smile as she realized her aunt made her something to eat and had it in a warmer. 

"Thank you aunty." Her aunt waved her off and told her to be careful. Nadia nodded and with a smile and a pep to her step, she walked out of the house, where Baba Bala, the driver was asked to stay a few more hours so he could drop her off on her first day. 

"Hajia, I'll drop you off at the hospital ba?" He asked in Hausa, she nodded and sat in the back, adjusting the hem of her scrub trousers that had ridden up while she got into the car. 

The sights passed and about twenty minutes later, they drove into the Diezemane Hospitals, Abuja premises. Nadia waved Baba Bala bye and stood back to look at the imposing fourteen story building. 

She promised herself to make her mark here, to do her best to help people and make lives easier. Taking about a hundred steps, she walked into the air-conditioned lobby and walked to the reception box where a man and another woman where making calls and typing on the computer simultaneously. 

"Hello," She greeted, Unsure. 

"Hello, Welcome- You're a new nurse or transfer nurse?" The male nurse asked her immediately he saw her uniform with the Diezemane Hospitals badge on it, cutting off his standard welcome greeting. 

"Transfer nurse." She answered with a light smile. He smiled back and Nadia realized that the female nurse hd not responded. 

"Name please?" He asked again and Nadia went blank for a good second. 

"Nadia. Nadia Muhammad Shinkafi." He nodded again and went typing on one of the computers, a whirr from one machine later, he was attaching a card to a card holder before handing it to her from the glass enclosement. 

"Welcome to Diezemane Hospitals, Abuja." She smiled, wide, excited before saying thank you and asking directions to the floor where she was supposed to start work. 

"Third floor, today. By morning, your schedule will be sent to you. Have a great shift." She turned on her sneakered heels and walked to the waiting elevator. 

It was going to be a good shift, and if she had any hand in tuning her fate, she would have seen that her life changed that very minute.

******

Hello 💃💃💃

We've met Nadia, what do you think? If you're already shipping Alhaji with yourself shey you can see your rival?

I'll see you next Friday. Ha, it feels a little far but what can I say, I want to be a consistent queen this year. A consistent baddie 😍

Please don't forget to share, don't forget to vote, leave a comment, you can put it on your Wattpad conversations if you like it a lot!

Bye!
See you on Friday (I like saying this☺️)

TheOmoope 💙❤️🥰