I'm not so sure about this chapter. It's a prelude Sha with clues, for the next seven chapters. So please read it 😃

Don't forget to leave a comment, tell me what you think about it.

The pounding of Nadia's heart didn't stop until they watched Maymunatu slide through the pedestrian part of her house's gate and disappear from their sight. Nadia and the girls watched the gate shut behind her for a moment before taking stock of themselves. 

"Ya Nadia, you just saved someone's life. I know you do it every other day at the hospital, but this is being a superhero." Sarah said with complete awe in her voice. Nadia exhaled a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding in and put her car in drive to go home. 

"In three hundred level, during clinical posting, something of that nature happened to me. I went off to a wedding with my friends -my so called friends- at the time and they left me in the company of sketchy people. It took one older woman to take a chance on me and I thank Allah everyday for that woman." She sighed some more before allowing herself to stop at the red light. 

"I'm going to be so much more aware of my environment more. I didn't even realize it until Sarah spoke." Nadia chuckled at UmmulKhair's statement, "We don't notice abuse of any kind easily, I think that's why it happens so often. It's the way we behave when we find out that matters." She pressed on the accelerator once the light turned green and they drove slowly till they reached home.

Something occured to Nadia as she navigated their way into the house. "Society makes you hate the next woman, it tells you that she hates you and tells her that you hate her. It pits you against one another, it's either beauty, men, power, anything at all could be used to put you in a mud fight with your closest female, they make you think that you shouldn't stand up for her." She swallowed as she put the car on park. 

"I urge you to forever remember that the only gender that will understand your pain is your own. A man will never understand menstrual cramps or when someone looks at you wrong like a woman will. Your enemy is not the next woman, it's not your sister or your friend, it's the person who is willing to put you against your fellow woman. Never forget that." She stepped out of the car and wrapped the boubou they'd worn around her knees and took in her bag, leaving Sarah and UmmulKhair to empty out the car. Before the incident, they'd taken several beautiful photos that Nadia wanted to salivate over. 

"Ya Nadia, she wants to speak to you." Since Sarah and Maymunatu were in the same age bracket, they'd exchanged phone numbers. Nadia took the phone from her cousin and put it to her ear. 

"Assalamualaikum," She greeted as though she didn't just leave the girl a few minutes earlier. "Aunty Nadia, thank you so much for saving me, I'm grateful. I want to say that I promise I'll never sneak out again. Thank you so much again." Nadia nodded and when she realized Maymunatu couldn't see her, she gave a weak reply, only perking up to say a small Dua for the younger woman. 

Sarah took back her phone and while Nadia sat there watching, Sarah made arrangements to go visit at home. Immediately Sarah dropped the phone, she asked with a raised brow, "Who is giving your permission to go visit her?" 

Sarah pouted, her lips could hang a bag. "You said I could go anywhere as long as I'm accountable. I like her and she likes me too, so I want to be her friend." Nadia shook her head and got up to go to her room, immediately reminded of the mess they left it. 

"Oya get up, go and clean my room that you turned to yours earlier. I want my bed laid at least." Sarah rolled around on the sofa, refusing to get up for a few seconds, Nadia watched her grumble before pointing at the stairs while trying to be stern. 

"Upstand! Oya oya go. I can't sleep on an unmade bed." UmmulKhair returned from putting some pizza and some spicy chicken wings in the microwave and Air fryer respectively. She asked what was going on with Sarah's wrangling like an earthworm in salt.

Nadia told her after laughing very hard at UmmulKhair's worm statement and UmmulKhair,  instead of taking joy in her sister's pain, she put out her hand for her sister and went with her to do a quick work of Nadia's room. 

Nadia watched them go, happy that they had squashed the beef from a few days before. She lay there watching the ceiling, the small inverter light from the kitchen cast a glow on the Pop ceiling, revealing it's intricate designs. 

She wondered how her life would be if that night, that wonderful woman had not saved her. The scenario itself made her shudder with fear and she quickly closed the thought. 

The more frightening one was of the colonoscopy patient, Maymunatu's father. The thought of thinking of him gave a start, she jumped up from her lying position and shelved him, literally to the back of her mind. Instead, she forced her new schedule to the front of her mind, her response to her query and the plea she would add to be taken away from being Dr Shu'aib's nurse when he returned to work. 

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Nadia wrapped her hijab, humming to the sound of a Nasheed that played from Sarah's boombox, her five day leave slash suspension was over and she wanted to give in to the devil that asked her to rest in bed. 

"Ya Nadia?" Nadia put two non snag hijab pins to her throat, relishing that tap sound that indicated they'd both joined to keep her hijab from pulling or slipping off during the day. 

"Yes?" She turned to the mirror and nodded in satisfaction at how well wrapped her blue jersey hijab was. She turned absentmindedly to Sarah in question. 

"Can I go and see Maymunatu?" The film of absentmindedness that Nadia was enveloped in suddenly dropped and she raised a brow in question. 

"Since when did you and her become best buddies?" She clasped her hands akimbo, making a tough stance already. Though she could see herself visibly losing the argument. 

"Since we began to exchange books. She sent an express delivery rider to the house two days ago and got some books from me, I don't have money to send a rider to her so I'll go get them." Nadia let her lips drop into a wicked sneer. She eyed Sarah from her veiled head to her hennaed toes in more question. 

"Which kind of thing is that? Can't she come here? Abi Dem dey forbid billionaire daughter to leave her mansion?" Sarah rolled her eyes and stopped at the last second, Nadia wished she'd done it to the end, she would have ended that trip. 

"She's grounded for a month. Isn't that why all this is happening?" Nadia's arms flopped down from their akimbo position and she went to pick up her freshly washed praying mat for the office. 

"Grounded?" She tried to keep the surprise from her voice. In the way that the relationship between the Bindawa  father and daughter looked like at the hospital, she didn't think he had it in him to punish her. 

"Yes, grounded. And the what is the best way to chase boredom away? You read books, she told me of her punishment and we began reading books, critiquing them and now we're out of books to read." Nadia raised an eyebrow in question again, it had only been six days since that incident at the Maikano party, they surely couldn't be out of books to read. 

"I don't believe you Sarah. I don't wholeheartedly believe you. It's been six days, it takes at least a day to read a book, tell me have you guys read twenty books already?" Sarah nodded sheepishly. Nadia chuckled wickedly, sounding like an evil cartoon character. 

"I can list them for you if you want. Books for a reader are like a kryptonite, I go through them quickly. I like her, she's smart, she loves to read, she loves incense, she's respectful, she's never insulted me all the time we've talked and she doesn't have any friends in Nigeria. The only way I know how to make friends is from reading books, bookclubs and all." Nadia got up, the clock was ticking towards the time she had to resume for her afternoon shift. It would end at eleven in the evening so she had no opportunity to know what time Sarah would  be home, so she asked her. 

"Five pm. I won't overstay my welcome as well. I just, I'm happy I finally found someone to gush over my book boyfriends with. For a bibliophile, the best way to conduct friendship that lasts is to exchange books." Nadia amusedly watched her cousin declare. To be fair, she made good points. 

"Do you have transport fare? Have you bought snacks to take along? It's not right to go to a person's house empty-handed." Sarah nodded in response to Nadia's three searching questions. 

"Am I dropping you off there?" Sarah shook her head swallowing excitedly to say that UmmulKhair would be doing the drop off and later she would take an Uber. 

"Toh, be good. I'm off to work."

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Nadia uncrossed her feet in boredom, she adjusted her sneakered feet on the glass coffee table, watching Folake edit a video of her day for her Instagram. 

They'd moved from being under Dr Shu'aib to being under the CMD. The CMD however, was far too busy doing his other administrative duties to have time for surgeries or ward rounds. They had only done one surgery that week, and Nadia had resumed work for about two weeks. 

"Folake." She called to her friend, she could now designate her as friend. She called out to Folake twice before realizing Folake had buds in her ears. Nadia reached out and tapped her, Folake jumped before looking around. 

"How far? You scared me, I thought CMD came in." Nadia laughed out loud, holding her belly due to how hard she was laughing. 

"No, he is still in a meeting with the rest of the hospital administration. It should take at least one hour more." Folake patted her chest and sat down slowly, she was thoroughly scared so she put down her phone. 

"Do you make money off your knitting or is it called crocheting?" The conversation shifted to Nadia and Nadia blinked for a moment, she thought of the times she knitted for every and anyone and suddenly, after resuming work at Diezemane, her workload dwindled and it was now considered luxury. 

"Well, I make a bit, but the bulk of my money comes from Diezemane. They're my major bank alert." The both of them remembered a TikTok sound that described anything that brought in cash and laughed at the innuendo. 

"I want to write qualifying exams to move abroad." Nadia got up and cheered for Folake. Qualifying exams were a really big deal and any nurse who successfully wrote them meant they would be earning extra and working in place that left room for learning. 

"Really? That's amazing news. What did your parents say?" Folake shifted her eyes and sighed. 

"My mom says it will be harder to find a husband abroad than in Nigeria. She says it's better I get married before moving abroad." Nadia raised her brows and her eyes widened almost immediately. As she was about to speak, the CMD'S triage nurse room phone rang. 

She ran to it and lifted the receiver to her ear. "CMD'S Triage Room, Nurse Nadia Muhammad Shinkafi speaking." She greeted, and the voice of the main receptionist nurse downstairs floated into her ears. After a few seconds, she dropped the phone and turned to Folake, gave her the information and they cleared the snacks they'd eaten, then they sat waiting for the patient. 

The elevator whirred open and Nadia looked up with a professional smile, it was the standard procedure for the VIP Triage room, only CMD saw patients at this place. 

Nadia didn't know why though, her heart thumped a loud beat when she saw who it was. He walked in majestically, his White Kaftan billowing lightly around him as though he knew the world was under his feet. 

He reached their table in no time and smiled in Nadia's direction, Nadia ducked her head to find the blood pressure machine while Folake rushed off to inform CMD of his arrival. 

Nadia kept her eyes down, adjusting herself, before raising her head and asking for his hospital number, it was standard procedure as well since people came to lie all the time. She typed the string of numbers into the computer and his whole vitals history showed up. 

"Please take off your shoes while I take your weight sir." She got up and went to the weighing scale in the corner. He slipped  out of his leather half shoes and stepped on the weighing scale. Nadia subtly eyed his midriff, it was flat like a surface, his weight was perfect for his age, she nodded and imputed the number. 

As she was about to check his blood pressure, CMD came out of his meeting and took it from her. She watched as Alhaji Bindawa cracked joke after joke with their normally unsmiling CMD as though they were close friends. 

"That man is fine! God really takes time to create some people o." Folake came out of the file cubicle where she had been watching the interaction between Alhaji and Nadia. She wiggled her brows at Nadia who could not fathom the gaze Folake was sending her. 

"Alhaji dey enter your eye abi? Close am!" Nadia exasperated, shut her eyes and counted go ten before raising it to look at Folake who was staring intently, waiting for her to raise her head. 

"He has children our age, Folake. There are a lot of dynamics around being with a powerful man like him. I couldn't even be imagining something like that." Folake raised her lips in a mocking sneer, her lips could hang a bag steadily if she wanted. Her reaction was as though she didn't think that way, as though she believed in Nadia so much. 

"That's not a problem. He's powerful, so what?" She asked, her face so close to Nadia's. 

"They're going to say whoever marries him is doing it for the money." Folake laughed and clapped her hands in jest. 

"Before nko, were you marrying him for the poverty?" Nadia and Folake laughed heartily at the quip. It was a bad thing to say but they couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of them. 

"See ehn, a man's age is none of my own business, my business is, will he be good to me? Will he be kind to me? Nadia, there are unkind people out there masquerading as husbands, they'll make the lives of whomever they marry hot as hell." She swallowed as though she was reminded of something bad. 

"All this is still hypothesis Sha, he surely likes classy women, those ones with LV bags and Chantilly veils that I cannot afford unless I sell my certificate." Folake's laughter bubbled out again, she laughed and laughed until she could not longer stand. 

"Please don't kill me. Don't worry, with this CMD office salary, you can buy that Alma bag I keep seeing you Google every now and then or maybe Alhaji will buy it for you." Nadia's face turned annoyed, a thin blush covered her upper cheeks in embarrassment at the teasing. 

She turned her face and Folake knew she'd overstepped. She apologized and went away to the elevator, intending to go get fruit juices from the mart near the reception. 

After she left, Nadia sat there watching the now dark screen unseeingly in deep thought, but it was one of those things that she couldn't put a finger to her thoughts because they were jumbled up. 

"What are you thinking about so intently?" She jumped and got up to greet Alhaji Bindawa who had come out of CMD's office while she was thinking. 

"Nothing sir." She answered as confidently as she could. He walked forward slowly and rounded the wide table, leaning on the wall in front of it. 

"Why did you take a chance on my daughter? I shudder every time I think of how many people passed them in that situation, just shaking their heads and judging but not seeing the correct situation." Nadia sighed and she sat down back, pondering how to respond, then she decided to go with the truth. 

"Some six or seven years ago, someone took a chance on me. She came close and walked me to her car and dropped me off outside my hostel. I've really never forgotten that moment because of the danger I was in. I was just being humane." He stopped leaning on the wall, stood straight and dipped his hands in his trousers pocket. 

"Do you want anything in return? I've let you be since that day because I wanted you think of anything you want, money, anything," Annoyance crossed Nadia's face at the assumption that she did it for money, so she couldn't keep the bite out of her voice when she said,

"I don't want your money. I didn't do it for anything. You can rest assured that if I see her or anyone in that sort of situation, I'll still help them, no strings attached." She adjusted papers on the table and suddenly regretted being so hard on him. She was just not able to control her emotions when he implied she wanted something in return. 

He smiled wide instead, turning a part of her brain she didn't know existed to mush and handed her a card. 

"I'm giving you this phone number because you said you want nothing for helping her that night. I'm eternally grateful to you for stretching yourself and saving my girl, thank you so much for taking a chance on her. Thank you." His hands were clasped together, but Nadia was mute, still not taking the Gold embossed black card. 

"But, if you need anything. Anything at all. A phone call to higher-ups, to anyone that you think you can't reach by yourself, call me. A lot of people owe me favors and I'd love to cash in a few for you. Take." She took the card from him, her hands shaking as she held the small rectangle card in both hands. It was some sort of durable material, there was no chance of tearing it up later. 

He didn't let her respond or try to return it, he walked away with his assistant. Waving at the file manager in the cubicle as he left.

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Soooooooooo. Who wants to have Alhaji's phone number? It's 08022123....

Btw, this chapter is for mss_amee❣️❣️❣️

Also, if I get the required number of comments I'm looking for, I might update another chapter on Monday by God's grace. So, fingers crossed.

I'll see you all soon. Stay safe, 

TheOmoope