Chapter Three

"TROUBLE IN SOYAYYA PARADISE?"

Having completely forgotten that there was still an inconsiderate jerk around, Fatiha was startled to see that Munir Adam was still rooted to his previous position. Had he seen her being turned down? Now he had another thing he could use to degrade her.

"Are you okay?"

The question was irritatingly harmless and devoid of the playful jest that always accompanied his normal tone, yet it spiked Fatiha.

"Why are you here?" she demanded, springing to her feet. "What do you want?! Were you listening in on my conversation?"

Munir's eyes widened a fraction at her tone of voice. He looked shocked but he overcame that instantly. "That was not my intention," he assured her.

Fatiha scoffed. "Yeah, right." She tilted her chin up. "Nothing's ever your intention, but bad things tend to happen regardless if you're around." She accused.

"You can't blame me if your boyfriend -"

"Fiancé!" Fatiha seethed.

Munir pressed his lips together then closed his eyes. Fatiha could measure the heights of his breathing through the rise and fall of his chest. "Alright, fine." He mocked. "You can't blame me if your fiancé stood you up. I was only out here to get some fresh air."

"Fresh air? Right. Like that makes any sense. Couldn't you get that fresh air, I don't know, somewhere else?" She flung her arms out in exasperation. "Don't you know what it means to give someone some privacy? Aren't you old enough to eavesdrop?"

Fatiha watched Munir's face contort into a frown. "This isn't your room." He bit out, his voice strained. It was as if he was trying to tame his anger. Well, that makes two. "You don't own the streets, princess and I wasn't eavesdropping. If you're looking for privacy why don't you go home and go to your room?"

Called it!

Annoyance spiked her anger towards him but she couldn't deny the fact that he was right. So, Fatiha settled instead for glaring hot coals at him. If he wasn't the most frustrating person on planet earth, then he was in Fatiha's life.

"I was only asking because you suddenly looked like something bad had happened. It's not like I care."

"Well, it's none of your business, so I'm glad you don't care." Fatiha gritted out.

She wasn't sure if something bad had happened but she was suddenly reminded once more of the drastic changes she had noticed in Faisal's behavior. She knew something was definitely wrong except she didn't know what. As her question continued to increase so did her doubts.

Fatiha felt the lack of self confidence she had buried away the day she had said yes to Faisal begin to resurface. She felt sick to her stomach. She could suddenly hear the snickering voices of her childhood monsters at the back of her mind whispering and taunting her. She turned away from Munir and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths, her hands on her hips as she tried but failed to control the rapid beating of her heart.

"Fatiha?" Munir called again and she wished he'd just leave her alone. "Are you alright? Is something wrong?"

Fatiha blew out a sigh, then turned to her side. She looked up at him and after a while of deliberating, finally she answered. "Yes," then added, "and no."

"What is it?"

Fatiha snorted. Like she would tell him anything. She narrowed her eyes then pointed a hennaed finger his way. "You." She responded simply. "You're what's wrong. What are you doing here and what's your business sef? You said you didn't care." She clucked her tongue and began to walk away from him.

"Hey, wait! Tell me what's wrong and I'll deal with whoever's responsible." Munir called from behind her with a smile in his voice.

"Of course, he would always take everything as a joke." Fatiha mumbled under her breath as she picked up her pace. She could hear him walking behind her, muttering on about how annoying she was and how there was nothing wrong with him.

"Do you even know where you are going?" He demanded at the exact moment she growled at him to stop trailing her.

"None of your business. Stop following me and get lost."

Fatiha heard him snigger. It was the same laughter she had learned to hate from their younger years. The laughter that spelt doom for her. Come to think of it, she mulled, it wasn't only his laughter she hated.

"Who said I was following you? You've grown quiet inviolable, I see." He tutted. "I came out to get some fresh air, remember?"

"What a poor excuse of an explanation." Fatiha chuckled sarcastically. "Leave me alone, Munir Adam." She shunned.

"Didn't you say you needed someone to talk to?" Munir's voice asked carried from close behind it made Fatiha stop in her tracks.

She spun around and saw that he was walking leisurely behind her, a hand wringing his phone in the air. She glared, turned and continued on her way, muttering under her breath about how he was a liar and an eavesdropper.

Munir seemed to have heard her because he yelled back a retort at the slander. "Hey, I wasn't, okay? You just have a really loud voice."

"You should have pretended not to have heard, that would have been so much better." She suggested.

"Where are you even going to? I know you've only been to the Federal Capital a handful of times and I also know that during those visits you spend your time indoors. So, I think it's safe to say you've never been here before."

"I've said this before but I'll say it again, it's none of your business, Adam. Just leave me alone."

"No can do, señorita."

Fatiha grounded her teeth at the smirk she was sure would be playing on his lips. She loathed the fact that he wouldn't leave her alone, but she hated most that he was right about her sticking indoors during her visits.

During her visits to Abuja, Fatiha always had a total of two to three books in her tote bag plus an extra hidden in her duffle bag in case of an emergency.

Fatiha didn't really like visiting Abuja because that was where her posh and elite cousin sisters lived and all they ever wanted to do when she and her sisters visited was go shopping, watch movies and hang out with other elite friends in expensive perfumes and insanely profligate restaurants. It wasn't Fatiha's kind of thing.

She preferred a small eatery where everyone knew each other but minded their own business. A restaurant where she didn't have to spend more than five thousand naira on her belly alone. A place that was cozy and welcoming, not an intimidating one with intimidating prices on their menus.

A lot of years had passed by but Fatiha had never fully gotten confident when she was with her paternal cousins. The only time she had gone out when she'd visited Abuja was when her best friend, Nooriya had asked her to hang out and even then, through out the entire car ride Fatiha's head had been stuck between the pages of a historical Harlequin book. So, as extremely annoying as Munir Adam was... he was right.

Fatiha wasn't ready to go back to Hafsat's house and she needed to be alone to clear her head. Having Munir around wasn't helping and it didn't look like he planned on leaving her.

"I can't let a young lady like yourself wander off on your own during these unsafe times. Besides my sister would make content out of my death if she heard that I left her..." he raised his hands and made air quotes "...BFF alone in au unfamiliar state. This is much for my sake as it is yours, trust me. I'm more scared of her than I am of our mom."

Fatiha tried not to laugh. She spun around so fast she startled him. "'A'oothu billahi, Munir! Don't you ever stop?"

He craned his head to the side, a smile blooming his inherited gorgeous features, his single dimple popping with the action. "Nope."

Fatiha glowered at him. "Well you should."

"We're just wasting time here. Didn't you say you wanted to talk? I know this town. I'll listen."

The offer almost took Fatiha aback. If she wasn't privy to who he truly was underneath that smiley mask he had on, she'd have been flooded with gratitude. But she looked at the guy who had been the bringer of despair and humiliation and self hate to her life ever since she could remember. She hadn't trusted him then. She didn't trust him now.

"You, Munir Adam," she pointed loathingly at him then to herself, "will listen to me, Fatiha the Fatty who moos like a saniya rant. Did you hit your head on the way here or something?"

It took him a while to answer. "I didn't. And yes, I will listen to you rant."

"And you won't make fun of me or judge?"

That lopsided grin returned. "I make no promises."

Fatiha bit on her bottom lip. This is a bad idea, a voice whispered, don't do it. But she ignored the little warning voice. "Okay, then."

What did she have to lose anyway?

-----

Five minutes later, Fatiha found herself seated across from Munir in a crowded suya joint. A mixture of blue, green and red bulbs filled the open space enclosed with bamboo fence.

The mallam who ran the place had a small stature and from the way he spoke, Fatiha figured he was either educated or just smart. The interior of the place was unlike any other suya joints she had ever come across, there were even servers! So, hesitantly, Fatiha found herself liking the place more than she dared to admit. She wasn't going to stroke her companion's overinflated ego any further.

"A suya place?" She looked at him with faux incredibility. "This was the best you could think of?"

Munir grinned, the action stretching his bearded face and welcoming that lone dimple of his.

She hadn't noticed it before, maybe because she had been ranting earlier, but long gone was the boy she'd once known. His softer features had hardened with age, as well as his voice. It wasn't feathery soft or gruff deep, it had just the perfect pitch. Good for soothing. Fatiha shook her head. Why in Allah's name was she thinking about how soothing his voice was? That voice had brought tears to her eyes and discomfort coursing through her entire body.

He leaned back onto his seat, crossing his arms over the dark and plain blue kaftan he had on. "They sell balangu and kilishi as well." He informed. "Besides, there's nothing like eating something hot and spicy to help make the tears flow better."

"Who says I'll cry?"

"You never know," he shrugged. "Things happen."

Fatiha stared at him for a while before saying as calmly as she could, "You said you wouldn't make fun of me."

With a nonchalant shrug, Munir amended. "No. I said and I quote, I make no promises."

Because she couldn't fault him for devotedly being himself, Fatiha took deep breaths to sooth her rising irritation. But when she looked back up at him and there was that disturbingly familiar glint in his eyes, she grumbled. "I knew this was a bad idea, yet I choose to do this." She shook her head and began to pull her seat back to leave, but Munir reached out to stop her.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh. Learn to take a joke, Fatiha."

The frown she had been trying to hide appeared. "A joke? Look around you Munir, this life is not a joke. You need to grow up and learn that some things are just not funny."

"Okay, okay." He pushed his hands up in a sign of surrender but his smile stayed intact. It was infuriating! "I'll grow up for tonight and listen without making jokes. Better?"

She should go. Right now. But instead, she stayed. Sat back down. She didn't even know why she was here with him. She looked away from him with a huff, her eyes taking in the scattered crowds of diverse patrons.

"You've lost weight."

The offhanded remark jerked her back, pulling her attention from a particular group of patrons. She cleared her throat before replying to his assessment. "Why? Are you sad you won't get to play pranks on me again and call me a cow?"

He smirked and he looked so good with that single dimple popping in his left cheek she had to avert her gaze. Why did he have to look like that? If he was only ugly, she thought, it would make hating him a lot easier.

"I didn't say you were no longer fat, you still are." He clarified with a small chuckle.

What had she been expecting? Fatiha thought with irate. He would never change, that was for sure. Since she didn't want to further stretch things out, she settled for saying, "I'm on a diet".

Munir's forehead wrinkled at the information but the look in his eyes told her he didn't believe her one bit. "Why?" he asked.

Fatiha shrugged a shoulder, waited for the server to take their order before going on with a verbal response. "Maybe because I don't want to be referred to as a saniya again? Why do you think?" She didn't wait for his response, instead she waved whatever he had to say aside. Her voice took on a serious tone. "You do realize that we are not friends and that I still hate you for what you did, right? So don't think for a second that I've forgiven you."

He raised a finger. "Technically, it was the guys idea."

"You didn't stop it from happening," Fatiha nearly screamed. "And from what I remember you offered me that seat." She shook her head. "It wasn't any of the guys, it was you. That's why I will never forgive you for that."

Munir pursed his lips and it looked like he had something else to say, but instead he settled for saying, "I don't think that's very Islam-like."

Fatiha scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"

Munir had his comeback ready on the tip of his tongue but, again, Fatiha wasn't ready to hear it. "Forget it, I'll rant and you'll listen."

And that was exactly what they did.

Fatiha whined about how her mother and aunties pressed her about marriage during every and any given opportunity they could find. It was tiring and she feared she was slowly getting pressured into talking about it with her fiancé. She grumbled on about how attending her cousins weddings was becoming something else on its own.

The girls in her family always tried to ask her, albeit subtly, when she would end being the lord of the ring. Fatiha was exhausted from listening to them and she didn't know how to approach the topic with Faisal.

"I think they're right though." Munir broke the rule; he spoke up after staying quiet like he had promised to. He was probably itching to point out her faults about her still single status.

"You should just go ahead and ask him what his plans for the both of you is. Two years is a long time to be engaged to someone, honestly." He confessed and waited for the server to leave before asking, "Nooriya tells me you guys have been dating for five years now?"

Fatiha scrunched up her face in disapproval at the knowledge of her friend leaking secret details about her to the enemy. He could as well be holding a loaded gun with that information at his disposal. "Why would she tell you that?"

Munir picked up a thin slice of meat and coated it with yaji pepper. The burst of flavor causing him to moan and nod softly. "She didn't exactly tell me. She shares stories about all her friends with our mother, they both do. I just listen in from my room since they have really loud voices."

"Hmm." Fatiha wasn't going to be the one to tell him that meant eavesdrop.

He chuckled softly as if reading her mind. "Call it whatever you want. All I'm saying is no decent man should keep a lady they've promised to wed waiting for so long. It's not even good in Islam. Misunderstandings can stir up during that period."

Fatiha bit on a slice of cucumber to hold back the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "What do you know about being decent?"

"A lot actually," he boasted with a boyish grin, his eyes resting on her. "I would never do that to a lady. I'd marry her the moment I make my intentions known."

"Huh." Fatiha paused to think. "I don't know if I should be congratulating the lady or mourning her impending doom."

Munir gasped in disbelief and laid a palm to his chest in faux hurt. "I'm actually a decent guy for your information." He argued.

Fatiha nodded dismissively as she chewed on a slice of fresh red bell pepper. "It'll take millenniums for me to actually believe that."

They battered back and forth and it was cool for a while. Fatiha thought about how fun it would have been to know Munir Adam as someone other than her tormentor. But even in the state of such camaraderie, a feeling nagged quietly at the base of her mind that something bad was going to happen.

And Fatiha Hassan had learnt from the age of fourteen to always listen to that gut feeling if it had anything to do with Munir Adam.

***
Asalamu alaykum guys. So how was the Suya Joint stop? I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Please don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

Take care and see you in the next stop.
Ma salaam.

-ZainaHibabi😘