"I'm so mad at you. In fact,don't speak to me. Imagine,you've been back for almost two weeks and I had no idea. Wow!wow!wow! You deserve a medal. Like seriously? I'm your cousin. No scratch that,I'm YOUR best friend. Ya Allah."

Ummi put her hand over her face and rolled her eyes dramatically as she marched off into the living room kinda pissed off with Zainab and Sa'adah my two other cousins who both gave me apologetic looks trolling behind her. I just shrugged. I knew how ummi could be.

Me and Ummi go way back. Now that I think of it,I've been a bad friend. I should've called her the moment I arrived but I wanted some alone time to myself before I made my presence known to people.

Ummi,Zainab and Sa'adah were sisters and daughters of my Uncle Aliyu who is Baba's younger brother. They were a simple family of six,with Uncle Aliyu and his wife Aunt Hanifah who might I add,wasn't really friendly torwards me nor any of my siblings. It's like she had some kind of beef with mama when she was still alive and even though mama was no more,she still had that cold attitude torwards us. For goodness sake,what kind of person holds grudges on a late person. Let me not even start on how she warns her children not to associate with us but that didn't work,we kids wouldn't be dragged into adults beef. But well there was a single person who heeded his mother's words..Salman. The oldest of them all,my archenemy and crush from those days but I'm over him now. It's safe to say that well he hated me or rather my guts and the feeling was totally mutual except for the fact that I fell hopelessly for him a long time ago.

When we were kids,I kept a diary where I wrote everything from my feelings to him and all. His name was all over the book with hearts. Then one faithful day,uptill today I've got no idea how he had gotten his hands on the book but I caught him reading the book out loud to some other male cousins of mine during a family reunion and they were all laughing. The most embarrassing moment of my life. I remember running back to my room and locking it,crying my heart out. From then on,I wiped the tears and moved on,a searing hatred built in my heart. Anything I had found cute about him before became irritating or so annoying...

"Ya Salman,are you staying or coming back to get us?" I heard Zainab ask.

Turning my head, I came face to face with him. I tried to keep my face neutral but my face clearly looked shocked. His height was the first thing I noticed. He'd gotten so tall. Broad shoulders,the nicely trimmed beard,the scent of Arabian perfume clouding my thoughts. Overall,he'd gotten more handsome. He was putting on shades and he put them down to stare at me. His stare was unnerving. I held his gaze and I internally smirked when he had that shocked look on his face,the kind that I had,he couldn't believe I was the one.

He was about to speak when I turned and left him standing there mouth agape. I walked to the sitting room where Ummi was still ranting to herself. She was a great talkative and I couldn't keep up with what she was saying.

"I'm sorry,okay." I said cutting her off. I didn't hear half of what she was saying.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever it's fine. And oh where's that your French boyfriend. What was his name,Lucas? Logan? Are you still together?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "His name is Louis. And to answer your question, we're still together."

Just then I inhaled that Arabian perfume again. And before I could turn,he was there with Zainab behind him. He sat down on the chair opposite mine,brought out his phone and ignored us. Well,two could play this game.

"God,I don't know what you see in this guy. You should dump him. You're in Nigeria babe,they're so many hot arewa guys." Ummi said.

"Exactly,I could you link you up with some but please get rid of that French bloke." Sa'adah added.

I shook my head. "You girls are not serious. Just leave me with my Louis,I can't deal with all these arewa dudes and their problems." I cringed internally thinking about how I'd date one malo boy...eww!

I could feel someone's gaze on me. I looked up and my eyes jammed Salman's own. He averted his gaze coolly and I did the same. Apparently, our little exchange didn't go unnoticed. And before I could comprehend anything, Ummi clapped her hands and bounced on her seat excited. Zainab and Sa'adah both exchanged knowing looks.

"What?" I asked.

Ummi wiggled her eyebrows at me then at Salman.

Realization dawned on me and I shook my head hard. A look of contempt on my face. "Don't! Like seriously. .don't even go there."

She was about to speak when I stood up,grabbed her hand and dragged her to my room before she said anything further that'll embarrass me.

"I saw that look. Time to ignite old feelings,don't you think?" She winked and said immediately I shut the door behind me.

"Seriously,don't even start. That's so not happening. Me and Salman?eww please. Your mum would never even agree to that just as I and even him would never agree to that. I wonder where you got that ridiculous idea from."

She smacked my arm. "Dont forget he's my brother. And he has really changed,he's not that cunning teenager you once knew."

I rubbed the place she hit. "That hurt." I pouted.

"Serves you right."

"But for real,please discard that idea. I don't care if he's changed or not. Imagine,he couldn't even say hi." I said.

"Oww. .but I would've really shipped you guys."

"No thanks!"

She forgot the issue and we catched up on all the times we've missed.

***

The next day I went to visit the site for my upcoming fashion house. This time around,I saw Yazeed already there,dressed in blue overall and a yellow hard hat. He was concentrating hard on something and I just stood there staring.

Last week after our encounter, he had a masterpiece the next day. The way I had exactly pictured the fashion house to be. It was perfect and I was so excited to get things done and fast.

And then about the background check. I did find out some things with the help of Amirah who was a professional stalker. I don't know how she did it but she did but not before giving me a suspicious look. I had told her I was doing a background check on my employees and that's all. It was clear she didn't believe me but well that's her problem.

So apparently, he lives with his mother and two siblings. A boy named Khalid who was 10 years old and a sister whose name was Sumayya who is 15 years of age. His mother was really sick. Amirah didn't get to find what was wrong with her but she was working on it. And for his father,there was no trace whatsoever which I found really strange. There was no report of death or anything but he was just out of the picture which reminded me of the way Yazeed reacted when I asked about his dad the first time I met him. What was the mystery behind his father's absence? How did he get injured that faithful day? So many questions and Amirah's background check provided little answers.

I was literally dying of curiosity.

I heard someone clear their throat and even before I turned,I knew who it was. I could identify that Arabian perfume anywhere.

But what the hell was he doing here? And how did he find me?

I turned and there he was,dressed in a black jeans and a green plaid shirt with a black baseball cap on his head.

I was quiet waiting for him to speak but he was just staring at me which made me feel self conscious and uncomfortable.

"Err..hello?what are you doing here and why are you staring at me like that?"

My words snapped him out of whatever trance he was in. He scratched the back of his neck looking for what to say.

"Well hello there princess...it's been long. You totally ignored me yesterday." He said a smirk growing on his lips. I was starting to get annoyed. And here I was thinking that he'd changed.

Rolling my eyes,I replied. "Don't call me that. I didn't ignore you,I just chose not to acknowledge your presence and you did the same,so we're even."

"So we just gonna pretend you didn't keep stealing glances at me?" He said smugly.

"Oh please! Don't flatter yourself,there's nothing worth stealing glances over."

He clutched his heart dramatically. "Oh princess,I'm so hurt. You've broken this heart of mine into tiny shreds."

"Oops! Super glue is just 60 naira,I bet you can glue yourself back together."

He was laughing hard now. "I love your smart mouth,sarcasm and sense of humour princess. You've really grown..And matured."

He said while shamelessly checking me out.

I was fuming. "Have you no shame?"

"Oh so an zama ustaziyya kenan (I see you're now an ustaza) who would've thought?" He said with an arrogant smile.

"Please just get out of here before I lose the little temper I'm trying so hard to keep in."

"You don-"

"Everything alright here ma'am?" Yazeed approached. I momentarily forgot all about him while talking to this jerk here. And the way he called me ma'am. Urgh! But I'd admit,I kinda liked it.

"Yes thank you,he was just about to take his leave,right?" I turned and directed my gaze at Salman.

Salman shrugged, his hands in his pocket. "We're not done having this conversation princess,there are lots of memories we need to dig up don't you think? Like a certain pink notebook." He said with a wink and left.

My face was burning with both rage and embarrassment. I should've known he would just have to bring that up. I was never going to live this down. Please someone remind me why I came back to Nigeria because honestly, apart from Afrah and this architect standing beside me...

I was already feeling a throbbing headache coming.

I turned to just head back home when something from my hand fell to the ground. I realized it was my custom made tifanny bracelet.

I was about to bend over and reach for it, not knowing Yazeed was also doing the same. Our fingers lightly brushed and we stood there staring into each others eyes. They said that the eyes are the way to the soul. And when I looked into those graysish orbs,the saying never felt any truer.

In that split moment,I noticed the anguish,the pain,the sadness,the shock in those eyes. His eyes told a tale of someone who had been through a lot but keeps fighting through. Holding on to some kind of hope. I was getting lost in those eyes when his sudden movement startled me. He jumped off and instead of him to jump backward he jumped forward and my forehead collided with his hard hat. How was that even possible?

I was already starting to see stars. With the headache I was expecting,this sudden impact acted like a catalyst and sped up the pain process.

He was saying something but I wasn't hearing. I could see his mouth moving but there was no sound. My vision was getting blurry as I succumbed to the darkness awaiting me.

***
[A/N]: Okay,honestly speaking, I have no legitimate excuse for not updating for almost a month. Preoccupied with school and then adding to the fact that I wasn't feeling the book anymore. Having the ideas but just so hard to write it down. Anyway,starting exams on the 19th so wouldn't be able to update till after the exams in sha Allah,put me in your prayers.😊
Thank you🙏❤
Love you guys loads,thank you for also being patient with me and still coming back to read what I write💕

Love,
Siyyamah❄