At 8 AM, the guard man knocked on the main door, he asked for Zeenah's car keys. The Mechanic was there to pick the keys. Zeenah immediately went to fetch the car keys giving them to Julde, the buzu guard man.

****

Her eyes stayed glued to him, as he removed the contents of the leather bag. She didn't know what to say or think. But whatever was happening right now was downright hilarious, only she was too stupefied to laugh.

It had been a week since he took her car for repair, he brought it back to her at lunch the next day, all repaired and washed.

She knew trouble when she saw it, and that afternoon Sa'eed looked like trouble, he was all serious when he asked her "Why didn't you bring the keys yourself?"

She wasn't expecting that. "Why would I bring the keys to you?"

"Allah help me, but Doc you knew I went there to talk to you and not for some keys. I could have sent someone to pick them!"

Right then she knew that she had made a mistake, she had let him too much slack and he was crossing the limit.

"And what on earth would make you want to talk to me at eight in the morning?"

He was quiet, but his gaze was locked on hers, his breathing labored, she almost knew the answer, but she folded her arms challenging him to dare utter his thoughts.

"You were sick last night, I wanted to check in with you. And you didn't have your phone with you too."

"Thank you for the concern Mr. Sa'eed but you didn't have to go to that trouble." He was still staring at her intensely. "Really." She insisted.

And he nodded, he took the table next to hers and took his usual sprite and jollof rice. Then he left without another word from him.

The next day he took the same table next to hers without a word to her, apart from his usual 'Good afternoon Doc.'

But she wouldn't know about the next two afternoons because she was at the TH. When she came back to Ihanams two days ago, he was there again but that day he didn't sit on the next table, he sat at her table. And he smiled at her. He ordered Sprite and meat pie. His combination disturbed her, she didn't think a man of his size would get full with the minute amount of food he ingested. And Sprite was no food, it was just sugar and carbon dioxide.

The previous day he showed up late. She couldn't eat until he showed up. She didn't utter a word to him.

And now, he came bearing his homemade meal in a food flask- a huge sized food flask- and that was hilarious seeing him with it. Who would have imagined a person like Sa'eed would feel at ease moving about with a big food warmer carrying his lunch to work?

He widened his eyes at her, "What? I can't afford to eat out daily, and I need to see you often, if this is the only way and time I get to see you then it won't hurt if I bring my lunch along, will it?"

Zeenah just shook her head and swallowed, her eyes filled with tears from almost choking when she saw his food flask.

"You are crazy you know that, right?" She finally said, laughing at him.

"Yes I know, you have said that a dozen times if by saying it, it will make this okay then I agree I am crazy."

"You know this..." She gestured between them. "This will never happen. You are just wasting your time."

"What will never happen Doc? Do you know anything that I don't?" He asked forming a triangle with his hands on the table in front of them. His fingers crisscrossed.

Her order came, she looked up and mumbled a thank you to Rabi, the head chef who also waited the tables when her assistants were not there to help her.

Zeenah smiled, dismissing his question, if that was how he wanted to play it, then she would indulge him.

"How is work?" he asked, as he dished out his steaming hot shinkafa da wake into a clean plate, which he requested from Rabi.

"Work is fine, Alhamdulillah."

"How do you juggle the two? I understand that you want to help the society by proffering your services but I am afraid it will take a toll on you someday,"

"Thank you for your concern but I am good. The car is good so far, no jerking and all."

Sa'eed noticed the change of tone in her voice, he knew it when it changed from friendly to professional.

"Yes, I have placed a new pump, you won't have any troubles soon in sha Allah. And if you do I am always a phone call away."

"You know there are thousands other mechanics in town? If you refuse to make it good expecting me to keep getting back to you, then you are either unprofessional or you are underestimating my intelligence."

His lips tilted in his signature smirk.

"Wipe that look off your face Mr. Sa'eed, my food is getting cold."

"Then eat, I am not stopping you." And he took a spoonful of his food after drizzling some fried palm oil with lots of onions. The fragrance was getting to Zeenah, to her dismay her mouth watered.

"You make me uncomfortable, I can't eat with a stranger on my table gawking at my lip movement, and my swallows."

"Then wear a hijab to cover your neck, that thing is distracting," he said gesturing at the veil draped over her shoulders. "I promise I won't look at your lips. Eat."

"You are incorrigible. Lower your gaze! "

He folded his arms over his torso and leaned back in his chair. "Tell me about your day while we eat, that way I will concentrate on my food."

"Mr. Sa'eed I am not going to be friends with you."

"I think we have already established that. Just be my... err lunch companion."

She shook her head, her face was burning. "Leave."

"Tell me you want me to stay."

"I believe your "very good" English teacher must have also taught you verbs."

He was quiet, too quiet and she looked up. He had that smirk still on. "Look at me, do you think I carry out orders easily?" he asked.

And she couldn't look him in the eye, there was just something about him, he had an overbearing presence, almost compelling to give him what he wanted. And his voice made her tingle. Which was so wrong but, she turned to call Rabi, she forgot to bring her soft drink, her sprite.

"You know I find it hilarious that some patients think that they are the experts. A patient came in today saying 'Doctor, my ulcer is back and it's killing me' while pointing at her right iliac fossa." She decided maybe giving him a breakdown of her day, might divert their minds elsewhere. It won't harm either of them after all.

Sa'eed laughed and said "It's her body now, she knows it better than you. By the way, you have me lost too. I-liy-ak what?"

Zeenah smiled, "It's just somewhere around the lower abdomen near your appendix, you know where your appendix is right?"

Sa'eed looked at her and said, "I wonder how on earth you know the names of all these and their locations in the human body, I never paid attention in my biology class."

"Just like you know the location of every metal and wire and names of spare parts in a car."

Sa'eed left the table for a moment and was back with a bottle, she wondered how he knew what she wanted. "Here take this, so now I know what your problem is, Doc. But you have to stop worrying since you know it's part of the job, we don't want our able doctor falling ill because her patients gave her high BP do we?"

She smiled and said "That, plus my wedding plans are killing me, is that how hard it is to get married?" she curbed the urge to roll her eyes.

Sa'eed smiled, looking at the man that just left table number six after he pocketed his change. He took the toothpick container off the table, after slyly looking around.

"That, I won't know about. Seeing that I've never been married before." sighing he shifted his gaze to her "But why don't you leave everything to your fiance, he is the one taking you away from your family, your home. Why does he need to put all the prep trouble on you? I mean, come to think of it, it's not like you're alone in this he's also getting married to you."

Zeenah rolled her eyes "As if that is even possible, but sometimes I feel like quitting, I feel like I should just run away to my hometown Azare, have the wedding solemnized; a simple affair."

"Since that's what you want then do it. Always go for what you want, don't hold back." Zeenah gave Sa'eed a long stare, brushing her lower lip with her tongue she sighed and looked away.

"I need to go, please send my regards to Mama and Husna, I'll personally come and give them their invitation cards." He just looked on as she left the cafeteria.

He needed to act fast.

*******

"Zeenah?"

"Yes?" She whipped around to a worried Dr. Karima. She was lost, she didn't know when the senior doctor walked into the office.

"Are you alright? Your phone has been ringing for the past ten minutes, and I am going to step out for a while, you will be needed in Consultation room 2."

"Okay, thank you." She answered feeling embarrassed that she zoned out on duty, today was one of the days she had her episodes. She hated to admit that she was still not over them, but that was the reality. She wouldn't dare tell anyone though. But she knew the truth. She still had the episodes.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit this out, go home and get refreshed, you were on call last two days, I know how those get."

"No, Doctor, I am good in sha Allah."

"Okay take care, here are the keys."

She took the keys and fished for her phone, her brows shot up, how could she have missed several calls? There was trouble, she needed to speak to Jamila. She made a mental note to call her immediately after the clinic hours.

For her sake, she prayed there was no any serious case at hand, but still, she needed to compose herself more.

Time slowly crept by, and at the end of the day, she couldn't wait to finally get into the comfort of her car and make that call.

****

"Wait, calm down Zeenah, you mean to say you had an episode today?"

Zeenah, clawed at her face, pinching herself to make sure she was okay. "I don't know okay? I just... I zoned out, I found 10 missed calls on my phone and it was right there in front of me when I checked there was a time lapse."

"How long?" Jamila asked tentatively. She had to come over to the Azare's she just couldn't talk over the phone.

Zeenah looked up at her cousin, and Jamila sat by her side, "Come on tell me, how long?"

"Forty minutes!"

"Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihirraji'un, that is long. Have you called Dr. Hassan?" Zeenah averted her gaze, "I called you first."

Jamila licked her dried lips, "Can you remember the trigger?"

"I don't know alright? I just don't know, it just happened, right now I am so confused, I thought it was gone, I was sure it was gone." And she broke down in tears. Jamila's heart went out to her cousin, she knew the storm was back, now only Allah knew what it will leave in its wake.

"We need to call Dr. Hassan ASAP"

"We can't.'

Jamila squeezed her hand, shaking her slightly, "But why? Look at your condition, I say before it gets worst we call him, or Yaya Na'im."

"No! no one will tell them."

"But at least Ammie and Dr. Hassan need to know."

"I don't have his contact now."

"What? But he was listed as your ICE,"

"Not since last year, I deleted his number."

This time Jamila, shook her hard, "Are you out of your mind?"

With a distant look on Zeena's face, she turned to her best friend, "Apparently that's the other name for dissociation. Some people call it psychosis. I am crazy."

"Ya Salam, come here." Jamila took her into a hug and they sobbed together. "It's going to be alright okay? Promise me you are going to go for help, I am calling Ammie. Does Hisham know?"

Zeenah shook her head no. "How does one tell their fiance that they had such a past, a past where they lost track of their time? Even though it was in the past I couldn't bring myself to tell him. Sa'eed would say I am being unrealistic. But that is my truth, I am unrealistic."

"Shhh, stop mumbling..." Jamila stopped mid-sentence. "What, you mean to say Sa'eed knows? And Hisham doesn't?"

Zeenah shrugged, "Yeah, with Sa'eed he is just a friend whom I trust with my secret, he won't leave me and abort marriage after he 'learns' the truth, like the others." Zeenah brushed her palms over her face pinching the bridge of her nose in the process making her face even redder. "I didn't tell him I am psycho if that's what you are wondering, I just told him I had a rough time. So you can close your mouth now."

"Look at me Zeenah." And she did, "How far are you involved with this Sa'eed guy?"

Despite the circumstances, Zeenah let out a laugh, "What, you make it sound like we are having an illicit affair."

"For what's worth, you're having an affair, whether you acknowledge it or not, you are cheating on Hisham."

"Oh God, please stop it already. There is nothing between us, what we share is just something... different. We are lunch companions."

"Lunch companions?" Jamila asked in disbelief. "Ke karamar 'yar buhu da rabin wake ce wallahi, what on Allah's earth is Lunch companions kuma in Islaam?"

"I don't know, but I think we heal each other."

This time around Jamila was speechless.

when she finally got her voice back she said, "Wow! So he is your lunch companion and your therapist, what else? And don't you dare tell me he is your 'very good friend' because clearly, you have lost track of what's going on with you along with part of your brain."

It was fleeting but Jamila saw it, Zeenah was hurt by her statement. "Keep getting hurt and I won't stop telling you, stay away from that Fulani man, don't you know Fulani are the most evil people, mugu ne kawai he wants to part you from what is good for you, after long the winter was gone, you have sunshine in your life but he is throwing snow cannons at you."

"And dear Jamila, kindly tell me when you severed ties from the Fulanis, last I checked your grandfather is the Sarkin Fulani."

"'yar is, wallahi you are healed I am leaving you now, just stay away from that mechanic, I am very sure he is your trigger. When next he comes call me I need to see him, or rather give me his number." And together they scrambled for Zeenah's phone. Zeenah got it first.

"No way am I giving you his number, you are mad what will you tell him?"

"I don't know, whatever it takes to get you back. Because right now I can't locate Zeenah Isma'il Azare. She's gone."

"Silly, I am right here, and in sha Allah I will tell Hisham about everything. "

"You better do." Jamila took her bag and left the room, she wouldn't go out from there, she went to Ammie's chamber, something needed to be done and it needed to happen fast.

They were losing her again!

****

And the mystery continues...

Umm Yasmeen.😘