Anas quickly snatched his arm away from her hold and she couldn't keep the fascination away from her eyes, she was chuckling softly. "Come, tell me what you've been doing to get such biceps!" She joked, moving towards him while he moved back a little, she was laughing.

"Beeha, what are you trying to do? Who talks about a man's biceps at almost eleven at night? Alone on the street?" He managed to utter and she punched him lightly on the arm, chuckling when she got in contact with his muscle.

"Oh, my amazing Allah! Anas, I'm just noticing your beard. I mean, I've seen it, but it has never occurred to me that a man has to be a bit grown up to have it." Maybe coming out of the house at this time of the day when the wind was a bit chilly and the weather not as harsh as the usual Adamawa weather had done so much to her mental well-being. Because she couldn't imagine where all this playfulness came from.

"Beeha, what do you think you're doing?" He asked, taking some steps back when she kept nudging his arm and trying to pinch his beard. "Don't you know it's a sign of disrespect to touch a man's beard in that playful manner?"

"And who's the man?" She asked, grinning while she moved toward him. She didn't even know how the years had passed and now Anas was even funnily thinking of himself as a man. "I don't see a man here, all I see is my grown-up cousin or is it even a nephew, having a beard and muscles as though he wasn't that little boy in his diaper that cries while he follows me around the..."

"Beeha..." He called out sternly and stood rigid when she moved towards him to pull at his beard, making her nearly lose her balance until he took a hold of her shoulders and they stood facing each other, both with different emotions glinting from their eyes.

She stared up into his eyes and saw something she had never done before. And the way he had called her name? That was the first time she had Anas sounding that way, if she could be a bit truthful, he sounded like a man. The eye contact was unnerving her soul in a way she had never expected and she wondered what the meaning of that was. He slightly squeezed her shoulder and that reminded her of where they were and how close they were.

So, she squeezed her shoulder out of his hold and took a few steps back. "Look at you, all serious and whatnot. We both know you won't frighten me, right?" She softly rolled her eyes at him, in a quest for her to push away the kind of thoughts that were trying to suffocate her lungs.

She sat back on the slap she was currently sitting on before he asked her to get into his car. Because now, she had decided that she wasn't getting into his car and to her surprise, he didn't even argue or talk about his car again when he sat down beside her, this time, the space he had left between them was prominent enough.

She chuckled softly, staring at the space between them. "What? Do you think you're now man enough to be leaving such space between us? Ah lallai, truly, the boy has grown."

"Would you have wanted it better if I do this?" He asked, and in a swift, moved closer to her so that their hips were aligned with each other and he wrapped his arm around her back, holding her shoulder from behind.

She abruptly looked up at him and found him staring deeply into her eyes. She shrugged to get him off her, because what the hell was this? But he tightened his hold on her and grinned mischievously.

"What? Does it make you uncomfortable? Or perhaps, I'm now man enough to make you feel..." Sabeeha couldn't even imagine what will come out of his lips, so, she punched his chest with her elbow he involuntarily released his hold on her shoulder and she shifted a bit away from him.

"You've forgotten how I used to bathe you, right? If you dare say a word about whatever it is you're thinking of, I won't hesitate to beat you here, Anas." He must've found her expression and how she had tried so hard to sound serious and so funny because instead of him replying to her threat, he simply broke into a peal of laughter.

"Woah! Addah Sabeeha is truly a scary one." He mocked and she laughed along with him.

There hadn't been a way she hadn't urged Anas to start calling her Addah, since when he was even around Waleed's age but he had never budged and heard him call her that was funny and reminded them both of their beautiful memories. He only called her Addah whenever he wanted to mock her and it truly was doing amazing things to her chest.

They stayed that way as they laughed over their old memories and how life had been so beautiful for them. Life was only beautiful for her when she was together with him and apart from that, she couldn't remember a single happy memory she had.

They had been there and chatting for almost thirty minutes before Idi arrived on a bike. He got down from the bike as the bike man helped him put all the things down and they both stood up. She stared up at Idi and flashed him one of her best smiles. Because her mood had been so much better now that she had had a chat with Anas.

"Thank you so much, Idi. You truly are my lifesaver." She thanked him while he walked toward her.

"Thanks for your hardwood, Idi. You've saved my..." He stayed silent for a moment because the only one that came to his mind was what he wouldn't dare say out loud. "My Addah. Thank you." He finished and she smiled at him.

They all got into the car and no matter how Sabeeha wanted him to drop her off even before they reached the gate, he didn't. Because he told her that he was most certain that by now Mommy was getting ready for the airport and he wasn't wrong about that.

He helped her with the fruits inside and helped he set everything into the fridge while she took the ones Alhaji would take tonight. He had asked her about Waleed and she told him of their encounter a few hours ago and when everything was done, they sat on the kitchen island while Anas urged her to eat some food.

"I'm truly fine, Anas. All I need to do now is sleep, nothing more. But I want to make sure Hajia has left first, because that means she doesn't have any more work for me." She said, stifling a yawn.

"Do you know how badly you've lost weight, Beeha?" He asked, getting up from his chair.

She rolled her eyes at him lightly. "So, just because we're now back home, it's no longer Addah, right? Anas, the day I'd make sure to put some senses back into you, I don't know what you'd do." She threatened and because they both knew her threats were empty, they both laughed it off.

"I'll make you some pancakes. You've been working endlessly for seven days now that you forgot to take care of yourself." He said while walking over the pantry and she followed him inside.

"What do you think you're doing? What if Hajia comes down and finds you making a pancake while I'm sitting? If you want to eat pancake, I'd make it for you." She said, taking away the butter he had brought out from him, and he snatched it back.

"For once, please allow someone to take care of you, okay? You've been overworking, putting too much pressure on your body that I wouldn't be surprise if one day you collapse. And no, Mommy wouldn't come down now and even if she does, she knows that I can do more than just make a pancake for you."

He held her wrist while she silently stared at him and pulled her out of the pantry, he didn't release her hand until he made sure she was sitting back on the kitchen island and he smiled at her. "I'd love to have more nights like this, where I'd be able to take care of you even if it's going to be once in a while, okay?" Simply, without intending to, Sabeeha nodded her head at him and watched him smiled at her before he left back to the pantry.

He brought out all the ingredients he would need and got to work while Sabeeha watched him with her heart getting filled with so much gratitude. She knew that her life was full of trials from all angles there had never been a week where she hadn't been tested. But she knew that having Anas in her life was like a mini compensation over all the trials she was going through. And he was to her, like a soft padding that she sometimes had to lean on to know that kindness and softness still existed in humans.

Truly, Allah created the dead from the living and the living from the dead. Because there was no way he was given birth to by Hajia. He seemed to be the living while for her? She'd have to be a rotten dead human stubbornly roaming through earth.

"Ummm, I just remembered something and figured it had been forever since you talk to me about it." Sabeeha said thoughtfully and he turned to look at her from where he stood at the cooking gas.

"What is that?" He asked briskly, turning his attention back to the gas.

"That friend or should I say, girlfriend of yours. Remember her? The one you attended same secondary school with." She said with a cocky grin and he rolled his eyes at her, which was exactly the expression she had been getting from him when she used to ask him about the girl.

"You mean Haseena? I've even forgotten about her existence and how many times do I have to tell you that she isn't my girlfriend, Beeha!" He whined and she threw her head back and laughed.

"Look at you whining, so much to do for...a man, you said, right?" She teased and if looks could kill, Anas might've already killed her with his looks by now.

He walked towards her while she still laughed and stood so close that she had to roll her eyes at him. "Sabeeha, believe it or not, I'm a man now. Yes, you're ten years older than I am and no matter how I may deny it, you've taken care of me when I was a child, but that wouldn't change the fact that I'm a man now and you'd also have to accept that."

"Ohhh!" She gushed, palming her mouth because he looked scary for a minute. "Look at you talking so seriously, I swear my heart lost a beat because for a moment, I didn't even recognize you. A man, indeed."

He hissed softly, shaking his head as he walked back to the cooking gas. "We both know that I'm capable of doing all that a man could do. So, make it a mantra from now on; Anas is a man and I have to accept that whether I like it or not."

She chuckled while shaking her head playfully. "You can call yourself a man now since you have biceps and have also grown a beard. Wait, are you even sure you didn't use any beard oil for that? Anas! You're only twenty three, how could you look so manly and..."

He turned, his eyes turning to a slit as he stared at her grinning face. "Sabeeha, I could impregnate you now and you'd have no choice but to carry my child. It's either you stop all these talks about me being a man or I may have to prove it to you."

Ever known the feeling of having the circuits in one's body to be shut down completely at once? That's exactly what happened to her. She stared at him with her mouth slightly agape. She couldn't believe what he had just done and said to her and she couldn't even begin to wrap the words around her brain.

She gulped down a lump in her throat, along with all the words she had intended to say to him, because now, Anas had surely had the final talk. Oh my god! She couldn't believe that Anas had freaking said that to her and she could see him smirking from where she sat but by Allah she was lost of words.

That was how silence engulfed the kitchen and he walked back to the kitchen island some minutes later while holding the plate of the pancakes. He placed the plate in front of her and when their eyes met, he flashed her a smile, lifting his brow and she quickly took her eyes away from his and he threw his head back laughed. The laughter that had long been itching him but he had been suppressing it.

"What?" He asked, walking to the fridge as he brought out the caramel syrup and yoghurt. "Have I made you speechless? Or are you thinking of the ways I could make you carry my child?"

Sabeeha didn't know when she pulled a knife and aimed it at him, her eyes a shade of red and that red was softly sprinkled on her cheeks. "One more word about that stupidity of me carrying your child and I'd be forced to castrate the little thing you think you can use in doing that, got it?"

He stared at her for some seconds before he chuckled and walked past her back to the island. "Addah," he said, mimicking a baby voice as he turned to stare at her fully. "That thing is no longer little, you know? Castrating it might take a few days, if I may say so myself."

"Anas!" She half yelled as he lifted both hands in surrender while laughing for the bottom of his heart. It felt so good to see her being so uncomfortable and was that a blush on her cheeks?

"I'm sorry! I won't say a word about anything again." She was now pointing the knife to his chest and no matter how much he wanted to stop his laughter, he couldn't. "I mean it, Beeha! Let's all act as if I've never said anything, please? And you should also never talk to me about being a man and what not, deal?"

She knocked the crown of his head and walked back to her chair. "You're such an idiot."

He chuckled while he sprayed the caramel syrup and poured the yoghurt for them. "I know. And I love you too."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I never said I love you. Have you started hearing strange things now?"

"You don't have to tell me that you do, because I know you do." She was about to speak when he beat her at it. "Let's eat now. You need to sleep on time, right?" And she nodded her head while they got to eat.

She still couldn't believe the direction of their conversation with Anas today. It still made her heart race even when she walked back to her room and laid silently on her bed. Did he really have the courage to say all that to her or had it only been a dream?

∞

"Beeha's baby." Zaid drawled the moment he picked Anas's call with a soft smile on his lips.

"Zaid, when are you coming back to Adamawa? I don't like seeing your car and being painfully reminded of your absence."

"Why do I feel like I'm not the one you need the presence of? And when have you ever called me at this time of the night when we both know I'd be on phone with Jawahir and you broke our unspoken rule of not getting into my lover's time?" Zaid silently waited as he heard Anas trying to come up with an excuse and he laughed when he couldn't find one.

"Guy, just spill it. Something is in your mind and you wouldn't be able to get a good night's rest without telling me about it, right?"

"No!" Anas argued, probably cursing himself right now for calling Zaid. He should've waited until morning. But his heart kept racing and beating so fast that he knew he had to get a few things out of his chest. "It's just that we haven't been talking lately and I've missed you."

"Anas, incase you've forgotten, I was on phone with the love of my life when you called. But because I know you only call me at this time if it's an emergency, that's why I ended her call and picked yours. Now, let's make it worthy of my time, should we? Because I'd honestly rather listen to my baby sleep than this voice of yours."

"I hate you." Anas grumbled. But before Zaid got the chance to reply him, he added. "Zaid, how does one stop his heart from beating so fast?"

Zaid didn't know when he laughed so loud. "I knew it! What happened? Dearest friend, what is it that made your heart to beat so fast?" He groaned and Zaid chuckled at that. "Just tell me, will you? I'm willing to provide a solution for you."

"It's just that I've added a fantasy to my list of a thousand fantasies and this seemed quite huge, you know?"

"Just come straight to the point, guy."

He heard him sighed and for over a minute, he was silent on the phone as he either thought about his newly found fantasy or he was weighing whether or not if it'd be worth it to tell Zaid everything.

"You know what, Zaid? I think you've been right all along. I love her. I mean, it has never been clear to me until now. I love Beeha, Zaid. And I badly want her to carry my child."

To that confession, Zaid didn't know what to feel. Should he thrilled about it? He knew he should. But what was this thing he was feeling? A sensation not so strong, but there, nonetheless.