"What are you doing out here alone?" Ammar asked struggling with his babban riga like he is not used to it, he clearly isn't.

Aisha didn't bother turning around afraid she might act stupid after looking at him. "Getting fresh air before it was rudely interrupted. Tell me what you are doing out here. Following me like a tail."

"What, is this the third time I'm crushing my funeral?" He enquirer sounding genuinely curious. This is their fifth encounter and all those times they both want to strangle themselves.

"Fifth actually." She supplied playing with her long nails, she needs to have them chipped off by a professional.

"Wow, that many?" He made his way around her and sat down at the other end of the stone bench outside the event hall where she's occupied.

Aisha didn't reply him, only kept quiet while expecting to hear those words she's been waiting for. He obviously doesn't know how she is related with the Garos so he wants to questions her about their relationship, she isn't ready to answer. The answers she would give will do nothing but rise more questions from his throat which she is sure she is going to supply answers to.

It was quiet for too long, she raised her head to find him staring at her looking confused. Instead of embarrassingly looking away or the likes of it, he continued watching her like a hawk. She frowned at him, her head bent low because she suddenly felt shy under his scrutiny. Why is he acting weird? He should ask the questions and get over with.

And the question came. "How are you related to the Garos? Who gave you the clothes?"

Aisha rolled her eyes at him, he must taunt her for the clothes she is wearing like the other Garo sisters. What is there about the outfit she is wearing? Oh, it is expensive worth half her month's pay. She didn't want to buy it but her stepmother reminded her more than three times that she's kept one piece for her. She didn't want to buy it but she had to which was why she bought it a week to the wedding.

"I am the bride's half sister." She dropped, flipping her legs around that refused to reach the floor while Ammar's lay there like a carpet.

"Half siblings? And you work as a maid in my house? Why? Are you going through some financial struggles?" He hauled the questions at the same time sounding confused by his own words.

"Yes, we are half siblings because my name is Aisha Hashem Garo. And for the nth time, I don't work in your house. I worked for your mother before but I now work for your sister-in-law. And why would I work if I am not going through some financial shit? You think I fancied wearing the maid's uniform and parading around with a mopper while you match all over it with your dirty boots?" Her words are soaked with sarcasm, swimming with lavish fulmination.

Ammar continued to frown like he's just being told he is not his mother's son, he looks that confused. What is there to be confused about? There is nothing he should be this perplexed about. She is Hashem Garo's daughter and the man is dead after making sure to be inundated in debts. She is now paying for what he's done, not that he was a bad father. He didn't readied her for this tough life.

"Wow. I mean I am surprised with this piece of information. Why have you never told me that?" He enquired looking like a guardian, someone her father entrusted in his arms. How presumptuous.

Aisha was speechless for a minute trying to think whether or not what he's said in meant to be in concern or mockery like they usually do. She watched him too with piercing scrutiny, trying to gauge out his reaction but she couldn't. The man can also lock away his emotions like his brother. Maybe it is a family thing that runs in their blood? But it is damn frustrating.

"Wait, are you mocking me or are you genuinely curious?" She asked when she couldn't see what she wanted all over him, not even his shoulders moved to tense or anything.

Ammar gave her a mysterious smile then shrugged. "I think a little bit of both? I cannot help not jeering you."

Aisha rolled her eyes again. "It's time for you to go back in there and get eye raped. Stop disturbing my alone time."

"Eye raped? By who?" He made a horrified expression which is clearly another travesty from his side so she refused to answer the rhetorical question.

"You cannot ignore me forever but seriously, I am shocked to find out you are related to Bilal in any way." He said after a while, tucking his phone back into the pocket of his inner kaftan.

"Shocked? I could be a serial killer myself and you shouldn't be shocked. You don't know anything about me so being shocked should not exist in your books of what you thought about me." Aisha ricocheted, the strong will to talk to someone about herself getting the best of her.

"Nah, you don't look like a serial killer but Bilal on the other hand, that's another story." He feigned a shudder. Everyone in the country that knows who Bilal is fears him, they don't want to be in the same room as him.

Aisha opened her mouth and decided to spill her guts. "I grew up only loving him as my half brother because the other ones were too old to play with me. The younger ones were asked not to be anywhere around me so I stopped trying. My mother wanted to force the relationship between us but it was not working so we both gave up. Then my father's death. It was so sudden and shocking that it left us vulnerable. We were not expecting it even though we should always sleep with the thought of death taking one of us at any time, we didn't. No one brought death for Alhaji Hashem Garo because he was such a healthy man.

"And he fell, my only protector and shield against the world. I had the best relationship with my father, he loved me a lot. We started dealing with both his loss and the reality that we are going to have to fend to our needs after finding out he is soused in debts. None of us got a shilling from his wealth, it all went to the debts he collected while alive. One might think what would he do with so much money when he's got assets to sell? No one knows till date.

"I had to get off my comfort zone, drop out from school to help my mother who started suffering a serious heart problem after my father's death. It wasn't easy being the only child and the other family were not ready to help us. It was only Bilal but I couldn't let him do everything for us, his mother doesn't like it." She scratched the side of her forehead, something was crawling there.

Turning around to study what marred his reaction, she found it empty so she went on. She needed not any sympathy. "And here I am now ready to go back to college with the little I've saved. Life is moving smoothly now though. Alhamdulillah."

Ammar was quiet, not knowing what to say because he didn't expect her to tell him all about her life like that. Why did she? They were never on good terms from the beginning though both of them knew why. There were feelings right from the beginning when she started working at the Attahir Villa. It was about two years ago when he came back from abroad, she was crying in the garden.

He called a maid to go check what was wrong with her but she lashed out on the poor lady so he went to the bench she sat on with her head tucked between her knees. She was not this chubby then, a little too thin for his liking. He placed a large package of chocolate he had brought for Nawal and scribbled quickly on his handkerchief 'Crying won't solve your problems, face them head on' and left it for her.

Since then he never saw her until that day when he came back from one of his many football games with a few homies and matched the floor she's just mopped. He didn't recognize her of course, until after their second encounter.

"What do you want me to say to you? To sympathize? No because you don't deserve any of it. You are stronger than that." He found himself whispering lowly, for the sake of it not because he feared someone might hear him. The music was loud inside playing 'Rush' by Ayra Starr.

Drowsily she smiled at him, her gaze taking on mysterious depths that caused his heart to skip a beat. She seemed to have some secret knowledge that pleased her greatly, and he wondered what silent thoughts were going through her mind. "I don't want your sympathy. I don't even know why I told you that."

Ammar had no idea when he moved closer to her only stared in shock as his hand touched her soft cheeks. His fingers were strong but gentle, slightly cool against her hot cheek, and it felt so amazingly good that she trembled. She couldn't move or speak, only stared up into his lean, slightly wolfish face. What is she to say now? She's never been this intimate with any man in her entire life apart from her father which obviously, doesn't count.

Now it was impossible not to notice how very good-looking he was, tall and elegantly lean, with dark hair, a clear, olive complexion slightly dark and drawn on brows set at a slightly diabolical slant. If she were to judge his features individually-the long nose, the wide mouth, the narrow eyes, the sharply angled cheeks and jaw-she wouldn't have expected him to be this attractive. But somehow when it was all put together, his looks were exquisite.

She jumped away when her thoughts started wandering. This was what she's been fearing all along. "I'm going back inside and don't ever mention this." And she flee back to the hall.

Not for the first time, Ammar reflected there was no understanding women. It wasn't that they were illogical. Just the opposite. Their logic was of a higher order, too complex and advanced to submit to a complete proof calculus.

Women assigned mysterious values to details a man would overlook, and were able to draw piercing conclusions about his innermost secrets. Ammar suspected that Aisha, after their handful of encounters, had already acquired a more thorough knowledge of him than his friends of more than a decade. More troubling still was the suspicion she understood things about him even he wasn't aware of.

Time to work on this little feelings of his because he won't be like his brother. He's been waiting for love to come to him and she's been in front of him right from the start. Now is the time for him to get Aisha beneath his wing. It doesn't matter how hard she is going to make things, he is no quitter. And the banter is what he enjoyed most about their encounters.

A man meandered around the Attahir Mansion with an evil smile on his face. He's seen her and he knows what she is there for. They are after the same thing so why not join hands and take down their enemy? It shouldn't be hard because as the saying goes, your enemy's enemy is also your friend. Now he is waiting for her to come out of the mansion so they could talk like real villains and not play the little children's game.

She walked out in her maid uniform, her expression pinched at being interrupted from one of her many slumbers. Her curiosity to see who this person is rise above anything else. No one knows that she is in the mansion, not even her mother who knew about the entire plan. But as she stared at the man in front of her, all the pieces got placed together.

Her steps lilt with a bounce. "Well, well, well... who do we have here now?" She walked around him in circles, her hands clasped behind her.

The man scowled at that. She now thinks she can act superior because he's sought out for her? She is going to be a mere pawn in his game that if she isn't careful, he will not play with her and also get her annihilated before she decides to play her cards. Whenever he is after his prey, he likes to toy around with more pawns to make the game look more entertaining.

"I saw you inside the mansion and knew what you were there for instantly. Revenge, huh?" He took the safer side instead. She's already caught his little scheme, they will work together now.

She gave one last round and stood in front of him. "No, here to babysit his daughter." She let out, sarcasm dripping with each letter.

"Let's talk business then."

"What business?" She cocked a well carved brow she's spent hours embellishing throughout the morning.

The man stood straighter appearing to look more intimidating. "We have the same enemy. Working together is going to make things less harder. You are inside the mansion and I am always around him twenty four seven."

She gave him a short caricature laugh. "You think I am going to trust anyone with this mission of mine? Please, go get another life. Besides, you look like an amateur."

It is obvious he's never felt so insulted, his growl is an evidence. "I'll let that slip because we don't know each other. It's either we work together or I expose you in just a second."

"Don't tell me you are threatening me after coming with your own absurd reasons? Why are you even after Attahir?" She crossed her arms beneath her chest popping her ample bosom through the large scoop neckline.

"Why wouldn't I be? Same reason you are here." His eyes lowered to her chest for a brief second then back to her face looking embarrassed at being caught ogling like a high school kid.

"I don't think so. We have different reasons and we both know that so cut to the chase. Not that that will change my mind, just curious as to why you want to betray your boss. Or is he your friend?"