THE RISING SUN

CHAPTER TWO

She had already accepted her fate as she joined her mother in her business. This time, the business was able to spread farther than before, because she was not stationed at a shop like her mother, but she was able to hawk some loaves of bread around some areas in Ashurla that were within easy walking distance. Hence, she was making good sales everyday.

"Oh! You've finished those loaves you had in the trail?"

She smiled wryly as she walked towards her mother slowly.

"I can see you're already tired, my dear. Walking from place to place for sales is not always easy."

"That's not the reason I'm exhausted this way, mum", she said to herself.

But Aysha was still left in her feeling that the business of the day was exhausting. Perhaps, in time, she will get to know about it.

Zainab had again seen what has been hurting her deeply. This time, she never fell again, but she was able to escape from the scene. The distance she had covered in running was not the only cause of her tiredness, but the discomfort caused by the incident also drained her energy. So, she fell onto her bed, and began to ponder on her encounters.

"What should I do now? What decision should I make?"

All these were her questions for her soul to answer, yet they remained rhetoric in reality. As she was busy thinking about her past encounter, the thought of dropping out of school flashed on her mind.

Her mind was filled with the mixture of fate and choice, thus her worries reduced her to tears. She was already beginning to yield to what life would bring. So she shrugged her shoulders, got out of bed, and went to the backyard to perform her ablutions. Upon finishing that, she went back into her room, put on her hijab and spread the praying mat to say her evening prayer; it was already 6 p.m.

Every morning, Zainab always woke up very early to assist her mum do the household chores happily. But this particular morning seemed like the bane of her life. She could not find it easy to accept that she would not be joining her brother to school to take their GCSE first paper.

Abdul was older than Zainab, and he also started to school before his sister. But due his inability to pass most of the exams he did in his class 2, he was asked to repeat the class. As a result of that, his sister was able to meet him in the same class. But the obscure nature of the future prevented their parents from knowing the difficulty of pairing two siblings in a class. The choice of pairing the two siblings finally led to preventing Zainab from doing her final exams.

She tried to fight back the tear in her eyes as she saw her brother already dressed up in his school uniform; he would be taking his first paper that morning. She was not angry with Abdul, she was only angry at how fate had denied her the opportunity of doing her GCSE.

"When will the exam start?" she asked.

"By 9 a.m., dear."

"Oh! Let me hurry up so that we'd go out at the same time."

Zainab was only seriously fighting to dissemble her feelings.

"Ok then! I'll be waiting."

Before their breakfast, Zainab and her brother had already had their bath. So, both of them bade their mum bye and left the house, but for different purposes. Abdul was going to school for an exam, while Zainab was going out to hawk some loaves of bread she had in her trail. Aysha was also rounding up the remaining chores so that she would go to her shop.

Although Ahmed's family was a humble one, people respected the family because of their simplicity. This really created high admiration for the family. They were not aware that they were held in high regard though.

Due to how valued the family was, Zainab never found it difficult selling off the loaves of bread that she would go out with. She was not really aware of the reason behind the fortune, but she only ascribed it to the taste of the bread. But there were some other people who were also baking tasty bread around, yet, people were always waiting for her arrival in other to buy from her. Of course, as a sincere farmhand, Ahmed was popular in his neighborhood.

"Where is your sister?"

"She's on the street hawking some loaves of bread for my mum."

"What?' So, none of you, including Zainab, could tell me that she couldn't register for her GCSE, huh?"

Mr Suleiman was really irate. He truly cherished her; Zainab was indeed a great student.

But then, it was too late for anything to be done for her. The exams had already begun.

He shook his head and angrily went back into his office.

This very gesture, suddenly sprung up some grief within Abdul. He sat down for a moment, confused about what to do.

"Oh God! please, grant me peace of mind for my exam. Amen!"

He inhaled and exhaled deeply, tapped his pen on his head, and went into the exam hall, waiting for the exam to begin.