LEFT TO ALLAH

Chapter 3: The Flame Beneath

Nairobi glowed at night like a city in prayer- it's lighting flickering like candles, it's silence broken by laughter and siren. Said stood on the balcony of his apartment, watching the skyline pulse. Amina was inside, curled up with a book, her presence soft but grounding.

They had grown close, too close. The kind of closeness that made silence feel intimate and words feel sacred. She had met Mama Rehema once, during a brief visit in Eldama Ravine. The old man bad studied her quietly, them whispered to Said," she is through you. Don't hurt her."

Said nodded but the street was louder than her mother's voice.

He was rising fast- invited to the panels, featured in tech magazines, praised for his innovation. Amina cheered him on, but she also watched. she noticed the missed prayers, the late nights, the new contact saved under vague names.

One evening she asked," Do you still remember what your mother told you?"

Said laughed, kiss her hand. "Of course I do."

But he didn't. Not really.

He was busy building empires,not guarding hearts.

They attended gala together- Said in tailored suit, Amina in a flowing emerald dress. Camera flashed. People whispered. One woman lingered too long near Said. Amina saw it. Said didn't.

Later that night Amina lay wake beside him. She didn't speak. She just stared at the ceiling, wondering if love could survive ambition.

Said slept soundly, dreaming contracts and conferences.

And somewhere in the dream Mama Rehema's voice returned- faint, like wind through a cracked window. " The evil behind alcohol. He vanished. Not all evil come from alcohol."

But Said didn't wake.

The flame beneath was growing.

And love if left unattended, burns.