Al Qulub Haris

Eighteen

She strode majestically through the garden filled with beautiful flowers, her white gown almost covering the ground she stepped on. He watched her pluck a white rose and tuck it into her hair, it made her look a little more than perfect. She glowed, she smelled of rosey musk, she was the true definition of a queen. She took gentle steps towards him her feet colliding softly with the pink petals sprinkled on the ground.

"Samira" he smiled.

"You silly old man" her hands were placed akimbo, she looked deep into his eyes "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" her movements were soft and gentle, they made his knees weak even though he was seated.

He laughed lowly "It would only mean joining you"

"You will join me when it's your time to die OF natural causes"

"You didn't die of natural causes"

"I was sick my darling Sahabi" she slid her index finger down his face making him shut his eyes as he inhaled her intoxicating scent "I died of natural causes" she sighed "So tell me, do you miss me?"

"I do, every second I wish you were still here with me. There is no day that goes by that I don't think about and pray for you" she nodded "I know, I feel it whenever you pray for me"

"Samira I don't know how I've been able to live without you, life was unbearable when I lost you. I lost hope, I lost my zeal, I lost my reason to live but I don't know what happened or how I got over your loss. I slowly started getting back to my normal self, going to work and engaging with people..." he trailed off.

"And you got married again. You now have a reason to live, a family to support you, which is why no matter what happens you have to stay alive for them." she smiled softly at him taking his face in her hands which again made him shut his eyes tight "We'll meet again my darling Sahabi but until then you need to stay alive for your family, for Zahra" Samira went with the cool breeze that hit his face where her palms were covering. He opened his eyes to see nothing, nothing but darkness. Samira was the light in his life.

Sahabi's eyes opened up "Alhamdulillah" he slowly sat up with the aid of his hands. He knew it was a dream from the start but it looked so real, almost making him believe it. He got up to perform ablution and when he was done performing the Nafil it was almost Magrib. He heard the sound of the door opening, only one person entered his room without knocking. Zahra ran to where her father was seated neatly on a praying mat pulling on a rosary, she sank down and hugged him from behind burying her head in the crook if his neck as her soft sobs filled the room.

"Young lady will you stop crying?" he said in a serious tone which made her crying even louder, he mentally shook his head. "Ummi na, stop crying will you?" she raised her head still sniffing, she wiped her tears and moved to sit beside him with her head rested on his shoulder. Sahabi slowly caressed Zahras cheek whispering comforting words to her.

"Abba are you okay?"

"I'm fine Ummi na" they sat in a comfortable silence for a while then there was a knock on the door, both father and daughter turned to look at the door. Murtala came in arms wrapped around his mother whose eyes were red and swollen from crying, he saw Zahras face too and shook his head.

"Zahra even you too?" he corked his brow "Abba is the one who almost died and you're making him console you... That's selfish jor" his sentence earned him a smack on the head from Maryam. The Adhan cut through Zahra and Sahabi's matching laugh while Murtala awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Everyone go perform ablution" Sahabi dropped the rosary he was holding and sat on the edge of the bed, Maryam had gone into his bathroom to perform ablution, Murtala went in next.

"Zahra bring our hijabs before your brother comes out" Maryam also sat on the edge of the bed, next to her husband. Zahra nodded and quickly walked out, she returned just as her brother had come out of the bathroom holding two hijabs. She gave one to Maryam and wore hers.

"Did you perform ablution there?" Sahabi asked.

"Abba ni ina da alwala na(I held onto mine from asr)" she pouted her lips.

"No, ki je ki sake (you should repeat it)" she reluctantly pulled off her hijab with her mouth pushed forward.

"Da wani dogon bakin ki kaman shantu (With your long mouth like shantu-a hausa musical instrument-)" Murtala teased "Abba don't mind her, she farted in my room before coming here"

"Yaya!" she whined while rolling her hijab into a ball, she threw the hijab at Murtala with her tongue out and quickly ran into the bathroom.

✊✊✊

Zahra continuously bobbed her head to the song playing in her head as she tried to plug in her earpiece to listen to the song. She sighted her brother peacefully seated in the living room minding his business, since it was a weekend and she had nothing else to do, the only option was to pester her brother.

"Yaya" she called with her evil grin.

He looked up "Yauwa (Oh) Nadine"

"Huh? Nadine kuma (whcih Nadine) yaya?" with furrowed eyebrows she sank next to him on the three sitter, he facepalmed himself as his words played in his head. This had never happened before, not even with Aisha and even if it were to happen he didn't expect it to fall on Zahra. Nadine was playing in his head, she was wandering about in his mind, slowly enveloping his soul. He tried to prevent what was threatening to happen by keeping to himself but she had to steal her way into his heart. He shook the thought off his head "Tssshhh... Buttercup thank God you came, about the donations"

"Yes" she folded her legs up on the chair and turned to face him "I don't think just clothes will be enough. I want to give out some money too"

"Okay, what's your estimate?"

"Well last year I gave Mami two million to see if she could help appreciate the amount and last week she told me we made a profit of Four million. I found some IDP camps: one on Borno, one in Yobe and one in Adamawa so I want to give out a million to each; two hundred thousand to five orphanages then I'll give Mami back the two million and see what happens before next year in sha Allah."

"Well you have a good point there but instead of giving out money why not buy them foodstuffs with half the amount you plan to give each camp because if you give them money those in charge can easily make away with it so tell Abba to find someone reliable to take the goods there. I think that's a better idea" Zahra nodded her head, easily agreeing to her brothers suggestion. She heard her phone ring and excused herself to pick the call, it was Fadila.

"Video call madam" Zahra rolled her eyes.

"No, where are you?"

"I'm at home. Why?"

"Ya Ahmad is bringing you a package, he's outside"

"Oh, the securities didn't inform me, I'll check now" she ran to her room to pick a veil then jogged downstairs to the front door where she just heard the doorbell ring. Zahra quickly adjusted her veil and opened the door. She gasped with her mouth agape, her phone fell to the ground as she looked at the person standing before her in awe with her hand placed on her chest where she felt her heartbeat quicken, as if it were going to beat out of her chest.

xoxo hairanumar