Aleena sat quietly in the office, full of surprise. She never thought a human could change in minutes, but her supervisor proved everything right with the way he kept smiling at her whenever their eyes met.
“I’m sorry, dear, for delaying you.” His voice brought her back to her senses. She couldn’t remember how many times he had said that to her.
He quickly wrapped everything up and asked her to follow him to the lab. He performed the experiments while Aleena watched, explaining each step to her. When they finished, they returned to his office together. She was still surprised by his sudden change—the way he chattered so nicely. She never thought he could speak like that.
In his office, he offered her snacks and drinks before showing her how to analyze the data in Excel. Aleena ate nothing but listened carefully to all his explanations. She thanked him before leaving.
From the office, she rushed to the faculty parking lot where her driver waited. She wanted to meet that man. Her plan for the day was to apologize, ask for his name, and beg to be his friend.
Malam Musa, the driver, was inside the car, seemingly asleep. She felt bad for keeping him waiting so long and now having to wake him. If she weren’t so eager to see that man, she would have let him sleep. She knocked on the glass, and he raised his head to see who it was. He smiled when he saw her and quickly opened the door.
“Sorry, Madam,” he apologized.
She smiled. “Never mind,” she said, getting into the car before he could open the door for her. “We’re going to the Faculty of Education. There’s something I need to do there.”
Her attention stayed outside the car as Musa drove. “Okay, Ma,” he said shortly.
Aleena shook her head a little. Malam Musa would never stop calling her “Ma.” She couldn’t remember how many times she had told him to use her name, but he refused. She was even tired of explaining how uncomfortable it made her feel when elders didn’t call her by her name.
After parking the car, she told him to wait and that she wouldn’t be long. She walked to the place where she always saw the man. The spot was empty. Maybe he had left. She hissed in frustration. This is all because of her supervisor. If only he had let her go on time.
Maybe you should wait, she thought. With that idea, she went back to her driver and asked him to go ahead with his schedule. She would call him when she was done. Without hesitation, he left.
She waited for almost two hours, but the man never showed. Still, her mind insisted on waiting, thinking he might be in a three-hour lecture. So she kept waiting, reading a journal on her phone.
Luckily, when she raised her eyes, she saw him sitting on one of the cement chairs nearby. She hadn’t noticed when he arrived. She smiled at him, though she couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses. The way he sat, his direction was toward her.
Maybe he’s still angry, she thought. She rose from her seat and moved closer to him.
“May I sit?” she asked in a soft voice she never knew she had, pointing to the space beside him.
All he heard was Aroush’s voice. With a wide, delighted face, he said, “Why not? But you didn’t tell me you were coming.” He faced the direction where he sensed life.
Aleena smiled and sat closer to him.
“Did Ezaz visit you on Wednesday?” he asked, showing no concern that he had ignored her first question.
Aleena was surprised. “Who is Ejaz?” she asked curiously.
Now the voice sounded different, but he knew it. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m sorry for not introducing myself. I actually don’t know how to, but I’m sorry. That’s all I can say, and I really hope you can forgive me,” she said innocently.
Now he got it. The rude girl—yes, it was her. He sprang up. “Leave this place before I deal with you,” he said, boiling with rage.
“Please, sir,” she begged.
“I’m not sir. I’m Zia. And let me tell you, if not for now, I can’t even remember you. So please don’t waste your precious time begging me. You are nothing to me. I don’t even know why you’re always trying to interrupt my happiness. Just what did I do to you?”
“Please, Zia, listen to me. Let’s clear this misunderstanding, please,” she pleaded.
“Which misunderstanding? Please leave,” he roared.
Maybe somebody, sometime back, had shouted at her, but to her knowledge, this was the first time. And it annoyed her. What is wrong with this man? Maybe it’s because she was being soft that he was acting this way.
“Hey, why are you shouting at me? I did nothing wrong. Right now, I’m just trying to apologize for my previous mistake,” she shouted back.
He smirked. This girl was not nice at all. He sat back and said, “Okay, can you please go? I’m not willing to forgive.” He put his earphones in his ears.
She stood for a few seconds before leaving. Yes, she loved him, but she couldn’t tolerate a disgraceful act from anyone besides her parents.
—
Aleena left the place angrily, hissing several times. It was only when she reached the road that she remembered telling her driver to leave. That annoyed her too. She hissed again before calling him to come back.
While waiting, she sat on one of the mud chairs by the road, still muttering about the man she had left. She just couldn’t take it—a man shouting at her when she was only trying to apologize.
Zia hissed after he stopped hearing the sound of her steps. This girl must hate me so much to think of hurting me for no reason, but I can’t take it anymore, he uttered.
He was still muttering when his phone rang. He already knew who it was. It must be Zia, he thought. Now he’s going to give all his unreasonable excuses. He hissed again before answering the call.
“Hey, I’m tired of waiting. Just tell me if you’re not coming so I can find a way to go back home,” Zia said, boiling even without letting the person on the phone speak.
Maybe this time he was wrong because the person on the phone wasn’t who he thought it was. It was Aroush’s voice he heard.
“Hello, Yaya Zia, what happened? You will never change this habit of yours,” she laughed, then said, “You just won’t understand. Ejaz has a lot of problems,” he said in a serious voice.
“I know the two of you. Your bad temper isn’t something anybody can take.”
“The two of us, me and Ejaz, are the only ones who can tolerate you,” he laughed loudly.
“Since the two of you can, I don’t care if the whole world cannot. You are all I have. You are my world.”
Aroush smiled. “Okay, what about your wife?” Her question was sudden, and he never expected it. This was the first time she had spoken to him about women.
“Well, she will also learn to tolerate me as her man.”
“Yaya Zia and problems,” she said before adding, “I called to remind you about my birthday. Make sure to surprise me with beautiful gifts.”
He kept quiet for a while, making her think the call had ended. She had to look at the screen to check. “Hello, are you still on the line?” she said curiously.
He laughed. “Sorry, I was thinking about my schedule. I don’t think I can make it to your birthday. I’m sorry,” he said innocently.
“Okay, don’t come,” she said before ending the call.
Zia laughed. He knew this would happen, but he really wanted his plan of surprising her to succeed. He knew she would believe him when he said he wasn’t coming—he always meant his words, but not this time.
Aleena was still angry when her driver returned. She got into the car without saying anything. He had to ask her where to take her, and her reply was short and brief. “Home,” she said, and he drove away without another word.
Arriving home, she left all her things in the car. She didn’t have the energy to carry them. Her clothes felt heavy on her body.
Walking slowly to the main parlor entrance, everything happening inside her—the anger and everything else—vanished in a few seconds. Her dad surprised her. He really did. She never thought he would be back at this time because she had spoken to him earlier, and he never mentioned it.
She didn’t know how or when her energy returned, but she ran to him delightedly. “Abba, you surprised your girl,” she said as she hugged him tightly, as if he were running away.
He held her back and said, “Omo, I just don’t know my baby has grown like this. Be careful—I’m not the same strong man you know,” he said jokingly.
She laughed and held his hand. “Let’s go in. I know my Abba must be hungry. You should have called,” she complained.
He smiled. “I’m not tired, actually, and I didn’t wait long. I was trying to call when you arrived,” he said, showing her his phone.
Mami, sitting in a three-seater chair, looked at them. “So you finally get in since your baby is back,” she said with a face difficult to read.
He smiled without saying anything, and Aleena said, “Mami, I’m back. Abba, let’s go to the dining table. You need to eat.” She grabbed his hand, and Mami just followed them with her eyes.
After eating, Aleena and her dad sat together, discussing the time they had been apart. Seeing her dad made her forget everything that had happened. All she felt was happiness.
But everything remained the same the moment she went to bed. What had happened since leaving home—right up to how things ended between her and the man who called himself Zia—now that she thought about it clearly, she realized what she did wasn’t right. She should have kept calm and not been mad at him, just as he was to her.
Now that she realized her mistakes, her anger seemed to grow, but now it was directed at herself. On the other hand, her love for him renewed. She knew it—she loved him with all her heart. Right now, she could feel it in her entire self: in her blood and even within her muscles.
She spent the entire night rolling from one side of the bed to the other, thinking of a solution without sleeping. But not a single solution came to her.
