I eyed the sky, skeptically; the clouds that had been white all morning, were now awash with various shades of grey, giving the weather a pre-dawn aura. Plus, the air was humid. It looked like it was about to rain.

"Are you sure you want to leave right now?" Mum's soft voice pulled me out of my reverie.

I looked at her, gave a tight lipped smile, then a subtle nod.

Mum leaned against my car and heaved a sigh. "I think it's going to rain." She continued.

"Yeah." I agreed, looking up to the sky. "It's quite obvious."

"It's going to be dangerous driving in the rain. Why don't you postpone your trip for another day or alternatively, wait till the rain has finished pouring."

"I can't, mum." I shook my head. "If I don't go today, I don't think I'll be able to do that this week."

"Then wait for a while."

"Mum!" I feigned irritation, then smiled afterwards. "You worry too much about me. I'm a big boy, you know."

The moment she rolled her eyes, I knew she had already given in to my decision.

"Okay, but please say your dua and be extra careful on the way. If it starts raining, stop somewhere and continue only when the rain stops."

"Yes, ma'am." I nodded fervently. "I will do as the boss instructs. You know your wish is always my command." I leaned a bit and planted a swift kiss on her forehead. "I will be back tomorrow, in Sha Allah. I won't forget to send your regards to your favorite daughter."

"And to Manal as well." Mum added; a smile tugging at her lips. "Please don't leave without speaking to her. Do it for me."

I repressed the urge to laugh at Mum. She had no idea why I was going to Zaria in the first place. It was to see Manal, but of course, I wasn't going to let her know. I was going to allow her believe I was only traveling to Zaria to meet her beloved daughter. "Manal?" I feigned surprise. "Why should I speak to her?"

Mum frowned. "I thought we had an agreement. You promised to get to know her better."

"I know I did, mum, but I'm trying to take my time. I can't just dive into this. I have my self-respect."

"What self-respect?" Mum sneered. "You're the man. You don't expect her to do the chasing."

I chuckled. "But what's wrong if she does it?" I raised a brow. "Mum, this isn't ancient days. Things have actually changed for the better. In this modern days, girls approach the men they like and make it known to them."

Mum scrunched up her face in disagreement. "That's shamelessness. It's not wrong, but I don't support that."

"It—"

"Jawaad!" She called my name, making me automatically stop talking. "I won't have this argument with you now. You better start going before I change my mind."

"Alright then, since you can't wait to get rid of me." I feigned anger. "I'm leaving." I got into my car and inserted the key in the ignition.

Mum's wave was the last thing I saw before driving out of the compound.

Few minutes into the drive, the rain began to pour. I knew I made a promise to mum to not drive in the rain, but since the rain wasn't so heavy, I decided to keep on driving.

I wasn't surprised when my phone suddenly began ringing. Even without checking the caller ID, I already knew whom it was—mum. She was probably calling to remind me not to drive recklessly.

I chuckled. I found it annoying, yet sweet how mum treated me like a child. 

I reached for my phone from the passengers seat, but couldn't get it, because it was a bit faraway. I tried to reach for it again, before the call would end, but ended up losing control of the wheel.

I gasped when I ran into an approaching car.

Everything happened so quickly. Before I could step out of my car, the owner of the car had already beat me to it. A slim, melanin skinned lady, dressed in an oxblood colored abaya; a black veil draped over her head and an umbrella shading her from the rain, stood akimbo in front of the car. "Hey!" She balled her left hand into a fist and hit the bonnet. A little too hard if you'd ask me.

"Woah!" I exclaimed, before opening the car and stepping out. Though the lady seemed like someone in her early twenties, her countenance proved to me that she was a no-nonsense kind of person; her brows were tightly furrowed and her lips, slightly pursed up. "I'm—"

"Are you blind or something?" She attacked.

"I'm really sorry." I started, wiping the rain water from my face.

"Sorry?" She scrunched up her face. "Come! Just come and see the damage you've done to my car." She furiously walked to her car and pointed to the headlight.

I ducked my head in my car and pulled out my umbrella to avoid getting even wetter than I already was. Thankfully, my car was not in the middle of the car, so I didn't need to move it.

I approached her and my eyes scanned the damage. It wasn't even as disastrous as I thought. It was merely a crack on the headlight. It wasn't even broken. I wondered why she was blowing things out of proportion. "Look, I'm really sorry for what happened. It wasn't planned at all."

"Sorry?" She huffed. "Sorry? Will sorry fix the damage you've done to my car?"

I heaved a deep sigh. "I have apologized. what else do you want me to do?"

"To pay for the repairs obviously." She sneered.

For a moment, I was rendered speechless. Was she being serious at the moment? She wanted money for what exactly? I, for one, knew there wasn't going to be a need for a change of headlights, unless she wanted to use the opportunity to practice extortion. "What repairs?"

"Oh! So now, you don't want to pay for what you've done to my car? What kind of a person are you? You look responsible, but I'm sorry to say, you are irresponsible!"

I couldn't believe what was happening. I shook my head. "I would have paid, but unfortunately, I don't have enough cash on me. I'm traveling. I haven't fueled my car yet. I still need to go to the ATM to withdraw."

"I don't care." She shrugged. "Just pay for the damage, that's all I care about. I don't care how you do it."

For the umpteenth time, I sighed. "I'm coming." I walked back to my car and opened the pigeonhole. I returned with a card and showed it to her.

"What's that?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"It's my business card. All of the information you need about me is there. I will definitely pay for the damages incurred, but for now, I have to go."

I really thought she wasn't going to collect the card from me, because she spent about a minute staring at the outstretched card, but she did anyways.

"This better be real." She muttered underneath her breath.

"Hello? I don't walk about with fake cards. Now, if you will excuse me." I turned around and walked back to my car.

Immediately I got in, I didn't spare her a second look. I zoomed off. Thankfully, the rain had stopped completely. I thought it was going to rain heavily, but apparently not.

My attention was shifted to my phone which had started ringing again. I knew it had to be mum again. I didn't want to pick up, because I knew what she was going to say to me, but at the same time, I didn't want her to worry about me. By the time I pulled over, the phone had already stopped ringing. I dialed her number and brought the phone to my ear.

"Jawaad! I have been trying to call you for a while now. What happened? Do you have an idea how worried I was? Why didn't you pick up any of my calls?"

"I—" I abruptly cut myself off. It'd be insensitive of me to tell her about the minor accident that occured minutes ago, knowing just how she tended to make mountains out of mole hills.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Yes, mum. I couldn't pick up because I had my phone on silent mode."

"I was so worried." She breathed. "Where are you now?"

"Still in the outskirts of Abuja."

"Because of the rain, Koh?"

I hummed in response.

"Alhamdulillah you listened to me. I know you are a responsible young man, but I will still remind you to drive safely. May Allah protect you."
My arrive there."

"You should. Assalamualaikum."

"Wa'alaykum Salam." I responded and waited for her to end the call, before placing the phone on the seat beside me.

•

The drive to Zaria was a tad delayed, due to the sloppy and rocky roads,but Thankfully, I arrived safely.

At the premises of the hostel, I halted the car and waited for Farida to show up. I had texted her earlier about my arrival.

"Jawaad!" Farida's familiar voice filled my ear. I could practically feel the excitement in her voice. She hurried to the other side of the car and got in.

"Why do you seem so excited to see me?" I chuckled.

"Because I am." She grinned. "I can't believe how much I've missed home. It's so nice seeing you. Thanks for deciding to visit me."

Seeing her wasn't my main reason of visiting, but of course I wasn't going to let her know. "How have you been? How's studies?"

"Goooood! Great!" She smiled.

"Mum told me how well you did in your last semester's examinations. I'm so so proud of you, Farida."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"What was your GPA again?"

"4.65"

"Very impressive. Keep up the good work. You don't know how proud both mum and dad are of you. I'm also proud of you. I've always known that you'd never disappoint us."

"Thanks, Jawaad. It's all I want. I just want to keep making you all proud. How is everyone at home?"

"They're all fine. Mum sent this to you." I handed her a polythene bag.

Farida pulled out the food flask in it and opened it, making the aroma of the beef stew fill the car. "Homemade food." She inhaled the aroma; a huge smile plastered on her face. "This is so thoughtful, I feel like crying." She pursed up her lips. "Mum knows the things I want even without me saying it out. For the past few days, the only thing I have been eating is noodles and maybe pasta."

The scenario reminded me of back then when I was still an undergraduate. Mum used to do just the same for me. I really appreciated that because it used to save me the energy to cook noodles. Even though I ate out most of the times, there were times I needed to go to lectures as early as seven. I didn't have any choice, but to prepare breakfast for myself.

"Why don't you cook proper meals though?" I voiced out my thought.

"Tch." She huffed. "Can be stressful. I tried cooking semovita last week, but I ended up making a huge mess." She laughed. "It was so thiccccccckkk, no one could even eat it. I ended up discarding the whole stuff." She shook her head.

I couldn't help, but laugh at her narration. "You better go and learn how to cook."

"But I can." She scoffed. "It's just tuwo that I'm finding hard to make."

"Okay." I shrugged.

"Have you seen Manal?" Out of the blue, Farida asked.

"No." I responded. Truth was, I hadn't even told her I was in the city yet.

"Should I go call her for you?" Farida wiggled her brows.

"No, it's fine." I declined. "I didn't come here to see her."

Farida frowned. "Please, Jawaad, just see and have a talk with her. Remember what we talked about? You promised to give this a chance. Since you're already here, why don't you just make use of the opportunity?"

"I have changed my mind." I stated with a poker face. I suppressed the need to laugh at how disappointed Farida looked.

"Why are you doing this?"

I also didn't know why I suddenly didn't want to see her. A while ago, I was looking forward to having a talk with her, because I wanted to observe the kind of person she was, but now that I was there, I didn't feel like meeting her anymore. "Okay...fine. I will see her. I'm just doing this for you. I hope you know."

"Of course." She smiled. "That's why I love you so so much. You won't regret this, Jawaad. I promise. Should I go and call her now?"

"No, I will do it." I picked up my phone and called her.

"Assalamualaikum." Came her voice.

"Ameen, wa'alaikumusalam was rahmatullah wa barakatuh." I responded.

"Hmm...how are you doing?"

"I'm right in front of your hostel."

"Huh? What? You're in Zaria?"

"Yeah. I'm in front of your hostel. Can you step out for a moment?"

"I...I..." Her voice trailed. "Are you really in my hostel?"

"Yes, I am."

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming today?"

"I wanted to surprise you." I said the first thing that came to my mind.

Farida giggled.

I glared at her and her demeanor immediately morphed into a serious one.

Manal hummed. "Okay...I will be right there. Please give me twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes." She replied and ended the call before I could respond.

I averted my gaze to Farida. "Twenty minutes? She wants me to wait for twenty minutes?"

"Come on, Jawaad, it's no big deal. I'm sure she needs the time to dress up and all that."

I scoffed.

"Don't get impatient, please."

I sighed. "Wish I could help it."

•

Assalamualaikum/hello

How have you been? Sorry for the late update 🙏

What do you think about the girl Jawaad had an encounter with? 🤔

We're you surprised by Farida's result?

Manal and Jawaad are going to meet officially 😝 who's excited? 💃💃

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