Chapter Nineteen

He re arranged his cap on his head, bending it to point to the right which loosely meant in the Yoruba tradition that he was unmarried. The rest of the groomsmen were talking amicably and laughing.

Sufyan found an empty chair in a corner of the room and sat on it, he scrolled through Instagram. Sure enough, there were beautiful picture of the couple plastered on his feed.

The groom was a an old friend of his from University, Ayo, and so were most of the groomsmen. It's been years since he'd seen many of them that this felt like a reunion but somehow, Sufyan still felt out of place here.

It had little to do with them actually, they were all still free spirited, a little boastful about what they'd achieved over the years; the cars, houses and even wives. Sam had gotten married to Adunni who won most beautiful girl in the University for three years consecutively and then went on to become a finalist at Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Adeiza's wife Lydia was the best graduating student in the year they'd all graduated, Mike was married to the very outspoken and popular journalist Vivian and so on.

The single ones like him spoke about countries they'd travelled to, celebrities they've met and Sufyan found the topics unnecessary and uninteresting.

"Yo guys remember when Sufyan and Ahlam won couple of the year." One of the guys, Jide blurted and everyone else turned to him laughing.

Sufyan groaned. "that's still a very silly prank."

During final year departmental awards organized by some of the elected students, his friends had decided it would be funny to nominate him and Ahlam as couple of the year, it was exciting for him because he had always liked Ahlam but his feelings weren't reciprocated. He was even more elated when during the dinner, they'd been announced the winner, it went downhill from there, Ahlam had gotten really angry because her date to the dinner was actually her fiance.

She'd insulted them all, flung and broke the award, called him an idiot, threw her shoes at him -she hadn't missed- then finally bursted into tears in the middle of the hall, her friends had to immediately take her away but Sufyan would never forget the way everyone else had been laughing at him, including his friends who'd organized the award. That was the last time he'd seen her.

"God! That girl really hated you man." Ayo said still laughing.

"He has the tendency to go for girls that he could never get." Aliyu added. "Let me tell y'all about this one girl from secondary school that hated Sufyan more than Ahlam."

And he launched into the tale about Tahira Usman, he of course exaggerated but the stories had Sufyan thinking, was it actually true that he was more attracted to girls who didn't like him back? Tahira, Ahlam and now Sabeerah.

He had girls who admired him a lot, on his last birthday he'd received so much cake, he had to begin distributing them to friends and families. The gifts were even much but the most expensive one was the car he had received from a senior client's daughter, Nuha's father was an ex governor and money wasn't an issue for her, she flaunted it.

She had refused to take back the car when he had returned it, she told him to do whatever he wanted with it and he had to plead with her for days until she finally accepted it under the condition that he'll let her take him to dinner. She had taken him to Oakley's which was the most expensive restaurant in Abuja, Sufyan had only been there once. There were others but he'd been able to handle it well that they still stayed friends, Halima's own had just spiraled out of his control and he hated that fact.

He was still yet to communicate with her but the guilt had slowly dissipated, he made sure to include her in his prayers because that was the best he could do now, he prayed that Allah make things easier for her.

"Fine fine groomsmen." Rahma said as she walked up to them outside the hall where they were all taking pictures. She was one of his old friends from school.

"See how you're looking fresh." Tim said. "Your husband is really taking care of you."

She eyed him. "So if I don't have husband I'll be looking wretched? Don't come to me with that sexism please."

They all laughed.

"It's not like that na, you can't take a joke?" Tim said defensively.

"Your sense of humor is off because I'm not even married anymore so who's the next man taking care of me since my father is dead?" She asked snarkily.

"Rahma is vexing o, oya forgive us please." Frank apologized, she rolled her eyes at him.

"Sufyan hope this people aren't corrupting your innocent mind? Don't hang around them after today." She said turning to him.

He smiled. "I'll take your advice."

"Better for you, Aliyu said you're still single so hold on to your ideaologies because the world is changing and women are uninterested in misogynists." She said and the men laughed harder.

"With the way you're dishing advice one would think you could've stayed married at least." Sam replied. "Abegiii let us hear word, none of those feminism talk."

"When this is not Twitter." Adeiza added and they all chuckled.

"I swear man, ladies only get away with that shit on Twitter and then they try to bring it to real life." Sam laughed harder, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"It's unfair for you too..." Ayo cut Sufyan off.

"Apologise to Rahma now Sam, that was very low of you." He seemed angry.

"Really Ayo? You've barely been married for two hours and you're turning to a sissy." He laughed as he turned to the other guys,only Adeiza, Tim and Mike laughed. The rest of them seemed to notice the brooding fight.

Ayo took a step toward Sam and Sufyan pulled him back immediately. "Don't do that man, it's your wedding day for God's sake!"

"Were you going to hit me?" Sam's tone was still mocking.

"What's going on here? You're gaining unwarranted attention and I don't like that." The bride asked. Tinuade was a beautiful woman, she was dressed gorgeously in the traditional Yoruba wear, an aso oke.

"Take him away." Rahma said to his bride.

•••• •••• •••• ••••

"Sam still hasn't changed, I have no idea why Adunni is married to him." Rahma was seated next to him at the reception dinner.

Sufyan simply shook his head, his gaze upon the couple.

"You should ignore him, don't even let him cross your mind." Aliyu advised.

"I'm on this table." The voice was sophisticated and very familiar, Sufyan turned to the owner and almost choked on the chicken he'd been eating.

Ahlam smiled at him. "It's nice to see you again Sufyan." She turned to the rest of them at the table and gave a small wave.

"I didn't think you'd come." Rahma immediately stood up and enveloped her in a hug. She and the others at the table greeted and Aliyu commented on how beautiful she was looking.

Sufyan wholeheartedly agreed with that assertation, she was dressed simply in a brown abaya and veil, it didn't look like she'd put in much effort into her looks but still she looked gorgeous.

"I had an emergency and I'd have missed it but I told myself that wasn't an option at all, I had to drop by even if it was for few minutes." He heard her say to Rahma, her voice was soft and calm. She spoke as if every word was well thought of and important. Sufyan hated how uncomfortable her presence made him, he felt embarrassment at the thought of the scene that had occured the last time he'd seen Ahlam.

His meal became tasteless and he found it hard to swallow.

"You might make use of this opportunity and apologise to her." Aliyu whispered to him.

"I feel embarrassed enough as it is, you think I'd be able to talk to her about it without making a fool of myself?" He snapped at him and Aliyu bursted into laughter, everyone at the table turned to look at him.

Ayo and Tinuade were called up to the stage to dance and everyone focused on them. Sufyan snuck a glance at Ahlam and he saw her staring at him too, her lips curled up into a smile and she turned away from him. Sufyan didn't know how to feel, was the smile meant to say she'd forgiven him?

The rest of the wedding dinner went by in a blur until it finally ended. Sufyan had lost sight of Ahlam sometime during it and he guessed she'd left, she had after all hinted that she wouldn't stay long.

He was helping the movers pack up the gifts that they couple had received when he heard his name.

"Ahlam would like to talk to you." Rahma whispered in his ear and he froze. "She's by the hotel garden, you know it right?"

He managed to nod. "she's single too." Rahma said with a wink, she walked away chuckling to herself. Sufyan dropped the very large wrapped gift back on the floor and began to head to the garden.

"Sufyan OhmyGod!" A hand clutched his arm halting his movement.

"Hello Adunni." He forced a smile when all he wanted to do was pull away and run to the garden, he didn't want to imagine what'd happen if Ahlam left without him speaking to her.

"It's been so long, you look very handsome. Good gracious! Hasn't he changed honey?" She asked her husband, her hand was still clutching his arms.

"He looks the same to me." Sam shrugged.

"I'll be back Adunni, I have..."

"That can wait Sufyan, we need to take a picture." She pulled him to stand next to her. "Take us a picture, Hannah needs to see your grown up version."

Sufyan tried to smile for the pictures but he was feeling very nervous and the moment Adunni released his arm to look through the pictures, he fled. The garden's light was dim, it was a very beautiful place and it was empty. He looked around frantically praying to God she hadn't left but no one except for him was around. The disappointment he felt was unexplainable.

He heard a rustle in front of him, he took a step closer to see what it was when a small cat ran out. Sufyan sighed in defeat, she had gone.

It made his chest ache, what was it she was going to tell him? He'd maybe never know.

"Sufyan."

His head snapped so fast, he felt a pain in his neck. Ahlam was standing few places away from him, her smile was shaky.

"I didn't think you'd come out here to see me." She said as she moved closer to him.

He laughed nervously. "I'm the one who's shocked you called me out."

"We should sit." She nodded at the slab that was directly opposite the beautiful fountain. He sat down after she had, there was noticeable distance between them.

"It's been long, how many years now? Seven?" She asked not looking at him.

Meanwhile he was staring at her. "Seven years."

She laughed. "Remember that night? Our departmental dinner?" She asked turning to look at him.

Sufyan found the question funny, that was impossible to forget.

He cleared his throat. "Ahlam I never got the chance to apologise for that night, I and the rest of the guys shouldn't have done that, we were young and stupid and everything was funny to us but we should've known better. I'm sorry we hurt you and your relationship."

She looked at him with shock. "I called you here to apologise Sufyan, I had overreacted and I'm sorry. I had embarrassed you in front of everyone, God! I'd injured you with the award." She laughed. "Let's say we were both wrong and we could've done things differently."

Sufyan felt himself relax the more he listened to her.

"That was one hell of a scene we caused." He said laughing alongside her.

"We left a lasting memory on our coursemates, whenever I bump into any, the topic is a must for them." She shook her head.

"The guys teased me about it earlier when we were dressing up, it's hard to move past that."

She smiled and they fell into silence. Sufyan had nothing else to say to her, not that he was a good conversationalist but this was Ahlam, his crush from his first year in Uni till the last. He'd have done anything in school just to have the opportunity to sit with her like this.

"Sufyan?" Her voice was softer, like a whisper.

He looked at her. "Yes?"

"Would you like to..."

His ringtone interrupted her, he looked away from her as he brought out his phone from his pocket; it was an unknown number. He'd learn in his profession that you don't just ignore any calls.

"I'm sorry, excuse me." He said to Ahlam, she nodded understandingly. His hand swiped to the answer option.

"How would you like a third date? I'm at Khair's Treats and I thought about you. Don't worry, bills on me this time, oh wait! So were they last time." And she bursted into laughter.

Sufyan was still too stunned to speak. Sabeerah was calling him, he wasn't hallucinating, so many times he'd willed for his phone to ring and she'd be the one calling. When he'd found out she'd paid for the both of them last time and had gone away without talking to him, he didn't know which to feel between amusement and annoyance.

"You won't talk to me? Is your ego still bruised that I paid for your meal?" She asked.

"I don't want to see you or talk to you." He finally managed to say and as the words came out, he noticed Ahlam look at him with interest and she turned away immediately their eyes met.

"That's childish, okay I promise I'll let you pay for my meal too."

A perfect vengeance idea occured to him. "You'd let me buy you vanilla ice cream?"

"Hell no!" He heard her scream and he chuckled, his eyes met Ahlam's again and this time, she didn't turn away.

"Uhmm..."

"I won't be taking that flavor of ice cream and I'll be waiting for you eitherways, and believe me Suraj, I'm not a patient woman." With that she hung up, Sufyan stared at his phone with a large smile on, he shook his head and then looked up to Ahlam.

"I'm sorry that was..."

"It's okay." She interrupted him. "We're done, I'm glad we were able to apologise to each other."

She stood up.

"Wait, you were going to say something before..."

"It's okay Sufyan, take care of yourself."

He watched her walk away.