Treasures and thorns

  AHMAD It is an understatement to say that I am exhausted. I am beyond sapped! Nothing has changed. It has been the same old routine. Work. Work. Work. It is the only thing I am interested in doing ever since the incident. Its been an excellent escape, a very important one at that.  The other thing I look forward to on my drive home is to crash on my bed. Good thing that I had already prayed Isha' prayer in the office. I only have to greet my mother then retire to my room - you can call it an apartment since its detached from the main house. Yes, I still live with my parents at my big age. It was one of the things that would have changed has the 'incident' not happened. "Ahmad, Sannu da zuwa! (Welcome home)," Mammy says when she sights me. There is a smile on her face as she says it. Despite how low I am feeling, I can't help but smile. She has the warmest soul and the kindest heart, my be

                                  AHMAD               " Ya Ahmad!" Nusaiba calls. I doubled up my pace towards the garden but I heard her running. I knew I was done for."Haba Ya Ahmad! I have been calling you since," She says making a dramatic gesture."Naam Baby, what is it?" I ask as naturally as I could.If she had the slightest idea that I had been avoiding her, she would have pestered me for the rest of the day. Nusaiba is my cousin but she has lived with us since she was just six years old. I still consider her a little girl because she's just twenty two, two years younger than Haneefah. She is just so adorable and likable, you just can't hate her. "Yaya I heard the bad news, I am so sorry!" She says with a fr

                                    AHMADThe only time I had to wallow in self pity was the weekends. I had indulged myself ever since my wedding got cancelled. Once upon a time, I was always active on the weekends. It was during that time that I could hit the gym or catch up with friends. However when she left, my desire for such things vanished.I indulged in working on the weekends. All I would do was lie around in my room and work. It was the only distraction that was effective. I only hit the gym whenever I got bored. It became my second distraction.The situation that I had found myself in, forced a change in what had become my 'weekend routine'. The gym became my first option once again. There is a fully functional and well equipped gymnasium in my father's mansion which I frequent. It is a

                                 AHMADI had been forced to clear my busy schedule to travel to Minna to meet my proposed wife. It was the last thing I wanted to do but what choice did I have? I guess its important to meet her since there is no walking out on the marriage. However, I was glad that I had gone down there to meet her. The first thing I noticed about her is that she is timid. I find it rather amusing. I don't know many shy people and didn't they say shyness is the best accessory a woman could adorn herself with?If I didn't have prior knowledge, I would have thought her to be older, although, she had a baby face. She was so different from my ex in every aspect. They were like opposites. How could I survive with someone so different?She is simple, cultured and perhaps a little naive. There isn't any challenge or a

                            RUKKAYYAIt had been a week and five days after our wedding. I look down at my fading henna and sigh. I miss home. Is that even a thing to say? I am supposedly home and the home I had been referring to was never mine.I should feel exhausted, strangely I'm not.  I woke up abruptly at 3 am. I stare into the darkness in my new room, motionless for a few minutes before I decided to invest in a more fruitful venture. I got up and headed to the bathroom,  performed ablution and prayed two rakah Nafila.Immediately after our wedding, we travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, the lesser hajj. I was so excited when Ya Ahmad told me and I was right to be. It was pure bliss.  Luckily, we stayed in a suite with two rooms so I had a room to myself else it would have