3. Trouble in paradise

"what in the Jahannam?"  she shouts then looks from Sa'eed, to a petite woman standing in front of him, to Sa'eed again. She moves on her heels and tries to walk past them but she shakes her head as if pushing a thought away. 

"hubby, what is happening here." she says as she hooks her petite hand around his bulgy, muscular one. She's trying hard not to glare at the woman and insult the hell out of her. She finally turns to look at the woman and a look of recognition covers her face before she says "you!", dreadfully. 

"oh hey junior. So you are the girl who has captured my Romeo's heart? Nicely done. But I think you need to work on your weight, you're too skinny." the petite lady that can't be in anyway older than Halima says giving Halima a once over and gesticulating with her hand. 

My Romeo? 

Halima scoffs then says, "oh puh-leasee. Have you seen yourself? Hubby do you know her?" she whispers loud enough for only Sa'eed to hear. 

He scratches the back of his neck then says "her name is Aleesha. She was my classmate at a point. Two points exactly. Then she got double promoted so she wrote her WAEC and passed. Teemah knows her. How do you know her?"

"well she was once i and Teemah's classmate before she wrote her Junior WAEC. She has always been a big bully, bullying both me and Teemah." Halima says giving her a disgusted look. 

Sa'eed looks awkwardly at the two ladies who are having a mini stare off then says "okay leesha, I'll see you around. I have to go spend time with my baby." Aleesha nods while Halima looks unbelievably at Sa'eed. 

Leesha, seriously? I think there's something i don't know. 

She makes a note on her phone to call her best friend, sister in law and cousin, Fatima once she's alone. She screenshots it then uses it as her lockscreen wallpaper so that everytime she looks at her phone, she'll remember. 

She looks at Ya Sa'eed who's exchanging numbers with the girl. She suddenly looks at Aleesha and gasps as she connects the dots, Aleesha is the girl that threatened her when she said she was crushing on Sa'eed. 

Hmm, potential danger. 

She takes the elevator to the third floor leaving Sa'eed with Aleesha and looks for their room. Once she arrives there she remembers she doesn't have the key. She huffs in annoyance and decides to use the opportunity to call Fatima. 

She calls, once, twice, thrice but Fatima doesn't pick so she gives up and decides to reply some waiting messages before her husband gets here. After she has finished replying all the messages she sees her husband coming up the stairs together with Aleesha. That annoys her even more and she puts on a poker face then starts tapping her phone furiously, playing a game. 

Once he is beside her she hears Alesha says "see you tomorrow by 8pm. Have fun."

So they are even making plans to meet each other again, way to go Sa'eed Abba Sulayman. 

Once beside her he looks at her with a worried face and sees that she's not even paying attention to him and she has her poker face on. He knows what that means so he sighs then opens the door. He picks her up bridal style and instead of leaning in and burying her head in his torso like she did yesterday when he carried her she continues to play her game. 

When they enter the room which turns out to be a suite she looks at him with a deadly, cold look and he drops her carefully. She removes her veil and sets it on the loveseat. She also drops her bag on the edge of the loveseat then lays down and gets rid of her heels. 

She drops it beside her bag and continues playing her game. She notices it's already after eight so she gets up and performs ablution. Once she's done praying Isha she looks around for Sa'eed. Once she's sure isn't in the room she tries calling Fatima again but before she could call her a call from Fatima comes through. 

"hello bestie you've forgotten me koh? ", Halima says and she hears Fatima sigh. 

"what's wrong? Are you okay?", Halima asks worried. She knows better than anyone how the incidents that occurred in the past have completely changed her best friend. From the once joyous, cheerful, silly and carefree girl to a very self conscious and careful woman. 

"Nothing it's just that the dreams are back and Ammi says they were the ones that triggered them. So I'm thinking of going back to Dubai for another one year maybe I'll be better."

"oh, Allahu Yasha. Allah's Afiyah always baby sister in law." What she says lightens up the mood and they start chatting away about everything and nothing. Halima suddenly remembers why she called Fatima

"Teemah?", Fatima hums in response. 

"wai ni who is Aleesha to Ya Sa'eed?", Fatima lets out a hearty laugh and Halima frowns. 

"well, she was his classmate at Glisten. So when they met again at Aflon they clicked again. After sometime they became the best of friends and they'd always go to each other's houses. Even after her double promotion while they were in Ss1 they still kept in touch. Until when she wrote WAEC in Ss2 and got taken to Indonesia to continue her studies."

"okay, so she's not his ex, crush or something like that koh? " 

Fatima laughs again and says "well, he was once crushing on her but i doubt if he still has feelings for her because when he told her she told him she was crushing on one Aqse ne koh meye sunanshi wallahi I've forgotten." 

"hmm, his former crush, more like potential danger to me. Anyways we met today. And she...". Halima explains their ordeal and Fatima tells her to be careful. They exchange more pleasantries and Halima cut the call. Almost immediately after she cut the call Fatima calls back again " i forgot to tell you that addar Bella ce" and then she cuts the call again. 

Halima gets up and takes a bath then changes into a sky blue linen night gown she finds in a suitcase in the suite's wardrobe. 

Time to get my man back. 

She takes her clothes and keep them in one of the wardrobes and as she gets up to straighten the bedspread a pair of arms wrap themselves around her torso. 

"darling what did i do? Why are you angry at me? Dan Allah {for Allah's sake} if i offended you ana asif {I'm sorry}." She turns around and hugs Sa'eed.

He picks her up and places her on the bed, all worries forgotten. 

************

After praying Subh Halima decides to surprise Sa'eed. She dresses in a blue top and black jeans with a black boyfriend jacket. She wraps a blue veil over her head, slips a blue wedge with a big black bow and saunters out. Once in the kitchen she talks to the cooks and after some time and a lot of convincing she is allowed to cook there with a condition that she has to pay for every single thing she uses. 

She makes camomile tea and French toast. She pays for the ingredients and takes everything to their suite. Sa'eed is still asleep so she removes the boyfriend jacket and shoes then applies minimal makeup. Once she's done she wakes him up. "darling let me sleep mana."Sa'eed says covering his face with the  brown duvet. 

Halima smirks as an idea makes it's way into her head.