"Wh- why? Why would I be jealous of you? Look, if you think that there's something that would make these Arab guys look at you then you're absolutely wrong, Ihsan. There's nothing there to see but your fleshless thighs that could make one pity you at the first glance."
"You have a point, boy. Let's go and come back, all these talks of yours would be proven wrong or right. Idiot." And she pushed the door, instantly being kissed by the cool wind.
She haven't had the chance to look at their compound when they arrived yesterday, and she let her eyes roam around the apartments beautifully built beside each other with palm trees adorning the driveways and the roadside. She smiled, falling completely in love with the country.
She felt as he dragged her hands and walked towards the bus stop. She hissed and set her pace until they were marching together. Ihsan looked at how he creased his eyebrows in utmost disgust or what she could likely call as infuriation and kept looking ahead.
She stopped before they reached the bus stop. "I'm seriously tired! If this is how you always suffer before going to school then I can't endure this. My limbs are already paining me." She stopped on the road and put her hands at akimbo, looking around at the cars that were passing them.
"Ihsan don't make me angry and continue walking right now! What kind of an idiot are you? And incase you forgot; before I got tucked with you, I was living in the dormitory with my friends. So having you here is a bad luck, then we should face the consequences together!" He pulled her wrist and dragged her forehead. Looking down at his watch wrapped firmly on his wrist, he saw that the time read 9:20am. His test was by 11am, and he knew while helping Ihsan in the administration office they would eat half his time. He couldn't even remember a single thing about the course.
She yanked her hand out of his hold and stopped. "I'll call Daada and he'll do something about us not having a car. Seriously I can't do this!" She yelled, frustrated at how he was angrily looking at her as if he was going to eat her raw.
"Ihsan, this is not Lagos; where you have a tycoon as a father. It's either your drag your incomplete self and walk towards the bus-stop over yonder and we get to school in the next ten minutes or you'll see yourself standing alone here! I'm not ready to deal with you!" He roared and looked at her, counting the seconds in his brain.
She looked at him and adamantly shook her head, "Sadeeq, I'm not moving an inch here. I prefer staying back in Lagos, if this is what studying abroad means!" She groaned and palmed her face, closing her eyes-only to open them and see Sadeeq almost a mile away from her.
"Hey! You idiot!" She yelled his name and ran to meet him up.
"You're an asshole!" She smacked his shoulder and rested her head on it-wrapping her hands around his waist as they silently walked to the bus stop.
They entered and drove to The College Of North Atlantic, Qatar. Where Ihsan almost drooled at the exquisiteness of the place. There was green everywhere, the palm trees were adorning every angle she could set her eyes on.
"Let's move this way, it's either you stop drooling and move directly this way, or you have your incomplete forehead smashed with that wall!" He ended his words in a pitched tone and dragged her to his side, because she was inch to hitting the wall and he knew it wouldn't be nice.
They went to the administration block and entered the office Ihsan couldn't point out whom it belonged to. They were welcomed by a beautifully smiling Arab woman, she stretched her hand towards Ihsan and they shook.
"Zainab Ibrahim Karaye, is she?" The woman whom Ihsan read her name from the indicator placed on her table to be; Aatun. She wondered what kind of name is that in the whole grace of the entire universe.
She nodded her head and smiled at Mrs. Aatun. She was silent as they intently spoke with Sadeeq and Aatun handed him her timetable, student ID card and everything. They thanked her before walking out of the office.
"Her name is weird, what in the hell is Aatun? Arab people and their thing!" She hushed to his earshot and kept looking back at the office, afraid Aatun would come out and hear her gossiping about her name.
He looked at her and rolled his eyes irritatingly. "You're such a pathetic gossiper. Aatun means Educator. Teacheress. Get that into your thick skull. And when you get to your class, you're having a lecture in the next thirty minutes now..." he began scanning her timetable with his eyes, while placing her ID card in her outstretched hands.
"Don't act like the one stupid girl you are. Be nice to them, if you're lucky; you can make friends today. Also, if you ask their names and they tell you, don't ask them the meaning, just search for it in google. Act like a well civilized Nigerian.
Also, don't sit in the front row; you might be asked questions you don't know. Considering today is your first day and you don't even have writing materials-we will get them later in the day. Don't talk to boys, I repeat, don't talk to boys. They're all assholes more than me sef." They were walking towards her class while he was lecturing her, looking right into her innocent eyes that seemed to be frightened by how he was exaggerating the whole issue.
"When you're done with your lecture, wait until everyone is out before you leave. If not, those boys would smack you down onto the floor and everyone would step on you without a care in the world. You know you're as light as a feather right? Don't risk your life.
You don't have any lecture after that, and I'd be done too after thirty minutes you're done. I'd come to your class and we will leave and have lunch, don't act stubborn or you're going to suffer, Ihsan!" They're now at the lecture room door, there wasn't too much students in the seats, but quite a number.
"Are you leaving?" She asked, suddenly feeling as fear engulfed her soul. She felt like a stranger in a world full of walking zombies.
"Do you expect me to leave my test and come stay with you just because you're who? My friend just get inside and feel the reality of life." He rolled his eyes at the tears he saw brimming below her eyes.
He pulled her close to him and cleared them off before they could even cascade. "I told you I'd be back after you're done right? Don't worry okay?"
She nodded her head. "I'll call Abbu if you leave me waiting for long. Please come back soon." She slurred, and he almost felt a spasm in his heart at how innocent she looked.
He nodded with a small smile. "I promise I won't. Now go, and be a good girl." He adjusted her veil that slipped off her head and covered her whole hair; pecking her forehead.
She turned to leave when he held her arm and she looked at him. "Don't tell anyone you're married, get it?" And she nodded, silently slipping into the lecture room.
Ihsan listened to all Sadeeq had said, so she walked over to the middle row and sat down quietly without looking back at the unknowing looks of her course mates. She sat down and pulled out her phone, and started playing game to ease her boredom and help git rid of the thoughts in her brain.
She felt someone's presence beside her, she wanted to freak out thinking it was a boy but didn't. Looking under her eyelids, she saw the hem of a purple abaya and she eased, continued playing her game.
"Assalamu Alaikum," The lady said in her thick arabic accented voice.
Ihsan looked up and smiled at her, taking her outstretched hand in a shake. She answered back her salam and turned to her phone, trying to pay heed to Sadeeq's warnings.
"My name is Qamrah, I'm new here; just signed in today." She heard the woman's voice again, and when she looked up well, the woman had a beautiful face and an undeniable amazing smile.
"My name is Zainab, I'm new here too; just signed in today." They smiled at each other. Ihsan wanted to ask her what kind of name was Qamrah and smacked her head; reminding what Sadeeq told her. She exited the game and went to safari in her phone, typing the words.
'What's the Meaning Of Qamrah?'
Before it could load her answer, Ihsan felt a soft chuckle beside her. She looked over her shoulders and found Qamrah smiling and looking at Ihsan's phone.
"You're weird and curious just like me. Well, Qamrah means moon. And I know the meaning of your name is the name of the prophet's daughter that means a fragrant flowering plant. And masha Allah, you smell so nice."
"A quick question please, are you crazy? Just...like me?" Ihsan hesitated asking the question but it came anyway.
Qamrah chuckled and side hugged Ihsan. "We seem to have alot things alike, because I was just going to ask wether you're crazy too. So...friends?"
Ihsan laughed and locked their pinkies, "Yes! Friends!"