Chapter 51: Chapter 51
1
She was rushing back home, even though she had called Manal and she told her Yumn wasn't giving her a hard time, but she wanted to beat Sadeeq back home first. She took the bus today, and she was sure that would call for an hour scolding from Sadeeq. But he was the one that introduced the bet, and she would show him that she will surely beat him at it.
She saw him parking his car at the entrance of the apartment, and she screamed at the pitch of her voice before she ran into the house. She began laughing and jumping, "I did it! I freaking did it Sadeeq!!!" He came into the house while glaring at her, and she rushed to him and hugged him, tickling his stomach until she made him laugh.
"Sadeeq you were the first one that talked about this. And I came back home before you, you take the loss." She was laughing so loud that she woke Manal and Yumn that were sleeping in Manal's room. Ever since she gave birth to Yumn, Manal hadn't gone back to Nigeria, she stayed with them and helped her took care of the house and Yumn, it had been five months already. She was done with her secondary school too and Daada asked Sadeeq to get admission for her into the college of North Atlantic, Qatar. Their school and Ihsan and Manal couldn't be happier.
They had a bet yesterday with Sadeeq, that whoever got home first, would have a day off all the house works and he would be the one to take the car to the school the next day, the other should follow the bus. But the most important part of the bet was, the loser will not go near Yumn for that whole day. That was the most painful and hardest part. And Ihsan couldn't help but laugh at Sadeeq. Even though it started today, she couldn't even imagine how she'll feel the day she lost. It will be quite painful. And she knew Sadeeq won't bring Yumn to her at all cost, not to even breastfeed him, because the boy loved his manmade pints of milk more than her own.
He palmed his face and looked at her, "Vardah, I'm hundred per cent sure you cheated. I wasn't even done with my lectures, I saw you walking by our hall to check whether I was in. I had to rush out of the class and my stupid classmates thought something happened to you or Yumn, they didn't know I'm trying to save my life here. But your stubborn self still managed to win. How am I going to survive today for Allah's sake?" He whined endlessly. Amidst her laughter, before she could even get the chance to answer him back, Manal walked into the living room holding Yumn.
Upon seeing Ihsan and Sadeeq sprawled on the carpet, Yumn began stretching his hands at them, having those kinds of baby chuckles that emanated how happy he was. "Oh, c'mon baby!" Ihsan chorused and held him in her hands.
Sadeeq moved towards them and Ihsan rushed to a sofa far from him and sat down, laughing to annoy him more. She had never felt more accomplished like she had felt right now. "Baby, how are you? Did you miss Little Mom too much right? I'm sure Manal has taken care of you." All Yumn could do was a giggle, that kind of giggle that made Sadeeq felt as if he could snatch the boy away from her.
"Ihsan, you haven't stayed long, I thought you were going to stay long like yesterday," Manal said as she sat down on the sofa, she wanted to laugh at Sadeeq but she was afraid, she knew of the bet.
"I had to come back early, Manal. A ride or die issue." They both burst out laughing and Sadeeq stomped out of the living room, he was the one that caused this upon himself. If only he didn't bring up about any bet, he would've been the one hugging Yumn right now.
What saved him was, Manal had cooked them lunch already. He only cleared the places she hadn't taken care of and found her and Ihsan in the living room, while they ate their lunch and Yumn was cradled on Ihsan's laps.
"C'mon Yardan, you don't look handsome if you keep scowling your face like that. Let me feed you." She handed Manal Yumn and walked over to him with her plate. Manal had already got used to having them around, she felt unscathed.
Ihsan ate while feeding Sadeeq, all his thought wandered on how he could get a hold of Yumn. "Ihsan, get me my laptop in my room please." She nodded and walked out of the room. As soon as she was out, he rushed to where Manal was seated playing with Yumn and took him in his hands.
"Sadeeq you guys had an agreement!!!" Manal nearly screamed.
Before they could both make a move, Ihsan walked into the living room holding his laptop. She dropped it on the sofa and walked over to Sadeeq, she collected Yumn from his hands and frowned at him. "You haven't mentioned any penalties, now what should I do to you? Not talk to you for a whole day?" She went over to a sofa and sat down, and Sadeeq followed her steps.
"Ihsan you know I can't do this, how can I not be close to Yumn for a whole day? Wallahi, I can't. Are you not talking to me for a day? Kill me already." If one could beat himself, Sadeeq would've done that ever since the time he saw how Ihsan had run into the house, laughing.
"Little baby, what do you think we should do to Little Baba for breaking his own rules? Manal I think we should go to Kuwait for this weekend without him, what do you think?" She was not sparing him a glance, that desperate look on his face was giving her all the satisfaction she needed, and she wanted to laugh so bad but was suppressing it in.
"Do they have recreational places there? I'm already tired of Qatar. Five months without moving to any country is suffocating me. So Sadeeq, I'll teach you how to make some edible things to survive the weekend without us and..." before Manal could finish what she was saying he had already chased her out of the living room and she ran to her room and locked it up.
"I'm tired, Sadeeq. I'll call Daada and tell him that I'm not interested in schooling here again. You're a bully." She cried from her room, but he didn't miss the laughter tone in her voice.
"You'll say that again when I meet you, stupid girl." He called after her and went back to where Ihsan was seated, legs crossed.
"C'mon Vardah. What do you think if we go out today? I'll take you to places until you're tired and ask me to bring you back home. Okay...you'll have ice cream too." Her face lit up, and she didn't know when she handed him Yumn and ran to her room, yelling to Manal on her way.
"Manal, get ready we're having a day out!" It was a year and some months when she last had ice cream. She had begged, cried and stopped talking to Sadeeq all because of ice cream but he turned a deaf ear to her pleas. She knew he said she was going to have it today because of Yumn. And she didn't care anymore. All she wanted was to feel the taste of ice cream in her buds.
In less than thirty minutes, Ihsan had taken her to bathe and changed into blue jeans with a baby pink knee-length top. She veiled her face with a pink veil and took her handbag together with her phone. She met Sadeeq already clad and Yumn was dressed too.
As they waited for Manal to come out, Ihsan went over to them and planted a smooch on Sadeeq's cheeks then to Yumn. "Little Baby let's take a picture with your little parents right?" And Yumn smiled as if he knew what she meant. They took pictures and she sent them to Maama and Ummu.
Manal came out and she snapped them more beautiful pictures before they all went out. Manal and Yumn sat at the back, while the couple were at Driver's seat and passengers seat respectively.
They drove out of the compound and Ihsan turned to him, "Sadeeq, Reena called me yesterday that she celebrated this year's valentines in Paris. Don't you think we should too? Daada haven't for once took me there, he said it was a place for lovers that I should wait for my husband to come."
He looked at her and squeezed their hands that were entwined, "I think I have an assignment to present on the 14th, that's the valentines, right? It shouldn't necessarily be valentines, Vardah. We can go when we're on holidays."
He can see it from the way the slits of her eyes changed, she hadn't welcomed the idea, but she smiled nonetheless. "It would be less congested by then. I can't wait to seal our love in that love bridge, but I'll be the one to throw away the keys in the Seine river, deal?"
He laughed and nodded his head, just when he parked in front of a well-known ice cream parlour and gave her his card because it was his treat. "Deal, Vardah." He smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead as they hopped out of the car together with Manal and he was handed Yumn.
Through his window, he could see how ecstatic she was as she chose the flavours she wanted and the ones he was sure were for them. He couldn't wait to have the ice cream as well, ever since he stopped her from taking ice cream, he had forbidden himself from taking it as well.
He unlocked his phone, took a look at her then to a murmuring Yumn, he smiled and right there bought a ticket for them. On the 13th of this month, they'll leave for Paris and celebrate their valentines day there. In the city of love.
They came back to the car and she was laughing so hard at something Manal had said. When she entered, she found him intently looking at her, "Did I smeared it on my face?" She asked, having a view of herself on the rear mirror to see whether she had smeared the ice cream on her face.
"No, you didn't. I just love you so much Ihsan that sometimes it threatens to erupt out of my heart. And whenever I see you happy, I feel like I can sacrifice my life to make that happiness permanent in your life. You need to see the way you laugh if it were night, I'm sure the moon would've hidden in shame already because you glow and brighten my world in many ways possible. And when you smile, Subhanallah, You outshine the beauty of the stars on a star full night. Keep being happy, and know that I love you much more than word love itself. Wait, I love you as much Muhammad loves Khadija and as much as he cherishes Aisha. That's the greatest kind of love, you know?"
She felt overwhelmed, and Sadeeq's words had never made her speechless like she was this very moment. Naturally, her eyes began rolling, the kind of eye-roll that set Sadeeq on fire, and he just had to punish her the way he promised to, whenever she rolled her eyes at him.
"You leave me with no choice, Vardah." And he cupped her face in his hands and merged their lips in a slow, passionate and affectionate sync. She had her eyes bulged out before she clasped them shut and kissed him back. All Manal could do was screamed as she closed her eyes together with Yumn's eyes as well, whom she had taken out of Sadeeq's hold when he had his moment of being a poet because she knew it will surely lead to this.
Love...it was ever the most beautiful feeling in the world. Like it was said, love conquers no matter what, it surely did in the lives of Sadeeq Mustapha Argungu and Zainab Ibrahim Karaye. As they walked through the path of love, it was like a garden of roses with a pleasant scent, beautiful and captivating petals, but surely the thorns are inevitable. Hand in hand, they walked through it until the magic of their love became real. They bring into reality, Ibrahim Sadeeq Argungu.
If he is to ask me
How I feel about him, the depth of
My love for him, I'd take his hands in mine
Move to a cushion and make him sit
I'd tell him stories, of how the depth of a sea
Has beguiled the realm of man and later
Make him drown to his death, with no ends
Of how the love of a mother, has been taken for
Granted and later revealed it's the strongest of all
Of how an artist is being ridiculed for his love
For art and later shown it's the strongest weapon he has
If he is to ask me
How much I love him and what he makes of me
I'd take his hand and place it on my chest and let
Him feel the rhythm of my heart, how every beat
Every ba-dum ba-dum calls his name
I'd stare at him, intensely that he'll see the galaxy in my eyes
Different from the one in the sky
The one in my eyes reflects my love, all the words he said to me
His laughter, his smiles, the duration of our calls
The unsent touches and the unvoiced feelings
Linked together until a galaxy is formed
That way, whoever looks my way could tell
"She loves him so much"
She dropped down her pen, smiled at her diary and went back to sleep after she had kissed both their cheeks and whispered an "I love you." She knew both Yumn and Sadeeq were fast asleep, but she prayed the lips of poetry will convey her message in their dreams. Because with all that made of her, she loved them beyond words could ever write.
THE END!!!
As hard as it is to write, but we've come to the journey of Sadeeq and Ihsan. This is where it'll end. But every end of a story starts another. It's not the end but the beginning of another story of their lives.
I'm so much going to miss them, but that's how we roll! I hope we all get the messages conveyed in this book, Insha Allah.
A sequel will follow afterwards, not anytime soon, but I know a day will come that I'll feel like writing about Dr Aashif and Noor! But the sequel will be titled 'Love In Bahrain! I'm already laughing in Arabic!!! They all vowed that no love in Bahrain right? Your mighty Aishatuh will make them fall in love in that very Bahrain. Anticipate...
I started writing this book on 12th April 2018
Completed on 5th November 2019!