Chapter Six

"Will you come with me somewhere?" Adrian asked Munzi one evening when she was studying. He was lying down on the bed they had been sharing for two weeks now. There wasn't enough space for them on the floor.

"Right now?" She asked moving her focus from the books to him. He chuckled nervously.

"No. It's late and it can wait until tomorrow." He explained.

"Okay but I'm not going until I know where it is." She said and turned back to write something.

"We are going to a place I identify with." He said and Munzi's head snapped to him.

"I'm not coming to church with you." She said. Even after knowing him for only a short while, she had come to connect and understand him in a way she couldn't explain.

"You don't have to get inside. I just need you to bring me there. I don't exactly know where it is. I could get lost." He said and sent a prayer upwards that she would accept. She thought about it and failed to see the ruse in it. So she agreed.

"Okay. It's a the weekend anyway. By the way, what time? I have to meet my friends for coffee and discussion." She said smiling as she remembered her friends. He smiled with her. He was glad she had opened up. He was bound to leave soon and he needed to be sure that he left her in a good place lest they never got to see each other again.

"I don't know. Is morning okay?" He asked.

"It's perfect. I don't have to meet them until three." She said.

"Your exams are the day after tomorrow right?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm so excited." She said smiling gleefully.

"You are? I thought every student dreaded having to be tested. All the stress and tension." He hadn't been the best student and he absolutely hated studying.

"They are but wait until you get that paper all new and challenging. It's so much fun answering the questions. It's like solving a problem. I like being right. And don't get me started on the results. It's like getting high on marijuana." She said and leaned on the back of her chair smiling.

"You are weird. I have never met anyone who seemed that excited about something that had the power to screw their lives if they messed up." He said making her laugh.

"It's another reason why I like it. It makes me responsible and a hard worker." She said.

"You like studying?" He asked.

"I like knowing new things. Like did you know that there are a hundred trillion cells in the human body? All programmed to perform different functions?" She asked.

"I didn't. That is actually quite interesting." He said and nodded thoughtfully. "What else can you tell me that's interesting?"

"Let me see." She said and looked at the ceiling to think. "There is a disease where one gene in a like six billion can cause the body to grow another skeleton and more bones. It happens in both humans and chicken. It's also caused by an undeveloped toe thumb and too much protein in the body." She said and he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish. That was something that he didn't know how to react to. I mean do you even?

"They teach you that at school?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No. I just saw it sometime back on TV." She said shrugging.

"You just happened to be scrolling through the channels and ran into it and decided to stop and watch?" He asked.

"Yeah. I love things to do with medicine and nature. Living things are really interesting." She explained with finality in her tone. She felt like she was being judged and got back to her work. Why couldn't people understand that some people just liked knowing things. She had that hunger for knowing what and why.

"Hey I'm not judging. It's just that I've never met someone with such passion for things that didn't help them." He said after sensing some pain in her voice.

"It helps me. Reading reduces the risk for Alzheimers." She said still not looking at him. He laughed.

"I love your mind." He said.

"It's not an easy place to navigate." She said finally turning to face him. She narrowed her eyes in thought and then opened her mouth only to close it. She was unsure of whether or not to voice her question. She didn't want to touch any painful cords.

"Just ask. You have that look on your face like you just discovered a hidden book." He said and chuckled again. She was adorable.

"Okay. Promise you won't get angry." She said first and bit her lower lip anxiously. Her anxiety made Adrian nervous too. He hoped he wasn't in trouble.

"I promise." He said sitting up and bracing himself.

"You promised." Munzi said. "Did you always want to become a minister or did you have other dreams. I mean you said you became a minister after your father became sick. What were you before that?"

Adrian let out a breath he had been holding. He couldn't believe he had been anxious about almost nothing. He couldn't complain however, he was relieved. He looked at her waiting face and smiled. She cared about his feelings and didn't want to upset him.

"I was an engineering student. Taking my masters in mechanical engineering." He said and a shadow of sadness passed over his face. Munzi wanted to touch and comfort him but she knew she'd be crossing a line and she didn't want to drag him to hell with her.

"Do you regret that you didn't get to finish that?" She asked. He had given up his dreams for his father. That couldn't have been easy even if he was serving a higher power than humanity now.

"I don't know. I mean sometimes I still wonder what my life would have been like if my father wasn't sick." He said.

"If you had had the chance to finish school and have a different life, what do you think your life would be like now?" She asked genuinely curious.

"I have often thought about it. I think I wouldn't be a widower in Zenj living in someone else's house. I would probably be working for a big company manufacturing vehicles and planes or something. I'd be crazy rich." He said. She also dreamed of such a life only she thought that her life would lead her to maybe a pharmaceutical company.

"That is a big dream. It's a shame it might not come true." She said and then regretted it. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't be judging you like that. We don't always get to choose where life takes us. God I'm so reckless."

"It's okay. Even I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision. I mean I love serving God but sometimes I still feel unfulfilled." He said but still felt guilty.

"You know, there are other ways to serve God. If the whole world became pastors and church leaders the churches wouldn't have people." She said shrugging.

"You are right. Maybe I can serve God in another way. I don't think ministering was my calling. The church deserves someone who is really committed and loves preaching to them." He said.

"Does that mean you are quitting ministering?" She asked a bit scared for him.

"I don't know. I think I'll pray about it and whatever God tells me I will do." He said.

"I wish you the best I guess. What if God gets angry with you? I mean you are quitting preaching on Sundays and taking care of his people to chase your dreams." Munzi said her thoughts.

"He's a just and fair God. And I know he loves me. He wouldn't do something if it wasn't for my good." He said but still got a little worried about what she had said. He didn't want to make God angry but he wasn't completely happy with his current position.

"If you say so." She said. She wasn't truly convinced of the goodness and fairness of God. I mean if it were so then why we're she and many other people suffering their whole lives? She didn't care that good things were happening to bad people. The devil used good things to trap his people before closing the door to the cell and showing his true colors and that she understood. What she didn't get is why a good person, could get raped, infected with a lifelong disease, lose the baby and die in the process. Was God okay with that happening? It was unfair and everyone even the bad deserved at least one good day. One day on earth to show that all the pain had been worth it.