Chapter Six

"Reigner." She repeated, like trying to confirm to herself that he was indeed there.

"Hey. Good morning." He looked her up and down and the thoughts that crossed his mind upon seeing her all sweaty had his breathing ragged.

"Hi. What are you doing here? How did you know this place? Have you-?"

"Woah," he held both hands, and moved cautiously towards her, a smirk plastered on his face. He loved making her nervous. It did something to him. "you just came from a run, wouldn't want to get you worked up again, so relax?"

Sheenah breathed in deeply, before nodding. She had to compose herself. 'Always be calm' the inner voice in her head echoed Mam Rose's words. She shook her head before smiling at the man in front of her. "Hey, good morning. Sorry about that." She chuckled softly.

"No problem. I think I'm starting to get used to such situations." Reigner winked, burying his hands in his jungle green khaki pants that made him look good effortlessly. Sheenah looked him up and down, how could someone look that good in just khaki pants, a black tee and tan boots? The universe wasn't fair.

"What are you doing here?" Sheenah asked, to break the silence but also as a distraction to stop herself from staring.

"Oh." Reigner shook his head, "well I came to give you this." He moved to the receptionist desk and retrieved something that looked like a board wrapped in transparent polythene. He handed it to Sheenah, grinning widely. Upon close inspection of the thing, Sheenah discovered that the board was the portrait of the woman and the crying child. She was supposed to buy it, but did not actually pay for it, so why was he giving it to her? When realization dawned on her, she shook her head frantically.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept this." She said, handing the art piece back to Reigner. "this thing is too valuable and expensive for you to just give it away, I'm sorry, I can't. Plus I was the one who actually damaged it. No."

"Giving it away?" Reigner asked, handing back the piece, "it was actually bought, I'm just being a delivery guy."

"Bought? By who?"

"Tamara, your friend. She asked for the piece to be brought here, she was the one who gave me the address," He cleared his throat before continuing, "-I choose to deliver it myself so that I'd get to see you again, since you know-" He finished, unsure of himself and sort of embarrassed?

Sheenah smiled, the effect so far she had on this guy was amazing. But she was still astounded on why Tash had gone through all the trouble of buying the portrait for her. Was it abnormal that she wasn't used to people doing things for her? It just felt not normal for her. She preferred so much being the one doing things for people. It involved less emotions. She looked up, only to find Reigner staring at her, and he didn't even avert his eyes on being caught.

"Uh...is there anything else?" Sheenah asked, feeling quite uncomfortable and very self conscious about her current state.

"Huh?" Pause, "oh nothing." He smiled.

"Oh. Okay." She had started going to their room when Reigner called again, asking her out for breakfast, and maybe show her around his city. By the time she was opening their door, she was grinning. And...

Genuinely excited.

***

"That's too much." Tash was almost yelling.

"No" she refused again, the fifth outfit that Lilly had shown her.

"What the hell do you want anyway? You've refused everything." Lilly said, dropping everything and groaning.

"I'm the groups stylist, let me do my job?" Tash winked, and Sheenah didn't miss the slight anger in Lilly's eyes that disappeared very quickly, and was dismissed by an eye roll. She continued applying her body lotion, wondering why every one was freaking out over her breakfast with Reigner. It was just breakfast, right? But her palms were sweating, reminding her of her first encounter with Jack. Her blood froze at the name and Kendy's eyes focused on her, looking at her quizzically. That girl would be a somewhat good detective, Sheenah thought, averting her gaze quickly.

"Ready!" Tash said enthusiastically, placing Sheenah's outfit on her bed, she looked around, satisfied with her handiwork and even Lilly had to give it to her. The little one could pair up clothes.

Sheenah finished getting dressed, and gave the girls a twirl, giggling uncontrollably. God, it had been long since she felt this happy. "How do I look?"

"Like the goddess that you are." Kendy smiled.

"Aw," Tash cooed, calling for a group hug.

***

As she was descending the stairs, Sheenah felt really nervous that she was starting to consider backing out, until she had her name while on the last step and looked up to only be met by very dark intense eyes that looked at her with all the admiration in the world. Reigner smiled, looking her up and down and wondered how someone could be that beautiful.

"You look -" he paused, "gorgeous." He said, seeming a little breathless. That was all Sheenah needed to be comfortable in her black bandage dress, the tangerine cover up and her wedged heels. She smiled, finishing the steps and making her way to a gorgeous waiting Reigner.

"Hey."

"I hope you don't mind having breakfast somewhere else?"

"Uh...no?"

"Well," Reigner jumped in quickly, "you'll love it." he grinned, grabbing her hand.

Reigner took her neither to a five star hotel nor to a shanty looking place. She looked around, it had tourists and decent looking people, so she guessed it was nice enough?

The aroma though!

"I know you may not be used to such places, but trust me, you'll love it. It is awesome."

Sheenah halted in her steps, making Reigner stop. He seemed to always make the assumption that she was rich. He had just thought that he knew that she was always born rich and glamorous? That she was used to the grandeur and such places weren't normal to her? Talk about stereotyping.

"Everything okay?" Reigner asked, concerned.

Why was she annoyed by his assumptions anyway? It's not like he was the first one to, or the last one. And it wasn't supposed to anger her that much, but it did.

"Yeah. Everything's good."

They made their way inside the building, which looked like a small restaurant. It was full of people, but not crowded and the aroma was heavenly.

A beautiful girl, with a round face and a light complexion greeted them. She looked young, and had beautiful coffee brown eyes that reminded Sheenah of her young self. She smiled at the girl, who was busy trying to find them a place where they could sit.

"Aisha, please hurry up." A woman's voice yelled in Swahili making the girl jump.

"Yes Mama." She answered quietly.

"Don't worry, we'll find a sit ourselves." Sheenah said in Swahili smiling at the girl before looking around, and finally spotted a table.

She grabbed Reigner's hand and led him to the table, when she let go, she found him grinning at where her hand was.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, but knew everything was fine, more than fine. She used to dread physical contact, and now she was initiating it? And worse, loving it? What in the world was wrong with her? She was too comfortable with Reigner.

"No, everything's fine." He paused. "Very fine." He smiled, and the decision of keeping her distance just dissolved right there on seeing that beautiful smile.

They sat opposite each other, each one smiling. Sheenah looked around, the place was small, but neat. It had a beautiful view of the Indian ocean and the breeze was heavenly. Everything in the place had a coastal touch, from the furniture to the designs. It felt warm.

"This place is nice." Sheenah commented, looking around.

"I'm glad you like it." Reigner looked around before asking, "so my critic, how do you find Mombasa so far? I mean I know you've not been to places yet-" The quirked eyebrow from Sheenah made him stop.

"Well, your friend Lilly told-"

"Lilly?"

"Yeah," he said, unsure, "she said she'd slit my throat if I ever referred to her as Lillian?"

Sheenah burst out laughing, and all Reigner could do was gawk. "Yeah," she smiled, still chuckling softly, "never do that. Otherwise your worst nightmare might actually come true, and I think Mombasa is not bad? Nairobi is still top notch." She shrugged.

"Why? Because it's the capital?"

"There's that, and then because it's just Kanairo."

"Hater." Reigner laughed

Their food arrived and the aroma itself was heavenly. Sheenah wondered why Reigner had ordered so much and got a reply along the lines that he wasn't sure of her tastes and preferences, her mind was too focused on piling her plate to focus. Each smiled and after that, the only sounds between them was of one munching bhajia and the other biting mahamri. They ate in comfortable silence until Sheenah asked, "so you are with your family here?"

The moment the words left her mouth, she cursed silently. Why in the world did she ask that? After he'd answer he would ask the same, and she detested being in that position. She despised that question.

Family.

'You are so bitter!' Her inner voice told her, as if she didn't already know that.

"I mean, I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that." She quickly jumped, trying to redeem herself. She internally hoped he'd be offended.

'Why in the world would he be offended!?' Her inner voice, again.

"No. It's okay. Why would I not want to answer that?" He paused briefly before continuing, "I'm an only child and my parents are also here. We are basically coastal descendants." He joked.

Sheenah laughed. But it was a bitter laugh. She imagined Reigners life as an only child, must have been fun.

"What? Being raised here?"

She quickly looked up, she hadn't realized she had said that out loud. Damn, she was really loosing it!

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Yeah, it was, especially when my parents were around to at least hang out with. I think it was a pretty normal childhood, most of the time at least." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Normal childhood.

She was jealous, and she didn't have valid reasons to be. She was supposed to be grateful, she had had what many children out in the streets wished for, but she had, and still does crave for normal.

"Is everything okay? Is there something wrong with the food, I can send it back, it's no problem really, I know-"

"I'm fine!" She had wanted to say but ended up whisper yelling, like she was controlling her anger so damn hard. Reigner looked shocked, then guilty.

"I'm so-"

"Please don't say anything." Sheenah cut him off. She took lung full of air, calming her nerves. What was happening to her? Over two and a half decades of being calm and composed was going down the drain? Just like that?! Nothing was said between them, no staring, just sitting. After she felt calm enough, she looked up and the look Reigner gave her almost threw her into another turmoil. It was pure compassion.

How could someone be that nice? She tried smiling, but it came out as a grimace. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean to yell at you and act the way I did. I...this is so embarrassing." She covered her face.

"I'm sorry but I have to say something." He smiled, making Sheenah chuckle softly. "I don't know what happened back there or what might have triggered such a reaction, but it's okay. Okay? It's fine."

When she didn't answer, he removed her hands that were covering her face and smiled, a sweet warm gentle and sincere smile. "Okay?" He repeated his question, looking at her eyes and Sheenah didn't know if it was the spell the eyes had cast on her or the promise in his voice but she found herself nodding.

"I like my women vocal." He whispered and her eyes widened. Was it just her having sexual innuendos at the statement?

"Okay!" She squeaked in a high pitched voice that made her blush and at the same time thank the heavens for her chocolatey skin. Reigner just laughed, feeling a sense of warmth inside him. He was liking this woman. At a very high speed.

***

"At least you managed to grab one of the big four." Reigner was saying, as they were walking on the shores of Nyali beach.

"The big four?" Sheenah asked, her shoes in one hand, while the other hand was trying to contain her cover up that was doing a dance with the wind.

"Yeah, you know, every kid while in primary school wanted to either be a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer or a pilot, the big four, at least you managed to grab one of them."

"I never knew they were called the big four." She paused, before adding thoughtful, "and not every kid while in primary school wanted to be the big four. At least I didn't." She finished, still trying to contain her cover up, when she got fed up, she huffed, and decided to let it be.

"Why don't you just remove it?"

"I'll be destroying the outfit. It adds color to the dress." She joked

"You wearing it does more than enough justice to the dress. Just saying." He continued walking off, like he hadn't said something that made her skin so warm.

Sheenah ran to catch up. Damn, he was tall. She walked by his side, fighting the grin that wanted to erupt on her face. Her mental war was however disrupted when Reigner asked, "when you were a kid, what did you want to become when you'd grow up?"

"I don't know." She answered. "Just wanted to learn."

She fastened her pace when Reigner gave her a look. It was a look that made her think he knew she was lying, albeit partly. It made her all sweaty. He seemed to be the few people, if not the only one who did not fall for her facade. He had made it clear from day one, by the look in his eyes. Reigner caught up to her, and they walked side by side, in silence.

"My art started in a funny way. It was more of a coping mechanism but I just eventually grew to love it." Reigner said, looking straight ahead. "When I was young, I'd sketch cars, then I went on to drawing people. They were so bad I almost gave up. My mum actually got me my first canvas after she saw how great her picture came out." He chuckled. "After that, I just never looked back."

Sheenah wanted to ask a lot of questions, but she had been selfish on her story, so she chose to keep quiet instead. She continued walking, until Reigner caught her hand, "let's sit." They both sat on the sand, the coastal breeze hitting their faces, while bringing the saline scent.

"What do you love about art? Apart from it being beautiful?" Sheenah asked.

She loved talking to Reigner, it was somehow calming. She enjoyed listening to him talk and share stuff with her. She wished she could do the same. She just wasn't ready.

Not yet.

"The way it invokes emotions. A good art will always make you feel something."

"Just like you for example."

Sheenah looked at Reigner, and found him staring at her, with an unwavering smile, eyes very intense.

"What's that?"

"You are art."

Sheenah shrugged, before looking ahead. She had heard those words, not exactly the way Reigner had put it but they still led to the same thing. They were somehow meaningless to her.

"You are beautiful, and you most definitely invoke emotions." He paused, before his face became serious, his tone slightly pained. "Sheenah?" he called her, when she looked at him, he continued, "you are beautiful, in fact, gorgeous. I'm being presumptuous here and I maybe wrong but it feels and looks like something or someone made you believe otherwise, and it is unfortunate, and shitty might I say, but you are art, believe that."

They continued staring, the air between them becoming heavy, breaths becoming ragged. Reigner's eyes darted to Sheenah's lips briefly, before going back to her eyes. Before Sheenah could do the same, Reigner spoke, "in fact, I'll start calling you Jaber, instead of your real name." he smiled cheekily, inhaling deeply. He almost could have lost control and kissed her! He definitely didn't want to rush things, or her.

Sheenah cleared her throat, gaining her composure. "Luo for beautiful?"

"Yes. A beautiful girl."

"Aren't you the charmer!" She joked, feeling giddy.

"Would you look at that! My critic praising me. Ha!"

They both laughed, and went back to enjoying each others company. Reigner's phone rung after a while.

"Hello...no, I left them at the studio...yeah... Okay...I'll be there soon." He hung up and looked at Sheenah, who was trying to maintain a stoic expression.

"You don't have to hide it you know, I'm pretty annoyed too."

"Who? Me? Pssht. I'm fine. It's okay." She tried smiling.

"You like doing this, don't you?"

"Doing what?"

Reigner rested his chin on his palm, observing her, "you know what I mean."

"Whatever."

Sheenah got up, annoyed, she dusted the sand off her angrily and got her shoes, ready to leave.

"You look really cute when you are angry. I should get a photo." He reached for his phone before Sheenah grabbed it.

"Not happening. Let's go."

***

"I had fun today. We should do this some other time." Her eyes widened briefly, also shocked at what she was saying.

"I like this side of you." Reigner gave her a warm smile. "The side that doesn't hide, and yeah, we'll definitely do this again, and maybe then I'll give you a proper tour of my city, hater."

They laughed before a tense silence filled the car. "You are fun." Sheenah said honestly.

"I aim to please."

"Buzz kill." She replied chuckling getting off the car. "Well I have to go"

"Oh, before I forget, how I'm I supposed to plan on next time when I don't have your number?" He winked.

"Right."

She read her number, smiled then turned to leave.

"Bye Reigner."

"Bye Jaber."

That made her smile.

***

Bhajia and Mahamri: this two can be considered as snacks, very common in the coastal region of Kenya.

Kanairo: is a slang name for Nairobi city.