chapter thirty five

"Ibrahim?!" I said shocked to see him. Did uncle Haroon planned this together with him?

Oh no no no no!

"Oh my God Khair!" He asked also surprised. Hmm, he's playing his part well. "What brings you here?" I asked with a frown. "Huhhh,excuse me,this is my house." He said with a playful frown. I turned to uncle Haroon for explanations. "Khair, you're so dramatic. I told you that I..." He didn't get to finish his explanation when Ibrahim's brother came out shouting uncle Haroon's name.

"Ughh,what?" Uncle Haroon asked irritated and that's when mustapha noticed me. "Huh hi Khair, pls come in." He said opening the door wider while uncle Haroon literally pushed me in. "I'm sorry I got to go with Haroon for like....two hours or so" mustapha said. "May I ask why?" Uncle Haroon asked. "The meeting boy,the meeting". Mustapha answered. Uncle Haroon muttered something under his breath before getting up.

I became confused. Is he leaving me here? "Ehm, uncle Haroon, what of me? How am I going to get home?"

"Its a very important meeting that wasting this minute standing here is a risk. You just have two wait for me here with Laila until I'm back". He rushed out.

"Impossican't. No way I'm staying here for a goddamn two hours straight with this annoying Ibrahim". I blurted out what was on my mind without thinking twice. "Chillax Khair, I'm not going to kill you and this pretty girl here". Ibrahim interfered pinching Laila's cheek slightly and she giggled.

"Ok Ibrahim will take you home okay?" He said and run out without giving me the chance to protest. Mustapha gave me a tight lipped smile and followed uncle Haroon out. I guess the meeting is more important than me.

I forgot about a person named Ibrahim sitting across me until he spoke. "Sooo?" He said waving his hand in the air. "Ughhhhhhhhh" I groaned out slumping down on the couch thinking about how boring my life would be in the next two hours.

"I was actually going out but now that you're here,I have an escort. Do you want to go with me?" He asked with pleading eyes. "To where?" I asked, in case. "Anywhere my car takes me to. But if you don't want to go,you can stay here till I come back". He said plainly, and that's the unfortunate truth.

God!

I have no other choice than to follow him. At least, I will be in motion and not sitting like a wooden doll here.

"Okay I'm coming with you." I said sighing. "Yes! I'm finally going to show you to my friends." He said happily.

Er... What?!

"Oh no you're not. I'm not going again". I said crossing my arms on my chest. "Ok suit yourself." He said with a smirk and walked out of the house.

The nerve of this boy!

How can he leave me in this house,alone and worse,with Laila that's not that familiar with me. I groaned and followed him to his car. I opened the back door for Laila while I entered the front seat. He's still with that his famous smirk that I badly want to wipe away with my bare hands.

"You came." He said proud of what he's doing. "Obviously" I rolled my eyes and he ignited the engine. He went out of the car probably to lock the house. He opened the gate himself and closing it after he drove out.

"I want to go to my mummy." Laila started whining and I gave my phone to her before she spoil my mood. A comfortable silence enveloped us and that's when I started thinking of where Ibrahim is taking me to. I mean 'we'.

For a split second, my thought ran to the possibility of Ibrahim trying to kidnap me but I immediately pushed it faraway. Ibrahim couldn't do that right? Nop he can't and won't. Not that I trusted him but this natural instinct kept telling me to trust him.

"Earth to Khair!" He shouted in my ears bringing me out of my viral thoughts. "Where are you taking me to?" I asked facing him. "We're here!" He answered pointing at the surrounding. I looked around and saw we were at Havila Ice cream.

"Yaaay ice cream place." Laila shouted as she take in the view. "How do you know?" Questioned Ibrahim. "I saw an ice cream drawing on that place. That's how I know". She answered happily. " Awwwn, such a smart girl". Ibrahim praised her and she grinned widely.

"Let's go milady". Ibrahim smiled bowing a little. I tried hard not to blush and I rushed out of the car carrying Laila and my phone in the process. We walked inside the building hand in hand,with Laila of course. "Sit here while order for you two." Ibrahim said helping Laila to sit well on the chair.

"What do you want?" He asked and I said 'anything'. "No pls choose." He pleaded. "Ok. I want strawberry and vanilla flavor." I sighed and he smiled. "What do you want cute girl?" He asked facing Laila. "I want ice cream". She shrieked and I almost laughed. " I know you want ice cream but which flavour? "He stated out clearly. "Chocolate". She shrieked again and Ibrahim moved to join the queue.

In just few minutes, he came back with our orders and Laila immediately started digging in. I fetched a spoonful and put it in my mouth. My eyes widened and tears immediately gathered in my eyes. I didn't expect it to be this cold. I know ice creams are suppose to be cold as ice but its been long I took any freezing thing and mehn,it hurts.

I quickly swallowed the cold liquid in my mouth hoping that no one saw this embarrassing moment. Hopefully, everyone was facing their business except Ibrahim who was looking at me trying hard to suppress a laughter.

Oh no he shouldn't see me,should he? Cos I tried to mask up my face during that freezing moment.

"What?!" I snickered and he burst out laughing. "The look on your face was priceless when you took the ice....." He said but I cut him off. "Don't you dare complete that sentence and not a single soul should hear about this." I threaten in a cold intimidating voice bringing my face closer to him so that he could get it right. But he didn't look intimidated at all,instead he chuckled and said "you got my word princess."

I released a small sigh and decided to ask him why is he in Kaduna, you know, to be sure he's not following me around.

"Erm, so Ibrahim, why are you in Kaduna?and aren't you suppose to be in school?" I asked now carefully taking the ice cream into my mouth. "The school is on strike and fortunately, our cousin gave birth and we were like,why don't we just go to Kaduna and do the naming ceremony with her? So that's why we are here." He explained and I nodded not knowing what to say again.

We finished our ice cream in a comfortable silence and I was glad about that. After we finished it,we moved to the counter to pay.

"I want that milkshake. I want that milkshake. I want that milkshake. I want that milkshake." Laila kept shouting and jumping pointing at the various shakes behind the men on the counter.

Innalilahi! This girl is embarrassing the hell out of me. Now everyone's eyes is on us. Darn!

Ibrahim held her up Whispering something to her and she kept quiet and that's when people decided to mind their damn business again.

"Ok you two should get some shakes while I pay to this guy alright?"Ibrahim said keeping Laila down and she giggled.

This damn cute girl!

"Err excuse me." I said to one of the workers that was facing backward but he or she didn't even turn. I scrunched my face and another man came out from where I guessed was kitchen?

"Sorry ma'am. What do you want?" The man said smiling. "Three milkshakes" Laila answered trying to reach the top of the counter. "Right away little girl." The man smiled at her and made his way to where the shakes were. He bought the three milkshakes and handed two milkshakes to Laila and he gave me the last one with a kind smile.

The person facing backward turned in a swift movement. I didn't bother to look at him as I turned to face Ibrahim.

"Hey Khair!" A familiar voice said and I turned to who the voice belonged to. My eyes widened upon seeing the person.

"Surprised to see me?" The person asked and my breathing hitched. I was shocked to stillness and it seems everything halted at that moment. To even blink became a difficult thing to do and my head started spinning as darkness threaten to envelope me.

"Oh my God!" I heard myself saying it automatically.

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