₦airaland Forum

THE COOLNESS OF THE EYES

EPISODE 12

I arrived home [LAGOS] late in the night after 10:00pm, I only spoke with RIHANAT once in the morning about an hour after I left the garage because I later got a flat battery. There was a heavy rainfall in OFFA the night before and NEPA took the light the moment the rain started, they didn’t bring it back and I couldn’t charge my phone. I didn’t call RIHANAT that night because there was no light at home also but I called her the following morning with WALEEYAH’S [My kid sister] phone before chatting with her on my phone when I finally charge in the afternoon.
A month passed and nothing changed between RIHANAT and I, our love grew even more stronger until one night when I received a text from her… The text reads;
“When I thought there was no love you showed up, every night I prayed to God to give me the chance to spend the rest of my life with you but only God knows what is best for us. Writing this text I wanted to scream your name may be you can hear my cry, but instead I cry in silence and please don’t tell me to stop because I can only get over us with time. Thank you OLANREWAJU for being part of my story, please don’t forget my name, you can also write about me, GOODBYE!”
I read the text more than 3 times, I called her line immediately when I was sure my eyes wasn’t deceiving me but switched off.
“What could have happened to her to send this kind of text? Was she really serious or she was only pulling my legs?” I began to think anxiously. Later in the night I received a call from a private number and it was RIHANAT. I was happy to hear from her but before I could say a word she spoke first, with a voice struggling with tears she said everything in the text is real, she said she received a call from my mum and that my mum told her the same thing her mum told her when she told her mum about our Genotype. I struggled to find a word and when I finally did she cut the the call. All efforts to get through her that night was in vain with her phone saying not reachable.
I recalled telling my mum about our Genotype few days before also but how on earth did my mum got RIHANAT’S number?
I was in complete disarray and I thought I was going to loose my mind. I couldn’t sleep on time that night until past 4am , I woke again before 7am and my mum was already awake so I asked her if she really called RIHANAT and she said yes, she said she did that for the benefit of our future. She said she feared we were both blind by love and we may make the worst mistake of our lives if we get on to marry. <<She got RIHANAT’S number from my phone>>
I was very angry at my mum but then I saw truth in what she said…

I started my I.T that month and 3 months after I still couldn’t get in touch with RIHANAT, she didn’t log in Facebook and WhatsAPP and the only friend of her I have on Facebook was saying the same thing. Few months to the completion of my I.T I was already given admission in LASU [Lagos State University] through direct entry and I still haven’t heard from RIHANAT so I decided to travel to OFFA during a public holiday. I got to OFFA around 3pm, the bus stopped at a garage which was about 20 minutes walk to RIHANAT’S mum shop so I took a bike and I dropped in front of their shop.
I only met her mum and after exchanging greetings and prayers I asked to see RIHANAT, her mum told me RIHANAT got married 5 months ago. The woman was surprised I asked because she expected me to be aware, I told her I lost RIHANAT’S contact just around that time and we were not in touch ever since. I left the her mum shop so sad and devastated, I was shocked to know she did all that and she could not tell me about it. I didn’t return to LAGOS that day, it was past 4pm and I didn’t feel like going home so I lodged in a hotel and I travelled back to LAGOS the next day. I already told my parent I may not return that day because I left home on the excuse that there is a letter I need to collect in school for my registration at LASU.
Few months later I had moved on well, I just resumed in LASU and I was already dating someone else, she was living 5 to 6 blocks away from my lodge outside campus. One day during my first semester in LASU i saw a call from an unknown number on my phone while in class receiving a lecture but I couldn’t pick it, I was sitting in front of the class and the lecturer was standing right in front of me lecturing. I called the person back when I got to my lodge that day and after exchanging few words with the person he told me he was RIHANAT’S husband.
“But why are you calling me? And where is she by the way?” –I asked anxiously.

“When was the last time you spoke with my wife?” –RIHANAT’S husband.

“It’s been a year and why are you asking? Are you sure she is fine?” –Me.

“Yes she is fine but there is something you should know, when can you come to OFFA?” –RIHANAT’S husband.

“Okay I will come there this weekend but can you please let me speak with RIHANAT now?” –Me.

“I’m sorry she won’t be able to speak with you right now, may be when you come” –RIHANAT’S husband.
I travelled to OFFA on Sunday from school, four days after I received the call. I called RIHANAT’S husband that Sunday morning just before the car I boarded leave the garage and also on my arrival, he was already at the garage when we arrived and he waved at me where he was standing at the entrance of the garage. I met him and he told me he is RIHANAT’S husband but I was surprised how he could identify me. He said RIHANAT showed him some of my pictures on Facebook, I was having RIHANAT on Facebook but I never knew because she didn’t use any picture. I asked for her account name and when told me, it then occurred to me she was the same person that never posted but will like and react to everything I post on Facebook. Sometimes her comments on my pictures got me thinking the person know something about me but when I message and ask her she said we haven’t met. She used a Yoruba name but she said she was from EDO State so I believed we never met.
There was another woman with RIHANAT’S husband that day, a young lady in her mid 20s carrying a child of 3 to 4 months old and the child was a replica of RIHANAT, the resemblance was too much and I couldn't get my eyes off him.

“That is RIHANAT’S child” – RIHANAT’S husband.

“Ohh! I thought as much. Hey beautiful boy!” – I shook the little boy’s hand and I continued.
“Bro you asked me to come here from lag without telling me why, now I’m here I still don’t see RIHANAT and you keep telling me she is fine but I can only see her child carried by another woman… Wait bro is RIHANAT sick or something??-Me.

“My name is ahmad and about whether RIHANAT is sick or not I can’t tell you that but I will just take you to her”-AHMAD.

I was having the feeling something wasn’t right and the look on their faces was only forcing a smile and I could read it in their faces. AHMAD stopped 2 bike men and he told them the name of the street RIHANATS parents was living, the same street I lived during my O.N.D in OFFA.
The bike men dropped us in front of their house and I was eagerly going for the door to the house when AHMAD told me RIHANAT is waiting at the backyard.
“But why the backyard?” I thought to myself and I began to get nervous.
We got to the backyard and I saw RIHANAT’S mum picking beans at the balcony and we exchanged greetings, I was a bit relieved and when I asked about RIHANAT the woman pointed to the grave at one corner of the backyard and I almost fainted. RIHANAT was actually dead, I cried like a baby while on my knees and the women joined me, AHMAD picked me up and we walked to the grave. He told me RIHANAT loved me all her life and even after they got married she couldn’t get over me. He said he almost gave up on her because she only get married to him but her heart and mind was with me and that sometimes she would be calling my name in her sleep.

AHMAD said RIHANAT had wanted to see me before she died and since they couldn’t do that for her that is why he decided to call me to come pay my last respect to her if that would make her happy wherever she is. I prayed and cried at RIHANAT’S grave for almost an hour , I told her how long I waited for her before giving up when I heard she got married. I went inside the house with AHMAD and ZAINAB, RIHANAT’S mum was inside already so I asked her to allow me sleep over that I would like to do a special night prayer for RIHANAT and she gladly agreed. I was awake throughout the night praying for her and asking for forgiveness for her, I left for LAGOS the following morning. Before I left I met AHMAD again and I asked him how RIHANAT died, he said she died 2 days after giving birth through CS [Caesarian section], she died at the hospital before they could discharge her. AHMAD told me RIHANAT’S last wish was for her child to be named SUFIYAN, my Muslim name.
I was able to hold my tears after hearing that, I played and snap pictures with SUFIYAN before leaving that day and I have since then checking on SUFIYAN at least once every year. SUFIYAN is 18 today and already a 100L medical student at the University Of Ibadan, OYO State.
THE END!

Written and arranged BY: Abdulmaleeq Oriyomi Shuaib.
Proof-Read and Edited BY: Oyewole Taofeeqah.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I’m eternally grateful to God Almighty for the inspiration. To all individuals who contributed to this book from family to friends, I want to say thank you to you all for being the inspiration and foundation, without you guys this book would not exist.
Having an Idea and turning it into a book is as hard as it sounds, the experience is both internally challenging and rewarding.
Complete thanks to my friend and editor Miss Oyewole Taofeeqah, I will always welcome the chance to work with you in the future. To my course mate Mr Lawal Abdulbasit who took time out of his busy schedule to design the cover to the book for free, thank you.
Big thanks to my mum, my siblings, my best friends (Wuraola Ajibola, Abdulahi Abdulrauf, Abdulwahab Mustapha, Oluwatobi Adeniyi, Akingbade Abimbola, Oyewole Taofeeq, Agboluaje Muhammed, Oluwabukola Amusan, maryam Kareem) who said something positive to me or taught me something, I heard it all and it meant something. Thank you all!










ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Abdulmaliq Oriyomi Shuaib was a former student of the Federal Polytechnic Offa [Kwara state, Nigeria] where he studied Civil Engineering, he is a current 500 Level Quantity Surveying student of the Federal University Of Technology Minna [Niger state, Nigeria]. He currently live in Ilorin, kwara state. This is his second book, his first book was titled "POOR GBEBE AND HIS SORRY MOTHER", both his first and second book is available on AMAZON, WATTPAD, OKADABOOKS, NAIRALAND and other local sites.
You can reach the author on;
Facebook: Abdulmaleeq Oriyomi Shuaib.
Gmail: Abdulmaleeqshuaib@gmail.com
WhatsApp: 08131637504.

Thanks for reading and please, don't forget to share.

It was indeed a wonderful story, kudos

izaray:
It was indeed a wonderful story, kudos

Thank u so much sis.. I promise i'm inviting u first once i write another story.

Damn yah the best

Wow! Life ain't just fair.

DivineSpecial:
Damn yah the best

Ur comments has really helped and u are a good motivator.. THANKS!

Treasurewamiri:
Wow! Life ain't just fair.

At all! Thanks for coming..

Oriyomin25:
Ur comments has really helped and u are a good motivator.. THANKS!

Am blushing thanks though for the story