Must Read: Behind The Veil

7 years ago

Must Read: Behind The Veil

Few seconds later he got a notification on whatsapp. It was her.

“Don’t freak out okay? What i am about to divulge to you is a tale as old as time.”

Sadiq read on. “The tale goes thus; girl meets guy, they become friends. Boy is in love with some other girl that doesnt love him. Girl falls for boy.”

Sadiq typed back. “Wow! I didn’t know you write stories too. Whats the name of this story?” he was intentionally trying to look clueless.

She sent the surprised emoticon then texted back. “The name of the story is Janelle and Sadiq.” And texted back almost immediately before Sadiq could type any thing.

“I have fallen for you! And i really couldn’t tell you this face to face. And when you come, i will be so shy to look you in the face cos I’m so ashamed right now.” And she used the emoticon of a monkey covering its eyes with its palm.

His alarm rang which turned on the radio and ‘heart attack by Trey Songz’ was playing.

What a nice way to get his emotions rising!
He knew he had to start getting used to the fact that he has lost Zeenat. He knew somehow that she was gone. But he had been hoping, hoping for a magic to happen. Hoping that he won’t lose his first love so easily!
He never really felt any attraction to Janelle. She was fine and all. She had a gorgeous face, beautiful spell bounding smile. Thinking of it now he realised he could actually love her.

He turned down the radio volume. The song was melancholic. It wasn’t bad, but he rather listen to it when he breaks up and not when he was about to make up.

“Can i call you?” he replied her.
“Oh no no please don’t!” she replied. It felt strange. Both of them had been friends all along and switching to friends plus was no ordinary thing. Even though it was what she wanted, she wasn’t comfortable.

“You can’t even speak with me! What if meet now? You will shy away?” he asked.
“Probably” she texted back. “Let’s just slow down so we can get use to it first”
“Have i even agreed to this whole thing?” he texted.

“Oh! I’m sorry”
“If you really want to hear my reply then allow me to call you” he negotiated. The power was with him now.

“Okay fine.” She replied.

He exited whatsapp and dialled her number.

She delayed for some seconds before picking up.

“Hi” she said, using an undertone.

He laughed at her meekness. It was completely uncharacteristic of her to talk so submissive.

She is a girl that is full of life and her sudden character betrayed her true self.

Realising she was finding this whole thing hard.

He made a bargain with her, or rather forced the bargain on her.

“This is what is going to happen; i wont tell you how I feel about you till i return back to Kano and we stand face to face and you proclaim your love for me. When you do that, only then will i tell you how i feel about you.”
“Just tell me now. Why are you trying to make this harder for me than it already is?” she just needed him to say ‘i love you too!’
“That’s final. I’m not going back on that.” he said. “Moreover that will give you time to drown that shyness before i come.”

“Okay then. If you insist. That’s Trey songz playing?” she suspected.
“Yes it is.” he admitted.

“You should listen to ‘one last night by vault’ there is this part in the song that went; ‘take a piece of me they want it all…..Oh but to wait in an empty room. With the feeling that it’s closing in. I had a dream I was dying. But I found nobody there And if one last night is all that we’ve been given. Let’s live it like we care. For one last night'” she sang it mindlessly. “This part really got me. It just feels….i can’t even find words to express it” she explained.

“I will check it out and try to understand what spell the song has casted on you.” he mocked.

She chuckled and they ended the call with promises to talk later in the evening.
By half past three Sadiq and Vanessa were still undecided on which ring to buy. They were all shiny and expensive, but who cares, the more expensive the better.
Vanessa finally fell in love with one particular diamond ring. The stone on the ring was so beautifully crafted to allure a woman’s heart. It was probably crafted that way so when the man proposes the lady can never say no!
“Oh my God…i love this one!”
“But that’s what you’ve been saying the whole day.” Sadiq tired of the ring hunt.
“This one is different. Sadiq we aren’t leaving here without this ring!” she insisted with a vehement desire.

“Okay then” he replied her then said to the sales lady. “Can we see this ring please?”
Vanessa wore it, bending her palm to admire the ring from different positions.
“We will take this one” she informed the lady.
“How much is it?” Sadiq asked.
“It’s 1.5 million naira. But because of you two i will sell it to you 1.3.”
“You’re kidding right?” Sadiq mouth agape.
“No sir.” She nodded.
“1.3 is okay.” Vanessa replied, obviously madly in love with the ring.

“No it’s not. We will give you one million naira for it.” Sadiq to the sales girl.
“I’m sorry sir i can’t. That’s the last price.”
“Fine. We will just check another place.” He said motioning Vanessa to pull off the ring. But she declined.
“We will take it.” She informed the lady. Sadiq pulled her aside.
“What are you doing? If we walked away she might have called us back.” He queried.
“I doubt. The ring is worth it. Don’t worry i will pay the remaining 300,000 naira.” She informed him.

“Fine by me.”bringing out his master card.

They splitted the bill, and Vanessa paid the extra 300,000.
“You never told me how much you made from your novel?” Vanessa asked while in the taxi taking them home.