[B]

She was staring at the blank page of her MacBook while wondering what in the world would she tell Mrs Rosey today? She was tired of having excuses, she had missed her class for almost two days, the day she came to Abuja and the first day she started working here, which was only a two days ago. And now this? She looked at the picture she had snapped her ankle, which showed no sign of hurt but she knew Mrs Rosey will believe her because she was telling the truth.

A call came through from the office phone and she picked it while staring at her MacBook with her hand supporting her chin. “Hello?”

“I need you to come to my…” she didn’t know why she was startled to the point that she let out a faint scream! “What’s wrong?” Even though it came out soft, as if he couldn’t help himself asking, she was so surprised.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying please?” Was she going to tell him that she got startled because she had never expected him to call and ask her something? This was the man that right before his eyes the HR asked her to go home so she could rest, but he even had the guts to…

“I need you to come to my office with the work I gave you in the morning, we need to work on that.” He cut her thoughts off and before she could comprehend what he was saying he had already cut the call off. She looked at the phone and groaned loudly before she scribbled something quick to Mrs Rosey and stood to her feet. She took all she knew she needed and walked to his office, giving herself the pep talk to control herself and not to stare at him too much, lest she appeared like a pest.

She knocked softly on the door even though she could see through that he was ready for her to come in but she waited outside. She was sure she saw his lips moved a little, which meant she should come in but she acted stubbornly, she wanted him to speak normally with her. She knocked again and he looked at her through the glasses before he motioned for her to come in, which she did. She found herself a seat on the sofa before she turned to look at him.

“What do I need to do?” She asked, and he stared at her for a minute until she realize that she had her ankle brought up and she was slowly moving the leg to ease her pain. She quickly muttered something beneath her breath and took the leg down, covering it fully with her Abaya.

“Does it still hurt?” He asked with utmost sincerity while staring at her. She wanted to retort back with a sarcastic reply, of course, it hurt, if not she wouldn’t have been caressing it like that. But seeing the way he was softly looking at her, to the innocence dripping from his words, she decided to answer him normally.

“Yes, it hurts a bit.” She replied and nodded head with a hint of pout lingering on her lips.

“Have you taken the medication?” Oh, this didn’t look promising. Was he the one or she was seeing someone like him? She admitted she didn’t know him for long, just two days to be precise, but the Yazeed she knew would never ask her if she had taken her medication.

Nonetheless, she shook her head, “No, I’ll take them when I get back home.”

He lightly shook his head, “Can I see the medicines?” She thought he was only curious, maybe he had a suggestion of a better pill she would use that will take away the pain in no time, and she rose to her feet.

“They’re in my office, I’ll bring them now.” And she walked out of his office without waiting for a reply from him even though she was sure he had his eyes fixed on her until she disappeared from his sight. She came back to the office bearing the nylon and placed it on his table before she went back to the sofa and sat down, putting on her MacBook.

Through her peripheral view, Jalilah watched as he stood up with the nylon in his hand and he walked to where the water dispenser was, she thought he wanted some water and also was going to give back the nylon, but to her surprise, after he had gotten the water into the disposable cup, he sat down on the sofa opposite her and placed the cup between them.

She watched as he took the pills out as prescribed by the doctor and handed them to her, she looked between his face and the pills in his hand before she asked, “What should I do?”

From the look on his face, it was evident he wanted to smack her so hard until she got back into her senses, what kind of question was that? It was evident he meant she should take the pills, for god sake! “Take your pills, apply the ointment then we start to work.”

She stretched out her hand opened her palms, waiting for him to place the pills on it. She was afraid that if she kept acting as if she didn't know what he meant, he would get angry and walk back to his seat, which meant she wouldn’t be able to see this kind of Yazeed ever again. Even though she had her lips pouted, she watched as he placed down the pills in her opened palms and relaxed back on the sofa, watching her as she kept staring at the pills.

“Why won't I have it at night? That’s the most suitable time to take medicines.” She suggested, looking at them as if they were some sort of a dangerous poison.

“But the doctor prescribed them for you, he knows a suitable time to take medicine better than you. Or are you a medical student?” This was the first time he had ever spoken this long and even sarcastic to her, she found that amusing.

She closed her eyes and opened them again, showing her grief. “I’m not, but...”

He cut her off, “Please, we have a lot of work to do. But if you feel you can’t do that then you can take the day off but you have to take the pills first so you can emerge strong by tomorrow Insha Allah.”

“No, I can do that. I'll just...” She let her words trialled off as she gulped down the pills into her mouth and wished she could bring them out. She hated medicines, why the hell wouldn’t he understand that? She placed down the cup on the table between them and had this horrible look on her face.

“Now, the ointment, I'll stare at you from my table. You have to do fast.” He stood up and walked back to his table while she kept shooting daggers at him. She brought her leg up and placed one of his throw pillows on the table to rest it on before she squirted it on her hand and began applying it on her ankle.

After she was done, she looked at Yazeed, who had his eyes fixed on her and spoke, “I’m done. Now, what do I need to do?”

He pointed at her MacBook, “Work, send it to me when like we did yesterday.”

Those were the last words he had uttered to her, even when she asked him something or said something, he only nodded his head or shook his head. Until it was time for Asr prayer and he told her he was going to pray. Even when they were back and continued working, they shared no word until she was done and she stood up with the nylon in her hand.

“No, leave that nylon here. It’s once per day, you’ll be taking them here, Insha Allah.” His words showed he cared, but his actions spoke otherwise. How could you tell a girl that she had to be taking her medications from your office while you’re not even staring at her? Not to even talk of a smile? She had never seen someone like him in her life. She nodded her head and begrudgingly placed the nylon on the table and walked out of the office.

She went back to her office and sat down, thinking of what she would do today to eat her time away. Remember she had a lot of unfinished paintings, Jalilah smiled and looked through the window, she had to buy her painting materials, but staring through the window now, she figured out it was cloudy in Abuja and might as well rain before it was closing time. Painting was one of the things she enjoyed doing but never took seriously as ballet. She did it only when she was bored and had nothing to do, which wasn’t often.

She tried calling Sulaiman’s line to ask if she could go to the shop and buy her materials but she remembered her ankle now and stopped herself from doing that. It would only be best if she ordered and have them delivered to her house, and she got into her phone.