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Alluring Dance

He wanted it quiet, especially when it was closing time. Yazeed looked at his wristwatch and heaved a sigh, like every day, he felt at his lowest when it was closing time. Because he had to go back to his world, where he had to live alone with his demons. His thoughts that he always fought before he could be able to sleep. Most of the days he didn’t sleep, he only rested at night. But on days he wanted to sleep so badly, he had to take his sleeping pills. Sulaiman always warned him not to get addicted to those pills, that was why he was being careful.

He stood up and packed his laptop into his office bag before he turned off the appliances in the office. Everywhere was dimmed and silent, that was what he wanted. So no one would see him when he was at his lowest when he had this gloom and longing look on his face. He walked out of the office and today, he didn’t pull his phone out to pretend he had something important going on there, no one was there for him to pretend to, he could be himself. When he was walking on the corridor, Yazeed was sure he heard a tune and the sounds of feet on the floor.

His eyes naturally turned to where the sound was coming from, and his eyes landed on what he had never imagined he would see with his own eyes. It looked like a reality show to his eyes. How she was clad in her jeans and shirt, how she had her hair fully covered while she moved her body with a warm smile on her lips. At first, he thought maybe she was dancing, maybe something happened and she was jubilating. He didn’t notice the MacBook she had placed in front of her, and when he noticed, he knew just what that meant. She was practicing ballet, and she knew just the right way to move her body in such a way nothing could look more appealing to the eyes of her watchers.

He didn’t know why he got rooted to his spot, he couldn’t move, just his eyes following her every step. The way she expertly moved showed him her immense love for ballet and she was expertise when it came to it, or so he thought. And he stood waiting, while until she was done and she turned off the MacBook and slumped on her sofa to take a breath. So this is what she had been rushing to finish work for? So she couldn’t miss it? Somehow, even though he had an urge to go to her and ask her to dance again so he could have a better view of it, he found himself walking down to the elevator.

When he saw a leg beautified with a chain on her ankle, he knew she was doing, because he had seen that anklet on her yesterday when she was going to enter the elevator. It was the same story today, she pushed open the doors and entered with a tired smile on her lips. She looked worn out but satisfied, just the kind of look one had on his face while he or she did what they loved doing the most. She flashed him a pleasant look and looked into her phone.

What was her name again? Khadija, right? She made mention of something she preferred to be called with, was it Jamila? No, he had to wait until one of the workers mentioned it again. They got down and she waved at the downstairs receptionist before she moved to the gate while he walked directly to the parking lot and got into his car. There as someone waiting for her by the gate when Yazeed drove out, he hadn’t seen his face but it could be anyone.

Enough of her thought, he said to himself and brushed her off with a single sigh. He had more important thoughts to ponder over for the night, why would he let this bother him? His face was a shade of what was enveloping the sky now, but he didn’t mind. That was how he always looked because he believed the only good thing he had in his life was Sulaiman and he wasn’t that close to him either. Even though he had had something even brighter than the moon once in his life, it had become his past, and he ought to grieve that for the rest of his life.

He slowed down when he arrived at his house and before he honked, the gateman had already opened the gate for him and he drove him. He knew someone would think he had it all after seeing the luxury he lived in, but that didn’t amaze him. It had never amazed him. He wanted something light as long as he would find happiness and true love in it. He parked his car and took his office bag before he walked out of the car.

“Good evening, Yallabai. Hajia and Alhaji came today and told me that I should ask you to meet them at Asokoro,” the gateman informed, Yazeed wished the ground could suck him up.

“Okay, Malam Harisu, I’ll do that.” He walked into his house while pondering over what brought that woman to Abuja and what did she want that she asked him to come? Because he was sure his father would never want to see him, not to even mention asking him to meet him at his house at Asokoro, it all had to do with that woman.

He only had dim lights turned on, and that was how his house was for all he could remember, he walked directly to his room and dropped the bag before he walked into the bathroom and took his bathe. After he was done praying and everything, he knew it was time to go to Asokoro because if he failed to, the whole of Abuja would know. He changed his dress and walked to the kitchen to make a quick sandwich but remembered the sandwich maker was faulty, he had to buy another one.

He hissed softly and walked out of the house, thinking of going to Sulaiman’s house for dinner or he would just make a takeaway for himself since he was going out? And of course, not to forget to buy a new sandwich maker. He opted for the latter and drove directly to his father’s house in Asokoro. The gatemen waved at him after they had opened the gate for him and he walked into the living room bracing himself for the worst. Because the worst always happened whenever this woman came to Abuja.

“Assalamu Alaikum,” he said his taslim in a soft voice and walked further into the living room, finding himself a place on one of the luxurious assorted sofas. One of the maids whom he had no idea how they managed to work while the owners of the house didn’t visit often came out of the kitchen and she bowed and greeted him. “Evening, will you mind informing them about my arrival?” One thing he hated about her visitation to Abuja was, if he came, he would have to so much because she had always riled him up. If it was for his father, he didn’t even know he had come to Abuja unless they had a meeting in the office and he treated him like every other employee, so he felt no difference.

“Yes, I’ll go and inform that now.” The maid said and Yazeed brought out his phone before they walked down. He heard the clacking sound of her heels from the stairs but he didn’t lookup. Even though he had a lot of things he hated having sight of in his life, she was the most disgusting one among them.

She walked to the sofa opposite him with the kind of smile she always had on her face while she was interacting with him, “Yazeed Adam Bunza!” She had always called him his funny with a tone that made him cringed, because he could point out a lot of things in the way she called his name. Like he wasn’t worthy of being his father’s son, or he made the biggest mistake of his life because he came to the world as his father’s son.

He looked up from his phone and stared into her eyes, what he hated came back to him. He knew in his heart he hated her, no, despised her even. But whenever he looked up at her, there was no way he could say no to whatever she wanted him to. He felt his heart shaking with fear of wronging her. He knew deep down the kind of person he was when he was together with her wasn’t the real him, it felt like he was changed or something, but he couldn’t control himself either. It had been like this for all he could remember.

“Good evening, Hajia.” He greeted, and she smiled widened.

“Good evening to you too, Yazeed. How have you been? How’s work?” She asked, and in his heart, Yazeed wanted nothing but to stand up and leave the house, but he knew he couldn’t, she had to ask him to leave first.

“Everything is fine, Alhamdulillah. Malam Harisu told me that you asked me to come, is Alhaji not home?” Even though his father was the last thing he wanted to see whenever he was together with Hajia because she made sure she brought more darkness and fire into his life, he needed the distraction. Because his father always asked him or talked about work unless Hajia unveiled something that would soon be a calamity in Yazeed’s life.

“He is, he will be down soon. Yes, I asked you to come because it’s been long you went to Kebbi, and we haven’t seen you or heard from you all those months, nearly a year, Yazeed. We’re traveling to Thailand, so we ought to say goodbye.” It was relieving whenever they traveled, even though he didn’t stay with them and even if he visited Kebbi he rarely spent three days there, just the thought of having them out of the country was the truest form of relief.

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