Chapter 28: B

Na im got back to his chamber after he had bade the triplets goodbye, he wondered what he would do today or maybe he just had to go to the barrack even though he had nothing to do there. He showered again and sat in his living room while he watched a movie when his phone rang and he checked to see that it was 28th December. He thought about changing the name he saved her number with in his phone countless times but the idea wasn't welcomed. He knew if he saved her number as Dr Nafisa, he might be able to forget her while if it was the date, it might be harder to do that.
"Good afternoon, Dr," he greeted first after he had picked the call and he could hear the smile from the other end. It seemed to him she enjoyed calling him in times she didn t have work to do and was sure unless he was in an operation too, he was workless as well.
"Afternoon, Captain. I thought that you were asleep that s why I kept postponing calling you until now," she began and Na im nodded. He knew she used style in asking him how his life was and because she was a psychologist, there were times he gave out some informations about his life without even knowing he did until after the call and he was recalling the phone call and then he would realize.
"I woke up a bit earlier today, Dr. We had a horse riding session with some of my brothers." Not again, Captain, he caught himself slipping that information again and if not because he knew she always had something about Maryam when she called, Na im wouldn't have been picking her calls until now.
They spoke for a bit until she heard his replies coming even more short and precise than when they started the call and that was when Nafisa decided it was time to venture into Maryam. "I've spoken to the specialist I told you about, Captain, about Maryam s autism." He slightly sit upright without even knowing when he did. And that s how he used to act whenever something important is being told to him.
"Yes, and what did he say? Who is it, by the way?" He couldn t help but ask, for it was something confidential and he would have to see if that specialist of hers was to be trusted.
"Dr. Summayah Kamal Tambuwal. She s a neuropsychologist, she s currently not working anymore but I was able to convince her into offering therapy to Maryam. Maybe you should come over to the hospital and I'll connect you with her."
"Does she live here?" He asked, wondering if more people knew about Maryam, how lesser chance he had in protecting her and keeping her safe.
"No, she s from Sokoto but currently lives in Abuja. We can have a video call and she might be able to read her expressions virtually..." That stopped him, did this mean he had to take Maryam out of the palace in broad daylight?
"Her? Do you mean I should bring her there?" Please say no, he prayed.
"Yes, or I can come over to the house now and connect them if it's okay." Oh no! Sadeeq Abubakar Bolori, damn you!
"I'll bring her to the hospital myself. When will that be? Tomorrow? At what time?" They concluded everything before Na im thanked her and ended the call without giving her the chance to do or say something.
He got up and decided he had to go and check up with her, make sure she mentally got herself ready for the hospital visitation tomorrow so she would have in mind how to open up to the doctor. As he thought of how she had been doing while he walked to her apartment, Na im realized it had been forever since he followed this path and didn't know it was that or that he was feeling anxious of meeting her to have the path becoming longer than the usual for him.
He stood by the door and knocked. He had to knock twice before he heard someone running to the door and when Bilkisu opened it for him, she instantly moved aside to give him space to walk in before she closed the door behind him and greeted him. "Where s she?" He asked, walking through the living that seemed so new, unlike how dirty it had been for the years of being unused. Everything was still new, he had it furnished when he thought he would be able to convince Hafiz to stay there.
"She s in that room, Your Highness." As she pointed at the room, Na im walked towards it while she ran back to the kitchen, wondering, yet again, about the relationship of these two.
Na im knocked softly but when he heard no answer, he knew he wouldn t get one from her. He turned the doorknob and got into the room but what he had seen made him took a step back in panic. She was curled up in the far end corner of the room and her hair, halfway loose while the other part was still pleated even though it looked too old for the lines to be seen, Na im wanted to scream.
He could say the only hair of a female he was able to see was that of the numerous nieces he had from sisters he couldn t even remember their names when he saw them. But she had the longest yet full hair he had ever seen in his entire life and while she was curled on the floor, she was groaning in what he thought to be either anger, annoyance or pain. He took tentative steps towards her and sat on the sofa that was facing her.
"Are you there?" It wasn t until the voice came out of his lips that he wondered what kind of question that was and he chuckled at himself.
Maryam heard his voice as though it were a thunder in her brain and she lazily opened her eyes before she forced herself to sit upright, her hair flowing over her shoulders and she looked at him lazily. "What s wrong? Are you sick?" He couldn t help but ask, seeing the expression she had on her lips alongside the way her shoulders were slumped.
She shook her head and he saw the way tears already accumulated in her eyes while she pouted, "I m tired of doing this." She whined, pointed at her hair and he wanted to laugh.
He eased a bit, staring at how she was still pouting her lips and he knew it would only be a matter of a few minutes and more words before she started to cry. "I ll call Bilkisu to help you then."
She almost immediately shook her head at that as she sat upright, her hands disappearing into her bunch of hairs while she looked so whiny and sad. "She can t touch my hair, I'd die if she do." It s obvious she had never loose her hair before in her life, for it seemed to him even though poor and stacked away in Magumeri, Maryam seemed to be like a spoilt brat.
"Who does it for you at home, then? And why are there too many cornrows when you can t even loose them yourself?" It looked as if he had remembered her of how much she had left and how it would take her forever to be able to finish them, for she whined even more and pouted her lips while she wiped at the lone tear that rolled down to her cheeks.
"Intisar did it for me, it was for Eid. But I didn t mind because I'm sure she d loose it for me, and then she s no where now." The tears she was holding back came rushing on her cheeks but today they weren't for Intisar, they were there because she had no idea what she was going to do with her hair yet leaving it like that was killing her more.
"Come here," he waved his hand at her and she was silent for a while before she nodded her head and moved to where he was, but she stayed by his leg and didn t go up on the sofa. She was innocently staring at him, the tears no longer cascading but one could see her despair. It had always been beautiful to him, how they seemed to have a fight so bad that might as well break them apart and make her lose her trust in him but whenever they met next, Na im was amazed to find out the little bond they had acquired over time was still there and she still trusted him like she did before the fight.
"Can I help you loose it then?" He tried to touch the part that was already loose, even though a smaller portion when she screamed and leapt back to her initial position and she looked at him with eyes bulged out as though a saucer and it was only then did he realize what he had offered to do to her. It was something he had never imagined he would even think, even to one of his sleek ex-fiancées whose hair would never have looked this dirty, unkept and not being taken care of.
But here he was, offering it to someone that even screamed and leapt away from him as though he had a scissors in his hand and threatened to cut everything off. Even though he knew she would appreciate it being cut off. "You can t touch my hair, I'd die." Her lips trembled while she said that and when she set her eyes into his, she was a bit calmer, "Only Intisar can do that. Let s just cut the hair, please?" Well, maybe he wasn t wrong about that after all.
...
"We can t cut off your hair, you d look like a man if we do. Do you want to look like a man?" She looked at him for a moment to understand what he meant. Slowly, she began to shake her head as the pout resumed on her lips.
"I'm a girl though. Intisar said I'm a woman and should act like one. Not having hair isn t me being like a woman," she pointed out herself and Na im knew whoever this Intisar was, she had done a great job at raising Maryam and he would love to meet her someday and thank her profoundly for the job she did. It seemed like everything Maryam knew was through her and it was calming to know that the girl used the knowledge she acquired.
"Exactly, and you ll look more beautiful as a lady." He loved the innocence that dripped from her eyes and the pout that was still visible on her lips while she tried as much as she could to loose the hair. "Come over, I promise you won t die after I touch your hair. I'm just going to help, okay?"