Chapter 59: The King's Visit

Sadeeq chuckled, "You re still kind hearted even after you ve revealed something as huge as this." He sighed and began to think of how to go about it. "Can you send me the picture of the girl? And let me know when they ve left the hospital?" Nafisa opened her mouth to speak when he beat her at it, "I m not going to abduct her, I believe you were the one that said he loves her, right? So abducting her while they re together will be a very tough task. I just want to compile all the evidences I have, that s all."
"I'll send everything at once. Don t forget your promise."
"I won't, Dr. Thank you for giving me something exciting to ponder over." He ended the call and walked back to the dungeon, maybe he would finally be able to put up all the pieces and create the perfect picture for the puzzle.
He saw the guy in the same position he had left him in and smiled at him, "So, you nearly raped Maryam, right?" He asked, it had been so long that he felt this accomplished in life.
"Yes, and by Allah it wasn't my doing, it was the devil s work. Please, save my life from them."
Sadeeq nodded his head, "Okay, I'll save you but you just have to tell me one thing, what linked you to her and where did you meet her that you even had the guts to try to rape her?"
"I was hired as her tutor, and I met her in the palace." Whoah! He had never thought that Na im could be a bad boy when he wanted to. So, all this while that he had been looking helter-skelter for her, she had been in the palace? Verily, Na im had played with him all along but not anymore. It was his time to play now, to do whatever he wanted.
"In the palace, are you saying she lives in his chamber or what?" He couldn't help but ask, because Sadeeq would love to know where Na im was able to hide her in the palace. And when the guy nodded then shook his head, he became confused.
"It s his chamber, but you ll have to walk deeper behind and there s another apartment there. I shouldn t have said all this to you, but I did because I believe that you d save me, right?"
Sadeeq stood up, he could remember the apartment now that this guy had mentioned it. He was about to walk out of the dungeon when he turned to look at him, "What s your name? I'd have them to stop punishing you before I'm able to meet my brother and apologize on your behalf."
"Thank you. My name is Aminu."
Sadeeq left the dungeon without a word and he walked directly to the parking lot as he dialed his mother s number. He chuckled after she picked up, "Umma," he called out and she knew he only referred to her as that whenever he was giddy about something.
"Yes, Dan Umma, did something happened for you to be this excited?" She asked with a grin and he nodded vehemently before he started the car.
"Something you ve never imagined, Umma. Something you ve spent all these years waiting for. I'll be in your chambers as soon as I can get myself there." He ended the call before she asked, because he knew if he didn t end the call, nothing would stop her from ranting his ears until he told her even the snippets of what was going on. But Sadeeq wanted her to hear it from him, he didn t want her to hear it when he couldn t see her expression. He wanted to know how proud of him she was for being so smart and clever.
He drove fast to shehuri as he mimed his favorite song. It was going to be a very long night of planning and unplanning until they will come to the conclusion of what to do. He couldn t wait to finally see the downfall of Na im Abubakar Bolori, and of all things in the world, it was a woman that would be his downfall.
...
"Where are you?" Hafiz asked when he picked up the phone, he had been meaning to call him himself but it turned out Na im wanted him too at the same time. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can get. We have something to talk about." He said and ended the call, wondering what had happened. Even though he had noticed the good mood Na im was, Hafiz still felt something underneath his voice.
He drove as fast as he could to the palace and when he drove past Sadeeq s chamber, he saw his car parked outside and wondered what Captain Bolori was doing home at this time. He shrugged his shoulder and drove to Na im s chamber. He met him in the living room, and Na im had never looked this ruminative in his whole life even though there was a peaceful look attached to his face and when he looked up at the sign of Hafiz being in the room, he grinned widely.
"I've been expecting you five minutes ago." He said and straightened himself on the sofa. "There s a problem, two problems actually. I'm short of what to do now, any suggestions?" Na im asked even before Hafiz found himself a space to sit on the sofa.
He grimaced and chuckled lightly, "I'd have to sit down first and for you to tell me what s wrong so I can see if there's a way we can end whatever problem it is that you have." He stopped a bit to take a breather, "But before we do that, Captain Bolori finds out about that tutor of Maryam." The words came out like a blow from his lips and he was aware of how Na im s expression had totally changed.
"How? I thought we had him locked in the dungeon and Bolori hardly visits there?" He had even forgotten about that guy and instantly, Na im knew, if it weren t for him, Maryam wouldn t have been now living in his chamber.
"Yes, but he did. Jafar just called me and I was trying to reach you on the phone when your call came through so I had to rush here." He said with a sigh. "Do you reckon he has told him everything? Captain Bolori would surely try to get whatever he could from him, especially when he learnt that you re the one that have him locked."
"I did worse, Hafiz. Nafisa saw us with Maryam in the hospital today." He dropped the bombshell, it had been what that had been eating him up since when he walked out of the cafeteria that afternoon. He didn t know what he would do or say, he didn t even know what danger awaited him for that one mistake of taking Maryam to the hospital.
"She saw you? Isn t she the doctor Maryam usually sees? That Dr Tambuwal lives in Abuja and all the therapies she gets from her are virtual, right?" Na im stared at him, wondering whether or not to tell him the truth about what happened.
He figured the truth would be better so they would find a befitting solution to all these problems. "Yesterday, something happened between Maryam and I. She got extremely sick, so I took her to see a gynecologist." The words came out of his lips as though they were poison he needed to spit out. He knew he didn t regret what had happened between them, hell, he wished he could repeat what he had just done now, but with Hafiz, he always had to keep that stoic expression he had whenever Maryam s issue arose.
"By a gynecologist, what exactly happens, Na im?" Na im couldn't make an eye contact with him and that was enough to prove Hafiz s thoughts about him and he gasped slightly. "No, you didn t!" He exclaimed, but the ends of his lips were already twitching into a smile when he squealed like a lady, "Come on! This ought to be celebrated! Don t you think?"
Na im threw a pillow to silence him but no matter how he wanted to keep that straight face, he smiled softly. "I don t know what to do now. And you better keep your voice down because she's sleeping, don t wake her up."
"How would I do that? Your baby bride needs all the rest she could get. Even though I'm not sure whether she s still a baby anymore." He grinned at him and Na im knew this will happen. Even though he would likely get a solution from Hafiz, but he would tease him to the point that he'd want to throw him out. "Turns out my speculations were correct. I knew it, you d need a real wife out of her and it s so amazing that it happens at this time, even though the circumstances at which it happens. But we can work them out, can t we? We ve always fought until the end."
He was a friend Na im didn t know he needed until he got him and he would forever be grateful for the kind of friend Hafiz was. "And you should try and get a wife of your own too, don t you think?" He said playfully and laughed.
"You ve refused to introduce me with one of those sisters of yours, I'd want one but nah! A princess isn t fit for a soldier like myself. So, for now, I'd pass on that." Na im smiled and nodded his head. Even though Hafiz had never told him, but he knew he liked one of his step sisters, just that he never knew which one. It was hard to point out, he didn t even know their names and it took over a year to see one of them. It was as if they weren't related by blood and the first time Hafiz saw them was during Eid, when he wasn t able to go home and Na im invited him to shehuri.
"About Nafisa, how much does she know?" Hafiz asked to cross out the bleak expression on his face and there was a smile back in his eyes.
"She knows everything, Hafiz. She even saw the Queen s ring on Maryam s finger and is aware of what had happened between us. Nothing to hide, the only thing I'm sure she doesn t know at this moment is that Maryam stays in the palace with me, that s all."
"But Teacher Aminu knows, and if what we heard from those men is true, Captain Bolori has visited Nafisa twice last week. Knowing you so well, you might ve said words that would certainly hurt her and she might resort to him for solution or whatever it is. He can pull all the puzzles together, Captain, we just never know how fast."
They both sighed at the same time, not knowing what was the best thing to do. "But how sure are we that Aminu has told him something? I don t think he s stupid enough to say that he has nearly raped my wife, is he?"
"Not unless he wants to be out of there as bad as he could and the only help he could get is by telling the truth, we re both certain he will."