Karkasara, off Inuwa Dutse way.

Kano, Nigeria.

2013.

"Mummy!" She hollered, gasping for air as she ran about the house while he chased her. Her ponytail dangled in the air and moved to and fro due to the effect of her movement. She heaved a sigh of relief when she reached her mother's room. Her sigh rose to a gasp when she saw that mummy wasn't in her room. She turned around and slipped behind him because he almost caught her.

She ran to the other side of the house looking for her father. Because it's either him or mummy that will rescue her from him. She's sure if he catch her, he would beat her blue and black until she cries and later on he would apologize.

"Daddy!" She yelled in between giggle and a cry sound when she saw that he's going to catch her soon. Having no one coming to rescue her, she slumped on her knees.

He marched slowly to where she was squatting and cornered her, daring her to escape if she could. "Khamis, I am sorry. I won't call you Hamisu again I swear." She joined her hands together in surrender. Her orbs were on a low shade of hazel in plea and they were full to the brim with tears.

He smiled and leveled down to her height. He's just a month older than her but he's so taller than her as if the gap between them was huge. At the age of fourteen, he was taller than most of his mates and even muscular than them.

His physique was that way since he's young, well built and rigid. Someone might mistaken him for an eighteen year old who goes to gym every single morning because of his muscle built. He's fair and had a nice trimmed sideburn that gave him a big guy look. Actually, his looks were very deceptive because he tend to confuse people around him. At fourteen, he could drive the whole family to wherever they would go.

She on the other hand was slim and short but on the average. She looked a lot younger than him.

He set his protruding round eyes on her and caught her chin. She didn't meet his gaze because she's afraid of what he would do to her. It's been so long since she saw him. They grew up together until when he's taken to a boarding school and whenever he's on break, he was with his other cousins from his mother's side.

They hardly meet until this time when he said he was going to spend the break with her. He came yesterday at night so they didn't get to talk about a lot till this early morning when she decided to tease him and call him with the name he hated.

Hamisu.

"Naaj," he said, his calm voice asking her to look at him. Her insides tousled because she thought he was going to beat her. His calm voice didn't have a specific meaning. He may decide to use a calm voice and beat someone or use it to pacify someone.

She fiddled her fingers and touched her nails continuously.

"Okay Naaj, it's fine." He smiled. This time she looked at him in the eye searching for the honesty of his words.

"True?" She asked, her eyes still locked in his. She watched him drop his gaze from her and put his hand on his hair, ruffling it for a while.

She pulled his hand and used it as the weight to help her stand up. She stood with a smile laced on her lips.

"Thank you Amis," she whispered. Khamis extended his hand for her. They did that whenever they settled a fight. If one of them refused to shake the other's hand it meant the fight wasn't over. She shook his hand and right there, mummy appeared.

She smiled at them and sashayed to where they were standing. She pulled Najma's hair and ruffled Khamis's.

"You've fought and reconcile again huh?" They looked at each other and laughed. Najma's mother laughed with them and told them lunch was ready.

She asked them to follow her to the dining area. They did, silently.

"I am taking the seat close to daddy!" Najma protested as she pulled the chair by the right side and Khamis pulled it by the left side. Mummy; Hajiya Aisha shook her head at them but didn't say a word.

Daddy looked at them too and smiled. None of the parent talked because they knew their talk wouldn't do anything. The duo would settle the fight between them on their own accord.

"Naaj!" He purred. She stopped pulling the chair and looked at him. Khamis didn't use to talk long. Even when they were having debate once he called her name she knew he's commanding her to keep shut and give up.

She looked at him again, seeing a different demeanor in him, that, she had never seen before. Despite her trouble and all she let the chair for him and rounded to the other side of the table sniffling. She wanted to cry because he won with just a word and mummy didn't say anything. Factually, Hajiya Aisha's attention wasn't on them at all.

Khamis allowed her to sit on another chair before he walked to her she sat and grabbed her wrist. She breathed in with fear. She didn't know why she developed that fear just between yesterday and today.

The stress of his hand on hers was asking her to stand up. She stood up and they ambled to the chair she wanted. He pulled the chair back and showed it to her with his eyes, telling her to sit. When she sat, he pushed the chair forward and smiled genuinely at her. Najma melted at the silent gesture which was one of the reason she missed him.

She dropped from the chair too and trolled to the other side of the table with him then pulled the chair for him the way he did to her and he sat with a smile on his face.

When she turned back, he dropped too. It was then, mummy noticed what they had been doing.

"You should stop being dramatic and sit down before the food cools down." She croaked.

Najma cackled so did Khamis. Nevertheless, he took her to her seat first before he went back to his seat and they began to eat.

"How's school Khamis?" Daddy asked him after they were done eating.

"It's all fine daddy at least no one bullies Khamis Muhammad Bayero." He ended with a loud smile.

Daddy stared at the way Khamis talked as if he was a grown up. The way he casted his sight down and answered calmly made daddy proud. His young boy was growing into a young man.

"That's good to hear. Two years left to finish secondary school." Daddy remarked.

"In sha'a Allah daddy."

Daddy switched the channel showing on the television to another then he reduced the volume. He wanted to see how matured Khamis had become because something about the boy was making his heart throb in pride.

Khamis was the last child of his elder brother who died before Khamis was born and so he took it upon himself to take care of Khamis hence he adopted him when his mother weaned him. Khamis' inheritance was with him and as per Islamic rite, it should be given to him when he's matured enough to handle it the right way.

Sometimes daddy; Alhaji Muhammad Bayero used to forget that Khamis was only fourteen. The boy had a gentleman debonair. The only thing that reminded him of his tender age was his boyish chubby face and smooth chin void of trace of hair.

"What are your plans after school young man?" He asked.

Khamis smiled. He loved smiling a lot whether he was happy or otherwise. He was also very organized in doing things. He had his life planned out in his diary although he's pretty sure that some plans will be demolished by mother fate. Alternatively, he had a plan B for every plan.

"University first. I want to be an Engineer," he said with a pause. Then he remembered he didn't choose which field. Without a deep thought, because he didn't like something that would make him think deep he came up with one.

"Petrochemical Engineering." He added.

Daddy shook his head.

"If I give you one million naira for example what will you do with it?" Khamis kept mum for some seconds. He had so many plans but his young mind didn't know which to pursue first.

"If it's after university, I will open an oil station. If it's before, I may just invest it somewhere. Perhaps follow you to the market." He shrugged. It didn't make any sense to him but that was what his brain instructed him to say.

"Great! Let's go and pray asr." Daddy said. They rose to their feet and ambled out of the house together.

*****

Najma's room was painted in light purple and white. It had a medium bed with two teddy bears on the headboard. The other side of the room stood her study table with a lamp on top. To the left was her vanity table and closet in a corner.

The room was upside down. Books here, shoes there. Veil on the bed, under wears on the door handle. She had just finished dressing and was oiling her hair when a knock came on her door.

"Yes," she gave her permission still looking into the mirror with strand of her shoulder length hair in her palm. Her hair wasn't silky, it was a coarse afro hair that was so difficult to manage. Without constant oiling, she found it so difficult to comb it talkless of braiding it.

Khamis walked into the room and left the door open. He picked her shoe from the ground and put it on the shoe rack.

"Amis..." She beamed and walked to the side of the bed.

"Clear your room." He grumbled.

"Help me with it then. I am so tired you know, I want to sleep and..."

"Shush..." He stopped her and started picking the items and gave her to put them in their place. In a few minutes they were done.

He noticed her teddy bears and picked one. It was huge and white with a pattern of hearts on it. He suddenly became curious.

"When did you buy this?" He asked. She pinned the comb she was holding to her hair and swirled around to give him an answer. They always told each other things they had done, more especially Najma. She had made it a habit to tell him every detail of what happened in his absence. He would smile and comment when needed. He would also brief her in short usage of words.

"Ahmad gave me. He's every girl's crush in my class.  He's in ss3 and he's searching for a girlfriend in ss1. Musaudah said he might choose me. But he isn't that handsome." Khamis scowled, showing her as if he didn't grab anything.

"He gave me during our class party. I collected nonchalantly." She added cheekily.

Khamis looked at her for a second before he replaced his scowl with a protective look. He angrily hiked up and foundered to her side.

He caught her hands and joined them together.

"Don't ever try that again." She nodded continuously not because she won't but, she wanted him to release her hand.

She looked at their tangled hands and winced. His grab was so tight and painful.

"But it's just a gift. It's okay to collect gifts from everyone. Mummy had warned me about boyfriend don't worry. When you're not around she's always checking. She said I shouldn't involve any man in my life till after my degree. It isn't a big deal, is it?" She added in question with a pout.

Khamis smiled, Najma however knew it meant danger. It made Khamis angry to think that they were of the same age with Najma. She was way too childish for their age. It's her childishness that always made everyone to remember that he was also young. He loved to act big and whatnot.

"Naajjjj!" He laid an emphasis on the letter J of her name. He released her hand and looked at her eyes. With no other word, he left her room.

Najma couldn't say exactly what was wrong with him. She began singing as she detangled her hair.