Larai shut her eyes tightly as he crouched to her level on the ground.
"I'm harmless." The person stated in a firm, yet gentle voice.

By the tone of his voice, she could tell it wasn't Zakari, but someone else.

She let out a deep sigh of relief and quickly adjusted her open blouse.

"Are you alright?" The man asked, his voice laced with worry.

She opened her eyes and they met with the most mesmerizing pair she had ever come across. In the light of the day, his eyes seemed to shine brighter than the sun itself. His eyeballs, round and brown.

The gleam present in them.

The eyes were indeed windows to the soul. She felt connected to his soul by merely staring into his eyes. They gave him an innocent look of an infant. She could get lost staring into his eyes and she wouldn't mind if that would take her far away from the reality of her life. She was utterly hypnotized by them.

He blinked.

She broke out of her reverie and looked away. Embarrassment washed over her, as she realized she had been gawking at a total stranger. "I'm sorry for staring at you in that manner. I don't usually do things like that," she apologized, feeling the need to let him know she was not a weirdo.

He chuckled. "Then I should also apologize for equally staring at you in that manner. I'm sorry." He mimicked her voice, earning a shy smile from her. "Sorry for prying, what are you doing in the middle of these bushes alone?"

She blew out her cheeks. "It's actually a long story. What are you doing in the middle of these bushes alone?" She returned his question, with a raised brow.

"I'm carrying out a survey for an industry I work for." His gaze drifted to her bleeding toe. "That looks bad. Can I take a look?"

Her lips curved into a broad smile as she stared at him. He was caring—exactly how the protagonists in the books she read were.

Who said good men didn't exist anymore?

"Can I?" he asked again.

She snapped out of her trance and nodded.

He sat down on the grasses and brought out bottled water from his backpack. He opened the lid and poured a small quantity on her toe, then more, until the blood had completely been washed off. "I'm going to apply some disinfectants and a band-aid." He stated, but her mind was far from reality. She had felt stupid for gawking at him, like a cuckoo, but that did not stop her from repeating her action.

She couldn't help it, he was enthrallingly beautiful and she was spellbound.

He waved a hand over her face.

She cowered and mentally face-palmed. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I'm going to disinfect your wound." He responded, giving her a lopsided smile. He had caught her gaping at him yet again.

"I will do that at home. We have some herbs that work perfectly fine," she politely declined. "Tell me, do you usually move about with disinfectants?"

"Yes," he responded, curtly. "I'm just taking precautions."

"Thanks for helping me out." She smiled.

"It's no big deal, but since you're so grateful, I'm glad I was able to." He returned the smile. "Where do you live? I can accompany you home if you want." He offered.

At his words, Larai felt her insides twirl pleasantly. She absolutely wanted that, but she knew what the consequence would be if one of her parents saw them together. She heaved a sigh of disappointment. "No, it's fine," she declined politely, but a huge part of her hoped he would insist.

To her disappointment, he shrugged. "Alright then."

Gloomily, she maneuvered her way out of the bushes and back home.

"Miss," he called, making her halt in her tracks.

A huge smile crept up her lips. She made sure to mask it with a straight face, before spinning around. "Yes?"

"I'm Yusuf by the way, he said, walking up to her. “Can I, at least, know what you are called?"

"Larai." The name flowed out of her mouth effortlessly. "My name is Larai."

"Wow!" Yusuf smiled. "Just like you, your name is equally as beautiful."

Butterflies erupted in her stomach and she felt heat rush to her cheeks.

Her lips curved into a shy smile.
"Thank you," she muttered.

"The pleasure is all mine. I wish to see you around again," he added, sending more shivers down her spine. "Take care." He turned around walked away.

Larai's gaze trailed behind him until she could see him no more. Her heart felt like reaching out to him.
Captivated by his kindness, she knew she had finally reached her destination in the quest for love. Indisputably, she knew she was in love. She had fallen in love with Yusuf it was love at first sight for her.

The realization had her insides all giddy.

•

In the night, Larai couldn't bring herself to sleep. She kept tossing and turning on the mat she shared with her sister.

Thoughts of Yusuf were engraved in her mind. She was constantly grinning from ear to ear.

Azumi groaned in her sleep, then turned to the wall and slept off.

Because they didn't have a wall clock, Larai occasionally peered through the window. She couldn't wait for the day to break. She couldn't wait to see her prince charming again. Her heart wouldn't be able to rest easy, until then.

In a way, she was thankful to Zakari. Had it not been because of him, she wouldn't have followed that path and met Yusuf. For her, it wasn't a mere coincidence, but destiny.

She giggled, covering her face with both palms.

The crow of a cock at dawn made her jump in excitement. She dashed out of their hut to the outdoor kitchen and began to do the dishes, then swept the whole compound afterward.

After she was done, she went to nearby bushes to fetch woods that would be used to make a fire.

She returned a few minutes later and met Azumi seated outside their hut.

Azumi was surprised by how she did the house chores singlehandedly.
Normally, Larai would push the responsibility to her.

"I will go to the stream—" Azumi had just begun to speak when Larai abruptly cut her off.

"No! I will go. Make the fire instead." She didn't wait for her response before picking up the empty jerrican from the kitchen and hurrying off.

The excitement of meeting up with him again made her hasten her pace. She went straight to the exact spot they met the previous day, but to her disappointment, he wasn't there. She frowned. She was a dimwit to expect him to still be there the next day. She had merely been following the directions of her heart. "I should have allowed him to accompany me home," she said and pouted. She felt stupid for declining his offer. She dreaded the thought of not being able to see him again. She had not even had the chance to get to know him better, let alone profess her love for him. It was foolish of her to do, as she was already engaged to get married to someone else, but she wanted to be selfish for once in her life. She wanted to do something she had always dreamt of doing, before dwelling in the miserable life that awaited her. 

Downheartedly, she took the path leading to the stream to fill her jerrican with water.

Like always, she didn't bother paying attention to the girls she met at the stream—the clique of renowned gossips in the village.

When she finished filling her jerrican, she was about to leave the stream when one of the girls, Haja, made rude remarks about her.

"What does this Larai even think of herself? She thinks she's better than us, while in reality, she is just a loser."

Larai swallowed and ignored the remarks. It wasn't the first time it was happening to her. She had already gotten quite used to it. They spurted all sorts of gibberish about her because she refused to associate herself with them. She didn't do it because she felt superior over them, but because she wasn't the type of person who loved to gossip. She preferred isolation.

"Have you heard her parents are getting her married off to an old married man with twelve children?" Haja asked the other two girls.

"You don't mean it," the second girl, Goggo, exclaimed. "That's awful. Despite how proud she is, this is the fate that befell her." She chuckled.

The third girl, Lami, continued: "Ah! Even if I'm her parents, that's exactly what I will do to the yeye (useless) girl o. She deserves it. I hope the children turn her into a punching bag and—"

"Enough!" Larai snapped, her hand balled in a fist.

Initially, she had no intentions of chiming in, in their conversation, but she couldn't bear the insults anymore. They got to her.

"Or what?" Haja asked, approaching and standing daringly in front of her.
"What will you do?"

"Or is it a lie that you're getting married to a man who is old enough to be your father?" Lami sneered.

"It's none of your business if I'm getting married to someone old enough to be my grandfather," Larai said, standing firm. “You all should face your problems, instead of spending the whole day gossiping about other people's. Jobless idiots!"

"Did she just call us jobless idiots?" Goggo's hand flew over her agape mouth.

"How dare you!" Haja lifted a hand and slapped Larai, before Larai could stop her. "Let's fight if you know you're strong."

Larai bit her lower lip and clenched her fist. She was seconds away from retaliating, but she knew she didn't stand a chance against three of them if she engaged in a fight with them and besides, her parents would be furious at her, so she controlled herself and laughed at their faces instead—this single act of her had them seething. "Go fight with animals such as yourselves. Fighting with you guys would mean I have to stoop down to your level and you know me, I don't deal with nonentities." With that being said, she lifted her jerrican to leave, but Lami was quick to push it off her head and onto the ground.

Larai smiled. She knew exactly what they were trying to do. They were trying so hard to provoke her into a fight, but they didn't know she was a hundred times wiser than them.

Thankfully, the jerrican wasn't broken. She picked it up again and began to walk away.

Goggo fumed, stamping her feet on the ground. "Are we just going to allow her to walk away after all the insults?"

"No! We're surely going to get our revenge soon." Haja bellowed.

Larai rolled her eyes at their conversation and walked on at a steady pace. She couldn't help thinking of her best friend, Ladidi. At times like this, she would always be the one to defend her and fight the bullies on her behalf.

Because she knew why they always tried to bully her, she only laughed at their faces. They were simply jealous of her because she went to school and they didn't. They felt she was a lot better than them, hence the hatred.

At the early age of fifteen, Ladidi was married off and sent to live in her husband's village, Etsu gaie. Etsu gaie was quite far from Sallawu. Larai missed her a lot, especially how they would sit under the moonlight and visualize their futures together. She wished she could unwind time and live in those moments again.

She could not help but blame herself for sparing them even a second of her time. It had never happened before. The side talks from the village gossips did not usually bother her that much, perhaps, it was the disappointment of not being able to see the gentleman that triggered her into retaliating and almost fighting back.

Just as she was about to enter their compound, fenced with bamboo sticks and haulm, she heard the voice she had come to love in just a day. The voice that had been on repeat in her mind throughout the night. She could single it out even amid millions.

"Hi."

Her head swiveled in his direction. A smile graced her lips as her gaze met with the mesmerizing doe eyes that had her hypnotized. "Yusuf." The name emerged from her lips before she could stop it.

•

Assalamualaikum/Hello!

Chapter two is here! 🔥

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