They don't know the promises he makes to her at the late hours of the night, they don't know how her heart beats accelerate whenever he's around ,they don't know how he makes butterflies erupt in her tummy and she guessed they'll never know. She's more than happy to be his and can't wait to spend forever with him. There will be hurdles but they promised each other cross each of them together .

That was Khadija , getting married to her heartthrob, her first love and best friend Ahmad, they have been together for a long time, she just graduated from secondary school and due to lack of money to further her studies she choose to get married instead ,her Baba had tried his best sending her to a private school where she had learned a lot, the twenty five thousand naira school fees every term was hard to get but still he had tried and now he's old and frail not due to ageing but hardship .

Ahmad had finished secondary school and is working as a carpenter in one of the carpentry shops in the city. He had tried securing admission in any of the tertiary institutions but to no avail thereby deciding to get married instead of waiting for what he thought he will never get .

Khadijah is an introvert. A very decent and shy girl ,but she's a different story when she is with Ahmad and her closest friends ,they used to tease her about having a double personality, she hardly talks unless she's been spoken to and she always smiles at annoying and amusing things, a very patient lady who takes life easy and never over step her boundaries , she had suffered in the hands of her mates who were born with a silver spoon at school but she never give them the satisfaction to see that they hurt her ,they have never seen her tears and no one know what she has gone through and Alhamdulillah it's all over now and she's getting married .

There wasn't any much crowd at her house since it's just the nikkah ceremony and conveyance of bride , her father had insisted that she should organise a walimah for her friends but she had politely declined saying that what they have done is enough , she knows that her parents had gone extra miles to see that they buy the necessities she will need to take to her husband's house and the traditional Gara is enough to make them bankrupt ,after all the most essential event is the solemnization of the marriage , then that's enough ,she knows too well how they are suffering and she's not ready to make her beloved suffer more because of her , she's letting go of her dreams of furthering her studies for them after all ,she loves Ahmad so much ,but she has a dream and he understood and encourage her to pursue it but fate had other plans for them so she had asked him to bring the proposal and within months here she is already crowned as his wife .

" Mabruk habibty , now your dream had come true ,uwargida a gidan Ahmad,mashaa Allah am so happy for you dear" Zainab her friend since childhood yodelled giving her a hug ,Khadija didn't say anything and Zainab playfully smacked her saying " Because you're now a married woman that's why you are feeling too big to talk to the singles huh ?" She cocked a brow waiting for an answer but all she could get from Khadijah is a small smile and the movement of her head sideways .The rest of her closest friends came in a while later and they huddled around her teasing her and yodelling .

Her Nokia torchlight rang and she knew it was him ,her heart fluttered at the thought and the girls gave her some privacy by giving her naughty looks and leaving the room in two's and three's .Ahmad had bought the phone for her when she was in SS2 and the sim they use is a CUG he always manage to recharge it for them after every month. She called him back again and he picked at the second ring .

" Assalamu alaikum Cat Mrs Ahmad " she face palmed , he started calling her cat the first time they met, telling her that her eyes reminds him of cats from that day onward he used to call her that from annoying it becomes endearing to her .

" Wa'aikassalam Mifteey " she calls him Mifteey meaning the key to her heart ,her key .
" Alhamdulillah, today is the happiest day of my life, having you as my other half , we've been partners in crime and today you're crowned as mine, I fear that I might not do right by you but I pray that Allah will give me the means to treat you like a Queen because you deserve the world in a flatter of gold " its his words that captured her heart right from the beginning , the way he praises her ,makes her feel worthy like she means the world to him always makes her happy and now that she's married to him ,she suddenly felt shy just like the first time he had asked her to be his girlfriend, she kept mum for a long while until he told her that he knows she is on the phone and that there's no more shy shy between them ,she had laughed at that " Alhamdulillah ,am happy also dear may Allah bless our Union and may we have a lasting peace " she had said finally and he heaved a sigh of relief .
" Ameen thumma amin,see you later wifey and don't forget your promise " He hadn't forgotten what she told him three years back when he teased her by saying he will marry her someday and she had glared at him telling him that it will never happen and she's gonna give him a resounding slap whenever she opened her eyes and see herself in his house as his lawfully wedded wife , it was a stupid promise she don't wanna fulfil considering the fact that it happened when he was this annoying stalker who gets on her nerves ,she was so young and naive that time ,thinking of nothing but her studies but Ahmad is the kind of person that easily captures hearts seeing that she will not let him date her, he choose the other alternative of friend zoning himself till she was so free around him ,telling him everything and running to him with her problems,how can he let this innocent damsel slip off his fingers ? He had mused and the day she came to him with so much excitement telling him she had gotten a boyfriend he just had to tell her about his real feelings for her and that was the beginning of Khadija and Ahmad's love story a love admired by all , a love so pure and honest you can feel it from a hundred mile radius .She is the sister he never had and brother she never had unknown to them the burning embers of love between them will soon burn to ashes .Whose fault will that be ??

*
From the day he started befriending her he will be at her doorstep as Early as 7am ,he will collect her backpack and slung it around his shoulders ,he is her escort to and from school through all the seasons and he never miss doing that except when she's sick and he will be with her ,taking Care of her buying her things with the little that he has, the elders know that there's something more to this friendship but kept mum waiting for the youngsters to figure it out themselves , he had graduated from secondary school before they met ,he knew her right from diaper days but he left town for boarding school and hardly come home for holidays staying with his late uncle in another city . it was after his graduation and the death of his uncle that he came back to stay in town .Their houses are few blocks away and their parents have known each other since forever .
" Cat why are you looking sad ?" He asked the sombre looking Khadijah the moment she came out of the house with her well ironed uniform ,one thing he loves about her is her neatness, you can call her a neat freak , she often throw a tantrum of not going to school with an un ironed uniform ,Baba had to buy two new additional sets for her before they finally have peace of mind.

" it's Ummie that's teasing me " she said with a pout stumping her feet .
" Deejan ummie, I won't say anything it's between you and your most beloved but what has Ummie done this early morning? " she glared at him, she was just 13 at that time and in JSS1 and he's 20 .
" She said that my husband is waiting for me outside ,and we are not husband and wife and we will never be right ?besides you have a girlfriend already " she explained gesticulating with her hands while he kept looking at her wishing she knows just how much she mean to him and the extra miles he can go just to make her his .

Her seniors always talk to her about him, asking her to campaign for them, he's cute she can't blame them but whenever she bring up the issue,they will fight and she hates fighting with him, she hates the eerie silent walks and the cold attitude he used to give her so she gave up telling any girl that ask her to talk to him herself.

Her teachers know him, no one dared to taunt her in his presence , he is like a shield protecting her from the big bad world , he never let her go for weddings and naming ceremonies. The only time he let her was when Zainab's mom put to bed a baby girl and Zainab had threatened him ,saying that if he didn't let Khadijah go she will rain down hell on him ,knowing zee too well he had to oblige begrudgingly to Khadijah's delight .Any male specie that spare Khadijah a second glance automatically becomes his arch enemy and he will make sure he give that person a resounding warning to back off ,so apart from her classmates whom she hardly talks to Khadijah never associate with any opposite gender apart from Ya Ahmad.

During sallah he will buy her sallah clothes, jewelries and shoes with hijab , Baba and Ummie will shower him with prayers showing their gratitude, Ummie often go to his house to personally thank his mother who also is very fond of Khadijah .

During her Qur'anic graduation he was there with her ,and when she finished her junior class he was the first person to congratulate her .It was a week after her junior Neco that Ibrahim, her senior who just graduated asked her out . She ran to Ahmad, telling him of the good news .In her teenage mind ,she's matured enough to have a boyfriend and Ibrahim had been kind to her at school protecting her from the school prefects whenever she commit an offence which is hardly except a few times she goes late to school .
" Ya Ahmad " that's what she call him before they started dating .
" Cat why are you panting like that ,what's wrong " he dropped the bucket he was holding sounding alarmed.
" Ibrahim asked me out am so happy right now " she did some happy dancing steps ,he felt his world is about to come to an end , its now or never, he either tell her what he has been nurturing in his heart right now or he will loose her forever. Right there and then he made a resolve. He looked angry and she asked him what happened?
" Come and sit here on this mat " he ordered with his no nonsense voice and she obeyed ,all her thought is that he's going to talk about how young she is and not yet matured enough to start thinking of a relationship, he has always advised her against it not knowing that her poor bro and best friend is hopelessly in love with her .
" Khadijah " he called her name Softly
. She can swear that it was the first time she heard him call her by her real name ,not cat not Deejan .
" Ya Ahmad you're scaring me please what is it " she sounded alarmed .He tried finding a subtle way of telling her he love her but couldn't come up with anything , he had watched her blossomed into a beautiful young Lady.
" I love you " he finally uttered the three magical words that changed their lives forever.

" What do you mean by you love me? I know you love me Ya Ahmad, you're my brother and best friend so I know that you love me" she was just 16 that time .

" Yeah I know and you love me too, I love you just the way Ibrahim loves you ,I want us to become husband and wife in the future, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you Cat please don't say no, I've loved you from the first time I set my eyes on you and I can't bear the thought that any other guy will tell you those words "

She ran out to her home, not even looking back ,crying her heart out , how can he tell her he loves her ?? He's her brother for God's sake her partner in crime,her friend .They spent two weeks without seeing each other and to say that it hurts both of them is an understatement.

Zee came and she told her what happened." I don't know what to do zee ,I miss having him around ,how can he say that he loves me ? Why me ? What about his girlfriend? " she wailed to her friend who was just smiling at her wondering how the smart Khadijah ,the girl who ace all her exams will be so clueless .
" Just accept him D you'll never regret it in shaa Allah. Everybody knows that he loves you so much. It is as clear as daylight , it's you that have no idea, beside how can you say no to the person that take care of you relentlessly and never for once hurt you ? I know you don't love him that way but give him a chance the brotherly love you have for him will blossom into a different kind of love in shaa Allah" Zee gave her the push while ummie and Baba encouraged her that's all she needed to open her heart for him not knowing that the person she trusts with her life will be the one who will make it a living hell.

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Assalamu alaikum people! Here's the first chapter of Burnt Embers. I hope you like it? What are your thoughts?? Cast away your votes and comment. If you haven't read Her Arrogance His Humbleness I suggest you do that ASAP.
Yours truly
Humairah.