Chaos.

Wolves howling chaotically in her head shook her so hard that she felt it in her bones.

Palms clasped over her ears, teeth trembling and grinding against each other, Laila let out a scream. Loud enough to hopefully overpower the wild dogs packed in her head.

If they wouldn't shut up, they might as well tear her apart limb by limb, please.

Now she knew what you were wondering, where was Sudais?

See, being king came with lots of disservices, one of which was you don't always get to have him when you need him.

In the backseat, he had grabbed her and she buried her head somewhere in his fabric on their journey home. Then, he had told her how he was on a schedule but would try his best to come home soon, besides she needed time to herself.

Laila had wanted to disagree, but nodded defeatedly and disappeared into the house before she heard the car drive off.

Now here she was, her reality being altered between her room to every horrible detail of her life. Most that connected her to the said man she wasn't knotted to anymore.

Somewhere out there, he was lurking. He'd do something or say something sweet and Laila being the little kid that lacked a certain type of love as a kid would go running back to him, convincing herself he was the one, and only one.

But what hurt the most? It wasn't the fact that he cheated, it was the feeling of stupidity. She had given him everything and rebelled against her family which had her almost disowned, her dad cutting off her finances. The fact that she married him to prove everyone wrong and she ended up proving them right.

Yeah, very stupid of her.

Not again, she need to push those thoughts aside, she couldn't do this again. She needed something, sleeping was out of the picture, and she'd probably have nightmares.

Books? No, she was going to keep zoning out.

Social media? That was a little better.

She threw her nevel hijab off, stepped out of her abaya, washed her face, and stepped into an oversized basketball jersey that reached her mid-thigh and gave a peak of her boob through the large armless cut.

She slouched into the bed, connecting her phone to the charger as she started to scroll through her mostly ignored social media accounts.

On Instagram, she had spent minutes laughing at hilarious videos that did great at distracting her and well, she made the mistake of clearing her email inbox after a while. Mostly, they were irrelevant. She had named another irrelevant until she swiped back and read the title of the email again.

[email protected] sent an email at 16:34

Over an hour ago.

Laila sighed, throwing her head back and meeting the ceiling square mirror above the bed, and quickly brought her head down, she wouldn't check the email, nor was she going to look at her stupid, pathetic self in the mirror again.

Her throat was dry, her stomach grumbled in complain that she hadn't had anything apart from l waffles she took around 8 for breakfast. She dragged herself across the house and avoided any mirror until she made herself a bowl of cereal, jumped, and sat on the cold island.

Laila stole glances at her phone, battling every fiber of her being that wanted her to check the email as she tried to conclude her meal but failed.

It was a part of her to eat slowly, it was another part of her to never finish up her food. Half an hour later, she dropped the bowl with milk and a few cereals floating as she grabbed her phone and stomped back to the room.

Laila had expected everything but a single, 'I am sorry, and i hope you find it in your heart to listen to this.' Attached to a link.

What the hell did he want her to listen to?

You know what they said about curiosity killing the cat? It was what was going to kill Laila as she rummaged for her ear-pods and sat on the bed as she loaded the link and it lead her to her apple music.

Never love again-Eminem.

He sent her music? Really? What was he trying to say?

Only the song could tell now, right?

With a deep breath, she let the intro play and paid attention to the lyrics.

I could be with anybody, i choose you

Still, not an excuse to abuse you

But no one knows what I'm goin' through so i use you

To be truthful I wouldn't know what I'd do if i lose you

He already lost her, no going back now.

So i refuse to, might have a screw loose and a fuse blew

But i think I might be building up a tolerance to you

Cause one minute I'm hollering' "Screw you!"

He used to yell that when she snatched his cigarettes away.

Next, i take it back, guess I'm tryna unscrew you

She let out a humorless chuckle.

You're so hard to resist, you knock my socks off

My friends say you're bad for me, hogwash

Wait till you hear what her family and friends were saying about you.

The beat dropped and so did a weight in Laila's stomach, the lyrics were in line and detailed their toxic relationship.

I'll never love again

The way i loved you

Did you find someone new?

She did, and he was far, far better than he could ever measure up to.

'Cause I remember when

Still remember when you was mine, yeah

We were inseparable at one time yeah, the times she wished she could turn back.

You know my love for you was undying, yeah

You used to always have my back

Some days it feels like you're the all that i have

Having heard enough, Laila yanked the Ear-pods out of her ears, flying out of the app as her chest heaved.

Back and forth they went, Nurain always made sure of that. She was married for God's sa-oh...but she was about to be married! The man had to, needed to understand he couldn't keep ruffling with her like that.

She was done, what was the meaning of all this?

Albeit trying to calm down, she didn't effectuate the door had been pushed open and a man had walked in. A finger snapped at her face while a familiar scent wafted her nostrils and that had her gasping, pulling her head back as her eyes went wide.

"What's up? Are you okay?"

When Laila's vision cleared, the fog dispersing, she composed herself, shaking her head as she stumbled with words. "No-yeah. Why? Why wouldn't i be?"

He gestured at her half-nude body, "You were zoned out, you didn't hear me call you?"

She nodded, scratching the hair at her nape. "I uh-i did. I did."

"Why didn't you answer then?"

"I-i didn't hear you?"

He couldn't keep up, his face wrinkled up, then it died. He sighed, calming his nerves and placing a palm on each side of her before slanting forward. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Is there any way or anything i can do to make you feel better?"

Her eyes constricted in realization, her head coming up to face his but their eyes never met.

"Yes."

He looked taken aback as if he didn't expect her to need anything from him. "What can i do?"

Distract me.

She gave him no answer, only action. Hiking her arms out, she pushed his cap off and proceeded to wrap gentle hands around him before pulling him down and kissing him.

First instinct was to kiss her back right? So he did. Until one of her hands was gliding down his chest, abdomen, and finally to his crotch.

He drew a line there, stopping and instinctively grabbing her hand before pulling back and shaking his head. Voice cold, angry, he started. "You see your problem? You have the worse coping mechanisms." Not that he didn't too, but he had to yank himself away.

She tilted her head to the side, voice soft and eyes pink, "You want this, Sudais."

"I do," His arms dropped. "I do! I want this but you know I can't. This is the reason why your dad insisted on you moving back with him but we know how that would look in the eyes of people so i begged him, i promised him I won't come close to you...sexually anyway. I have a habit of breaking promises and you're so hard to resist. So please, don't make this harder than it already is."

Defeatedly, she tucked her lower lip into her mouth and bit the skin as she nodded.

He then sighed and threw his head back.

By the wall he had leaned into, he stared at her as she fiddled with her fingers, one of her bare legs dangling off the bed.

"There's someone outside who would like to see you."

Laila's interest peaked, she raised her head in sync with her eyebrows. "Who?"

"Who, Sudais?" She repeated, impatiently.

"The woman. The woman i am going to marry."

Knowing Sudais, he was funny even if she'd never give him the credit, so she waited for him to burst into laughter but he never did.

"The one you're going to marry?" Laila didn't bother to hide the distaste in her tone.

"Yes, she wanted to greet you...if you wanted her to, i mean."

Greet her? What was she? Sudais' mom? Why did she have to greet her?

Laila scrutinized the room for any available weapon to kill this man if he said yes to her next question, "Is your future wife in my parlor?"

"No. She's in the car."

"Your car?"

He nodded.

Good thing she hadn't stepped a foot into her house.

Laila's lips pushed forward and spread in disarray, her hand coming up to slightly cover her mouth as she muttered. "Obedient little witch i see..."

"Sadiya."

Laila hoisted her palm. "Sir?"

He ignored her choice of remark, "If you don't want her greetings, fine, but don't start pissing and moaning about this."

Laila's eyes avoided his, her feet making contact with the cold floors as she went in search of a himar.

To be honest, she could care less about the girl's greetings, she just wanted to see who would stand beside Sudais instead of her. Who was most likely an obedient little bitch like she had said and not regretted and was going to be loved by everyone because she didn't bring drama along with?

Sudais led her to the parking lot, ignoring her questions.

A few feet from the car, The door burst open and a woman, the tall woman was bubbly stepping out and running towards Laila with an open arm.

Normally, the woman dey ment. Laila was going to be sharing a husband with her, why the hell would she hug her?

Although it gave off a bitchy vibe, Laila flinched back and into Sudais, as if a child trying to hide behind their parent. The lady, Laila's guess was she was about 22-23, with dark beautiful skin, long nose, large eyes, dressed to kill, noticed the blatant rejection and halted, her smile falling off before she quickly revived it and set a hand out to Laila. "Sorry, forgive me." God even her voice was hypnotizing, mind you Laila had never had bi thoughts. "Ina yini?"

"Lafia." Laila's gaze dragged down the lady from head to toe and she could swear Beyoncé used her as a muse to write the lyrics of the song; Brown Skin Girl. Her skin shone like diamonds, and every other feature of hers seemed sculptured into perfection by the best artist, God.

Laila's subconscious hit her as she hesitated to shake the lady's hands before she did. She twisted up to find Sudais beside her, smile wide-almost to his ear- and that was when it hit her. He found her. The woman he was going to fall in love with, the woman who had the perfect skin he yearned for, the perfect picture woman and even scent.

Laila's head tilted back and slithered down her chest, God, she didn't even wear a bra and her hypocritical nipples were peeping out, down to her ankle-length hijab which gave a peek of her bedroom flip-flops.

She cleared her throat, fiddling with her hijab so her feet and flip flops will stop peeking as she managed a fake smile, her deductions all right. Sudais was going to be wrapped around this woman's finger in just a minute and there was no one to blame except her.

The woman didn't like the awkward silence and she started again, "My name is Naja. Naja'atu Adamu Magaji."

Laila's fake smile widened as she glimpsed at Sudais who had moved towards Naja. "Halima. But, Anty Laila is fine." Not that Laila minded anyone calling her with Anty as a sign of respect, she just wanted things served on a clean slate that under no circumstances was she going to accept or act like a junior just because she gave off the queen title, when in fact, she was the senior.

The beautiful woman nodded, "It's so nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh...you have?" A lot? When had Sudais even flown to Abuja that she had heard a lot?

Laila smiled tightly as she resisted the urge to yank her palm out of the woman's, "Good things then, i hope?"

She knew men, they could promise to not kiss and tell but 2 seconds later, they'd be bragging about it.

Naja shook her head, glancing at Sudais, "Great things."

Hmm, they were even keeping eye contact.

Okay, enough oppression for that day, she was in a way darker place to handle them, they had just made her realize how alone and pathetic she was. She was sure her eye bags dragged till her chin, her eyes red and slightly tear packed but she wouldn't let it define her.

One last question before she vamoosed, "Have you guys set the date?"

Only then did the witch and the bastard cut off eye contact, Naja flinching before she chuckled, putting a palm on Sudais' chest and turning to Laila. "Abba is very eager. Wants the wedding in 2 weeks but i want more time, my parents requested more too. I'll bring you the card once we've sorted everything out." She wouldn't lie and say that didn't hurt.

Chew your card and push the remnants up your ass because i am not attending shit, Laila had wanted to say but instead; "Oh...all the best then." She searched for the perfect excuse to vamoose and found one, "I'll be going back now, you know pregnant women and laziness..." she added the last one glancing at Sudais who raised a brow at her and she shrugged, she was good at this thing called lying too.

Mouth going agape, Naja found Laila's palm again and squeezed, "I had no idea. Abba didn't tell me..." she added the last part glancing at him and then back to his wife as her smile resurfaced. "But I'm happy for you, Congratulations."

"Thank you," Laila returned the same fake smile before turning on her heels without a goodbye at the newest couple. They could go jump into the lagoon for all she cared.

Knowing well Sudais was trailing her, she slammed the front door after herself, then covered her mouth with her palms as she tried to hold off a sob.

She rushed to the room, throwing her hijab and flip-flops on her journey before landing at the edge of the bed. Her palms fisted the sheets, as she held her eyes close at the sound of the bedroom door closing. She daren't open her eyes, a puff of scented air whooshing over her, and that only indicated he had walked past her, ignoring her, and headed towards a door she hadn't fathomed.

Instead of the puff of air she had expected to let out once he was out of sight, her heartbeat impossibly accelerated, her hold on the sheets tightening.

If she was being honest, she didn't want Sudais to remarry. She didn't want to have to share him, to share privileges, but what could she do? She had set him on this lane sooner than he had intended.

From the inestimable amount of times she had fought him, defied him, got in his face, and did stuff men didn't like, she was sure marrying an obedient woman had crossed his mind more times than he cared to count.

The knot hadn't even been tied and he looked whipped by this stupidly beautiful woman.

That was it. It was over for Laila.

She was an egomaniac, who would give her attention now? Who would still want her, chaos and all? She was all alone, Nurain had left her and Sudais was about to be taken away by another woman. All alone with the voices in her head crawling, howling higher and higher until they consumed her.

She wished this had come up at the early stages of their unmarried-marriage. It wouldn't have been so bad. She wouldn't have been experiencing unsettling gut reactions. She would've been glad. She would've been alright. Not now though, not when he was everywhere she looked, everywhere she touched, everywhere she smelt, everything she heard. He was everywhere, suffocating her, she couldn't breathe.

Oblivious to the freshly dressed man, he noticed her jerky movements and couldn't help but show concern. "Are you ok?"

Was she okay? Wide eyes peered at him, her breathing heavy and noisy. "I can't do this."

He halted, "You're not doing this, i am."

She reasoned, "Did you really have to bring your perfect future wife though?"

"There was a reason i asked if you wanted to see her or not."

Laila snatched her eyes off him, focusing it on the rug as she let out an unintentional wail when she started to breathe excessively hard and fast, her hands fisting the sheets harder.

Laila's hand alternated between covering her mouth and her heart which was visibly pounding as she glanced around the room that contained less oxygen than she needed.

Her gasps went on, her body rocking up and down, back and forth.

"Sadiya!" She could hear him calling her name but it was faint, as if he was on the other side of the wall, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Calm down. You need to calm down."

Calm was the last thing her respiratory system had in mind as sobs in between fast, hard breaths and gasps rasped through her. She aligned the spaces between her thumb and index finger to her neck, stumbling with her words as she gasped in between each. "I uh—i uh—i uh—"

Throwing his phone to the bed, he sank to his knees in front of her, grabbing each side of her face, "Calm down. Calm down. Look at me," Laila's palms left her throat to rest on his firm upper arms as she tried to listen to his words. "A'a. Karki min haka. Shh! Shh! Shh! Look at me."

Her breaths trimmed down when she did that but she immediately looked down, her sobs and gasps out of lack of breath surging back harder.

Almost impossibly, he tightened his hold on her, "No, look at me. Look at me. Calm...shh." His attempts at calming her down were crashing, her palms hiking up his lower arms as she tried to get off the bed but his pressure kept her down.

In between gasps, which weren't fake as she brought a palm over her heart, she admitted. "I can't—I can't—breathe!"

He nodded, holding her down, "It's okay. You just need to calm down. Shh," His words seemed to be affecting her as her breathing started to slow and she sniffled every other second. He kept nodding, urging her to do the same. "Good. Good girl, keep doing that. That's good. You're doing good. Ahh ahh, Shh!" He slanted down, his butt with his feet as he proudly nodded and she nodded back, her palms alternating between his upper arms and lower arms.

"I'm going—I'm going to call the driver. I'm going to tell him to drop Naja'atu off." Breathe still deep, sharp, and noisy, her palms squeezed his arms, her toes curling and the tears falling from her face to his kaftan. "Toh. Okay? Good girl. Good. That's good kid, keep breathing slow...like that...just like that..."

She let out a loud sniffle, her gasps and sobs diffusing only to be replaced by loud pants of air as she dropped her hand. He reached for the phone he had thrown on the bed, dialing a number and giving strict orders to drop Naja'atu off and to not allow anyone into the house.

After ending the call, he showed Laila the screen before he tossed it and pulled her up and into him. "Shh." He continued to coo when he felt her start to hyperventilate again and kept it up until she wasn't.

"You-you're—leaving...leaving me..." her words fogged into his clothes, drenching his fabric as he looked down at her, then shook his head and rocked them side to side as he reassured.

"I'm not. I'm not going anywhere kiddo. I am right here, holding you, close to you."

When she had started to go limp he figured their best option was the bed. He moved them until he was gently resting her on the bed, her fingers fisting his clothes as if she was afraid she'd open her eyes and find him gone.

Sudais wasn't even good at the comforting game, but he seemed to be doing better now that he had a mentally abused woman who broke down over the littlest things and needed constant reassurance from him.

It took more than a little fight before she had let him get rid of his kaftan top and she was wrapping her arms around him again, suddenly clingy like honey.

Whispering sweet nothings to her ear, he rubbed her upper arm and watched her fall into a deep slumber.

Then, and only then was he starting to regret more than a handful of his decision.

***

Wednesday 26th June, 2019.

"Come here."

Did anyone else find those 2 words wickedly attractive? Because Laila did.

She had no energy to fight it, fight him, thus, pushing everything to the back of her head, she threw the towel wrapped around her head to the other side of the room and walked to him.

In position, she peered down at him while he held a phone up and towards her, his upper body leaned into the MacBook screen in front of him.

"It's Mama." He announced when she made no move to take the phone.

At that, Laila's heartbeat picked up as she took hold of the phone and brought it to her ear.

Laila hadn't realized the phone was on loudspeaker until a voice came through, "Halima!"

As if the woman was in sight, Laila mustered a smile as she dropped to her knees beside Sudais, her palm resting on the rug and her upper body leaning in. "Ina Yini ma."

The woman switched the language, "Jam ni, Halima. No'awani? Noy gorko na? (I am fine, Halima. How are you? How is your husband?)"

Laila took a glance at the man in a vest, "Jam o, Mama."

"Toh Alhamdulillah, mi wadi murna sosai. (Congratulations, I'm so happy for you.)"

Laila nodded, biting the skin on her bottom lip, "Miyotti sosai Mama. (Thank you so much Mama.)

"Toh, Se Hakkilo, useni. (It's okay. And be careful, please.)"

"Insha Allah."

"Toi Jodoma?(where is Jodoma?)"

"Here he is," she pushed the phone to him, then remembered and brought it closer to her face, "Miyotti, Mama. Jippu jam. (Thank you, Mama. Goodbye.)"

Sudais took his phone again as Laila wandered off to do whatever she was used to doing until she came back, a question popped off of her out of the blue.

"What does Jodoma mean?"

He stiffened, a feeling of disorientation and dizziness hitting him before it disappeared.

He brought an index under his chin, his eyes lifting to find her in pajamas on the bed, sitting Indian style.

"You want to know?"

She had known him for almost 7 months without asking him personal questions, don't be taken aback if he was a little suspicious.

Laila nodded, "Why would i ask?"

He took in a deep breath, his hand shooting to grip the crown of the Laptop but not to close it off. "I guess...it means survivor."

Laila crossed her arms, her brows drawing in. "Survivor? Why survivor?"

This was going to be long so he closed his laptop and moved it aside. "I am the first kid to survive...only kid of my mom that she had with my dad," he sat up, hands going everywhere as he started to elaborate. "Baba Alhaji had 15 kids, seven of them died and they were all between Bello and me."

"Ohh..." Laila pressed her lips, tilting her head to the side. "And?"

"Well," he shrugged, clasping his palms as he sat up, "Aisha is 47, Bello is 46 and i am 32. My dad was royalty, there was no way he would've just stopped giving birth for 14 years. His kids kept dying before they were a year old. My real birth mom, Ummi lost 4 kids before me, Mama lost 2 and there was a woman my dad divorced, she lost 1. They were boys. I survived that, and..." he paused to pinch his nose and drag one of his legs up in reluctance, it was a hard topic for him. "I survived the fire that killed my mom, so..."

Laila found herself saying, "I am sorry..."

He waved a hand, "It's not your fault."

She nodded, not knowing what to add. Between her and him, she wondered who sucked more at comfort. Without hesitation though, she'd vouch for herself. She was terrible at comforting.

She could listen for once and not make things about herself though, "Tell me about your mum, deceased i mean..."

He looked to his left, taking long at recalling, "I don't remember much. I know that her name was Falmata Al-Sudais Umar..."

It made sense, "You were named after your maternal granddad?"

He nodded, "Yes. She was Shuwa, and was Mama's best friend. She got married and gave birth to 2 of my half brothers, then got divorced." He paused to take a breath, but Laila wasn't taking it.

"You have half brothers?"

A small smile made its way to his facial, "I do. The first one is Aliyu Bakura, and the second is Ibrahim Bakura. The second is a professor in Unimaid who lives in Borno. You might've heard of Yaya though...i mean Aliyu, he owns every filling station with the name Bakura and is a senator."

"Oh, i think i have."

"You might've," he gestured at the space between them, "He bought me the house in Jimeta as a wedding gift. He wanted to furnish it but i told him your family insisted. Instead, he gave me that range rover. I always plan on taking you to go greet him but whenever he is not busy, you are. His kids have come visit though, you were in school all those times."

Slowly nodding her head, she let his words sink in.

However, he went on. "Baba Alhaji was apparently not getting any luck in his marriages. They kept failing. He even married a woman that jazzed him and had him divorce Mama and Adda until someone tampered with the anchor, he brought Mama and Adda back but still wanted more children...Mama being selfless and all had come to terms that she must stay with co-wives...She then suggested my mom, her best friend who was a divorcée. They never gave me many details, but Ummi returned her kids to her exes custody and married my dad." He took a sharp breath, bringing a palm over his neck and swallowing his saliva to moisturize the Sahara desert he called a throat now.

He hesitated, stuttering at first. "She uh-he-no they said...they said she was beautiful and loving. But, she almost lost it every time she lost a kid. And then, she had me...they said i was sick. They didn't think i was going to make it like every other kid but somehow, i got better." He dropped his shoulders, bringing his head down to look at his clasped palms.

"A few years before my dad was crowned king, i was four, and...um...a fire broke out. I and my mom were inside the scene, unaware until it was too late. She fought to get me out till her last breath...the memory," he pointed fingers at his head, "It's the only thing I remember so vividly in my life... She was there, coughing...gasping, and screaming at me to get out. I-i...I don't understand. She died before the fire could touch her, and i...nothing happened to me..."

Laila sniffled, not of tears, but of the cold that was slowly holding her by the neck. She understood his confusion and felt the need to give him clarity. "There is nothing you could have done. That's how the human body was made," she threw her head back, recalling a course from her first year in medical school. "Why she died before the fire touched her and why you survived is Carbon Monoxide poisoning, labeled by a simple reaction; The affinity of carbon monoxide to adult hemoglobin."

His confused eyes met hers, "What?"

She clasped her palms, the concept wasn't simple to anyone but a medical personnel. "It means your mum was an adult, meaning her hemoglobin had more affinity to Carbon Monoxide than oxygen. While you, a child with under-developed organs had more affinity to oxygen than carbon monoxide, hence why you survived...If to say you were left in the room, you'd die of the fire and your mum would've still died of the smoke before the fire caught up to her." She concluded, raising a brow and hoping she made sense to him.

She seemed to have as he slowly nodded, his stare on her distant. "Oh...i get it...i get it..."

The room fell into another comfortable silence with only the AC making faint noises before Laila tensed up, her index coming up in question.

"The burnt and abandoned clay chamber distant and opposite to Mama's and adjacent to Baba Alhaji's was that your mum's?"

He nodded, a smile lifting the sides of his lips as his eyes came back to focus. "Yes, it was. I'm having it expanded and redone. We're moving there. It's going to be our chambers."

"Ours? We can share a chamber?"

"Yes. They're already far on the basis, in a month and a half we'll be great. Our chambers will be under the same roof, but we'll have a wall separating us, so don't get worked up. We'll have shared rooms upstairs though. I haven't seen most of the blueprints but i trust the people I've put on."

"That's good."

He agreed with her, "It is. Before i forget once again, we're moving out of this house too."

"Ahh ahh. Where to?"

"It's in this estate and has been in construction for a while. You can't expect us to stay in a 3-bedroom apartment now that I'm Lamido, right?"

Spreading her arms out, she swiped her gaze around, seeing no problem whatsoever with their surroundings. "This place is big."

"Not so big when you have guests every day troping in and out."

Laila hadn't thought that deeply. In short, she had been avoiding and pushing the unbelievable fact that she was now married to a king, something she had never wanted and always feared.

Royal families were just Chaos, Chaos, more Chaos, and did she mention she was also a Chaos magnetic woman? Guess not.

He hadn't said it out but she knew their conversation was over. Good thing someone pulled her out of her trance with a shrill vibration from her cellphone in the charger.

Sudais followed her movements, a frown settling on his face as she smiled at the caller ID before she placed the phone against her ear.

Pleasantries passed on with a smile intact. Moving on, something Sudais didn't know of had her smile dropping and his frown deepening. She ended the call after strings of nodding and, 'Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll see you tomorrow.'

Who was she seeing tomorrow?

He motioned to her phone, "What's wrong? Who was that?"

She tossed her phone to the bed and massaged her forehead in frustration. "That was Naimat. And...what's wrong is that i missed the ward rounds of one consultant. He asked who clerked a particular patient with a very complicated case and it was me. But, i wasn't there. Now, my pediatrics long case is by tomorrow morning and I haven't even completed it in writing."

The man on the rug shifted, staring at the English-medical-Chinese show he was watching without subtitles. He had caught only the first sentence, "Naimat your colleague?"

Laila's fingers halted, her gape rushing up to him. She was frustrated and was probably looking at an excruciating week of punishment if not a year repeat and all he heard was Naimat? "Seriously?"

Was he serious? Even he didn't know, so he just stared at her.

She shook her head and then she was storming out of the room and they were back at what they did best, Fight.