A week had gone bye and I hadn't seen Fareedah. We did text each other every now and then, but our schedule wasn't really allowing us see each other and every time I thought of going to her faculty to go see her, I felt deep the need to give her a bit of space. It had only been a week, I wasn.t going to lie to myself, it felt longer than that. If someone told me I was going to survive not seeing her at all that long, I would have laughed.

Fareedah replies had become very vague, and sometimes she didn't reply. I wanted to take it as that she was busy, but it was Saturday and I had thoroughly convinced myself that she was most likely free. I was dressed in baggy low waist faded blue jeans, alongside a sky-blue crop top. I dusted my sneakers at her gate, adjusting my tote bag as I knocked at her gate. Honestly, I didn't know why I was so dressed up. Her gateman peeped to see who it was, smiling immediately he saw I was the one there. "Barka de zuwa (welcome)," he said as I walked in, causing me to widen the smile I already had on, as I nodded. I waved at him a bit as I walked in, trying to stay nice, since I didn't understand what he said and didn't want him to feel awkward about it.

Fareedah was seated upright in front of a white drawing canvas board, when I walked in. She stared straight at it blankly, holding a pencil in her right hand. She looked perfect from the door. She had her side facing the door, her hair up in a high bun, while she looked very comfortable in her blue jean dungarees and a black t-shirt inside. She looked like she had complete focus on what she was doing, which made me not want to distract her. I walked in gently, walking to where she was so I could stare at what she was drawing. But to my uttermost surprise, when I got there, her board was completely blank. Not even the stain of a pencil was on it. 'Maybe she was still trying to figure out what she wanted to draw', I thought to myself as I retreated and sat down, dropping my tote back as I admiring her back.

I had only been seated for a couple of seconds before Fareedah's voice broke into the room, sending shivers down my spine. "What are you doing here?" she asked firmly, not turning to look at me.

I frowned a bit, chuckling as I replied, "To see you?"

"Why?" she asked, still not turning to look at me.

I shrugged before I replied her, still trying to keep my smile on, "Because I want to?"

Fareedah sighed, causing me to wonder what was wrong with her and why she was asking all the questions she was asking. "But, you had begun to slowly establish the fact that you didn't want to see me anymore," she said as she turned to look at me, and that was when I noticed how red her eyes were.

I frowned as I got up, going to kneel right in front of her as she turned back to her canvas board. I had pushed the canvas board to the side thoughtlessly as I knelt to examine her face. "What do you mean?" I asked her, not being able to look away because I wanted to take notice of every single expression she made.

She shut her eyes as she tried to shake my hands away from her face. "Stop looking at me so closely," she said as she turned away, which only made me pull her face right back.

"Please open your eyes and talk to me," I said calmly, trying to also calm my racing heart. I honestly didn't know why my heart was racing so hard it hurt. I couldn't tell if it was the proximity of our face or how worried I was about her,

Fareedah opened her eyes slowly, letting a tear drop as it became a thread. "You caused it," she said with a frown, wiping at her eyes.

"What did I cause?" I wasn't asking her all those questions to get on her nerve, but because I was genuinely confused on what I had done wrong.

"You stopped trying to see me, and would only text when convenient for you." Her stream of tears began to flow again as she used the back of her hands to wipe at her eyes.

My frown deepened as I got a sense of what had happened and the understanding that just as much of an overthinker I was, so was Fareedah. "No, it wasn't like that, I promise," I told her.

"Then what was it like?" she asked with a frown, sniffling. "You used to come to my faculty every now and then when you wanted to be friends then. But then, we resume from the holidays and it is like you no longer care for me. Is it because my father is Pakka?" Her frown eased, a look of uncertainty and I think worry taking over.

"Please don't say that," I told her, giving her face a gentle caress. "I do not care about who your father is, or you. I am interested in you, and wanted to be your friend, not your father's friend. I just thought you needed spaced from me, I didn't want to be all up in your space and shrink it for you."

"Have I ever complained?" she asked, looking me dead in the eye for the first time.

I felt chills run down my spine I wanted to quickly look away, even though I was the one who kept begging her to look at me. I shook my head in response.

"Exactly. I don't need space, okay?" she said. "Don't get me used to you and then you just start to act distant and then some day you would finally stop talking to me, then I would be back where I was before you came along."

I felt my heart break by her words. "That would never happen," I tried to reassure her. I knew her words and thought process are from past injury, which it made me a lot more sad. "I am going nowhere," I told her again.

"Don't be so sure," she warned me.

"But I am sure."

"No one can."

"I am. And if I don't, you can beat me as much as you want."

She chuckled, looking away from me with a blush. It was honestly nice to see her get shy over something silly I said, a tint of red obvious on her fair cheeks. "I would do just that," she said as she turned back to me, the color gone.

I shrugged. "Well, I would deserve it if it ever did happen." I didn't really want the topic to go on, so I stood up from where I had knelt before her to stand behind her as I asked, "What were you drawing?"

"I couldn't draw," she said simply as she stood up, picking up her canvas board and taking it into a room that I had never seen her open before. I immediately assumed it was maybe her indoor studio.

"Why?" I asked.

She shrugged as she walked out of the room, shutting it behind her. "Let's say I wasn't in a thinking state, and couldn't come up with anything positive," she replied. "And I promised myself to not draw whenever I am not in a positive state of mind."

I knew that I was the reason behind the thinking and I also knew how deep rooted the entire situation was, I didn't want to drag neither her nor myself through the entire thing again; so, I changed the topic. "How has cooking been going?" I asked with a smile and a hope at changing the topic.

Fareedah didn't look at me as she walked into her kitchen, causing me to follow her. "I wasn't able to cook, because my cooking revolves around the thought of you."

I felt my entire body heat up by her words. She might have said those words thoughtlessly, but I could swear my legs felt like jelly for some seconds I thought I was going to drop to the floor. The mere thought of the idea of me being a presence her memory revolved around made my entire body feel like I was in a place too hot to handle.

I looked away from her as she turned to look at me, picking up the bowl of cereal she had made. "What about you?" she asked, as she walked out of the kitchen, leading us.

"Cooking?" I stupidly asked.

She shook her head as she sat on the couch, lifting her legs to tuck. "I mean what have you been doing? How have you been doing?"

My mouth formed the letter 'O' as I nodded and took my seat not far from her on the couch so we were facing each other. "Nothing much, apart from attending classes and helping my friends, also thinking about you." But, I didn't tell her the last bit.

"You sound like a good friend," she said in reaction to me saying I was helping my friends, taking a spoon full of her cereal as she pushed it into her mouth, causing her eyes to follow. Due to the wetness of the milk, her lips look really moist and plump.

I chuckled, as I shook my head in an attempt to shake the idea of kissing her out of my head. "I try to be."

"I see." She nodded, as she lifted her head to look at me. "Are you staying the night?"

It was a Saturday and I had almost nothing doing the next day, so I nodded. I didn't tell her I hadn't planned to, but since we had only gotten over a bit of misunderstanding, I decided maybe it was best to stay.

She smiled as she replied, "Okay then." She went back to eating, while we talked about random things and got to know each other more in the process.

***

We had spent the day entire day talking, watching movie, and snacking. Nothing serious. Fareedah had insisted on testing her Jollof rice skills, so we had her jollof rice for dinner. I was in the kitchen with her, she got all the process right, but the taste wasn't quite there yet. I did tell her it was nice, and she only needed to keep practicing. She thanked me while we talked a bit before we went to our different bedrooms. The bedroom she gave me when I had first stayed at her place, she had deemed to be mine.

I had taken a quick shower, called Inoma that I wasn't coming, and was comfortable in my underwear when I heard a soft knock on my door. My heart skipped at the sound of the gentle knock. It didn't sit right with me that Fareedah was going to be the one at my door at that time, so my mind couldn't find peace, which lead to my racing heart. "Who is that?" I asked softly, trying to not trigger whoever it was.

"Fareedah," she had replied softly, causing me to quickly put in my jeans as I rushed to the door to open it for her.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I came face to face with her, my eyes unconsciously scanning her see-through night wear. My heart began to race uncontrollably, I could hear it beating in my ear. I hoped silently that she couldn't hear it, as I looked away to ask, "Is everything okay?"

She nodded, but then quickly shook her head as she looked down, fiddling with a dog like plushy she was holding. "I hope this doesn't sound weird, but on some nights, I just feel so lonely and clingy," she said so low, I had to lean in a bit to hear her. "Today just happened to be one of those days." She quickly looked up. "This is weird, isn't it? You know what, you do not have to bother with me. I am sorry I am such a bother; I would just be leaving now."

Without thinking and my hands having a mind of their own, my hands quickly grabbed her in an attempt to make her wait. "No," my mouth quickly replied.

"Are you sure?" she asked softly.

I nodded as I pulled her in, shutting the door behind her. "Get comfortable," I told her as I locked the door and turned to go join her. She was sitting at the edge of the bed, like she was scared to let loose, which only made me chuckle, almost laughing. "You know very well that, this is your house, right?" I asked. "I am merely a guest, and this all belongs to you."

She shook her head as she replied, "But this is sort of your room."

I smiled. "Nope."

"Yes, it is."

"I choose to not agree to that."

"Why?"

"Because, this entire place is yours. I remain a guest."

"No, you have stayed and come here so often, you no longer belong in the guest category."

I chuckled, grabbing her by her shoulder as I pulled her back. The feeling of her bare skin against my hands, brought me back to reality. Her skin was so tender and moist, I feared the slightest touch from me could bruise her. "Hmm, you have such tender hands," she had said as she let herself drop on the bed, staring straight at my celling. "I had a lot of people who used to ask me, 'do you do house chores, your hands are so soft'."

I smiled gently as I laid beside her. "Thank you," I said. "I actually don't think the logic applies in all situations. I have tender hands, but end up doing most of the house work when I am at home."

"So, it isn't because I don't do house work?"

I shook my head, not minding if she wasn't looking at me or noticing. But then, we both fell silent.

We were silent for some seconds before I spoke up again. "Reedah," I said, feeling strange as her name rolled off my tongue. I hardly ever called her, her name, I doubted I even ever had.

She hmm-ed in reply.

"Why don't you like talking about your family?" I asked, hoping the tiredness she felt would make her open up.

She was silent for a while, making me fear I had touched places I wasn't supposed to. "I'm sorry if-"

"No, it is okay," she quickly cut me off. "Let's just say I am not ready to have that conversation yet," she said as she sat up, staring down at me and making my stomach churn. "When I am ready, I would tell you. For now, let's lay down properly so we can sleep."

I nodded as I stood up, checking my phone that was on the bedside table for time. It was around 1 in the morning. "Wow, it is late," I told her as I laid down on the left side of the bed while she took the right. I left a bit of space in the middle, so our bodies wouldn't be touching each other. But goodness, what was going on inside Fareedah's head was different. She scooted closer, causing me to feel the heat radiating from her body. My heart stopped for a second, before it started racing out of control. It hurt, it hurt so much I wanted to pull it out of my chest, but I decided to catch my breath instead and sleep.

"Can you tell me about your family?" she said softly, causing shivers to run down my spine from the breath that fanned my neck when she spoke. "Can you turn to me and tell me the good things? Your voice can be quite relaxing and I need to hear something to send me off to sleep?"

I nodded and turned, so I was face to face with her. The space between our face was so little, I wanted to shift back but didn't have space and Fareedah wasn't shifting back. I tried to maintain eye contact with her, so my eyes didn't roam to any other part of her body. But, I also couldn't maintain eye contact because she made my heart race. "I come from a family of five," I started. "An elder sister, a younger brother, alongside my mom and dad."

"So little," she muttered.

I could feel her gaze on me as I continued talking, "Yhep. It might seem little, but is also still loud and busy. Having a younger brother makes the house feel like you have an entire crowd in there." I chuckled. "But it still is fun and nice, there is hardly a boring day with him around. Watching him grow from the baby he was to the little boy he is now, would always be one of the highlights of my life."

"Must be nice," she commented.

I nodded with a smile. "It is." But, my smile didn't last long before I looked up at her and asked, "Are you really okay hearing about my family?"

She smiled gently as she nodded, pulling her plushy away from between us and putting it right behind her. "It makes me happy to know not every family is like mine, and some people do actually have happy home."

I nodded. "If you say so." With that, I began telling her happy moments I shared with my family, talking about my brother and sister. Smiling at her occasionally replies and hmm-s.

After a while of simply talking, till I myself had begun to miss my family, I looked at Fareedah. She had a different look in her eyes, a type I had never seen before. She had a soft smile on, causing me to become shy under her gaze. I didn't get to quickly look away before I heard a faint 'I'm sorry' and a pair of soft lips pressed to mine. It took me a second to realize what was going on, before my entire system shut down and then my heart picked up every fast. I thought it was going to shoot out my mouth, but within those seconds of thinking things through and trying to register what was going on, my mouth had started responding to the kiss. My entire body heated up as she opened her mouth, deepen the kiss. It was like somebody had light something in my head, and shut it down. I could swear on that spot, I wasn't in my right sense anymore I was only acting on impulse at that point in time. I let my right-hand slip under her satin bonnet, feeling her hair between my fingers as I pulled in deeper. Her hands move from the back of my head – where it had been to try to steady me - to the small of my back.

By the time we pulled apart to catch our breaths, Fareedah looked up at me through her lashes as she said, "Thank you." With that, she let her eyes close slowly, turning her back to me to I was cuddling her. "Goodnight," she muttered so quiet, I almost didn't hear her.

"Night," I replied. But, I couldn't sleep. She had slept almost immediately; I knew from how her body relaxed not long after she turned. My entire body was still on fire from the kiss, my lips still tingling from it, and my body jerking with sparks at the thought of it. I couldn't believe it; it was like a wild dream come true.