The rain woke me up earlier than the usual time I wake up which is by 5am to pray subh. It's currently 3:30am and I can't seem to go back to sleep, I get up from bed and find my slippers, I make sure I'm quiet enough so that I don't wake Zainab; It seems like she got home very late yesterday.
I sashay through the parlor as I move to the balcony to watch the rain. The moment I open the door, the cold air hits me in all sections of my body giving me chills, I pull the white robe and cover my body properly- there's a cap on my head, I adjust it too. There are numerous flower pots in the balcony because Zainab loves to plant. The flowers I can recognize are Aloe Vera and Hibiscus flowers; the rest are known to her.
I turn my head towards the sky, I am always jealous of how the rain falls freely and fiercely, that sometimes I wish it was me falling on every part of the world, making my presence known. My phone beeps indicating that it's time of prayer, I linger a little bit before going back in to perform ablution.
While praying a thought crosses my mind about the fact that I don't have a date partner but I push it to the back of my mind and concentrate on my prayer. Today will be the beginning of the 30 dates as I had written down in my planner so before the end of today I have to find a man to go out with.
After praying I tap Zainab on her shoulder when she resists. I whisper that it's time for prayer in her ears, this makes her wake up with a jolt. Zainab's weak points are her ears.
It's 7am already and there's no sign of sleep in my eyes so I decide to clean the house. Cleaning up is my outlet, it's a way in which I use to reflect, think, and make plans.
While Zainab snores softly, I use the broom to sweep our room before proceeding to the parlor to sweep and then the kitchen. I also sweep the balcony, there's no compound to sweep because we stay up stairs. After sweeping I wash the dishes and dust the couch and TV stand and also the cupboards in our room. I check the time and it's 9 already.
I have bathed, eaten bread and hot chocolate but Zainab is still sleeping, if I allow her to continue sleeping she would sleep for the whole day. I walk towards the room with a very cold glass of water in my hand, she knows that we have lectures by 12 today but she decides to sleep like a sloth.
I enter the room and find her rubbing her eyes, "You should be thankful you're awake because I brought this cold water especially for you. You would have felt cold water on your body as my good morning to you."
She gives me a deadly stare but I continue talking, "We have General's Maths404 and you're sleeping like you have been gifted millions."
"It's just 9 Falak, let me hear word."
I resist the urge to roll my eyes, the drive from our apartment to school is an hour so we literally have just one hour left to make it on time for lectures and this particular man is very strict and is wicked to women mostly. Zainab and I have been in his bad books from first semester so we have no choice but to always go to his class early or it'll result in an automatic carry over. His words.
"I'll take my bath and get ready as soon as possible." Zainab says rushing to the toilet.
"No oo please don't hurry up. It'll shock you when I pick my bag and leave, you'll simply meet me in school."
She opens the toilet door and blows me a kiss but I wave it off.
Thirty minutes later Zainab comes out of our room wearing Ankara: a skirt and a peplum blouse. She has ruby woo colored lipstick on, she looks at the vanity mirror in the living room but I don't give her the chance to check herself well when I drag her away from it to the door. I push her out of the door and lock it before going down the stairs.
The Uber arrived on cue and we set sail.
In the car I notice Zainab checking me out but I decide to ignore her.
"When will you start dressing normal?" she asks but I keep ignoring her.
I have my airpods in so I switch on my songs when I feel her hands drag the airpods away from my ears immediately. I turn and look at her face angry but the moment I make eye contact with her I burst into a fit of laughter.
Zainab has the cutest face in the whole wide world and I love her so much that I can't stay angry with her for more than necessary.
"You wasted our time." I say to Zainab as I give her a deadly glare. She checks her wristwatch and tells me that it's only 11:30 and that she's positive we would arrive at the lecture venue before the General arrives. I'm silently praying that it's so.
We arrive at school at 11:50, our department which is the department of Statistics is close to the school entrance so we walk hurriedly to the class.
"We'll get back seats all thanks to you Madam." I say to Zainab as we make way into the classroom but unfortunately or fortunately we meet an empty class.
"Where are all the students?" Zainab asks me and I respond, "If you ask me na who I go ask?" in pidgin.
She rolls her eyes and hisses at me but I smile and put my arms around her shoulder and in the process say, "Omawunmi."
"What about her?" Zainab asks frustrated at the empty class and at my nonchalance.
"What I said before is a quote from her song."
Zainab hisses loudly, I think it's one of the loudest hiss I have ever heard. I stop joking and decide to call the class representative.
After three seconds ringing he picks up the call.
"why's the class empty Farouk?" I ask desperately waiting to hear him say that there'll be no lecture.
"General was caught up in a minor accident so there'll be no class today until tomorrow."
"What course will we be taking tomorrow?" I ask him while I resist the urge to scream thank God for the absence of General.
"Statistics403"
I thank the class rep and end the call. While I was speaking to him Zainab had already found a place for her to sit and rest. I approach her and say, "General won't be coming today."
Zainab jumps and hugs me, as she begins to laugh. We both dislike the man's lecture because of how judgemental and how full of himself he is. We also don't like his class because he spends half of lecture time judging and criticizing women and also making the women in the class feel insignificant and unworthy.
I pity him for the accident but I do not regret the fact that I won't see his face until next week Monday.
Zainab didn't take breakfast so she told me that she knows a place where we can get food and she takes me to a provision store to buy water and doughnuts. While she sits and eats she converses with the shopkeeper, an elderly woman who would be about the age of 45.
I am uncomfortable with the seat, it's a wooden bench and it's making me feel uneasy. I connect my airpods and play leave the light on by Tom Walker, a few minutes into vibing with it Zainab nudges me with her elbow apparently she has paid the shopkeeper and wants us to go back home.
I pause my song as I pick up my backpack and we start moving, while walking I think of thousands of ways I'll find a man to go out with tonight. Tonight has to be the first date night.
Zainab notices my confusion and decides to engage me in a conversation, "Have you gotten someone to go on a date with tonight?"
"No" I say, "apparently it's harder than I thought it would be."
"Things are always harder than they seem Falak. Do you want to change your mind about it?"
I say no without even thinking, It may be crazy but I want to do this and there's nothing changing my mind.
Think of the negative aspect a part of me says but I shove it aside and keep walking. One way or the other I'm going on that date tonight.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We arrive home by 2:00 pm, Zainab is cooking rice and peppered chicken in the kitchen. I'm watching SpongeBob SquarePants in the parlor with my feet up on the center table, I have my diary and pen close to me so I decide to check the list I made about the type of characteristics I want to find in a man.
I wrote 30 things that I may discover in each man on these dates. I turn to a clean page and write about my day and the plans I have for later in the day.
As I increase the volume of the television Zainab's phone begins to ring. It's beside me so I pick it up and find out that it's her boyfriend calling her. I take my legs off the center table and walk towards the kitchen, when I reach the kitchen I pass her phone to her telling her that it's her boyfriend calling.
She cleans her wet hands on the kitchen towel and collects the phone, "Hello baby." I hear her say and it squeezes my heart, I walk back to the parlor and sulk on the couch. SpongeBob is currently frustrating Squidward as usual and I can't help but laugh out loud.
Zainab is done preparing the food, it tastes great as always. She cooks as good as she makes up her face.
As we eat I watch SpongeBob but zainab says, "Can you change the station please?"
I can't help but change it because she hardly watches television, "What would you like to watch?" I inquire and she tells me soundcity so I tune into the music channel and drop the remote. Just as I'm about to take my third spoon of rice and a chunk of chicken Zainab says, "I told Al-Amin about your plan."
I look at her with wide eyes now, I don't know how to digest what she just said. Should I be angry that she discussed my personal choices with her boyfriend or should I ignore being angry and the rational person in me says that I should overlook it so I ask her, "What did he say?"
"He said that it's the first time he's hearing of something like this but you have his 100% support and he supports your choices."
I smile now because he didn't judge me like Zainab did, "He called and invited us over for dinner." Zainab says as she sucks on a chicken bone. I have no choice but to accept, If I refuse to follow Zainab then my day one plan may not be successful and I don't want to start this challenge on a negative note.
"I'll go." I say while standing up to take my plate to the kitchen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There's a very dark cloud outside, from the couch I'm on I can see the balcony through our transparent door, the sky is dark and it's just 5pm the flower stems are moving aggressively with the wind. I have already gotten ready because Zainab had told me that Al-Amin would be around in any minute.
I decided to wear a top and a jacket with a medium sized veil due to the weather. I have black boots on and my airpods in my pocket, I always take my airpods everywhere I'm going to.
Little by little I begin to hear the pitter patter of rain on the roof, Zainab enters the parlor and tells me that our ride is here, I suddenly want to ask her to go alone but that would be rude since I agreed to go in the first place so I strap a waist bag on and put my phone and lip gloss in before following behind Zainab.
Zainab and I were shocked to find out that outside is way darker than how we saw it from upstairs, the rain was also heavier than how I thought it was so she hurried into the front seat of the car while I opened the right side of the car's back seat.
I was unaware that a person was there until I sat on a lap instead of the car seat. The moment I felt my butt on someone's lap I jumped out of the car. Next thing I heard was Al-Amin's voice saying, "You should have adjusted when you knew that she was opening that side."
While I was still in the rain the person from the car dragged me into the car to stop me from getting wet further.
"I'm sorry, I was so engrossed on my phone that I didn't realize you were going to enter through my side." the guy said apologetically.
I bent my head in shame for also not being vigilant enough to notice that someone was in the car. I don't say anything until Al-Amin says, "Good evening Falak."
"Good evening Al-Amin, thank you for inviting me out." I say sighing and also wishing I had stayed home and watched a film.
Zainab and Al-Amin burst out laughing, "Why do you need to thank me for everything Falak, it makes it formal and there's no need for formalities between you and I."
Zainab laughs and says, "Falak is that way, she says thank you for everything, just get used to it."
I wish the seat could open up so that I can enter it. The guy beside me is quiet and only interested in his phone. As the rain pours and the car moves, I connect my airpods and play Bruno Mars's Versace on the floor.
The car comes to a halt and this makes me pause my song. The rain isn't pouring now and Al-Amin has turned off the car. Zainab is the first to go out and then I follow the next person to go out of the car is the guy I sat close to.
I am fixing my veil but the moment I take my head up my eyes meet with the guy's face, he's a young man probably the age of Zainab's boyfriend. He has a long nose and a slim figure, he has beards and an innocent face.
We all walk into the restaurant, the outside of Tulip Bistro is filled with beautiful flowers and so is the decor on the inside. It's very romantic when you think of the fact that Al-Amin always brings us to the restaurant because he knows that Zainab loves flowers.
"You haven't quoted anything since the day before yesterday." Zainab says, "Is everything alright?"
I don't reply but I smile at her. My mind has been jumbled up since I saw my ex-boyfriend. What could it mean for me to have seen him? And the most hurtful part is that he didn't recognize me. I don't want to bother anyone with my problems so I tell Zainab that it's nothing.
We find a table and we order food, it's brought in a short period of time. Al-Amin and Zainab are in a different world, a world filled with love and happiness as he feeds her from his plate and she feeds him from her plate.
The guy sitting besides me is still on his phone, he occasionally eats his food and gets back to his phone so I am left alone with my thoughts. It's almost 10 and I haven't gotten a date. Maybe this whole idea is stupid and it'll be better if I discard it, as Zainab puts a spoon of carrot soup in Al-Amin's mouth I stand up and take excuse to receive fresh air from outside.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Zainab and Al-Amin ask me but I reassure them that I'm fine, I pull my Jean jacket very close to my body and walk out of the restaurant.
I decide to take a walk for thirty minutes before returning to the restaurant. I begin to walk but as I take my tenth step someone calls me from behind.
"Would you mind if I tagged along?" he says upon approach.
I am surprised to see Al-Amin's friend but I tell him that I don't mind so we begin to walk aimlessly. We are both silent, all I can think of is what is going on in his mind. He decides to break the silence.
"I was uncomfortable with your friends and Al-Amin's public display of affection that's why I left them."
I smile at him and say, "They do that a lot so I'm used to it. I needed to take a walk and feel the fresh air that's why I left."
"Do you want to ditch them and go on your own date?"
I'm suspicious now so I ask him, "Did Al-amin ask you to do this?"
He looks confused, this assures me that he wasn't told about my plans. I hear myself uttering, "When you want something all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it."
"Paulo Coelho?" he asks and I begin to giggle because I'm happy that he knows.
"Where were you heading to though?" he asks and I say, "I know a quiet spot."
He nods his head while checking his phone for the upteenth time this evening. I wonder what is on this phone that's so important, that's making him check it every minute. I find myself prying by asking,
"What's on your phone that's making you agitated?"
"What?" he asks, I repeat myself but now I regret saying it. I reprimand myself because it's wrong to pry on people's lives but he doesn't seem angry.
We have come across a bench with a canopy over it, it's dry and would fit two people, he sits and I sit. We are quiet for a while until I decide to ask him of his name.