The Things I Said

 The next morning, Diiriye’s mobile began to buzz. He was still in bed unable to muster the strength to get up. The previous day’s emotional roller-coaster has drained all energy from him. He raised his head from the pillow, glancing at the screen of the buzzing phone, to see the identity of the caller. In the course of last night, every time his phone buzzed, he cautiously studied it to identify who was calling. He guarded himself against the mistake of answering a call from Nimco. What he could not know however, was that Haajir has already snatched away her phone, keeping her in what seemed like a state of virtual house arrest. If anyone else related to her were to call him, he thought, it would be either Haajir or other members of her family. He studied the caller’s number for sometime before he answered it, and after some examination, realized that it was one of his friends.  

.’Hello, hello, Musex!’ he said. ‘Sorry I couldn’t answer the phone any sooner mate’  ‘Oh it’s alright mate’ replied Musex, joking ‘I thought you were having a shag or sum’ing.’

.They both laughed. I hope that was the case, he wished. 

 ‘Ah, you and your sex-crazed mind Musex.’  

.As things stood, it seemed like the prospect of shagging a woman looked most bleak. To a good measure, the only woman he had hopped to win over, marry and ‘make love’ to, was the last person in the world who would want to see him now. He cursed Nimco for being such a bad omen. How could she delude herself that much?  How could she think I would want her around even foe a single day? To believe I harboured feelings for her shows how deluded she is. That much delusion he suspected of her.   

.‘I was simply in bed mate,’ he said, while scratching his uncombed head. ‘My bed may never feel the embrace of fairy one’ he went on to lament.

.Musex, whose real name is Mustafa, has gained quite a reputation for constantly talking about women and sex. And aware of this reputation, Diiriye always joked to Musex that he’ll will never see the fair skin of a naked woman, let alone sleep with her. However, at this moment in time, Diiriye strongly believed that even Musex stood a better chance with women than he.

.Musex, instead of continuing with his usual subject of conversation, somehow sensed from Diiriye’s voice and comment that he must be feeling a little down today.  

.‘Mate, don’t curse your bed with such pessimism. Of course, it would sooner happen. You are our guru in the department of woman seduction, remember?’ said Musex.

.He hoped such a comment would encourage Diiriye to assume his usual confident self. But it didn’t seem to work.  

.‘Hear, hear!’ cheered Diiriye faintly. ‘Is there something you are not telling you Diiriye?’ ‘No, mate, its nothing bro’ ‘Alright friend, if you say so’ said Musex unconvinced.  

.Fearing that Musex would eventually uncover the truth about his uneasiness, Diiriye wanted to change the subject. He is by nature secretive about sharing his private affairs with anyone. Since his childhood, he has kept everything to himself.  Even when he was suffering under a painful psychological difficulty, he managed to bottle it up. The only time he has shared his person affairs or love interests with someone, was when he poured his heart out to Haajir. The consequences of that were now too painful to make a similar mistake. 

.‘Musex, I am surprised that you called! You never do!’ wondered Diiriye.

.Musex laughed and tried dispute Diiriye’s observation but realized that it was true. He was never good at communication. 

.‘Yeah, you are right mate’ he admitted.‘But actually, the reason I called you was that, our friend, Haajir, is organizing the guys’ get-together and he has asked me to invite you to it.’

.The mention of Haajir’s name sent a chill down Diiriye’s spine. He fell into silence thinking, poor Musex, he did not know he was inviting to my own potential death.Diiriye did not know what to say, or how to react to the get-together’s invitation. The invitation, for him, was equivalent to a double-edged sword.

.On the one hand, were he to turn it down, he may miss an important chance. A chance to explain to Haajir, in the presence of friends, that he might have wrongly misconstrued the awkward situation he witnessed in Nimco’s house.  

.On the other hand, were he to accept it, he was afraid, despite the presence of friends, Haajir might create a scene. Moreover in the back of his head, he feared the invitation to the get-together might be the machination of Haajir, in consort with Nimco’s brothers, to put him in a position to harm him.

.After what might have been several minutes of silence and attention seeking yells from Musex, he began talking again.

.‘Musex! I hear you, I hear you, mate. Take it easy bro. But just listen to me, you hear?’ he requested. ‘Alright! Alight, man!’ replied Musex. Demanding ‘but don’t turn a deaf on me again man.’ Diiriye agreed to this demand and began explaining ‘Musex, there is something I have to tell you bro, before I accept or reject the invitation to the get-together….’  

.He carried on revealing what had happened long enough to make Musex calling credits run out, but had to call him back to finish his revelations. When he finished explaining, the only comment came back from Musex ‘holy cow, man you sure are in deep shit!’  

.‘Yeah man, I know. I am in deep shit, but how can I really need solve this ticking time-bomb?’  

.Musex, the quick-thinker that he is, came out with a plan of action. The plan was that Diiriye would accept the invitation but there contingency plan incase Haajir decides to make a scene.

.First, before Diiriye could to at the get-together, Musex would persuade a well-respected and wise older friend to join them at the meeting venue.  

.Second, soon after the older friend arrives, two of the other friends would accompany Diiriye to the venue, and they arrived, would sit on both sides of Diiriye. Musex himself would sit next to Haajir so as to constrain were he to lash out at Diiriye.

.The older friend, informed of the sensitive situation was to talk some sense into Haajir, and accept to forgive Diiriye. Thus, after the phone conversation has ended, Musex set out to make the plan operational, and has succeeded in making it work. 

.Around the table sat all the invited friends, who were chit-chatting amongst themselves. Diiriye made some attempts to join the chit-chats but was failing terribly. However, that did not stop him from pretending to engage with his chitchatting friends.

.What made him less comfortable even more was the restaurant’s ambiance. A loud Arabic music blasted and spread across from two speakers, positioned right above the table the group sat. He wished the waiter would turn the volume down and told so him so twice. Yet, the volume remained as loud as it was he first entered the restaurant. At least in this serious moment deserved a reverent silence, he thought. 

.Occasionally, he stole glances at Haajir who was quiet and looking very serious. He would have given anything to know what was going through Haajir’s mind at that moment, because his serious silence was highly worrisome.  

.All the while, their older friend was studying the body language of both Haajir and Diiriye. Realizing that both of them were growing ever more uneasy, he picked up an empty glass of water before, tapping it on the table to summon the group’s attention.

.With the attention of the group gained, before he began to address them, raw anger seemed to taking hold of Haajir’s resolute face. This could not be good, Diiriye feared.

.True to his thought, it was going to be good for him.  Haajir came across as though he wanted to take advantage of the groups’ silence and attention.

.‘You bastard,’ he shouted loudly. ‘I fucking trusted you and took you into the house to him you. What did I get from you for gratitude? A fucking backstabbing, how could you?’ while at the same time hurling the heavy cup in his hand, hitting Diiriye squarely on the forehead.  

.Everyone jumped. Some ducking as the flying cup flew past them to its intended destination. The friend sitting near Diiriye, in the chaos of the moment, violently fell off his chair, landing on the restaurant’s maple floor.

.The group’s un-choreographed and impulsive reaction sent out a confused commotion across the restaurant. This alarmed the staff who ran flying towards the group’s table. Within a few heartbeats, blood started streaming from Diiriye forehead. The old friend, sustaining a broken skin on his cheek from his impact on the floor, also was bleeding. The rest had no injuries, but the shock the moment has produced still lingered on their faces.

.They all looked greatly shocked Haajir’s act.Who would have thought this would happen. After all they were there to do their best to avert such a thing happening. Their shock turned to wonder and dread.