It was a Monday morning and it was raining heavily. Salamat was cold throughout the night because of the heavy rain and was unable to wake up on time for the early morning prayers. She woke up an hour past the hour of 5 a.m and scrambled out of bed to observe her prayer. After praying, she went back to bed and slept for another 3 hours. The rain stopped at exactly 10:00 am. Feeling hungry and cold, she went to the kitchen to boil some water for tea and she met her mother in the kitchen already cooking. "Ekaaro mummy mi (good morning mummy)", she greeted kneeling. "Karo Omowunmi mi (Morning Omowunmi)", her mother answered. "How was your night?" "It was fine mummy, just that it was cold", Salamat replied. "No wonder you are just waking up", her mother said and smiled. "Your old man is still sleeping." Salamat laughed and said, "Actually I woke up an hour ago. Daddy told me yesterday that we won't be traveling today again." "Yes we have a lot to sort out but we need to continue packing. We might finish up before Wednesday and then by Friday we would be on our way. As for me, I have to go to the office today to hand over my resignation letter and also to request f transfer. So it's your old man that is delaying us now." "Mummy, I will surely miss this place and everyone around here. I still can't believe we are leaving but I understand it's for my sake. Mummy, thanks for all the sacrifices, may the Lord continue to bless you. I appreciate it." "It's ok dear, you can go and freshen up then you come over for breakfast." "Okay mummy", Salamat said and started for the door. She was about to enter her room when she heard her mother saying, "Wunmi, go and wake that old man, he has had enough sleep." Salamat smiled and turned back to go to her parent's bedroom. She woke her dad up and greeted him before going back to her room to take a bath. After bathing, they all ate a late breakfast of pap and beans cake. Mr. Ade left for the office immediately after breakfast for some clearance. He has been trying to transfer his business to their new location but has been proving difficult. He was also worried about keeping and getting new customers in the new location. They all decided to go far from Ogun state, their present location. They debated on where to go and finally chose the North. Mrs. Ade told her husband that she will like to go to Zaria while Salamat prefers Kano. Salamat has heard a lot about Kano state which is known as the state of commerce and industry. But Mr. Ade's target area was Katsina and Adamawa for his business. Mr. Ade has an uncle in Adamawa and a friend in Katsina and after several debating, they chose Katsina. An hour later, Mrs. Ade left for the office too after instructing Salamat to do some packing. Salamat packed the dirty clothes that will be taken to laundry later in the day into a big polythene bag. When she was done packing, she laid down on the bed, and old memories of her childhood with grandma came rushing. She thought of her secondary school classmates and also some of her friends from an Islamic school. She thought of how badly she was going to miss everyone even though they don't relate well anymore. The thought of writing also came to her mind. She stood up and went closer to her drawer to bring out a sheet of paper and a pen. She left her room and went to the sitting room to start writing when she heard a knock on the front door. Thus, she remembered she forgot to lock the gate when her mum went out. She left the paper and her pen on the settee and went to answer the door. Standing there was Habib. "Habib, good afternoon, how may I help you?", Salamat said coolly. "Can I come in?", Habib asked with an expressionless face. "No, I'm home alone and I think it's best you say whatever you want to say on time before mum comes back." Habib hearing she was the only one at home decided to take advantage of the situation. He banged in and sat down on the settee opposite where Salamat was seated minutes ago. His actions surprised Salamat. "Habib, what is the meaning of this?" "Meaning of what?", he thundered with a stern look. "Sit down, let's talk", he ordered. "No, I won't. I don't want to hear what you want to say so please leave", she was enraged at his behavior. "Fine, you will have to listen to me by force then", Habib stood up and approached her but Salamat stood her ground looking fearless. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her to a seat. Salamat seeing how violent he was became scared. She saw a veil beside her and used it to cover herself. Habib laughed. "Virgin Mary..... I never knew you were this loose and I was busy wasting my time. I professed my love for you but what did you say 'I think being friends is enough, there is nothing more valuable than friendship.'", he said, mimicking Salamat's word. "Habib......" "Keep quiet, I'm not done. I never knew you were this worthless and here you are trying to cover yourself so I can think you are decent." "Habib", she called, standing up and looking tearful. "That's enough, I never knew you were here to humiliate me. Since you don't believe me, then it's high time you get going", she said. "Humiliate you? You humiliated me by going around sleeping with men old enough to be your father and you stand here talking to me like a saint. All my friends are making jest of me. I trusted you, Wumi." "What are you talking about? Who is sleeping around? Are you sure you are not mistaking me for your sister?", Salamat asked back with a confused look. He slapped her on the cheek. "How dare you say that? I fought with my sister several times because of you not knowing you are a sheep in a human's clothing", he yelled at her. Salamat held her cheek and looked him in the eye. "Habib, get out of this house now before I do something rash. You have done enough harm and I have had enough of your stupidity", she screamed holding firmly onto her loose veil and pushing him with the other hand. Habib removed his hand from her hold and forcefully yanked at her clothing. Her veil fell to the ground and he moved closer to her menacingly. Salamat seeing the dangerous look on his face searched the sitting room for what to use as a weapon. She thought of running to her bedroom but she knew she was in for a chase. Her eyes fell on her fountain pen which was on the sheet of paper and also the flower vase on the center table. "Habib, please stop this nonsense", she said. Habib didn't reply but instead grabbed and pushed her to the couch again. He slapped her again and grabbed at her shirt. Salamat was already dizzy but was fortunate enough to get a hold of her pen and used it to pierce his side. He screamed and got off her. Salamat quickly stood up and picked up the flower vase, hit him on the head, and ran to the bedroom. When she got to the bedroom, she locked the door and picked up her phone which was on her bed. She dialed her mum's number but it was unreachable and she dialed her dad's who picked at the first ring. "Princess, what's up?", her dad said from the other side. Salamat was already swaying and she felt faint. At first, she couldn't find her voice but then she finally said with tears streaming down her face. "Daddy, please come home" and she passed out.