2

It was a beautiful day full of adventure for Salma. She parted ways with Adam from the café. She was still checking every house to confirm if there was at least one person available. However, in all the houses she trespassed into, there was no one. She laughed her heart out, wishing for the dream not to end soon.

Adam walked on the empty street. The tall trees hovered against the air as he kept walking and walking to every possible place he could visit to search for his family.

"It is a dream."

He almost tripped over the unnoticeable stone when he heard her voice in his head. He searched around for her with his eyes. After he saw she wasn't there, he exhaled a sigh of relief.

He reminded himself to maintain as much distance as he could from her until his family returned because it was not even appropriate to be with her alone even if it were streets away.

Salma was living her best life. She was glad there was still electricity. She quashed down the spoonful of chocolate Ice cream into her mouth. As it melted inside, satisfaction and joy surged through her spine. She told herself she would eat freely for the day, since one can't gain weight in a dream. She found cooked food and Ice cream in the 24/7 restaurant. The food was still warm, so she ate the deliciousness until her stomach said it can't take more. She had arranged how she would spend her day in her dream. She was aware she would soon wake up, so before she did, she took herself to the aviation industry. It was her dream to fly a plane. She was fulfilling it without having to pay a single penny. She went into the pilot's corner and took his seat. Adam showed up and took the other.

"What are you doing here? Are you mad?" They chorus together to each other.

"Why are you here? Get out of my dream, please." Salma told him.

"It's not a dream. Aren't you scared of the law when they return? You'll be sent to jail. You went into a restaurant and ate without paying. Now, you're trying...."

The laugh she released got him halted.

"Really? Do you think there's law in a dream?"

"It's not a dream." He emphasized over every word with gritted teeth while looking deep into her brown eyes, the color of coffee to make her understand.

"You're in my dream because I kept thinking about how to approach you last night to save my company from being overshadowed by others and you. This is why you're here, right?"

He despised arguing because every second, every minute, of his life was precious. He calmed himself by breathing out and spoke. "You will go to jail when everyone returns."

"Okay. I accept. Can you please leave?"

"Can you fly a plane?"

"I flew many in childhood. In the flight simulator game. It's very easy." She said with excitement.

He tried to explain to her the difference between a real plane and a game. He showed her switches which were not available in the game she played in the past, and also told her starting the plane would only risk their lives.

"Don't be a joy killer. Let me live the way I want. I can't kill myself in a dream. I will have to wake up later."

"It's not a dream."

"Okay. I agree with you. Can you leave now?"

He sighed at her stubbornness and told her he couldn't leave her alone.

"Why?" She jumped to ask immediately.

"Aren't you bothered about your family on where they could be? I'm really surprised at how cool you are. Your mother, father, sister. Are you not bothered that you woke up in the morning and didn't meet any of them?"

He saw a sudden change in her excitement from her mood as she bitterly exclaimed with sadness that not everyone was blessed with a loving family like him. She got up and stormed out, while he weighed upon what he blurted and asked himself if he did something wrong. After he left, he saw her sight at the beach, and he followed.

"Why are you back?"

"Are you crying?" He asked.

"Seriously? Cry for people who don't deserve it?" her confidence subdued her pain as she uttered. Over the years, she had perfectly mastered the act of concealing her pain from others. She handled it well, so much that others thought she was heartless. She shut the people who talk down on her without fear. Her parents were a matter she disliked discussing. They fell out after she found out she was betrothed to her cousin at the age of seven, for them to be married as soon as she reached fifteen. The idea was first put into her head. As she gradually grew up to eleven years old after her sight was widened to how the world worked, she told her parents she'd appreciate it if they let her choose who she wished to marry in the future. From that day, she saw hate, anger, and despise from them because no one in the house could give his say which she did. At the age of fourteen when the preparations for her wedding started that was after she got her first period, she disagreed to be married to a man who was almost twenty years older than her. She left home and built herself alone without help because her parents and society disowned her. Only she knew the pain she went through. However, when she remembered the past and saw how far she came until she encountered the owner of The Pure company, she felt proud of herself. Without the support of anyone, she stood on her own and was still standing, so there was no way she would cry over that topic again.

"Your parents deserve every tear of yours. They brought you to the world. Nurtured you to become who you are, but I guess the illusion of the world has made you forget our traditional roots."

She smiled at him and nodded. "We don't keep relations with family. I believe in America, you live independently after attaining adulthood. Same here. I'm living independently."

"This isn't America. This is Nigeria."

"I studied in America. I've adopted some of their culture, which is more civilized than a typical Hausa family where you must sit when you're being asked."

"I get it now. This is why you got the confidence. You're going on the wrong path, and after you get lonely, you'll run back to your family."

"Over my dead body." She proceeded to return home.

"Which period are we, oh God, where all the females take sins as modernization?" He questioned the sky.

"21st!" Salma shouted as she headed for home.