Chapter 12

                                    

                                          
~°°~Spend a lot of time with yourself, it's called self love~°°~
Abuja, Nigeria. 
19th January, 2022. 
8:47 am.
Beep, beep, beep........... "Hasbunallah"
A startled Sayf woke up from his sleep muttering the tasbih, he had a nightmare about someone close to him dying but he couldn't see the face of the person. 
He turned his face taking in a deep breath and looked at the clock by the side of his mattress, it was 4:14 in the morning so he didn't bother trying to fall asleep again since it will soon be time for prayer. Just as he expected it, he didn't even realise when time flew and it was time for him to pray. 
He stepped out of his tent and fetched some water, performed the ablution and waited for the rest so that they'll pray together. 
"I am going to the mountains today, I need to get network to call home, it has been a while" Jabir said to them after they've paused their prayers. 
There was a mountain few minutes walk away from there and behind it is where they get a network to make a call because there was no network in their camp. "Yes, let's go together after breakfast before we start the patrol" Zanna said making Jabir to nod at him. 
"I guess Ray must be done with the food, we should check" Jalal said getting up on his feet, he wore his shoes and headed to the open space where they prepare their simple food everyday. 
After the breakfast, Lieutenant Jabir and Zanna left for the mountains as discussed. Each one of them called home and chatted for a while with their families before Jabir went on to check the internet. The first news he saw there shocked him and he had to recheck if he misread the headline.
As if not believing what he saw, he passed the phone to Zanna so he will confirm. And truly, it was the death of Alhaji Hakeem Elnafaty because even when they googled it, it appeared to be true. The two immediately set back to the camp with only one thought in their minds how they will break the news to Sayf. 
Throughout their journey back to the camp, none of them said a word because they were grieving and thinking about how to break the news to the others. 
Even before they reached their destination, they knew that they could not tell Sayf themselves so they decided to allow Imran to do that since he was the only one among them who knows how to start a conversation with Sayf. 
Sayf mostly shuts them out whenever they try to get into a conversation with him but with Imran, it was different. 
Everyone at camp sensed problem by mere looking at the faces of the two and when those two told them about everything, they also joined them in grieving. 
All of them except Hameed knew it will be awkward when Sayf  receives the news because they knew he had not been home in years and never discuss about his family to any of them. Imran on the other hand understood his loneliness, he understood how badly he missed his family and also understood his love for them so he could imagine how he would react to the news. 
"You will have to be the one to tell him" Zanna said to Imran and even without being told, Imran knew he had to be the one to tell him. But how he was supposed to tell him was what he kept thinking about.