Tales of the Heart.

Chapter 4|Imaan.

Imaan (14 years old)

2011

Clad in a beige wrap dress, black heeled boots and the amazing leather jacket Daddy got me on my last birthday I shot a look at Amaani who was tying the shoelace of her white sneakers.

"I'm ready." She announced, bouncing around on the balls of her feet.

"Let's go."

This was the first time Ya Abdullah was visiting in four years and to be honest we don't know what to expect from him because a lot has changed over the years. Daddy calls us his little ladies now.

Lina has grown into the bombshell everyone knew she was going to be as a grown up, her sass and snobbery has grown tenfold too and one month ago she graduated from secondary school.

Amaani hasn't changed much, she's still the go-to girl for her usual outfits, her closet is so filled with white, lilac and sky blue t-shirts and shirts they could make one's eyes hurt. Despite all she says about Lina and I being health freaks she is one helluva neat freak.

Ya Abdullah and Ya Sadiq graduated from the academy two years ago, only Daddy got to attend their passing out ceremony because we weren't on school break but we sent all of our love to them in poems, gifts we wrapped up ourselves and after Daddy got back we went on a celebratory dinner without the graduates. One thing all four of us have in common around here is eating out.

There are two women in charge of cooking at home, we have another maid who sees to the house everyday. Only Lina has a little bit of passion for cooking, I and Amaani could make do with foods from boxes or what's available in the refrigerator. We're not lazy per se, just that we have better things to do and no one's complaining.

The two of us raced to Daddy's Ford Edge with each wanting to ride shotgun. In my heels I barely made it before Amaani's shoe came skidding off the gravel.

"Bleh, who cares about shotgun when there's so much space in the back anyways?" Amaani shrugged, that was pretense. She loves riding shotgun.

"Sore loser." I stuck my tongue out, got comfortable and took out my phone, Daddy got us each an iPhone 4s on our birthdays, mine was black and Amaani's was white. Due to the fact that I was born a month before Amaani was, we picked the date that fell in between our birthdays and celebrated on that day. That didn't mean we weren't celebrated on our actual dates, no. Our chosen date was more so our friends could celebrate with us on one day and be done with it, we also accept presents that day.

Half an hour later we were in the waiting area searching for Ya A with our eyes. We've seen pictures of him over the years and we talked over video call so many times, so the moment he came into my line of sight I gasped and pointed at him finding it hard to stand still. He looked so much older and so much taller. His grin was wide as Daddy gave him a side hug, he crouched, parted his arms and squished us into one big embrace.

When we got into the car I couldn't tell who chattered louder than the other but I know that Amaani and I competed over Ya Abdullah's attention so hard, one person's voice overshadowed the other's and vice versa, we talked and talked until Daddy suggested we relax and speak one at a time.

I went first, I told him all about our school, caught him up on all he's missed from the last time he was here with Amaani interrupting repeatedly, when it was her turn to talk to him I interrupted too because there was no way I could let her sneak into my time and not exact revenge when it was due.

At home there were "Welcome home" banners everywhere and balloons and even a cake which was baked by Lina, Amaani and I made cookies, that's where our expertise lies. We knew he was appreciative of everything because of how he kept grinning all through, we had dinner at home after which Daddy insisted we let him take a rest from our incessant talking.