TAUHIDA ✔️

Chapter 13

~°°~you are a thousand times enough~°°~

Gwarinpa, Abuja, Nigeria.
19th January.
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Archeologically, the burial of Alhaji Hakeem Elnafaty took place and almost everyone went back to his residence except the few people who knew they won't gain an entrance into the house.

Aaliyah and her children back in the house were busy putting up an act by crying their eyes out in front of everyone to a point that their wailing and sobs became annoying. The few people in the family knew that they were just faking it, especially Ruha and Malika.

Aaliyah refused to inform anyone about being divorced by Alhaji Hakeem the previous night, only Ruha knew and she also decided to keep shut about it. There was no point talking about divorce when they were all mourning, It would have looked like they didn't care because it was trivial.

After Alhaji Hakeem's corpse was taken away, each of his wives went back to their apartments, each receiving her visitors who pass condolences in her own part.

When Sayf on the other hand returned back from the cemetery with the others, he headed to his mother's apartment because he knew he had an unfinished business with her, he would have left already if not for that.

He entered her parlour with a taslim and found his sister and female cousins there. Amani was still in tears as the others tried consoling her and when they heard his taslim, they greeted him while Amani just stared at him.

If she would say she did not miss him, then it will be a big fat lie, same thing applied to him. Everyone knew about their perfect brother and sister relationship, it was a relationship everyone would wish to have because of how close they were.

Sayf moved closer to where she sat and squatted beside her. "I don't like seeing you in tears" Sayf said to Amani but she just kept staring at him. "Now you won't talk to me?" He asked when he saw she had no intention of talking. She still didn't say anything to him, instead she silently laid her head on his chest and sobbed harder.

"Shh, stop crying okay? He needs your prayers" Sayf consoled patting her back. "This time around, I'm not crying because I lost Abba, I'm crying because I missed you so much that it hurts" Amani finally said to him snuggling more into his arms.

"Okay, that's enough now" Sayf said after allowing her to cry for some seconds. "Let's go meet Mami" he added. She nodded and followed his lead to their mother's room, the other people in the parlour didn't care to say anything to Sayf because he had always been a distant type of person, rarely will you see him sit and converse with any of them.

Muttering the taslim, they entered the room and met her with some people. Sayf and Amani greeted them because they were older than them, while they passed their condolences to the two. Ruha excused her people politely and they left the room for the three of them.

"Did you intend on coming back if not for the unfortunate that happened?" Ruha asked Sayf immediately after they were left alone "I asked you a question" she added. " lYou said I should never show you my face agai......."

"That is not a valid reason Sayf" she said cutting off his sentence. "You know I didn't mean it, you know both your father and I didn't mean it, how can you take it to heart and never return? Even if I was to kill you if you come back, won't you at least come even once but no, you had to make us worry so much about you. Did you think that your father was happy that he sent you away from home? did you think I was happy that you didn't turn back to glance even once? Your father surely died an unhappy death because of the fear that you won't forgive him Sayf, what were you thinking?" Ruha kept asking different questions all in a breath and before she even realised it, she was tearing up.

"I could not spend a night without wondering about where you were, how you might be doing but you didn't even think about giving us a chance to rectify our mistake. We wanted to find you, I wanted to apologize to you, tell you that I didn't mean it and tell you that everything will be fine" Ruha kept blabbing every word out.

"It's not too late" Sayf interrupted her neverending sentence moving closer to her and he took her hand in his. "You think?" She asked and he nodded. Sayf squatted beside her and placed his head on her lap before adding "I need it, I need you to tell me that everything will be fine" That particular action and words from him made Ruha to feel guilty all over again but nevertheless, it calmed her down.

"I am sorry my baby, I am and I promise everything will be fine, I will make sure that happens just please Sayf, come back home, we all miss you" Ruha said patting his head lightly from time to time.

Sayf didn't say anything again and just enjoyed the warmth of a mother. How he so much missed her care was an unexplainable feeling, he longed for her care for as long as he can remember.

"Come Amani" Ruha gestured for her daughter who had been silently watching them from where she sat so she also went and laid her head on her mother's lap, right next to Sayf's.

"Sayf, make a promise to me. Promise me that whatever may happen and whatever I may say to you, you won't ever leave home again" Ruha said. "And also promise me that if anything ever happens to me, you won't allow your sister to feel like she lacks anything, you will give her the care, love and happiness she deserves" Ruha added. "Promise me" she repeated again and after few minutes of silence he replied.

"I promise you Mami, I promise" He already made up his mind to return back home and face his life once again. And after all, it was finally happening, what he had longed for and he was certainly happy about how everything was falling back to place. If there was anything he regretted then it was only one, that is not being able to speak with his father one last time.

"I need to go back to camp Mami, my yearly vacation begins February so I will be back by then" Sayf said after minutes of silence. "Why do I feel like I shouldn't let you go?" Amani asked probably because she felt unsecured. "I will be back Amani, I promised remember?" He asked, more like stated.

"I trust you will come back. Allah ya kare mun kai (may Allah protect you)" Ruha prayed for her son while he got on his feets. "I will come back again for the addu'an uku (third day prayer for the deceased)  because it won't be nice if my seniors find out I've been going in and out of camp without their knowledge. But I will make sure to get permission next time" Sayf assured them.

"Take care of Mami kinji" Sayf added but that time around, he was saying it to Amani. He said his final farewell and smiled at them before exiting the room and also Alhaji Hakeem's residence.

One thing about that day was that it taught Sayf how to smile again even during difficult times. He was in pain for loosing his father but he was glad he returned home and everything got fixed even though not necessarily everything.

The remaining of the bruises Iman incurred in his heart might take a longer time to heal but for that particular time, he decided to keep everything aside and enjoy moments with his family, he would not miss it for the world.

It was only that day he realised how stupid he was never to turn back even once. But as he realised it, he knew he would do anything not to destroy everything once again because if he does, he wouldn't be able to live with it.

~°°~you are a thousand times enough~°°~

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Assalamu Alaikum peeps!!
How have you been doing?
And everyone in your family?
I hope you're all fine.

About the book, do you like the chapter?

I don't know but it is too emotional for my liking. So I won't say much but........

Please vote, comment and share my book to friends and family, it really means a lot.
Lots of love,

Deedi--❤️