HER WORTH ✓

16~white lie2

Najib's POV:

I got to my room expecting to meet Habiba, but rather, I met in a neat room nicely arranged.

My things were just as I left them, nothing tampered with.

I was impressed that she obeyed my rules.

I got to my library to spend time away, where I found Mom's diary consumed with dust; wiping off the dust, a picture drops to the floor.

"What picture is this?" I muttered cleaning the picture to get a better view of it.

In the picture, I was in mom's arms, and another woman stood beside us holding a baby; the picture was old and should have been taken when I was around 3 to 4 years old.

"Who is this woman?" I was quite curious.

"I will ask Grandma later."  I sighed yawning out of hunger and exhaustion.

Dinner, a warm bath, and a sound sleep were all I needed.

***

Habiba's POV:

Everyone had settled for dinner when  I joined in."

"You look extra pretty, what's cooking?" Amina says aloud.

"Yeah, I noticed too, are you wearing makeup?" Grandma adds.

"It's thanks to Mother's love and affection earlier today." I smiled fixing my gaze on her.

"Really?" Everyone turns to stare at her with a shocked gaze.

"What?" She shrugged her shoulder in annoyance.

"Well, we can't help but be surprised, whenever your friends visit, there's always drama and we always have to settle one issue or the other no,t to mention that we also have to re-employ new helpers for not reaching up to your standard." Grandma sighed.

"I'm proud your cooking went well, Amina informed me earlier." Father-in-law smiled.

"Thanks, actually it was thanks to Mother, or else everything would have been a disaster." I gaze at her again while she stares daggers at me.

I maintained my smile throughout, knowing it was killing my mother-in-law inside. I knew she was expecting to see a depressed, sad, and scared Habiba after all her taunts, but I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. Instead, I was going to make her realize her actions.

"What do you mean?" Amina inquired.

"The head chef wants to tell you how it went." I smiled.

As soon as I called the head chef in, my mother-in-law choked on her food while glaring at me.

She began to cough as the head chef walked in.

"Good... evening everyone." The head chef stutters as she bows her head to the floor.

"I'm deeply ashamed of what happened earlier today and I'm going to confess it to everyone."

"What confession?" Mother-in-law trembles still glaring at me.

"What happened?" Grandma asks with concern.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to... The head chef burst out crying.

"Can you stop talking in riddles?" Amina snaps impatiently.

There was pain and fear visible in her voice as the head chef trembled and tried explaining herself, but this was nothing compared to what they made me go through; I won't spare her.

I won't pity anyone.

"I spiked Ma'am Habiba's food with excess food seasonings, making it unbearable for anyone to eat." She completes her sentence leaving everyone shocked and speechless.