𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍 / 𝐀𝐁𝐑𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐑𝐀

الترجيع - 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙢𝙖𝙣

𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 — 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙢𝙖𝙣
𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰
𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵/𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦

whenever abdul was with jamilah time seemed to escape him. he could listen to her talk endlessly. there was never a dull moment with her, not even when they just sat on the floor in her room reading books. often times he forgot that he had other responsibilities outside of taking care of her. though if jamilah had been his only responsibility, he wouldn't have minded.

the boy was laying on jamilah's bed, watching her prepare her clothes for the friday afternoon mosque service they would attend once school was over. she wanted to match her hijab to her green skirt but couldn't find anything besides black fabric.

nikole was at work and her cousins were away so it was just the two of them. even though jamilah and nikole stayed with distant relatives, they were usually always alone in the flat. jamilah said her uncle was always on business trips and since her cousins were older, they were rarely home.

the short girl was frowning, rambling about not having any scarves to abdul who was half listening.

most of his attention was on the burner phone hidden behind the blankets. tahj had given it to him to better get ahold of him.

brad sent him a text message demanding he go run a few errands right now, and as much as he wanted to argue that he couldn't, abdul knew that wasn't possible. he was quickly making a name for himself on roads and if he wanted to increase his pay, he would have to play the game.

"abdul!" jamilah stomped over to her friend, pouting at him. "you're not paying attention."

"i'm sorry." he quickly tucked the phone in his pocket, standing up. "i'll be back."

she looked at him, brown eyes glossy with concern and sadness. "what?"

"don't worry." he chuckled outwardly but inside his chest was hurting. he held her face. "i'm gonna go to mine and shower and grab us food, yea?"

"you can shower here."

"it's just faster, plus i know you'll be hungry soon." he attempted to convince her that everything was fine. as cute as she looked when she pouted, abdul hated how stressed she'd get.

"but there's a lot going on at your estates..." she looked behind her at the window. her building was across from his, facing the back.

there was always some gang related injuries happening in their area because of the boys in his building. jamilah was spending more nights at his due to the increased violence. she was scared that something would happen to him if they weren't together.

"it isn't safe." she finished. she had voiced her fear of him getting hurt time and time again, but abdul never listened. there was no real way to be safe living like he did.

abdul sighed. "you don't need to worry about me."

"i can walk over with-"

"jamilah, no." he cut her off, holding her hand tightly.

abdul knew that he couldn't hide his involvement in the streets forever, but he didn't know how to open up about it. there were only so many lies and excuses he could give her. and he was sure she was well aware that he was lying anytime he had to abruptly leave.

"i'm good." he tried to reassure her but she still pulled away from him. "jamilah, why are you being difficult?"

she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms instead of responding.

"c'mon, don't be like this right now." he pleaded, hating that he was receiving the silent treatment.

when she didn't respond he hugged her tightly. he never knew if it'd be the last time. "i'll be back soon, you know i can't leave you alone for too long."

she relaxed in his arms, sniffling a little bit. "please hurry back."

"i'll try."

abdul left her apartment and made his way across the road to his estates.

brad, tahj, von, and shaun were standing on the corner with a couple of his friends and some other boys around his age- irving, a'lamar, ezrah, and desmond and his little brother jirani. abdul approached the group with a calm demeanor. even though he should've feared the olders, his height and strength gave him some sense of superiority. he could easily hold his own if need be.

"i ain't gonna be out too long, innit." he told brad immediately. "so what're you tellin' me?"

brad chuckled. he didn't mind abdul's coldness much.

"aww abra's come from that yats place?" ezrah teased, a playful grin spreading across his face. "how is she? pretty one yanno." he nudged irving.

irving snickered. "he's got a girl?"

a'lamar hit ezrah. "she's not some yat, put some respect on his ting, fam."

abdul lowered his eyes in a bored expression just barely glancing down at the others. he didn't justify the questions with a response. his business was his alone. they weren't going to meet jamilah so he didn't know why they bothered him about her so often.

"we're just kidding, why do you have to look so evil?" ezrah sulked.

"you're an idiot, that's why." a'lamar said. "he'll never bring her around if you keep talking like that."

desmond rubbed his eye. "wait, who's his girl?"

"i don't know her name, but she's leng." ezrah emphasized. "i've only seen her around ends a few times."

"she goes to our school." a'lamar explained. "abra's been cattin' all year, and she finally gave in.

"i don't blame him, she's perfect. you know quiet girls are always the best."

abdul let out a soft breath through his nose, thinking, 'if only they knew how she actually is.'

brad just smiled some, tilting his head so abdul would walk to the side with him.

"wassup?"

"i put a lot of responsibility on you 'cos you do good work for me, you understand that don't you?"

abdul nodded wordlessly. he had climbed the ranks fairly effortlessly but that didn't come without it's burdens. there was a lot more weight on his shoulders these days, nothing he couldn't handle, just more time consuming.

the older man exhaled calmly. "abra cadarbra..." the name caused him to beam brightly, proudly even.

the nickname was given to him by tahj as a joke after he'd seen the way abdul worked people like magic. his temper was somewhat of a trick because hardly anyone could tell he was angry when he approached and by the time they knew, they were too stunned to react. it caught on over the span of a few weeks and was soon shortened to abra.

"i need you, kush and izz to go on a glide for me." brad said with no further explanation. "ruiz' youngers been through here. show 'em one of them tricks you do. let 'em know you're the real deal." even though his tone was playful, he was serious.

since the boy wasn't one to play into rumors, very few people knew what abdul was truly capable of. he allowed the rumors to spread and never revealed what was true to anyone.

they'd have to witness it for themselves if they cared enough. however, he couldn't leave witnesses so it was at their own discretion if they chose to see what he did.