Shadow of Doubt

Chapter 19

Hey Guys. It's me! I'm so ashamed whenever I take long to update, but you know life. I have a lot going on. I take a lot of important classes and naturally, they keep me away. But I'll try my best to see I haven't left this unfinished In Shaa Allah. Hope you all had a splendid Eid? BarakAllahu feekum. ❤️❤️

Iram POV

To say I was tired was an understatement. Nobody told me that my external defence was going to be this hard but Alhamdulillah. It went well and all I wanted to do was walk inside my room and sleep it off but I decided to make a detour to the chalet first, where I knew Sa'ad was going to be. He must have gone with daddy to the airport and came back here straight.

Just as I was about to step in to the living room, my phone rang and I saw Aunty Ramatu was calling. Aunty Ramatu was my favourite aunt that lives in Lagos, I'm sure she was calling to invite me over to Lagos once again and I laughed as I picked up.

"Anyi external defence, I want you here before Sunday." She literally commanded and I laughed out loud.

"Aunty yau Thursday, at least give me time to get ready. And daddy has traveled."

"Ki mun shiru, I just called him yace mun ba kya komai. You can come down anytime." She said, faking being upset. "How is your mum?"

"She's fine, Alhamdulillah." I answered. "Aunty Munira is here, this is her second week and-"

"Exactly! You have no excuse, your aunt is there and will keep an eye on your mum, so you're coming here."

"Okay toh, In Shaa Allah I'll talk with daddy and Mammy and get back to you." I smiled as if she could see me.

"Yawwa, that's a good girl." We talked for at least two more minutes before she hung up and I sighed. My first thought was how I was going to survive Lagos when Sa'ad was over here. Over the past few weeks, I'd grown more attached to him and it seemed everyone in the house knew what was going on between us. Chef Abu now asks me what to prepare for Oga Sa'ad whenever he's around. Most days, Sa'ad would politely decline when I ask him what he wanted to eat and other days, when he knew I was the one that cooked, he'll eat to his fill. Sometimes I wondered if he was doing just that to make me happy.

I entered the living room in the chalet and I couldn't find him there. I was about to turn around and leave when I heard his voice coming from a corridor. "Yes, I'm taking it easy but he should pay for what he did." He said to whoever he was speaking with. I wondered what it was about because I've never heard him speak like that. "I won't rest until justice is served, I haven't lost any focus and I'm definitely not giving up."

Just that moment, he appeared at the doorway of the corridor and his eyes caught my presence there, for a second he looked shocked to see me there but he plastered a smile on his face. "We'll talk later, Abdallah."

"I'll be scared to be in your black book." I said jokingly but he was still wearing that fake smile.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked casually as he took his suit jacket and wore it over his shirt.

I shrugged and leaned against the chair, my eyes still on him, curious to hear more too. "Just that someone has done a bad thing and he should pay for it."

He chuckled and picked the keys to his car— the car he got from Abdallah. "It was the most horrific thing I've ever seen." He said and I stood straight, knowing this wasn't a joke anymore.

"You're starting to scare me."

"You shouldn't worry about it, Hafsah." He told me as he held my gaze. "You're safe, I'll make sure of that."

"What's happening?" I asked again, my heart beating faster than it should. I somehow just have a bad feeling about this.

"Hey." He caught my attention with a low voice. "This happened more than two decades ago, you weren't even born and you're not involved in it. You're safe, Hafsah."