Back At Sixteen

Chapter four

   

  The un-rhythmic clicking and chiming sounds of the cutleries clashing with each other on the dining table can be heard even from the kitchen, the roaring laughter of my family probably making fun of one amongst them can also be heard. I sigh before taking the casserole dish filled with what my eldest sister and first born twin, Fareeda, geniusly cooked.

    Your guess might be right. Yes, I am in the kitchen while my family is dining, I'm still embarrassed about what the black hair did to me that I keep looking for chances to leave the dining area, and avoid any questions of how my day at school was. I hear my mom's voice call for me, or was it the food she called for, either ways I still had to be present.

When I arrive at the dining table, they almost swallow me with the way they keep barking at me for taking too long in bring the main dish.

  I sit and place my focus solely on the dish in front of me, but Azeeza can't do that for long, because after my first bite, I couldn't help but compliment Fareeda on her delicious meal.

    And Azeeza can't shut her mouth now.

“Liiiike…” I was deep in a conversation with Fadeela, my elder sister and the second born twin.

  “And the thing that pained me the most was after all what she's been doing to him, he could still forgive her… it's not like forgiving her is the problem, but accepting her back into his house, into his life? I swear it doesn't feel right for me.”

    Fadeela and I suddenly found ourselves talking about the viral post of a woman who stole her husband's property and left the country, she was selfish enough to leave her three children and her nine months old baby with the man. Three months later, he became nothing but a beggar and securing a job wasn't easy, when he finally got to contact her, she disgraced him and said all sort of hurtful things to him..... The story went on tragic but he got help and started all over again, now his wife comes back asking if she could be forgiven.

    “Well a man needs to be forgiving,” Dad chips in and I smile, “women aren't just what they used to be.” he adds.

    “So are men.” Mum joins in, but her attention is on her phone, Dad grimaces.

  “People aren't what they used to be,” Fareeda corrected and I see she's trying to stir away the conversation so it doesn't turn into an argument.

  “Children aren't what they used to be,” Kareem, the last born and twin to Kareema, says and I know he's just trying to have fun.

   “Kareem, what's your problem? Is it a conversation you should randomly put your mouth in?” Kareema, his twin and the brat that brags about being thirty minutes older, scolded.

   “the conversation was going in circles so I decided to add my own” he winces, probably because Kareema stepped on him, that should be it.

   Dad laughs at their little drama, and we all follow him to laugh, not because what Kareema and Kareem did was funny or new, but because we just love seeing Dad happy. A new conversation starts up, and this time it's mostly between Dad and Fareeda, they seem to be enjoying talking about the government and financial crisis, yuk.

   “Hannan, did Ya Nazeer call you?” Fadeela asks, she is skimming through her phone, and it keeps chiming with notifications.

   Nazeer is my soon to be wed cousin, and I think he wants me to be his best man. Not like I could. He asks me for advice when he knows clearly a fifteen year old can give advice equally as a five year old. When ever he wants to shop for his fiancée, I have to be present. I even remember the last gold watch I helped him buy when he came to town to see her. He really trust me with his relationship, though I've never seen her in person.