Endurance

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Layla grabbed the worn book that sat on her dresser and opened a random page, immediately resulting in a picture falling from inside it and settling on her laps. Lowering the book, she turned the photo in her hand and stared at it , confused. The people in the photo were happy, an image of well dressed adorable plump kids smiling widely to the camera. The girl looked older and taller as she draped a hand over her brother's shoulder smiling, where her canine teeth were missing, making her smile even more adorable. The little boy was just as cute with a skin that was a darker shade than that of his sister's and a little plumper than her. Layla turned to the picture around and squinted at the faded writing on the back.

Hafsa and Sa'ad. It read and she couldn't believe her eyes as she clamped a hand to her mouth, utterly and thoroughly shocked. She flipped over the pages to see if there was anything physical that she could hold on to about Hafsa, but there was none.

Getting up, she strode to the bag that contained the rest of the girl's belongings and rummaged through it, finally able to put together the tattered pages of the other book then taking a seat on the carpeted floor, folding her legs beneath her. Grabbing the picture again she pondered on how entirely different Hafsa looked from her childhood. She looked happy and healthier making Layla wondered who her parents were and where they were.

The first unbound pages of the old book revealed a rather jumbled handwriting than that of Hafsa's, where it looked to have been written a long time ago and Layla guessed it to be Sa'ad's, Hafsa's brother. Her speculation was proven right when she read about him telling on his day in school, in Jss One. Layla leaned her back against her bedside and flipped through the pages, reading its content intently with a squint of her eyes to see through the scribble that had become a little less than a smudge of ink. There was something disturbingly familiar about the name of Hafsa's brother that was written on one of the pages, but Layla couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was she was missing from it, and that did nothing but frustrate her to no end.

It clocked 9:35 in the morning on a Saturday when Layla emerged from her room to the balcony. If it were any normal day she would've enjoyed the weather while seated on a lounge chair sipping some chilled juice. But not today. Her restlessness caused her nerves to be overwhelmingly on edge and her head to pound soundly in her temple from an agonizingly long sleepless night. She could see the newly secured security cameras that had been installed a few days ago from where she stood and was sure the new security guards hired were outside doing what they did best. She let out a breath of indignation at how their lives had turned so chaotic and how they lost their confidentiality in no more than two weeks. And she couldn't help blaming herself for it.

The gates opened grabbing her attention, making her hopeful that it be her father who had been granted bail. She had no idea if it was excitement or disappointment she felt as the car drove in for her to see the familiar red sleekness of Mansoor's car. She wondered what he was doing at their home this early in the morning, but whatever it was, she was glad he came because she had a lot that she'd want to discuss with him.

Liar.

Layla watched with anticipation as he came forth from his car with some documents at hand, wearing a casual grey polo shirt with some dark pants, his long legs striding towards the entrance. As usual, looking devastatingly handsome. Layla let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when he disappeared from her sight. She knew he couldn't have seen her up the balcony but a miscreant part of her wanted him to, even if she was in nothing but her bed clothes. And she couldn't help feeling ashamed of herself for thinking of such smutty stuff.

Moving the strands of straightened hair out of her face that had rebelled out of her bun which was blown by the errant breeze, she took a deep breath and returned to her room. The need to see him and hear his voice played ruthlessly in her mind as she tried to concentrate on the task at hand, finding answers to her insatiable curiosity when she flipped through the pages and a line suddenly caught her eyes. She struggled to piece out the words and their spellings, but later on she was able to understand what it might mean.