Burnt Embers

Chapter Three

ABUJA,NIGERIA

Hajia Khadeejah, known to many as Hajia Dije a fair tall woman in her mid fifties, with a soft skin that glows from a distance , a beautiful woman whose beauty stands the test of time .Ummie's biological elder sister and a mother of three, Kabir her eldest son who is a divorcee and 34years old popularly known as Kaybee or Just K ,a computer scientist and a very hardworking man , her second born is a daughter, Anisah who's happily married with two beautiful kids and living in Zamfara state .The last born is Nabeehah and she's Khadijah's age mate, a second year medical student in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Alhaji Yousouf Naseer is the head of the family, a very nice man who puts his family above work and everything, no matter how busy his schedules are ,he always finds time to spend with his children, Anisah being away from home,only visits occasionally, then Kaybee who is now back from the states and Nabeeha who had come home for weekend were all gathered in his living room.

He cleared his throat and before he can say anything ,a sweet girl of about 2 and a half years came running in " Daddu " she squealed hugging Alhaji Yousuf Naseer with all her might , " yes princess" he said mirroring the little girl's enthusiasm, she is Kaybee's daughter and had been living with them since when she was two days old as a baby in her cradle .

The reason why Alhaji gathered his family, is not to have family time as they normally do, its to address Kaybee's issue which had been giving him sleepless nights and making him zone out thinking in meetings, so after playing with little Afreen for a while , he went ahead to tell them why he summoned them, after Afreen's nanny carried her away in guise of giving her ice cream.

" Kabir I think its high time you forget the past and take another wife , life doesn't end after a failed marriage. We all have our demons and problems but we keep living because life is never fair, take what happened to you as a test from Allah and by His will you'll be happy again, you left everything behind because of a cruel woman who wants nothing but to destroy you, think about Afreen and her future, forget the fact that she's here with us and been taken care of, she needs a mother figure in her life ,I'm not telling you to get married soon, but you have to get back to your former life ,especially your work, it's almost three years and you are still brooding, wallowing over the past no one has the power to change, go back to work son, Allah knows best and He will ease your pain , you just have to trust Him and you'll find respite , Ita rayuwa hakuri ake da qaddara, it was your destiny and no force on earth can make you escape it "

Hajia Dije who they refer to as mommy also tried to encourage her son, before he got married he was a very lively person, so full of life and spreading love wherever he goes, but from the moment he got married he changed into an empty shell ,no one knows what happened between him and his ex wife , they only know the last straw, that's when she gave birth to Afreen and abandoned her ,leaving for only God knows where because she's not with her parents also when Alhaji Yousuf went to find a solution and to see if the marriage isn't dissolved forever.

Kabir had married her because they loved each other , he knew that she's not perfect and lacked many essential things he desire in a woman, like religion, modesty and respect for people ,as they say , love is blind and he was willing to spend forever with her and make an effort in changing her , he knew that she doesn't give much attention to salat, thinking he might change her, he will call from work just to remind her its time for prayers and she sometimes tell him that she had already prayed before he called, she can only recite Fatiha, suratul Falaq and Nas and apart from that she doesn't know anything about religion .

He dedicated his time in teaching her only to be hated by her, she always complain of either she's sleepy, or he's disturbing her, her brain wasn't cut out for anything that has to do with religion ,besides she's beautiful and an heiress to a large fortune that no matter how lavish a lifestyle she live ,She will never be able to exhaust the money till she die and she's happily married to Kaybee the man of her dreams.