Bound To The Stars

Loss & Gain.

Hanan

As i drove, all I could think of was the nurse removing the mask from Ayman's face.

It brought tears to my eyes.

The memory of Al came flooding back, the hospital visits and the sleepless hospital nights.

"Oh Allah. grant him eternal happiness in jannah. Ya rabb, grant my Ayman shifa" i whispered.

I stopped by the resort to pick the things we had left before i drove to Ma's.

I pressed the door bell and Salma opened the door.

"Aymaaaan." She said collecting him. "How is he feeling? Ma was just telling me he was sick."

"He's better."

"Alhamdullilah. Where's Lily?"

"With her dad. They'll come later. Where's Mami?"

"Upstairs."

♠️

"Assalamu Alaikum." I said entering Ma's room.

"Alaikumul Salaam. Hanan? They've discharged him already? Yana ina?"

"Yes, the Doctor said he's fit to go. He's with Salma."

"Oh toh. Allah bashi lafia. Did you come with Ibrahim ne?" She asked looking at me suspiciously.

"No, he's at Mami's. he'll come later."

I laid back on the chair staring at the TV when Maa called me.

"Hanan?"

"Uhum." I answered.

"You know you can talk to me right? Tell me the truth. What's going on?"

"Nothing Maa." I said trying to fight the tears that had begun to form in my eyes.

Another round of applause to my lacrimal glands.

"Nothing? Then would you care to explain to me why you've been sleeping at a resort for the past one week when you have a matrimonial home?"

How did she find out?

"I have my sources." She said as if she read my mind.

God!

I totally forgot the resort belonged to a friend of Ma's; Hajiya Hamra.

That woman was a blabber mouth. I ran into her and I'm very sure she told Ma about it.

"Ma, Ibrahim and i just had a minor misunderstanding and we've talked about it." I said trying to dismiss the topic.

"Nothing minor is going to make you leave home."

She came and held me.

"Every marriage has it ups and downs Hanan and no marriage is perfect. When the going gets tough, you don't just get up and leave.
You both work through it."

She must have overhead Ibrahim and i in the hallway.

"Your father and i have been married for as long as i can remember and trust me, it has not been an entire bed of roses." She said stroking my hair. "Some of his family were against our marriage, saying i was an outcast because I wasn't from Adamawa even though i was Fulani. There was a lot of small talk, but i paid no attention cause your father and i were head over heels for each other. His only support was his mother, may her soul rest in Jannatul Firdaus.

If i had paid any heed to Hajja Fattu and her antics, I wouldn't be here now cause she didn't miss any chance to make my life miserable but you see your father, he would go to the end of this world to see that he protected his family.