The Price Of Revenge

Twenty-Eight

Fuad and Rumaisa had been back for a week now, and they were on their way to Ismail's house for his birthday party.

They parked outside the gate and walked inside.

There were already a few cars parked outside.

They knocked on the door, and a young girl opened it while holding a chubby baby boy.

She looked no older than twenty.

"Excuse me. Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm Fuad Ibrahim, and this is my wife. We were invited."

"Oh, welcome."

She stepped aside and let them in.

"Follow me."

She led them further into the house.

From the voice coming from the living room, Fuad could tell it was Hamida, except she had clearly added a little weight.

"Fuad Ibrahim and his wife are here," the girl announced.

Hamida immediately turned around.

Fuad smiled when he saw her.

She ran toward him and hugged him.

"You've added weight," he teased, laughing.

"Well, then you wouldn't have been able to recognize me when I had Abdulrazaq," she replied, laughing too.

"Wait, what?" Rumaisa asked.

"Ah, of course you wouldn't know. You two disappeared from the face of the earth."

"So you and Ismail have a son?" Fuad asked.

She nodded.

"So the baby you posted about four months ago was your son?" Rumaisa asked.

"Yeah. What did you think I meant when I captioned it, 'Welcome to the world, my baby boy'?"

"Where is he?" Fuad asked.

"Munira, bring Khalipha."

Moments later, the girl who had opened the door came in carrying the same child.

She handed the baby to Hamida and walked away.

"Here you go," Hamida said, passing the baby to Fuad.

"He has your eyes and lips, and Ismail's nose," he said, smiling widely.

"And my height," Ismail said, walking toward them.

Fuad handed the baby to Rumaisa.

"Wow, Hamida. What are you feeding them both? They're all looking chubby."

"Ah, that's not true," Ismail protested as he and Fuad hugged.

"Well, then come into the living room," Hamida said, leading them inside.

"Beautiful, but white," Rumaisa commented when they entered.

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to have a little difficulty when he starts walking, which is why I added the black chairs."

Other men were already there, including Walidain, Salis, Uthman, one of Ismail's friends, and Maryam's husband.

"Help yourself to anything," Ismail said.

Fuad looked at the mountain of food piled up for them and smiled.

"No wonder you've puffed up."

Rumaisa and Hamida headed into another living room where some of the ladies were seated.