Tumultuous Love

Chapter 8

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It has been two weeks since the hospital incident and both Amina and Fatima were done with their exams. They were planning to leave for Abuja in a weeks time as Fatima wanted to visit her step family and Amina thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally meet Saudah, whom she had become quite good friends with over the phone. It was a Saturday Afternoon and Fatima was helping Amina pack a bag since she had already packed hers the night before. They had both already packed their bigger luggages since they were traveling the day after they came back from Riyadh. Theirs was an evening train so they prayed asr after eating lunch and left for the station.

They arrived at the station right on time, they didn't have to find a waiting seat since their train had already been announced. They rushed to the train and found their seats then settled down. Amina was bubbling with excitement to finally meet someone relatively close to her home country apart from Fatima and she finally got to meet Saudah whereas Fatima was honestly just glad she wasn't doing this alone it got very boring on a 2 hour long trip if you were alone.

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Hammad had come to pick them alone because Saudah was in school. She was writing her last paper and they were going to pick her up since it was already 6:13 and her paper was supposed to end by 6. She had no idea Amina was coming with Fatima and they all couldn't wait to see her reaction when she saw her.

They loaded their bags into the trunk and left for Saudah's school. Fatima was tired from all the packing she had done the day before so she lay in the backseat while Amina sat in the front seat and talked with Hammad. They had become very good friends in the 20 minutes drive as Fatima slept. When they finally got there, he found a parking space and called Saudah. She told him she would be there in a few minutes and he ended the call. Three minutes later and she let out a shrill when she saw Amina, Fatima woke up startled, shook her head and sat back up when she realized it was Saudah. She really was exhausted but she could wait until they got home before she rested properly. "Fatimaaaaaaa!" "Aminaaaa!" Saudah hugged Fatima and then leaned forward to hug Amina from the back seat. Fatima hugged her back with a little less enthusiasm, "are you okay?" Saudah asked worried. She nodded, "I'm okay, just very exhausted." Saudah pouted and hugged her again. "Lay on my laps before we get home" she adjusted herself so that Fatima could lay comfortably. Fatima smiled in appreciation and adjusted herself on her laps. "Hi Amina!" She turned to talk with Amina. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming with Fatima?" She asked folding her arms. "Fatima insisted that we surprise you" she replied laughing. The three of them continued talking while Fatima listened in on the conversation half asleep.

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Habib was seating in the porch with a book in his hand when they parked in the lot, he stood up immediately he realized Fatima was with them. "How?" He asked feeling excited and confused at the same time. "Surprise, surprise" Fatima answered opening her arms to hug him. It was only Hammad and Saudah that knew Fatima was coming so it was a surprise to Habib and mamii. "Fatima, is that you I'm seeing?" Mamii asked, wiping her wet hands on a kitchen towel. Fatima moved across the room to the kitchen and engulfed her in a hug. "Good evening mamii" she greeted. They exchanged a few pleasantries before mamii noticed Amina who was busy talking with Hammad. "Is this your friend Fatima?" She asked, smiling at Amina. "Yes mamii, her name is Amina, she is friends with Saudah too." Fatima explained. Amina squatted to greet her, "ina wuni." She replied her and they all sat in the living room to catch up.

The next morning, Fatima woke up before everyone and sat in the balcony with a book and a cup of coffee. She had planned to watch the sunrise but she went back to sleep after subhi. It was 7am and the sun was still rising. The cold, crisp air blew and the birds were chirping, flying around freely. She had always loved the mornings; the fresh air, the wind, the peace, everything about it just had a way to make her feel uplifted. Amina woke up next and joined her for a few minutes before going down to get some water. She found Hammad cooking breakfast in the kitchen so she stayed there instead and helped him cook as they talked. It was crazy how much they had bonded in less than 12 hours. Hammad is not exactly a free and chatty person, it took him quite sometime to get accustomed to new things and people. An only exception was Fatima who he took a whole day and a half to get used to. Clearly, Amina was breaking the record. But Fatima was honestly not surprised, Amina was a whole lot and she is yet to find the person who is able to resist her.

By 10am, the whole family was awake and already eating breakfast. Hammad with the help of Amina had finished sometime around 9:30 and they had both gone back upstairs to get dressed. Now everyone was down and talking as they ate their food. Saudah was busy planning things they would do and places they would visit through out the stay of Fatima and Amina. "Fatima do you mind going to the museum again? I want to show Amina something there." She asked as she put some food on her plate. "Sure, we could go anywhere you wanted" Fatima replied. "Yayyyy, thank you Fatima. You're the best" she squealed, side hugging her with one hand. Fatima squeezed her back with a smile on her face. Saudah was a very easy person to please, it took the littlest of things to make her happy and it was one of the things Fatima genuinely loved about Saudah the most.

Mamii told them stories about her childhood throughout the meal, her kids knew most of the stories but there were a few others that were new to them. Mamii was a very adventurous and mischievous young girl, always getting in trouble with the neighbors and having fun. It's sad how kids of this generation don't have the opportunity to go out, have fun and their parents will still be at rest. Nowadays, people don't even let their kids out of their gate in fear of harm that may be caused to the kids. It's disheartening how much worse times have become.

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I know and I'm sorry🥺🥺 I honestly could have created time, but this past three weeks have been very crazy and busy. With eid and everything, it was very hectic and I was just feeling too lazy to push myself to actually write this chapter.
Anyways, how was yours eid? Y'all should comment what you did during eid in the comments section. I was busy working and the little spare time I got, I slept and that was how eid passed. Didn't even snap any good pictures🤦‍♀️
Alright I'm done ranting, see you next week In Shaa Allah💗

With love,
Fatima❤️