NAJMA | Unedited

7 .

•NAJMA's POV•

"So we'll need self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, soft margarine, sugar, vanilla extract and finally milk" I tell Jasmine who'll put everything on the counter.

"I'm not sure there's a self-raising flour here" she says and I smile.

"I'll tell you how to do it and you'll do it. Please can you call Mrs. Shaima ?" and she nods.

I take my phone to make glance through my recipe so as to not make any mistake. The cake has to be as nice as Sukaina.

"Yay ! Shall we start baking the cake honey ?" Mrs Shaima's excited voice makes me chuckle and I nod my head yes "Youhou ! Tell me what to do"

"I'll preheat the oven while you'll line the baking tins" I instruct and she does what I asked while I was preheating the oven to 160°C/140°C fan.

"Jasmine did you do the self-rising flour ?" I ask and she nods her head no saying I didn't tell her how to. Oh shit I forgot "oh yeah sorry, let's do it"

"No no habibty, there's a self rising flour. Hold on let me get it for you" Mrs. Shaima says as she walks past me to take it from I don't know where "Here take it" she hands me a bowl full of flour and I thank her.

"Okay now you'll sift 225g of flour and 2tsp of baking powder into a large bowl" I tell her and she does so.

I add 4 eggs, 225g soft margarine, 225 caster sugar, 6 drops of vanilla extract and 2tsp of milk then give Jasmine to beat until thoroughly mixed.

After she's done beating, she gives it to Mrs. Shaima who pours it into the tins and I tell her to bake it for 30-35 minutes.

•••

An hour later, Nancy and Jasmine are setting the table, Didja and Leila are helping Mrs. Shaima to decorate the room while mum is cooking and I'm feeding the twins who apparently can't eat on their own today.

Mrs. Shaima told us she called her sister Amira along with her daughter who's around my age, her husband's brother with his children; Seïd and Seïda and Khaled, her cousin. In all, we will be 17, including Sukaina's father.

After about 2 hours, we were all done cooking, decorating and doing whatsoever we were to do and then I take Zouhair with me to the mall because last time Sukaina and I came, I noticed her looking at a bracelet with passion which I assumed she likes. I decided I'll get that for her as a birthday present.

"Why did you take me instead of Leila or Didja ?"asks a bored Zouhair.

"Because I miss my brother ! Is it that bad ? And besides, you guys are moving out tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll be seeing you that often"

I see him coming back to me with his arms wide opened for me to get in and I do so without hesitating. I subconsciously start sobbing, I actually really miss my brother. We used to be so close, he was my hero but now he's busy with his family. I am ashamed to think that but I feel like he's more into his new family than us. I even used to hate Didja at first, I never liked her because I've blamed her for distancing my brother from me but I grew up now and I understand that I was just being childish.

"Don't cry babygirl, you know I'll always be here for you whenever you need" he soothes me "and I know you still have a small part of you that despises my new family which is also your family okay ? Don't ever forget that"

"Don't say such a thing ! I love Suhail and Suhaila like they were my kids, well I'm too young to have them but whatever you get what I'm trying to say"

"So you admit the problem is Didja ? I knew it !" He laughs and I look at him, confusion obvious in my expression. What is funny ? "I'll ask her to talk to you alright ? Well, now that you have the gift, let's go home Sukaina will be home too in an hour and a half" and I nod then we both make our way out of the mall to his car.

•••

As I step in, the first person I see is Tariq who is busy chatting with a girl and I feel my heart ache. It aches to the fact that they seem so close. It aches to the fact that he's not talking to me like the first day we spoke. It aches to the fact that I asked him to forget about my feelings and most importantly, it aches to the fact that the feelings I have for him are not reciprocated and never will be.

"Come here Najma let me introduce you to the others" Mrs. Shaima says as she sees me just standing by the door.

While walking to her, I look quickly at Tariq and the girl just to see what she looks like and upon seeing her, I feel my heart fall in my stomach, ready to go out of my body but I succeed to calm down as my brother gently strokes my back. The girl in question is actually the girl with whom I've seen him the other day at the ice-cream parlor. She must be his girlfriend, she has everything, pink curvy lips, long lashes, dark hair, well drawn eyebrows and a glowing skin. I can't blame Tariq for not liking me back after seeing his girlfriend.

I shake my head to go out of my thoughts so as to go meet Mrs. Shaima.

"Najma, this is Amira, my sister and over there chatting with Tariq is Iman, her daughter. Well, my niece and" I cut her off unknowingly.

"You mean, Tariq's cousin ?" I question, feeling a kind of relief in my body.

"Yes that's it. Iman's my niece and these are Seid and Seida, kids of Jamal" she say as she directs her hands to the twins and I nod, greeting them.

After the introduction and everything that goes with it, I go to my room to change for the little party but before that, I make sure to have a quick shower because hell, I need one !

•••

"Najma please help Suhaila get dressed, she doesn't want to do anything with me" Didja hands me a cute little red gown and I take it before carrying Suhaila to my room.

Suhaila loves disturbing her mum, she's not the kind baby girl to mama, she's a warrior to mama and a daddy's little princess as she's always so sweet to her father. Suhail is just the opposite.

"Chima, I want some makeup puhlease" she gives me one of those puppy eyes and I can't help but fall for it.

I take my makeup kit and put some lipgloss on her lips and that's it ! She's beautiful as always. I think I should be a makeup artist someday.

"And I want you to curl my hair too" another puppy eyes again but this time I don't fall for it as I can't put any heat on her hair so as to not damage it.

"I can't do that baby, we'll try something else tomorrow alright ?" I ask and she nods nonetheless "good, now let's go meet the others"

I hold her hand and we both start walking to the living room where everyone is waiting for Sukaina.

I see Iman and Tariq still together, in a deep conversation and I still feel that jealousy touch me no matter the fact that I'm aware of their blood relationship but whatever and you can't really blame me because in Islam, it is allowed for cousins to get married.

"Okay I want everyone to be silent ! They're outside, Nancy please make the room dim" orders Mrs. Shaima as we all impatiently wait for Sukaina and Abdin to come in.

Suhaila rushes to her brother while I just stand there in my corner. Tariq is with Iman, mum, Mrs. Shaima and Amira are together, Leila and Didja, Mr. Alfayeed and his brother, Jamal, Zouhair is with his kids and Jamal's twins are together . Yep, I'm all alone.

I turn my head to see if Jasmine is also here but, Nancy is standing next to her. I guess I'll just stand here alone.

Lonely Najma.