BFFs: finding love again

30|°Réunion°

As Aqsam looks around the airport, he notices that it looks renovated. Nice. He walks out and enters the awaiting Uber which will drive him to his parent's house. Throughout the drive, he's only been thinking of his parent's reaction when they see him, will they accept him with open hands? Or will they shun and ignore him like he's been doing for the past twelve years?

Yes, it has been twelve years since Aqsam set his foot in Nigeria. But it's been eight years since he last saw his parents. Even after he decided to ignore them, his Umma and Baba refused to let him be. They'd always fly to Dubai every weekend to try and talk to him. But considering what he did to Umma the last time she was in Dubai. Reminiscing it alone gives him jitters, the bad type. How stupid was he? Surely it wasn't immaturity, he was just being stupid. Now his stupidity has cost him his love.

As the car screeches to a halt in front of his parent's house, he suddenly starts to sweat profusely. His hands feel clammy and everything around him starts to spin. After paying the Uber, he takes deep calming breaths. After everything he has calmed down and nothing is spinning around him, he takes slow painful strides towards the house.

He enters and the house is just as he remembers, just that the furnitures have been changed and it has been repainted. His mum has always been a fan of interior decorations.

He leaves his luggage by the front door and takes large yet painful strides towards his mother's room. The sight he meets melts his heart but at the same time, make him believe that he shouldn't have come upstairs immediately as he doesn't want to have an encounter with someone whom he forced out of his life.

Fatima wears a baby blue lace which has pink embroidery on it. She doesn't bother with makeup nor does she bother with tying her head gear. She takes a pink Hijab and her car keys before bidding her Ammi goodbye. She knows her Ammi can't hear her, now that her situation has been worsened. And the worsening was done by none other than her extremely sensible brother, Sa'eed Abba Sulayman. Note the sarcasm.

"Ammi, I'm going to set things straight between Amal and Hamza." Fatima says and drops a feathery kiss on her mother's face before walking out.

She drives to Hamza's parents house and enters. She knows Hamza's mother quite alright but she's not sure if the woman knows her that much since this is the first time she's actually meeting her. She takes a deep breath and sits down on of the cushions after she has been ushered in by a maid.

Soon enough, the maid tells Fatima to go upstairs to Umma's room. How is she expected to know Umma's room? It's her first time in the house for crying out loud.

"Uhm, sorry but I don't know where the room is." Fatima tells the maid and she apologizes.

"The room at the end of the corridor is hers. She's waiting for you." Fatima smiles thankfully and goes upstairs to the room.

She meets the woman making a call and she stands by the door waiting for her.

"Sorry I kept you waiting dear. What are you doing there standing, you're like my daughter, please come in and have a seat." The woman says and Fatima goes in. She attempts to sit on the floor but the woman stops her.

"Haba Fatima, we know each other though not physically. Why so formal? Sit beside me mana." Fatima smiles and sits beside the woman on the bed.

"So how was Dubai?" Umma starts a conversation and Fatima replies with Alhamdulillah.

"Amal told me what conspired between her and Hamza. I wanted to talk to him and make him understand why she wanted to do that to me but I decided it's better to explain to you first before I talk to him. Amal is a really nice girl and I'm not just saying this because she's my sister, no, it's because I know her.

"I know that Hamza wouldn't want to listen to me but I know that he wouldn't refuse listening to you. So I said let me tell you everything." Fatima concludes. Umma looks at her and smiles fondly, if not that she doesn't have another son she can call her own, she would've made sure she makes Fatima a member of her family.

The girl is just too kindhearted for her own good. She's also beautiful, well mannered, well behaved, religious and also respectful. She's sure that whoever gets Fatima as a wife, has hit the jackpot.

"Fatima, don't worry. I'll talk to Hamza. But you need to talk to him first. He needs to know that you hold no grudges whatsoever towards Amal, maybe then he'll listen. I know he still loves her. Since yesterday that he found out about it, he has been working nonstop. He's fasting today and he didn't even have Sahoor. I've tried talking to him but he doesn't seem to want to listen.

"His dad said he'll deal with him today, so I want you to go to his office and talk to him before his dad comes back from work today. I don't want his dad to deal with him." Fatima nods.

"But before you go, I want to know if we have any inlaw?" Umma asks and an image of Aqsam flashes behind her lids. She hasn't thought of him since morning but now she has. Aqsam is Umma's son, but he doesn't want to be. Stupid right?

"I don't have any Umma. Abba is going to get me a suitable husband In Shaa Allah." Umma nods.

"If I had another son apart from Hamza, I would've surely gotten you both married. But right now, I'm not sure if I even have a son at all." Umma smiles sadly.

"I think you should go see Hamza now right? It's almost time for Zuhr and the Hamza I know will take a long time to convince so wait here, after praying Zuhr then you leave." Fatima nods and a Salam interrupts them.

When Umma turns to look at the source of the Salam. She covers her mouth with her hand and tears gather in her eyes. Fatima seeing her reaction turns to see who it is that will he able to gouge that kind of reaction out of Umma and her breath gets stuck in her throat. Her heart constricts in pain as she remembers everything and a tear slips out of her eye. She just hopes she's hallucinating.