Forever & Always 3

2.3

FLASHFORWARD: JJ and Hadiyeh's mansion, London

JJ and Jannah had company, Tobi and Saeedeh had come to visit. Over the past three days, JJ had done things how Hadiyeh would have, he had set himself a routine and was sticking to it even if it meant putting his workload on hold. He had become more online on social media though, he posted pictures of Jannah on his story and tweeted about her.

"Hey you lot, what are you doing here?" JJ said opening the door for the couple to come in. 

"Hey, Jide!" Tobi greeted the man with a bro hug as Saeedeh engulfed Jannah in a loving hug. 

"Hey little one, how's it been?" Saeedeh chuckled, holding the child on her hip as she clapped her hands and began telling her aunt about her day. 

"Come in, Drey's just got the food going," JJ said, it had been almost a month that Hadiyeh was out cold, her presence was still heavily missed but JJ had come to the realisation that even if he's not ready to move on, he has to be strong not only for himself but for Jannah too. Their friends were also a big help, even though Freya and Josh were still on bad terms they all came around often trying to offer a helping hand. 

"Thanks," Tobi nodded as they all got seated at the table, Jannah in her high chair. 

"Pancakes!" Jannah grinned as Drey put the food in front of her, ruffling the child's messy hair, Nas was going to come round today anyway to teach JJ about Afro-Arab hair and how to tame it. He had got better and had practically just moved in with Harry and CalFreezy. 

"What do you say?" JJ gave his daughter a pointed look. 

"Thank you, Drey," She spoke beaming. 

JJ had taken the role of Hadiyeh, he was playing the role of both mother and father, with Hadiyeh gone, he had to. 

"So what do you think about sending Jannah to nursery?" Saeedeh asked, turning to JJ. Who gave her evil eyes, he was not going to send his daughter away from him, she was the only reminder he had of Hadiyeh, if anything were to happen to her in kindergarten, he would never forgive himself.

"Yeah, you can send Jannah to kindergarten then you can also get on with your own work, your management team are pissed." Tobi pointed out as Jannah looked at them with curiosity as they mentioned her name. 

"Baba, what's kindergarten?" Jannah asked her father. 

"A place where you can go to play with other kids," Saeedeh replied. 

"Like the playground?" Jannah had only gone to the playground a few times in her life, all because people kept coming up to her mother and asking for pictures, making both Jannah and Hadiyeh uncomfortable, but the children she played with were lots of fun. 

"Yeah, like the playground." JJ nodded kissing her head. 

"Will you be there too?" Jannah looked up at the big adults sitting around the table.

"No, bubba." 

"It'll be just you and other children you can play with, and a teacher," Saeedeh spoke to the child who was already clapping her hands and cheering.

"Baba, I want to go!" 

"I'll think about it, love," JJ nodded, mentally cursing out Saeedeh in his head. 

"Okay," She nodded, continuing to eat her pancakes, thinking about 'kindergarten', imagining a playground with no adults and just children, slides and swings and even climbing frames.

After breakfast, JJ sent Jannah upstairs to brush her teeth and sat down with Saeedeh and Tobi. 

"Have you even thought, for a second, that sending Jannah to kindergarten would be a mad hustle?" JJ looked at the couple angrily, "She's not going o fit in with the other kids, then we're going to have to get the school decked out in security?"