OCTOBER 10TH

EIGHTEEN

BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA.

Aman looked at his father with lack of interest as the geriatric continue to censure him on and on about why he killed his son in the first place causing them so much cataclysm in their lives. He is going to go berserk if the man doesn't keep quiet.

He cannot keep up with the pace his life is going, he wants to slow down but also speed up at the same time. He wants to have peace for the first time and feel it from his heart, to forget about the past but that is now insurmountable as jail awaits him.

He knew his father has already pulled on many strings to make sure he is not hanged or killed right away. Maybe only spend a few months in the jail tops until the matter dematerializes. He surely was intoxicated when everything happened, they can easily turn the case against Mahnoor if they wish to but they don't know what she has against them.

The minute he found out about the hearing taking place, he knew things are going to be so interfused. He didn't try defending himself nor had he said a word about the murder till date. He did it. It was easy. He had no idea what came over him then.

He only went straight to a therapist after going back to Portland, trying to work on his alcohol addiction. Things were going on placidly, he's forgotten about everything related to Nigeria knowing that it is going to be the best thing for him to do.

Aman has already programmed his life and the top in that list was never coming back to Nigeria.

He made sure any memory that could haunt him was obliterated and never to be relived again but one phone call from his father changed everything. He's been ignoring countless calls from them but just that day -bad omen- he decided to answer the call and then boom, he is going to court. An old cold case was reopened and he is at the end of it.

"...do I face the world if things putrefy? I'm sure that little vermin has a lot underneath her sleeve. I've tried all I could to search for her all over but there is no news about her whereabouts except the hotel she's visited after leaving the manor. It's like she's disappeared from the face of earth." Zubairu Ajuji continued kvetching, his teeth gnashing at the idea of what the day ahead has in its arsenal for them.

Hajiya Hadiza sighed, she is done talking about the same matter over and over again. They should go out there, fight tooth and nail, that's all she knows. She's also made her own arrangement here and there hoping one of her decoys would work and Mahnoor will fall in the abysmal disaster.

So far, no good news has reached their ears and they are slowly losing hope on anything better because they have just about two hours until the hearing.

They are currently waiting for the other three sisters to arrive so they can leave together as one supportive family. To show the world that they have each other's backs no matter the circumstances. Aman wanted to scoff at that. Family?

Najeeba came into the room having heard the bits of the conversation and like the brat she is, she chirped in. "I'm very sure she's whored herself to someone that has big-wheel and he's aiding her. She cannot do all these alone. That little art of hers won't get her here."

Hajiya Hadiza contemplated that for a second though normally, she never listens to a word that strutted out from her youngest daughter. For the first time Najeeba is making sense even with the balance of her cranium is imprecise.

Najeeba is right about this. Someone as beautiful as Mahnoor, she can get her way around the world because one look at her and you want to idolize the ground she is walking on and put her on a pedestal. She's got something in her that makes people want to genuflect.

Hajiya Hadiza shook her head, not willing to imagine the girl doing something hideous because with the innocence she's portrayed while she was staying with them, that image cannot be pictured.