𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐉𝐀𝐇'𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 / 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐈𝐄 𝐁

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟔: 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄.

"Okay, bye, I'll see you later, safety," Khadijah waved to Arion and the guys as she walked up the steps of her apartment building. She had a good day apart from James popping up, but she refused to let a clown bring her down. With her muscles sore and stomach filled with spicy beef patties, she felt satisfied as she headed up the stairs to the third floor of her building.

She reached her door, only to find it unlocked, which was slightly unusual since her mother always kept it locked.

Quietly, she pushed the door open, peering down the hall and hearing her mother move around in the kitchen with a slight hum. Khadijah sighed in relief, toeing off her sneakers before she made her way down the hall. She stopped in the archway as she took in the figure sitting at their small breakfast table.

"Aabo (father)!" She squealed in excitement, bag clattering onto the floor as she raced forward to hug her father who chuckled, holding her just as tightly, "what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to come home next week." She asked once she pulled away from him.

"Shaqada goor hore ayaan dhameeyay (I finished the job early)." He said. "How are you, though, jacaylkayga (my love)? You seem tired. Weary." Her father frowned.

"Si fiican ayaan u socdaa (I'm doing well)," Khadijah smiled, sitting at the chair beside him, "I had volleyball tryouts today. I want to help with the yearbook this year too."

"Very good," he nodded, "these will all look good on your application in the future. I'm impressed."

"Thank you, aabo—"

"However," he cut her off sternly, voice undertaking a tone that made Khadijah's spine stiffen in an instant, "your mother has told me some things." Khadijah could see her mother pause her dishwashing out of the corner of her eye before she resumed her task quietly. Her face twitched in irritation. "Those boys... has your mother not told you to stay away? You would disobey her? Our wishes, Khadijah?" He asked her—words cutting her like sharp knives.

Underneath the table, Khadijah's hand curled into a fist.

"Aabo... " Khadijah started to say slowly, eyes carefully watching her father's face, "they are... they are good people—they are my friends."

"Friends? They are your friends, Khadijah?" Her father stared at her in disbelief. "Hanging around with the likes of them will get you killed! I forbid it. You must focus on your studies. You do not have time to waste with people like them." He shook his head, firmly placing his hand down on top of the table.

"Aabo, please." Khadijah pleaded with them. Normally, she'd agree easily with her parents when they dictated something, but for once in her life, the past two weeks of hanging out with Arion, and everyone else had brought something else into her life.