EXPLICIT BLOOM

19• If promises were horses

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"Hayma kinsan Allah zaki sha duka Idan baki bari ba, if you like don't listen" Mimi warned again for the umpteenth time.

They were in her parlour all together watching a movie but Hayma keeps giving Mimi spoilers as she and Haifa had already watched the movie.

"Ai watching a movie with Hayma is tiring wallahi, she did the same thing to me yesterday, I had to send her away before I was able to finish it. Such a fun crusher" Haifa agreed. "Sorry Mimi, yanzu kam I'll not say anything" Hayma chuckled.

"That's what you said the last sixty six times" Haifa voiced with a hiss.

"Now I really mean it, if I talk send me away" Hayma said. "Good thing you mentioned it yourself" Mimi commented before taking her full attention back on the movie.

They all remained quiet after that and watched peacefully, Hayma didn't say anything henceforth. When the movie was almost ending, the door opened and Alhaji Nasir Dandawaki walked in.

"You're back?" Mimi asked when she noticed it was him. Hayma rushed with enthusiasm and hugged her father while Haifa stood up to welcome him back. "Welcome back Abbu" Haifa said with a smile.

Now that she was looking at her father up close, she saw how spoiled he'd become. He looked malnourished, weak and like he hadn't slept in a long while.

"Thank you my darlings" Abbu said with a smile, a genuine smile before Hayma jumped out of his embrace. "I'll bring some food to your room" Mimi said also standing up to go get the maids prepare something for him. He returned back home at an odd hour so they've not prepared anything for him.

"Let it be, I'm not that hungry" Abbu said and walked out of the room while Mimi followed him.

"Lafiya? Did you find him?" Mimi asked almost immediately they entered his living room. "No Khadija" Abbu replied. "Why?" Mimi asked again. "They don't have any lead that could help them find him, but I'm sure they're trying their best"

"Haba Nasir, where could he possibly go that they can't find him? We're not just talking days fa" Mimi said. She was tired of keeping it in and pretending to her kids that everything was okay. "They'll find our son Khadija, just give it some time"

"Will they? Will they really find him? I'm starting to get scared about this wallahi. What if he really is dead?" Mimi voiced, tears were already filling her eyes and waiting for the right second to fall.

"Don't say that please, he will be alright" Abbu said. "That is not the confirmation I need" Mimi said, letting the tears fall freely on her face as she sat on the sofa for support. She hated how she felt, she hated every second of it.

"I'm telling Haifa, she deserves to know" Mimi said after a while of silence. Alhaji Nasir didn't attempt to comfort her and she didn't bother caring because she knew how he was. That was how she lived with him all those years after all, she never got disappointed because she never had any expectations from him.

Indeed they loved each other at first, but as responsiblities of becoming rich increased, he let go of what they had. She would complain some days but alas, she got tired and learned to live with it.

"Don't tell her, it's just like snatching her happiness away" Abbu complied. "She would not like it if she finds out somewhere else and you know it. I'm telling her and that's that" Mimi sniffed wiping her tears away. "Stop being stub...."

Abbu's sentence was stopped by the sudden knock on the door and also the opening that followed it. It was Haifa, she held her mother's phone on one hand and hers in the other.