"Ummah Good evening, how was your day?" Nur greeted her mother, slumping her body on the couch next to her.
"It was good dear. You look tired, go and take a shower, it's almost time for maghrib, by the time you are done, your food will be waiting." Mrs Fatimah replied, patting her daughter's shoulder.
"Oooohhhh Ummah I'm tiredddddd, can I skip the showe" Nur smiled mischievously, making her famous doe eyes at her Mum.
"Come on stand up, you stink. I will end up with a bloated stomach at this rate." Her Mum teased pushing her from the couch, using her free hand to cover her nose.
"Ewwwww, what's stinking in this room." Humairah interjected, a broad smile on her face.
"It is your mouth." Nur retaliated as she playfully glared at her sister.
"Habibty don't mind her, you are the perfume in this room, my Baby can never stink." Mr Ali interjected.
"Awwwwnnn Daddy thank you, you are the only one that truly loves me in this House." Nur replied making her eyes look as if she was really touched and close to tears, as she moved to hug her father, he stopped her saying.
" My Baby, don't mind them go and shower so that you will feel fresh." He said, trying to hold his laughter which he let go of as Mrs Fatima and Humairah burst into fits of laughter.
"Daddyyy." Nur whined and her father parted her on the back trying to control his laughter that was threatening to erupt once again.
"Habibti I'm not laughing." He said trying to convince her.
Nur just pouted and made her way up the stairs to her room to take the shower everyone demanded from her.
************
"Yaaya, welcome." A little girl of about twelve ran as fast as her tiny leg could carry her, as she made for the door, a tall handsome man lifted her a bit roughly,
"Dee, you are getting heavier by the day,what is Mummy feeding you?" He asked her pulling her cheeks.
"Yaaya, I'm growing that's why." She replied energetically.
He dropped her and headed for the couch as he sat and motioned for her to come to him.
"Where is Mummy?" He asked.
"My Darling, you are back. How was your day?" A short dark skinned beautiful woman appeared from the corridor, her hair laying a bit below her neck. she reached to tie it with her ruffle then used a hair tie to cover it as she approached her son who gave her a very affectionate hug.
"Love of my life, I missed you." He gushed.
"Why am I feeling left out? " Dee complained her hands akimbo.
"And Mummy,you said I'm your Darling."
She added pouting.
"Oh my Baby, you are my heartthrob." Her mum said as she hugged her too.
"Mum, you can't have a Darling and a heartthrob, they are meant to be one person, or else you will be a......yes the word is Casanova." Dee informed her mother.
Her mother laughed with Hamza before she replied.
"Dee, I'm your mother and you are my children, you are both my Darlings and heartthrobs, the only ones of course." She ended it with a chuckle.
"Hmmm, that makes sense." She muttered, nodding her head and suddenly hugged her mother and brother a wide small on her cute face.
"Mummy, Dee is growing to be so Witty and sharp tongued." He said after Dee released them from her tight hug. Amused at her level of intelligence.
"Its Lilly oo from the curious, she's solely responsible." His Mum replied.
"Ooohhh, speaking of the curious, Dee I met somebody from the curious today, somebody you will love to see." He informed her, excitement lacing his voice.
"Really?" She asked, her voice rising with her curiosity.
"Guess." He saidwiggling his eyebrows while his Mother quietly sat on a nearby couch enjoying their exchange.
"Ermmmm, Lilly?" She asked, excited at the mere thought.
"Nope, someone I think you love more." He replied enjoying the suspense.
"Veronica Jones, the writer?" She asked again.
"I said someone you said you love more." He replied stressing every word.
"Hmm, I don't want to hope too much so that I won't be disappointed." She replied, her eyes cautioning him.
He laughed a little, then ruffled her hair.
"Hope for the best My smart Dee."
Her smile broadened, her eyes showing excitement and disbelief as she pronounced the name.
"Nur Ali?"
He paused to allow her suspense reach its peak before he slowly nodded his head and presented to her the signed autograph.
Nur Ali Adores Khadijah Suleiman.
A small Heart and a signature below it.
Khadijah squealed and hugged her brother,
"This is Nur's handwriting, oh my God!! Its so beautiful, you met her, you talked to her ooooohhhhh, you are so lucky and I am so jealous, you know what, pls help me meet her even if it from a distance pleasseeeee." Khadijah blabbered unable to contain her excitement.
"Well that's not all my dear, she sent you a gift." He told her anticipating a louder squeal, their Mother who was still watching, made a point of covering her ears with her hands.
When she noticed her mother's reaction she decided to ask as calmly as she could.
"What is it? give me, give me."
He presented her with the leather which contained the niqab, she hurriedly opened it to look at what it was.
" A niqab?"she asked confusion on her face.
"Yes, she said if you ever want to wear it." He replied simply.
"Hmmm, well if you meet her again, tell her if I ever want to wear a niqab, this will be the first I'll use and I love her and the niqab." She said the last part squealing as she hugged the niqab.
**********
It was 9pm and everybody had retired to their rooms, Humairah sat on the bed waiting for her sister who was performing her wudu'u for sleeping to continue her tale.
Nur came out of the bathroom then tied her hair with a scarf, Slowly she approached the bed and sat adjacent to Humairah
"Mairah, why aren't you sleeping?" She asked, faking ignorance.
"Nuurrrr, you know why." Humairah whined.
"Mairahhhh, I don't know why." She whined back chuckling at the end of her sentence.
"Please Nur, it's all I've been thinking about today." Humairah pleaded pouting her lips.
"Hmm, beg more." She replied mischievously.
*pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.."
"Its ok, I'll tell you but we won't stay too late." Nur interrupted her whining.
"Thank you." Mairah replied, a smile replacing her pout.
"I agreed to Amar and his mother's request to retain the peaceful atmosphere in the house, I apologized to them and everything went back to normal.
The next day, Amar introduced me to Raashidah, the maid assigned to me, he drove us to school and bade me goodbye.... I remember he was reluctant to go as he was whining that he was going to miss me. I had to beg him to go early because the road isn't safe and he had to travel the next day too.
School started and everything was going well. Raashidah was very helpful and was more like a friend to me, at school too, I had people who took care of me, my life was Good until one day I had a terrible stomach ache, it was so bad, I thought I was going to die.
Raashidah was very confused, she just kept on going back and forth and crying, what ticked her consciousness was when I started bleeding. She quickly ran outside and booked a cab which took us to the closest hospital, Al-madinah, the doctor told me that the bleeding was as a result of detached placenta, though it wasn't serious but if I am not careful and if I don't rest well, I'm at risk of spontaneous miscarriage.
He asked me how many months old my child is and I told him 4 months and 3 weeks, the doctor was shocked as he said the fetus he saw in the scanning was that of at most 10 weeks old. He asked me which hospital's antenatal programme do I attend and for the first time I felt truly ashamed, since when Amar told me not to go, I didn't try to persuade him again. I felt like a careless mother, an irresponsible parent, I just whispered to him my head bowed that I had never gone for antenatal. It was from then that Doctor Jamil took special interest in my cas.
Hee told me normally, antenatal is just once a month for a pregnancy of 1month to 6month, but since I have a case, I should visit his hospital every week because my baby needed extra care." Nur paused a bit as if trying to find her voice.
"Nur, did you tell anybody? Ummah? Amar? and if you had a baby where is it, is it with Amar or ..." Humairah choked on her words as Nur glared at her daring her to finish her statement.
"I didn't tell Ummah, it was of no use other than scaring and disturbing her, I just did as the doctors said.
As for Amar, I told him, he was concerned so he told me to do as the doctor instructed but since he wasn't in the country, he couldn't come. So I did, and for the next 4 months I visited Dr Jamil's hospital every week.
If my lectures clash with my appointment, my friend Halima signs the attendance for me, every food I ate was essential and recommended, he also prescribed some drugs for me drugs I should have started taking since day one and those that will help my child grow. when the Baby was 6 months old, I remember we did a scan and he told me its growing better now........in fact, he said it was almost normal though still fragile, he even gave me the CD where the scan was recorded
I still have it,.... It was the happiest moment of my life. I was so happy, my baby looked so amazing and small and fragile, I could hear his faint heartbeat and could see him turn a bit." Nur paused again as tears clouded her vision, she bent and opened a drawer, where her treasure box was, she brought out a CD from it and showed it Humairah.
" This is the CD, this is the first memory of my first Baby, he was a boy, the doctor told me the sex and the Genotype, AS just like me, his mother, his careless mother, his irresponsible mother." Nur paused again obviously unable to control her emotions any longer she paced around the room trying to calm herself down, supplicating to Allah to ease her wounded heart.