"Yes, I'm finishing all I came to do in Nigeria today. Ummu is on her way, make sure Ryan picks her from the airport." The young man fixes his Rolex watch as he ends the call.

He looks at himself in the mirror as he smirks.

Here i come hermana.

He enters his black Mercedes c300. He revs it to life and followa the cars in front of him.

Once they stop, he stops. He waits till the occupants are out of the cars and start walking before he tails them.

Once they reach the resort, he waits for them to finish wishing his sister a happy birthday before he makes his appearance.

Halima's POV

Hermana?

So he was Hermano all along. No wonder his voice sounds so familiar.
Hermano is Amir Aliyu. I turn to look at Daddy and he's clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. Then something occurrs to me, he called him dad.

I look at Amir then daddy before Amir again. I'm utterly shocked, confused. I watch as Amir makes his way to daddy.

"Hey dad. I told you that I'd make my appearance, and you thought I was bluffing. Now" he stops to look at mummy before saying "oh sorry stepmother. My bad, sorry I didn't see you there. I'm your long lost stepson, Amir Audu Kalshingi."

"What do you mean by Amir Audu Kalshingi? Sweetheart who's he? And why is be using your name as his surname?" We all look at daddy expecting an answer.

"Wait, I've seen you somewhere. What's the name of your mother?". Amir smirks.

"Uwani, Uwani Sulayman." Abba widens his eyes in surprise.

"That's my sister's name, my stepsister. She left home when her mother refused to allow her to get married to one man... "and then he widen his eyes more as if he just discovered something dreadful.

"Care to explain, Muhammad Audu Kalshingi?" Mummy widens her eyes and starta moving away from daddy. All the while, I'm still. I'm confused and to make matters worse, I'm having a splitting headache.

"Hayatee..." daddy is cut off by mummy.

"Don't, don't. Just explain yourself." Mummy is on the verge of tears. Daddy tries to touch her but she takes two steps back.

"Don't touch me, stand where you are and talk." Daddy sighs.

"You might want to sit down." He takes one of the white plastic chairs. He sits down and everyone does the same except Ammi. She stands behind mummy with her hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner. Ya Sa'eed and Teemah are looking as confused as I am. Amal and Afnan are no where to be found. 

I take the last plastic chair and sit. Daddy sighs again.

"Thirty years ago, I got married to Hajjo. She was the best wife I could ever ask for. But something was missing, children. After five years, Maami, my mother, started asking for her grandkids. We went to the hospital and Hajjo was rendered infertile, barren.

"I told Maami I don't trust doctors but Allah and she promised to disown me if I didn't get married again. I finally got her to drop the issue but then two years later she came to our house in Abuja. She said that I had to get married whether I liked it or not.

"I told Hajjo and she threw tantrums. She refused to cook for a while saying that she wasn't going to let me get married. She never talked to me or anything. We went like that for two weeks. I was getting disturbed. One day I was going to work when I almost ran over a lady in her late twenties.

"She was injured and bleeding. I took her to the hospital and she was treated. I apologized and after that we became acquainted. Every time I was feeling down I went to her and she took my head off things.

"I didn't know how but she managed to sneak her way into my heart. I started courting her and suddenly I felt like Hajjo was just an obstacle standing in my way of being a good son. I told Maami about my plan to get married to her without the knowledge of Hajjo and she approved.

"We went ahead with the marriage. I got her a house in Abuja too which wasn't too far away from my house. One day we came to Gombe so that we could greet her mother, but her mother refused to bless our marriage.

"Uwani started looking for ways to get out of the marriage. After her mother threatened to disown her, she asked for an annulment and I divorced her. Two weeks after the divorce I found out that Hajjo was pregnant.

"The day I found out Hajjo was pregnant was the day Maami died and the day Uwani told me she was also pregnant and that her marriage had been arranged to one of her mother's friends son, Aliyu.

"I was ecstatic and devastated. One month later Hajjo had a miscarriage. She fell from the stairs. I remember that day like it was yesterday. After the miscarriage, my youngest sister started using every slight opportunity she got to insult Hajjo.

"I found Aliyu and befriended him. He knew about the pregnancy and I told him I was the father. At that time his business was doing very bad. So I gave him ten million Naira and he promised to take care of my son in exchange.

"Nine years later Hajjo got pregnant with Halima and she was kept in the hospital throughout till she finally gave birth to Sadiya. We rejoiced and rejoiced but something dampened my mood. The death of Aliyu and Uwani."

"I was just ten then with a baby sister. When they told me about my dear daddy that abandoned me, I didn't understand then. Until five years later when I was in university in London. I started tracking down dear father and I finally found him.

"When I found him I vowed to show myself to his family because I saw how my other father used to maltreat my mother. He'd beat the hell out of her and she'd always blame me. She said that if only my father didn't come into her life then I wouldn't be there. I always went to bed with tears.

"When they died I didn't mourn, I was ecstatic. The best part was that they left me and Ummu a lot of money to feast on. The fact that he was an only child and his parents were dead made things easier. Automatically, I had become the heir to all his properties.

"I made sure to make the business prosper. After some time I decided to come back to Nigeria. I gave dear dad here three years to tell his family about me but he didn't. I decided to use Halima's best friend, Fatima as a pawn.

"All the while I never loved Fatima, I was only using her." Teemah stands up and goes further into the forest. I make to follow her but Ya Sa'eed follows her instead.

"Once I got what I wanted, I did something that would make Fatima break up with me on her own accord. All what I did in order to get my father back I don't regret. The only thing I regret is the Jinn possessing Fatima."

I hear gasps and then Ammi staggers for some time. Ya Sa'eed gets her a chair. He tells them how everything happened. Once everything is cleared up. We leave for Abuja.

Once we went back to Abuja, our parents had a meeting. Right now we're sitting in the parlor of Teemah's house with Amir, Kalt and everyone else. Amal and Afnan have been taken to Aunty Fareeda's house.

"First of all, Halima, we're sorry for ruining your birthday. You don't always get what you want. Let me start with the oldest here, Amir, who is twenty four. We're really sorry for what you've been through. I hope you forgive your mother and me for what we've done. " Daddy looks at Mummy who has been blank since we left the resort.

"Then Sa'eed, you might think we love Fatima more than we love you. We love you all equally. And if our actions have been showing otherwise, we're sorry. And you and Halima have been officially betrothed. I believe you both know what that means?" Ya Sa'eed nods at Abba, sporting a big smile.

"Halima?" I nod too.

"Good. Fatima, you will be taken to a  rehabilitation Madrasah in Dubai to take care of the Jinn issues. That will be after you finish your secondary school in Al-hikma. Yes, your school will be changed. Fatima, UmmuKalthum and Halima to al-hikma, Sa'eed will write his external exams too there, while Amal and Afnan will be taken to Glisten." We nod.

"Lastly, UmmuKalthum, we're sorry for everything. So now, Halima, meet your half brother and step sister, Amir Audu Kalshingi and UmmuKalthum Aliyu. Fatima and Sa'eed, meet your cousins, Amir and UmmuKalthum." We all exchange looks before we're dismissed.