Jamal: How's She?

Summayah rolled her eyes and bit her lower lip as she studied a cheeky answer to give him.

Who? Mummy?

Jamal texted back almost immediately. Don't play with me Summayah. I talked to Mummy this morning, I mean Halima.

Summayah laughed and typed back quickly. Oh you mean your crush? She is fine.

Jamal shook his head and replied with an okay. Then he remembered something. He quickly typed it.

Congratulations on your new job by the way👏🏼👏🏼. But dad will blow a gasket when he hears.

Summayah rolled her eyes at her brother's words. So she replied;

Don't be absurd, he is recovering from a stroke. He won't like to exert himself. I timed it well.

Jamal replied, I'm just worried. About you.

Summayah looked around her chair to Halima who was putting Jariyah's hair in a bun. She replied to Jamal cunningly. Oh, worried that he won't accept Halima?

Jamal's reply was immediate. SUMMAYAH ABUBAKAR!!!Behave!

She chuckled out loud and turned off her data connection setting her phone on the coffee table. She felt smug shaking Jamal up.

Summayah got up and walked to Halima who was patting Jariyah's hair in completion. "Go get your backpack baby. Let's walk you and Lubna to school." Summayah watched Jariyah skip up the stairs to her room before leaning down to whisper.

"Halima?" Halima hummed in reply as she removed hair flints from her black jeans trousers. "When did Jariyah start putting her hair in a bun? Didn't she used to vehemently say no to putting hair in buns?"

Halima laughed hard at how Summayah's face was. Jariyah used to call hair in buns a 'bad idea' since her arch-enemy in school used to wear her hair that way.

"Well. Jariyah's aunt, one boy kept putting the end of our girl's pigtail in the back of her chair. So she walked up to me and said, I want my hair in a low bun from now on. And now here we are."

Summayah walked into the dining room and began pouring a glass of juice before saying in Hausa to their Cook.  "Cook, even Jariyah has admirers. Am I not doomed like this?" Cook laughed, having no idea what she had said about herself.

*****

"It's here. It's one of those Turkish shops tucked into those old buildings so we may not find it easily." Summayah walked two steps and stared at the map on her phone again before making an aha sound.

"Found it. Let's go in." Halima nodded and walked into the cozy deli with her. Asma and Zubaida were sitting at a window seat. They waved Halima over when they spotted her behind tall, willowy Summayah.

"Hi Halima. It's been so long." Halima nodded mutely and hugged both of them. Turning to make introductions, she saw Summayah's fear-filled face and laughed a little at her fear. She'd said she was afraid of female relationships.

"This is my employer's daughter Summayah. Summayah meet Asma and Zubaida." Summayah stuck out her hand to Asma and Zubaida, Zubaida pushed her hand off and pulled her into a hug instead.

"You're the Summayah we've heard so much about." Summayah sat down and crossed her arms.

"Well, you didn't follow me back on Instagram AND!!" She raised a finger up. "Halima's my best friend."

They all looked at Halima who had taken their orders and was conferring with the waitress and laughed at her.

"So, how's your dad?" Summayah sipped from her warm cay and licked her lips before replying Zubaida.

"My dad is fine, he just needs about two extra months of physio and In Sha Allah, he'll be fine. His speech is slowly becoming back to normal, Alhamdulillahi for that." Zubaida nodded and took a sip of her Salep.

"So, Zubaida. I didn't get what you told me about Muhammad?" Asma shook her head and blew out hot air from her mouth.

"Really, Muhammad is the definition of scum." Zubaida nodded and looked up at the waitress who set a large plate filled with various shawarma sizes on it.

"What did he do?" Halima asked immediately the lady left.

"Remember when we met you, Zuabida was a healthy size 18? She was going to the gym to be fit? Remember?" Halima nodded in confusion. She knew nothing about Zubaida's gym attendance but she knew Zubaida looked really healthy.

"So, scummiest of them all told your friend here that he would have nothing to do with her if she couldn't drop to at least a twelve before their wedding." Halima goggled.

"That would be asking her to kill herself now. Drop six dress sizes in a month and a half. Who asks that?" Asma rolled her eyes and brought her palms forward.

"Zubaida here, instead of telling anyone, began to loose weight. She had to alter the entire design of her wedding dress until her mother noticed and we investigated.

Ashe, uncle scummiest of them all thought it would be hard for her and was already engaged to the 'love of his life'." Asma raised her index fingers up to show her sarcasm.

"Asma stop." Asma stopped speaking and at back in her seat, heaving in visible anger. Summayah watched as Zubaida looked away to hide the tears that had formed in her eyes.

"Sis. You loose weight for yourself, to help your own self not because someone forces you to." Summayah's words must have triggered something because Zubaida's tears fell rapidly prompting Asma to pull out tissues for her.

"I was almost twenty-six, all my sisters married. I was the one who said I'd only go to school to learn how to run a business and I learned hair dressing. Yet, they all got married before me. The pressure was too much. Wallah, it piled up consistently.

Everyone talked as though they knew what I was going through, so when my dad said a friend of his asked for my hand for his son, who was i not to agree. We were engaged for about a year when he began to stop picking my calls and all that happened." She finished referring to the weight drop case.

Halima pursed her lips in complete silence. She had no idea what to say. So, when she heard Summayah clear her throat, she thanked God.

"Zubaida. Can I call you that?" Zubaida nodded while she wiped her eyes carefully.

"Now that you're a size 16, how do you feel?" Zubaida smiled through her teared up eyes and said. "I'm happy. Im confident in my own body, I'm smiling most of all. I'm enjoying my food." Halima watched Summayah nod.

"You need to own your body and never ever let anyone tell you what to do with it. Innit?" Zubaida nodded and clasped Halima's hands.

"Hey, what are you going to do about yourself when you return." Halima sighed and the began laughing.

"I have no idea yet. I don't want to delve into something that wouldn't work or wouldn't succeed. So I'm taking my time to think." Zubaida nodded satisfied.

"I'll send you a business idea I've been working on. We can see how it could work can't we?" Halima nodded with a smile.

Asma seeing that the atmosphere had changed nudged Summayah and proposed a toast.

"To the future ladies."

Glossary:
Cay and Salep are both Turkish drinks. Cay is a tea that is probably the most popular beverage in Turkey it's served in both apple and black tea variations, while, Salep is a very flavoured winter favoured drink made from a flower.

****

So, hi guys,

How are you all?

Another filler chapter abi?

I understand. We need all these paces to make the story make sense in the future.

Next time, I'll set the ball rolling for the second part of the story.

Also, Have you seeennn the new cover? Omg. I fell in love too. I made it by the way. So, thank you all.

Last. It's my birthday on Saturday 💁🏽‍♀️💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾 and I'm super excited.

See y'all soon. Talk soon.

TheOmoope.