Good morning❤️
😂😂 So you all saw an update that refused to open and you guys went haywire, chatting me up and stuff. It was just a mistake😅

Note: Do you all Remember....
WHO KILLED LAILA ADO?

I need y'all to anticipate! I am going to start it very soon in sha Allah. Go ahead and add it to your libraries and do recommend it to your friends. This is going to be like nothing you've ever read before!

PS: Be ready to go to okadabooks for this one Sha😅

Mommy tossed in her bed frustratingly. The alarm was being adamant today, maybe it was as a result of the events of yesterday but she had no intention of waking up now. The adhaan alarm wasn't stopping and she had the urge to hurl her phone onto the wall.

She stopped tossing when it stopped, thinking it was done. It had started again and she had sat up immediately. She felt a sharp pain in her head, making her groan softly. She sat in that position for a few minutes, and when the pain subsided she pushed away the duvet.

She stopped the alarm, and then put on her flip-flops which were situated beside her bed. When she heard a soft snores, she had quickly turned on the lights. A wave of relief shot through her when she saw her husband Alhaji Matazu sleeping peacefully.

After the screaming contest with Noorie after she had sent Maryam to her mother's, she had had slept so deeply she had not heard her husband come in. Alhaji Matazu tossed on the bed too because of the light.

"Switch it off" he mumbled, making her glare at his sleeping figure.

"It's time for prayer, better go and pray" she stated refusing to off the light. She hated it when he slips into her bedroom just because he had a spare key. He should have woken her up and most of all, he should have been the one to reprimand Noorie last night. Now, Noorie will hate her and she disliked when Noorie becomes cold.

"I've heard you, mother of Muazains¹. Switch it off" he retorted.  She smack the switch loudly with her nose flared as she headed to her bathroom. On putting on the tap, it gave out that rumbling sound and then nothing. She eyed the tap angrily fully aware that Baba Maigadi had definitely forgotten to pump water into the available tanks.

She exited her room and headed to the front door. Luckily, he had just switched it on so, there was no need for her to go yell at him. As annoyed as she was, she decided to wake Noorie and Aliyah for Subhi prayers.

She came back into her own room and had knocked on their door which Aliyah had answered. Noorie remained in her bed, even though she was wide awake. Mommy refused to say a thing to Noorie, wanting them to pray first before they have a one on one discussion about the attitude she had portrayed last night.

Mommy went back to her bathroom and performed ablution. When she exited the bathroom, she noticed her husband wasn't on the bed anymore and the light had been switched on. He was grumbling something before he left her room. She shrugged and quickly picked up her prayer mat ad hijab.

When she concluded her prayers, she remained on the mat telling God her deepest worries. She prayed for her daughters and sons. As she was about to stand up from the mat, Aliyah had pushed open the door to their room frantically making her stand up quicker.

"Mommy, Noorie!" Aliyah had yelled making the poor woman run to her children's room. She almost lost her balance because the water from the bathroom had leaked into the children's room. She gained her stance and jiggled the door handle. She banged and called out to Noorie but there was no response.

"Go and call Tahir" Mommy screamed loudly making Aliyah do a double take. She headed to Mama's part of the house, banging on the door like a maniac. Tanzeel had been the one who flung the door open with a frown, she glared at Aliyah not minding her tears. Aliyah pushed past her and started yelling out Tahir's name.

He had exited his mother's room mirroring Tanzeel's expression. Only when she made mention of Noorie did  his expression change into concern. He ran to his step mother's part of the house, to meet the woman crying out for her daughter. The cunning girl did not remove the key from the door so the spare keys could not be used.

Tahir asked for a rag and one of their numerous gowns were handed to him. He stepped on the rag and used his whole might to push the door. The first attempt had been futile but after several more, he had been able to push the door off its hinges. The gory sight they beheld made both Aliyah and her mother let out a piercing scream.

Noorie was floating in the gigantic bath tub filled with blood stained water. He mother had ran to her crying profusely while Aliyah had ran out to call for help. Ya Tahir switched off the tap and quickly opened the drainages she had blocked with clothes. Mama, Tanzeel and the other kids had all ran to Mommy's part of the house. Baba Direba switched on the car, waiting patiently for Noorie to be brought forth.

Mommy was wailing, holding onto her daughter's slashed wrists. Noorie looked pale, and it would take a miracle to save her. She had lost a whole lot of blood. Alhaji Matazu was shocked beyond words, as he watched his first daughter by Mommy in Tahir's arms rushing to the car.

Mommy and Mama had gotten into the car with Ya Tahir a front while Zarah offered to drive her father who was still startled by the scene he had seen. Aliyah was instructed to clean up and younger ones were left in the care of Tanzeel.

Alhaji Matazu called the hospital even before they got there, so the nurses awaited their arrival by the corridor. Noorie had been hauled onto the stretcher and straight into the emergency room. Mommy kept sobbing, inwardly reprimanding herself for yelling at Noorie last night. She felt so guilty that her daughter was willing to take her own life just because she had hit her. Had she known, she would have spoken to her softly.

"If anything happens to my daughter, I will die!" Mommy cried onto Mama's shoulders, while Mama patted her soothingly thinking about what could have prompted Noorie's suicide attempt.

Meanwhile, Aliyah mopped the toilet as she cried. She had washed the blood stained bath tub and everything looked as clean as it could be. She prayed for Noorie's health. As she tried discarding the razor which Noorie had used to inflict those cut on herself, she saw a paper on the vanity. It was Noorie's handwriting, on starting to read the contents Aliyah concluded it was Noorie's suicide note. She had went on about how Maryam had stolen what she's always wanted. She stated that she had met Iman first and that she fell in love with him. And then, she would rather die and leave the world than watch Maryam be with Iman.

Aliyah became jetlagged immediately, she could not counter Noorie's claims, but it felt rather weird that her sister had taken this turn. She could remember vividly how Noorie went on and on about some supposed prince in Kano, and it was around that time Iman came into Maryam's life. A mind told Aliyah to destroy this letter, but before she could Tanzeel came out of nowhere and snatched the paper from her hand. Tanzeel read the contents and a loud hiss left her mouth. She marched to the living room and sat down with a huff.

How could Noorie try ending her life for a guy that is clearly head over heels in love with Maryam? She wished she had been with them at the fashion house where Iman had embarrassed Tauhida and she. If he could reject Tauhida who is a walking beauty, what exactly does Noorie have on Maryam. Tanzeel scoffed before folding the paper, awaiting hesr parent's arrival.

Back in the hospital, Noorie was in need of blood transfusion and the little blood from the bank would not be enough. Apparently her blood group is a little hard to come by. Her parents decided to get tested, even though the doctor felt Alhaji Matazu was a little too old and ofcourse Mommy is a woman who wasn't close to menopause yet but she had hysterically demanded to be tested.

As both Alhaji Matazu and his two wives sat on a bench outside the emergency ward, the doctor had sent for them. Alhaji Matazu had slowly lowered himself on the middle one of the three chairs arranged in the doctors office when they got inside. Mommy sat by his left and Mama sat by his right. The doctor tried smiling at the three of them but he could not muster it as the results of the test was quite disturbing.

He cleared his throat and loosen his tie making Alhaji Matazu become really uncomfortable. He stared at his friend who kept reading and rereading the results.

"I have good news and the bad news" the doctor stated and Mommy who has been praying shot up. He getures she calms down which did not change anything. "I would give you the good news first since that is concerning your daughter. We were able to get her blood from the bank, and as I speak to you, she currently being stitched and regularized"

"Alhamdulillahi, they all stated in unison. Mommy placed her head on Alhaji Matazu's shoulders as tears of joy cascaded down her cheeks. She really thought she was going fo loose Noorie. Seeing her afloat in that bathtub had really scared the crap out of her.

"What about you the bad news?" Alhaji Matazu asked, concern lacing his features. The doctor sighed and stared at the three parents.

"Have you ever heard of genotype?" The doctor had asked and the three parents nodded eagerly. "You do know, there's no way the combination of some genotype can reproduce another genotype, yeah?" He asked.

They all nodded eagerly awaiting what the doctor was going to say and how it was related to them.

"I have strong proof that Noorie does not belong to you. Noorie is not your daughter" he had concluded. It felt like someone had used a hammer to strike Mommy on her head. While Alhaji Matazu and Mama remained rigid, Mommy burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

The doctor watched her with pitiful eyes, he knew they will not take this news lightly, but to comfort and confirm to them that child isn't theirs, he continued his explanation.

"For a successful blood transfusion, I decided to have my best medical laboratory technician do the needful. I had him conduct all the tests to avoid any mistake. I had him check you all for HIV, hepatitis and any communicable disease that could infect her. The technician had asked who the mother of the child was and I indicated your sample, Mrs Ummi. He argued it's not possible because your child Noorie is AS, while the three of you had AA genotype. From then on, I had him check the blood group which was most important and he conducted these test three times. Your child's blood group is AB when the both of you are universal donors that is you have the O blood group. On spotting this problem, I had him conduct a DNA test. I am very very sorry to inform you but that child, is not your child. She was either switched at birth or someone played a fast one on you......"

"What are you insinuating?" Mommy had cut him off, glaring at him. He frowned and looked away since he never really liked her. Mama had always been his idol. She's lucky he had not withheld some information that might put her marriage in goepardy and he had opened up so they could tackle the problem.
"Did you think, I in my right senses would steal somebody else's child and present as mine? What would I gain by doing that?" She had yelled loudly.

She hissed and stood up, but the overwhelming feeling had taken over her and she slumped loosing consciousness.

Meanwhile, Janan's house seemed like a grave yard. It was so quiet that morning, their mother wasn't as chirpy as she used to be. Iman had noticed it after he had spoken to Maryam and had came down for breakfast.

His mother had burned three batches of Irish potatoes now. She would stir and stir until it gets burnt. Iman had put on an apron and had asked her to sit down. He had made breakfast for them, which they kept picking and tossing around. They barely touched their food.

"Will you both stop being gloomy and tell me why both of you are like this. I came in late last night and you were all asleep, what happened while I was away?" He asked and Islam could only sigh. His mother was absent minded already, so she did not hear a word he had uttered. A tear escaped her eyes and she wiped it quickly hoping her children did not see it.

Iman hugged her from behind, she had rested on his body and soon she started sobbing. He shook her slowly as she sobbed into her palms. Islam watched them sadly from the other end of the island.

"Your father is getting married" Janan had stated through sobs. Iman waited for the news to affect him, but it did not. He knew a day like this would come because that therapist Sadiya even visited. If he was not serious about her, he would not have brought her here. Was his mother hoping for a reunion? He remembered vividly how he had kept trying to match make her with any divorcee, widower or older bachelors back in London. She had declined each one of them, saying she wasn't ready.

"Isn't that good thing?" Iman blurted out of instinct making his mother go still for a minute. Then she started shrugging off his hug, trying to get free. Islam was already throwing daggers at him.

"Let me go you big rod of ice" she stated through gritted teeth making Iman burst into laughter which she later joined. Islam still maintained his surly look.

"Mom, if you love him and you believe he will do you good, then you should call him and amend things or for your sake and for your family's sake, you can actually remarry someone else" Iman advised. His mother did not say a word. She was confused about how she felt about her ex-husband. They had been married for a less than a decade, but because he had been her first love she hadn't let him go. Infact yesterday when he had informed her about his marriage and had asked for her consent, she thought hard about how he was better off with the therapist.

She gave him her blessings and watched him leave her house dejectedly. The truth is Junaid is refusing to grow up. He did not need her permission to know what decision would befit him. Had she said yes to him, he would have decided to use that as a leverage to make himself feel better.

He wasn't in love with Sadiya, infact he merely loves how she comforts him. It was left for him to get out of that relationship, but for some dumb reason he did not want to single handedly dump her. He needed somebody else's help to do it. He did not want to be a bad person all by himself. He needed somebody else to share it with him, and until he realizes he needed to make decisions for himself no matter how hard it is he would not be a happy man.

"I actually gave him my blessings when he came to inform me last night" she stated. "Now I wish I did not. Maybe I should call him" she contemplated. When she saw her boys staring at her with cocked eyebrows, she burst into laughter. The boys engulfed her in a hug while she snuggled between them contentedly.

After breakfast, the boys decided to take their mother out for brunch. Iman had on his office wear, knowing he would have to head to his office from the brunch place. Islam drove his mother while Iman trailed behind them in his own car.

On his way, he tried Maryam's number, but for some reason the number was refusing to connect. Infact, it felt like the number had been disconnected. He did not falter though, he kept trying to reach her throughout that day and he kept getting the same response. At a point he wanted to simply go to her house in Apo but the workload at the hospital felt like it doubled over night. So, he worked throughout the day, stopping to try her number every once in a while. He made up his mind to go to Apo either that evening or the next day. He needed to see Maryam, his very own Maryam!

Unknown to both Maryam and Iman, the dearest Khalid had blocked Iman's phone number on Maryam's phone, hence the reason why he could not reach his heart rob.

By 4pm, Iman had concluded his work. The patients were all in a good condition, so handing over to the next doctor on call wasn't a problem at all. He exited the hospital in glee at exactly 5pm, he stopped by the bakery to get some pastries for Maryam's grandparents since today is officially the first day he was meeting them.

Locating the house wasn't a hassle, since he's been here before. On getting to the gate, he was surprised to find the gate ajar, so he came inside. To his surprise, he saw Maryam holding a woman's hands in mid air, he did not know who it was at first, but when Maryam had dropped the woman's, the woman slumped onto the ground, and then he realized it was Maryam's mother.

Glossary:

Muazain - a man who calls prayer.

Your's faithfully
Harunafaree ❤️