#FewWords
Obstacles are indicators that force you to redirect your effort in new directions. Imagine what you want to achieve, generate strong emotions, lead with passion and good intentions and you"ll never regret a thing. Often times closed doors lead us to the best experience of our life.

RECAP
She walked in with her bag held roughly and her face wasn't looking good either.

"Mum..."I was about to greet her when she cut me off saying
"Well done Salma, well done" she dropped her bag on the couch and clapped her hands.

Chapter Nine
Third Person's POV
Salma closed her eyes and was mentally praying that her mum hasn't heard what happened in school today. Her eyes were still closed when her shouted

"Salma, what kind of a girl are you?" She repeated the sentence twice while dropping her bag hardly on the floor.

"I heard everything that happened, you got into a fight with one of Maryam's friends" she said

Salma was shocked, she wondered when that happened, she felt the gaze of her sister, Maryam, when their eyes met, she got everything, Maryam lied to their mother, again.

Salma just dropped her head and kept on listening to what her mother was saying. She wasn't even given a chance to defend herself.

Her mum was still talking when their dad walked in, in an unusual facial expression.

"Maryam, where were you today? Where did you go today? What did you do at home? He asked in a calm manner, but his voice wasn't as it's always is, he was trying to control himself.

Mr Ahmad is a calm man but he never takes it easy when he's being disrespected.

Maryam was standing, confused, she looked so scared.

"I thought you said you were sick" he inquired

"Well...A.a.abbaaa...I" Maryam stammered.

"Yes, she was and is sick, what did you see?" Her mother asked

"Really? Rukayyah, Really?" He asked

"I saw few unusual girls coming out of this house and you are..." His wife, Mrs Rukayyah cut him off saying
"Yes, they paid her a visit"

Everyone was quiet for few seconds, then Mr Ahmad warned his wife to stay away from how he chooses to upbring his daughters.

"Stay away from it, got that, stay away from how I want to raise my daughters"he said while walking to his room.

Few inches to his room and he said "mothers like you are the ones that make their daughters regret certain actions in the future" he opened the door and locked it.

Salma walked to her room quietly, feeling sad, it's always one problem or another. Maryam and her mother too left the parlor. The house was just so quiet, it was worse than how it was before.

The words Mr Ahmad uttered kept on ringing in Mrs Rukayyah's ears while she was in her room. She received a call from her friend, she picked up the call "Salam, my good friend, u called at the right time".

After few minutes into the call and she has already forgotten what happened, the call ended "I know what my daughter wants, he'd be acting as if he's in the 80's, how did I even end up getting married to such a man, if..." she continued murmuring to herself while viewing status updates on WhatsApp

Maryam was in her room chatting with a couple of friends, it was as if nothing happened.

Few hours later and no one was at the dining room for dinner. Normally Mr Ahmad always waits for the food to be served but today he wasn't in the mood.

Salma walked to her dad and knocked but there was no reply "Abba...Abba, are you there? Have you slept?" She called out to her dad.

She stood there for about a minute contemplating on either going back to her room or convincing the family to take dinner.

"Abba, let's have dinner, I have a lot to tell you ddaaaaaaddd" she whined with a smile curling up her lips, she only calls him dad when she's joking around

"Mr Ahmad...Mr Ahmad, I promise I'd tell you about how my day went" she said

She knocked again, this time, her dad opened the door and smiled at her "always getting your way huh" he said

Mr Ahmad wrapped his hand around Salma while walking to the dinning room, getting there, his wife and first daughter were already devouring the food, he smiled a tight one.

He sat down and Salma also sat down, they had dinner quietly.

During dinner, Salma made faces with her dad to try make things up with her mum.

She squeezed her face and pointed her mouth to her mum's direction, giving her dad signs when her mum looked at her, Salma looked down and pretended nothing was going on.

Mr Ahmad gave it a shot "how was today?"

"She's my daughter too, Maryam is my daughter, you think what you said earlier on disturbed me? No...it didn't, sorry to say, Maryam is my daughter and I know her, I know what she's capable of. Unlike your daughter..." Pointing at Salma

"... Maryam has a life and why did she even lie to you, she had friends who wanted to meet her at home, she's in Final Year, what are they being taught? Nothing, absolutely nothing, so why go to school?" She said everything in her mind, her voice getting louder at each word.

Salma and Maryam kept quiet while their mum kept on ranting.

Mr Ahmad laughed

"Ohhh... it's funny?" She asked.

"Of course it is, it's funny, Maryam is my daughter too" Mr Ahmad said.

They kept on arguing when Maryam quietly said "mum and dad what's this? What are you doing? Please calm down..."

"...you can't sleep like this please, you need to calm down, mum forget about everything" Maryam looked at her mother, she then turned to Mr Ahmad

"...dad?" She said, questioningly

"Oh ok, I'm sorry, I apologise" Mrs Rukayyah said

"Ok then" Mr Ahmad said

"Won't you hug yourselves so that..." Maryam added.

Salma just kept quiet, she smiled when her dad and mum hugged each other by the side.

"Everything is fine now" Maryam said.

That was how the little fight was resolved in the presence of their children but they both know this isn't the end of it.

Later on, Salma's dad went to her room, he opened the door and saw Salma sitting on the chair, reading her Economics note.

"Salma my dear?"he called out while walking in

"Abba..."she said

"You know I like narrations, right?"he asked

"Yes Abba, I know" she answered

"Ok, you haven't told me about what happened today" he said smiling and they both burst out laughing when Salma stared at him, the "seriously?" stare.

Salma stood up and sat at one edge of the bed while her dad dragged the chair to where the bed was.

She started narrating exactly what happened through out the day, right from the scene in the library.

Her dad just kept on listening while nodding his head as a sign that his attention was on her.

After everything, "who's the Nasir?"

He asked, he knows about Hauwa, Darby and Amelia, he even knows about Jax and Brenda, even Suleiman.

Salma tells him about all that happens in school.

"Nasir is the male student I told you about, remember? His name is Nasir Muhammad Shehu, Baba Liman is their driver" she said

"Ohhh, isn't it Mr Muhammad Shehu, the CEO of Shehu Corporations, ohh, he has a son? I never knew, I thought he had no child apart from...?" Then he stopped and looked at her.

He had a deep breath and said "Salma, about what Jax did to you, you should by now know that, to some, Islam is nothing but a code of rules and regulations. But, to those who understand it, it is a perfect vision of life. To some, the hijab is a form of Oppression to Muslim women while that's not it, Islam is not one homogeneous block, they are Muslim women who do not wear the Hijab and that's the interpretation of their faith, in their own way, the Qur'an beautifully states “there's no compulsion in religion”, do you understand my dear?" Mr Ahmad asked his daughter, she nodded

"I didn't force you or your sister to wear the Hijab, did I? He asked

"No Abba, I choose to" she said.

"Good, about Hauwa and her friends, you need to learn to get back at her, you need to learn to stand up for yourself my dear" he concluded while getting up to leave.

"I need to get to work early tomorrow, goodnight my dear Allah Hafiz" he said while walking to the door

"Goodnight Abba and I love you, thanks for your advice" she said while lying on the bed.

"Hope you've prayed" He said while his body was already outside.

                      ***********
Hammad's POV
We had a 4 hours straight session on only Physics and Mathematics, Nasir is really good in both subjects, he is like an all rounder, really good in his main subjects.

We took some snacks after our studies and I told Nasir about my brother, Hamid, who's a final year student in medical school, abroad.

"Wow, Hamid, Hammad, Aryan and Arianna, ohh come on, do you want me to awww like some girl" Nasir said rolling his eyes, girlishly and we all bursted out laughing

"Exactly Nas" Jackson whined

We've already prayed Maghrib, I led the Salah, my dad wasn't back yet, Jackson waited in my room when we were praying.

Nasir's phone started ringing when we were walking downstairs, he picked up the call and said "I'll be on my way very soon" after saying that, he immediately cut the call.

I looked at him, who does that? Definitely Nasir.

Immediately we were downstairs in the parlor, Nasir almost screamed saying "your dad is a Judge?"

"Calm down Nas, calm down, you haven't seen anything, this family is blessed with brains dude, and they are all handsome apart from Mr Ham here, you need to see Hamid and their dad? Oh my God"Jackson said while I chuckled.

"Yes, my dad is a judge, my mum is a lawyer but she's not practicing, she stopped practicing when she gave birth to Aryan and Arianna" I told him

"Wow dude, I love your family already" Nasir said

"You need to meet Hamid and his dad first" Jackson said

"Are you leaving already?" My mum said

"Yes ma" Nasir answered

"Won't you wait for dinner, it's almost ready, less than 15 minutes" she said

"No, we are..." And Jackson cut Nasir off saying "talk for yourself" while running outside because he already knew Nasir will chase him.

"Ohh ya Salam, children" my mum said while smiling.

"Mum, I'll accompany Nasir to his house, Jackson will drive him to their house while we'll both come back for dinner" I told my mum

"Ok, Ham" my mum said, I looked at her and she laughed, lightly saying "I heard ittt" dragging the t.

Aryan and Arianna followed me saying they wanted to see Nasir off too, I know that's just an excuse, Aryan must have convinced Arianna to make the same excuse, he loves Jackson's car, always wanting to be in the front seat so he'll "admire the beauty of the car", his words, not mine.

Jackson drove us to Nasir's house and we immediately came back, Nasir insisted we go inside but we convinced him there was enough time to come back another day.
                        *********

Nasir's POV
I walked into the house slowly, I opened the door to the parlor and I immediately met dad, he was sitting with some papers, the usual.

"As-salaam alaikum dad" I greeted him

"Wa alaikumus salam" he answered my Salam almost immediately, I know he has something to talk, he does that only when he's interested in saying something.

"Dinner's ready!" My mum said, she was happy, even by the tone of her voice.

"Ohh, Nasir my dear, you are home" she said

"Yes mum, I'm hungry please" I said to distract her from saying any more words, my mum talks a lot.

We are having dinner, the meal is delicious, my dad doesn't eat any food not prepared by my mum anytime she's in town, he's forced to eat reputable restaurant's food only when she's out of the country or he's out of the country.

My mum studied Journalism, she even started working but my dad stopped her from working after their marriage, he believes his wife needed nothing to work for, she has everything she needs, based on what I was told, my mum had to demand a monthly salary from my dad if he needs her to stop working. He definitely agreed to it, her salary was a fat salary when she worked and he always increases the salary after a year and 6 months, as if she was being promoted. So funny but I support my mum on this.

My mum runs a Nonprofit organization to support girls, financially and socially.  In which she does nothing apart from direct orders to the employees and they'd be followed, she always tries attending all the events, no matter the circumstances because she believes underprivileged girls need to be supported also.

Well, it's actually surprising that my dad hasn't asked me about the fight yet...

"Nasir, we need to talk...in my cabinet" he said it, more like a command.

I knew he won't let what happened slide, he must definitely...

"What happened Nasir?" My mum asked "your dad looks a lil off today, he's probably tired I guess..." She's probably trying to convince herself, "or was the fight you had really bad?" She asked.

"Hhmm, I don't think it was" I said, still eating

"But..."

"Mum, please, please" I said, I was actually tired of her questions

"Do you want me to sleep on an empty stomach?" I asked her chuckling

She laughed and shook her head.

Few seconds and we both finished eating, Malam Dauda cleared the table while I went to my dad's cabinet, I wonder what he's gonna say to me.

I knocked lightly and said Salam, he answered and said "come in" in a really calm voice that emits Authority.

I walked in and he said "sit" he didn't even raise his head from the papers he was working on.

                     *************

Chapter 9 has also ended, welcome welcome

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