Hey my sweet people 🌝

You see that emoji, that's how I'm looking at all of you this week. Some of you didn't vote, or even comment. It's not fair at all and, though I've brought you this sweet chapter, I don't feel happy at all.

Please, please leave a vote, leave me several comments. Please. This book depends on your participation to grow, it needs you to share it with your friends and family.

Also, I'm looking for tiktoks about AbdulRahman and Amina, so if you find any, send them to me. My TikTok is at ThatWriterOmoope or on Instagram @Theomoope, I follow back.

This Chapter is for my sweetheart, mz_bushirah . May God bless you abundantly for all that you do for me❣️❣️😍

"Ahn ahn, Maami. E kaasan¹."

Amina genuflected deeply, while trying to open her apartment's door, at the same time trying to keep the surprise of seeing her mouth out of her voice. In the end, she didn't need to hide it because her mother pulled her from the door and hugged her to her bosom. 

She smelled the perfume she'd always associated with her mother, alongside the warmth of her love, it was too much for Amina that soon she felt the prick of tears. 

"Onikede mi, my love, my little light, Ku ise, olorun a wo e fun mi, a da e si²." The combination of that warm hug alongside, heartfelt prayers said in Yoruba broke Amina and she let her tears fall. 

"My love, please don't cry. I've missed you too." Her mother pulled her over to the sofa and they sat together. Her mother waited till she stopped crying and wiped her face with a tissue wad. 

"Maami. Did you get on a flight or the driver drove you here? Airports are closed ah." Amina watched her mother roll her eyes imperceptibly before she pinched her daughter's nose with a smile. 

"Well, you've forgotten who your father is? A few phone calls and we got a chartered plane to Abuja, my friends and I." Amina cheered for her mother, hailing her playfully as well. 

"When's the wedding?" Her mother's eyes roved around the room as she answered, "From Thursday." Amina's eyes narrowed as she counted the days in her head, it was only Monday, how come her mother found her way to Abuja three days before the main event?

"How's AbdulRahman?" Amina facepalmed, she screamed in her head that she should have known that the plan was to ask about him. 

"In his house?" Her mother hit her shoulder, hard. Amina pursed her lips at her mother with a slight roll of her eyes. She didn't dare do too much though, it was one thing to be disrespectful, it was another to be intentionally disrespectful to a Yoruba mother. 

"Call him, tell him you want to see him. I'll follow you, let me go and assess him for your father." Amina shook her head in unadulterated surprise at her mother. 

"Kini³? What? Should I not see the man marrying my child? That was how that murderer came like a good Muslim; I don't listen to music, my wife must be fully covered, she must not have contact with non-mahrams, but he murdered his own child for non-existent money. Olorun ma je⁴, I will not watch you dip your feet in crocodile waters a second time." Amina watched her mother speak. Kassim's betrayal hurt everyone in her family, especially since his reasons for doing so was that he wanted to measure up to her father and brother. He behaved as though her father didn't work for over twelve years before breaking even. 

"Maami." Her mother turned back to her and waited for Amina to speak. "Thank you for being my mother. Alhamdulilah for Allah's grace, He made me your own and now you're doing your best to make sure I have a good life. It's so beautiful." 

Her mother smiled and hugged her daughter again, she kissed the top of Amina's head and asked her to text AbdulRahman. She wanted to see him that very day. 

About four hours later, as she prayed Asr, she asked Allah for guidance, she asked Allah to make her heart stop hurting and to make meeting AbdulRahman a good decision. She prayed for wisdom to deal with everything that came her way and prayed for last, for her parents to keep being in good health and prosperity forever. 

"Let's take Khalid with us." Amina paused slightly before shrugging her shoulders and going into the main house to pick Khalid up. She heard her mother whispering with Azeem as she climbed the stairs to Khalid's room, he'd finished from online school at about twelve and already taken his siesta, so he was quite free.

She picked an outfit for him, picked up a kid's face mask and tucked it into his pocket, doing it all as sluggishly as possible. She really didn't want to see AbdulRahman, but the force that was her mother would not let her be until she met him, so it was best to do as her mother had said. 

"Oya!" Azeem shouted from downstairs and Amina held Khalid's shoulders as she shuffled downstairs unhappily. When she reached the door, her mother had changed into a navy blue jilbab and her lips was slicked with lipgloss. She looked ten years younger in a split second. 

"Let's go." Amina blew out air dramatically from her mouth and took the bag Munayah offered, sending signals to her sister in law of impending punishment. From all she'd seen, it was obvious Azeem and Munayah knew about her mother's visit but decided to keep quiet. 

On the way there, they talked about several things, neighbors that died of the virus, had more children, her father's relatives, her maternal relatives and one statement stuck with her for days afterwards, "Loyalty is hard to find, you unconsciously search for it in everyone you meet, especially in romantic relationships. One person betrayed your trust, true, but you must not keep your heart in a wrap and decide not to love. Your body, your whole heart, your whole being was made to love another, how do you breathe if you don't love? Or let love happen to you?" 

They reached the park and sat there, waiting and playing with Khalid until the sound of a vehicle parking made her mother find a small chair close by to sit and watch them. Khalid almost gave them away by fidgeting and almost calling out to his grandmother when Amina pinched him. 

On their walk back, Khalid was on his grandmother's back, while Amina held his bag. She asked tentatively in Yoruba, "So, what do you think?" 

"Looks to me like a good boy. Well brought up, didn't try to touch you unnecessarily, all round, good." Amina smiled in relief and there was a noticeable skip to her step afterwards. 

"Look how happy you are, so much for not wanting to see him." Amina shook her head, not responding until her mother did not move, waiting for her to speak. 

"I've decided I'll marry him. I'll just let him stew in suspense until Friday before I say anything." 

********

***

"We can buy ice cream and go sit under the shady trees at the back, how about that?" Amina nodded and waited for AbdulRahman to turn around, he turned his lanky, slightly muscled body emphasized by the white thobe he'd worn to Friday prayers. They'd mat afterwards outside his company and he wanted them to sit and talk about their impending marriage. 

"I would like a cup of strawberry yogurt and Amina? What would you like?" Amina stepped up, a few inches from the gelato stand and asked for a mango gelato with pistachio toppings. She took the cup from the attendant and walked with AbdulRahman to the quiet, yet open garden behind his company. 

"This place looks nice; serene and just what the doctor ordered." She heard AbdulRahman chuckle lowly, it was not like the one she'd heard the previous time they met, it was all the same a chuckle and she wanted to hear him laugh. His chuckle seemed like a prelude to a beautiful laughter. 

"I had it built for people who want to get away from the oppressiveness of being in the office throughout the day. They can take a walk, sit here under the shade and gather their thoughts." It was her turn to laugh as his words reminded her of something.

"So, regardless they don't get to go home, they get to gather their thoughts and go back to work abi?" He smiled and nodded. 

"I got your message after Subh prayers. I didn't check my phone before praying I guess the mini heart attack I had would not have mattered." She raised a well brushed brow at him in question, her fair skin shining with a silver of sunlight on her face. They were sitting on a wooden high backed bench, under what Amina called Henna trees. 

"You didn't check when I sent it? I sent it around ten last night, I wanted to make you stew, I guess I couldn't anymore." He got up, having finished his small cup of yogurt and dropped the disposable cup and spoon into a leg press bin. 

"Maybe it's the fact that I told Allah at Asr, yesterday that I couldn't stomach waiting anymore." He sent her a sidelong glance that did something to her, what it was, she had no idea. 

"Have you told your parents? Can I send my uncles over soon?" She nodded, stating that her father was supposed to travel later that month, "If you want to see him, within this week and the next." 

"Alright. We'll see about all arrangements this week or the next. I'll call you, by the way, should we get married here or in Oyo state?" She thought about it and asked him to let her elders take that decision. 

"I won't let you regret this decision, I'm fully committed to being a good husband and friend, you can count on me anytime." She tucked her lips into her mouth to wet them before nodding, saying the same to him, albeit shyly. 

They both sat there, the slow breeze of the hot afternoon taking the ends of their clothes and doing as it wished with it, taking along the scent of his wooden oud. Their thoughts however, were everywhere. 

GLOSSARY

¹ E kaasan. : Good Afternoon for one who is older. Kaasan would be for someone younger. 

²ku ise, olorun a wo e fun mi, a da e si: Yorubas say Ku ise for virtually everything, But in this case, her mom is saying Well done for thing each day at a time and doing well at it. The second part is a prayer tht God keeps her safe and away from trouble. 

³ Kini?: What is it?

⁴Olorun ma Je: May God forbid it. 

See y'all soon, as soon as I get the number of comments I set for this week. 😅

TheOmoope 💙