CHASING MARWA

27-DENIAL

OMNISCIENT

Nafisa and her daughters stood mouth agape, completely shocked and out of words, not knowing what they meant by surprise. She didn't know when she started tearing up and thanking Allah in her mind, she was tongue-tied.

"I-is this o-our house?" Hidayah stuttered, her eyes widening in surprise and her school bag dropped to the floor.

"Of course, all yours little munchkin" Junaid grinned and strutted to their side.

"No tears Mami, no tears" He wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

Marwa slowly gazed around the gigantic living room painted antique white with splashes of yellow gold, the seats were cotton-made with an L-shaped recliner which was situated at a corner of the living room with three coffee brown ottomans close to it.

"All of you know I don't like jokes, what the hell is this?" She unexpectedly landed a punch on Ammar who was beside her, she was about to repeat the action when he dodged, he offered martial arts too.

"It's not a joke, this is your property" Ammar argued and she shot him a glare before kicking him hard, she was damn good in the stuff.

"We don't accept charity, tell whoever the owner is that we are contented with what we have" She howled, her eyes blazing like an inferno.

"Look here, it's not charity Marwa" Turad switched on the pop-up LG OLED television and the news came on, perfect timing.

"The most talked-about estate in Nigeria which is Baghdad's real estate, owned by crowned prince Zafeer Ibn Harith Baghdad in Kano state and worth approximately 2.3 billion Naira has been given out by the owner who is reported to have said that he constructed it not for profit-making or revenue, but rather as a shelter for the masses. The prince also added that anyone willing to acquire an apartment in the estate should fill the required documents which have been distributed by the officials..." Marwa keenly listened and with every passing minute, her anger kept proliferating.

"Now listen to me, tell your damn brother we don't want anything that has to do with him or his property, charity is for lazy people and I don't want that" She ranted, Junaid came to hold her but the kick she sent his way had him recoiling, he is good with words but not much of a fighter, same goes for Turad who is relatively better than his cousin brother.

"Marwa are you crazy? Why can't you just be grateful for once? Stop holding grudges!" Nafisa scolded.

"Mami I am not holding grudges, can't you see that life isn't fair to us? Why is everyone thinking that I am wrong?" She teared up, not due to cowardness, but because everything came back rushing like an avalanche.

"No one thinks you are wrong, you just have to start viewing life from a whole new perspective. Let go of the toxicity, only then will you experience the bright side of life" Zafeer emerged from nowhere with a silver briefcase and papers in his hand, those two sentences that she said, he is now using against her, those words changed his life and hopefully, will change hers too.

"Stop saying this Murad, my case is different from yours" Marwa protested.

"We all had horrible pasts, it's left for you to make your future better" Again, this was one of Marwa's therapeutic sentences and he is using it against her.