Lost In Paradise

Chapter 3

***

Amina had assumed that all of this would boil over within a few days. Surely there had to be some sort of mistake. It didn't make any sense that her father would do this, knowing how it would affect the family.

Except this was exactly something he would do. Knowing her father, he would probably have been laughing his head off at the thought of what he was leaving behind. He would have foreseen the consequences of his actions, the chaos and distrust he would be leaving in the wake of his decision.

And he would have loved it.

In the sanctity of her room, Amina tried to figure out a way to handle this situation. The first thing she had done was to reject everything flat-out, but Bello was a cunning man. The lawyers had informed her that, as per the terms of his will, if she chose not to accept it, then everything would be given to a random charity, leaving them penniless and unable to pay their bills. And if they tried to alter the contents of his will in favour of the Islamic laws of inheritance, then he had instructed his lawyers to battle it out in court for as long as necessary, ensuring that his decision would ultimately prevail.

"Are you happy now?" Amina muttered to herself. "Are you smiling in your grave now, knowing that your actions cannot be undone?"

As she gazed out of the window, the city lights below twinkling like distant stars, Amina couldn't escape the tumultuous questions that churned within her. Why had her father chosen her for this formidable responsibility, and what ulterior motives lay beneath the surface of this unexpected legacy? Uncertainty draped over her like a heavy cloak, and she felt like Bello Mukhtar was reaching out from beyond the grave and tinkering with her life, like a puppet master organising his final act.

In the dim glow, Amina questioned the motives that lingered in the shadows. Was there a sinister plan veiled within the inheritance, or was it a gesture of genuine trust in her abilities? The complexity of her father's decision weighed on her like an unspoken burden, each thought a step into the unknown.

Beyond the walls of her room, the implications of this revelation seeped into the fabric of familial expectations. Aslam, the presumed heir, had spent his whole life being groomed for this role. But Amina's sudden ascendancy threw the family's carefully choreographed dynamics into disarray. How would this unexpected twist impact her relationships within the family? She could almost hear the hushed whispers and see the quizzical glances that accompanied her everywhere she went.

Already, most of them had turned their backs on her. Her siblings weren't speaking to her, and her mother was keeping her distance. Everyone seemed to think that she might have had something to do with this, which didn't make sense because it was the last thing she wanted. Why would she do this to her own family? Why couldn't they see that this was Bello's doing?

As a soft knock suddenly echoed through the room, Amina turned around to see Aslam entering with a forced smile that struggled to mask the underlying tension. She instantly smiled at him with a warmth that had always defined their relationship, yet there was a tangible shift in the air. He stood by the doorway, leaning against the frame and staring down at his toes as though he found them much more interesting than her.

"I-I came to check on you," he said. "Tahir tells me you haven't eaten anything all day. Don't you think that's wrong?"

"I'm alright," she replied quietly, still staring at him blankly.

"Right," he said, shuffling his feet. "In that case, I'll be off."

"So we're just not going to talk about this?" Amina asked, causing him to pause as he started to turn away. Slowly, he turned to face her once again, the smile on his face more fake than knock-off designer bag at a thrift store.