SERENDIPITY OF LOVE ✅

#13

It's my favorite niece's birthday, my love. I love you so much, Baby❤️ This chapter is for you, the whole book itself. I wish you all the best in your life, Baby. Be a good girl, be happy always because you deserve nothing but happiness and love in your life. Ummi loves you, and also; you're my best bad influence. Have the best birthday possible, we all got your back❤️

Majida looked at Ammi, utterly confused. She placed her hand on her palms and by now even Fadwa and Sabeehah were in the courtyard. Fadwa looked at them, confused. The hands she saw on Majida's cheek made it clear that one of their parents had slapped her, but who? Because if it was Baffah, he would have had his belt all over her body by now. Could it be Ammi? How possible could that be? What had Majida uttered to make Ammi this aggressive unless something about Faadil? Then she dotted the lines, she knew Majida had picked a vein.

"You can't talk to your father like that, Majida. How many times do I have to warn you?" Ammi uttered, and it was evident she had regretted ever laying her hands on the girl, but the deed couldn't be undone.

"Ammi, you slapped me." The words rolled out of Majida's lips as though she was uncertain and she couldn't believe what she just felt. Was it Ammi's palm that landed on her cheek? That too because of Baffah and because she made mention of a fact so unshakable in their lives? The lost of Faadil, something she would take forever to forget.

Ammi straightened herself, and they saw how she winced before she looked straight into Majida's eyes. "I did, and one more bad word towards your father, I couldn't hold myself from what I'd do to you next, Majida. Take Sabeehah in," She said with her lower lip in her mouth. They could see it, she was trying to stop her tears from running down her cheeks, and Fadwa held Majida in her hands and they walked back into the room.

As soon as they were out of sight, Ammi looked at Baffah with hatred brewing from her eyes. A frown appeared on her forehead as she spoke, "You see what you've caused? I don't need to tell you that what was in Majida's eyes as she spoke to you was nothing but sheer hatred. She hates you, Mamman. They all do." And she limped back into the room without waiting for a reply from him, face wet with her tears that overpowered her strength.

She met Fadwa holding Majida together as her body shook with tears, and Ammi felt a pang of guilt. She had never laid her hands on her daughters and today was the first because she felt and know that Majida had crossed the line. She might have done what she did because of her, but it was unacceptable.

Ammi moved to the bed and Majida looked at her, "Ammi, please forgive me for wronging you. I'll never do that again," She said, with an outbreak of sob, and Ammi held her to her bosom. She cried. It was rare for Ammi to cry in front of them, but there was nothing she could do to stop her tears today. It was just too painful.

Majida had brought back to her a pain she wished to keep buried for the rest of her life, but it seemed that was only her thought. It happened while they watched, she watched Faadil cradled in her arm, while they circled her and cried together with her. They had seen the different shades of their monstrous father and there was nothing she could do about it. She just had to pray, but she had no palette of color nor the brush that could change the paint Baffah did on the canvas of his daughter's hearts of himself. She just had to watch.

"Ammi, you should stop crying please, I hate it when you cry," Sabeehah said with a voice that broke Ammi's heart even more, and Fadwa watched them from where she stood as they hugged each other and cried, and she wished she could do the same.

It was after some time that Fadwa walked over to them, her heart aching with each step she took. She took Sabeehah in her hands and ruefully smiled as she cleared away her tears. "Sabeehah, Ammi can't stop crying if you don't. We should go and sleep, right?" The little girl nodded her head innocently and Fadwa carefully placed her on the bed. She hushed the sleeping supplications over her and watched as she slept before she looked at both Ammi and Majida.