Made To Believe ✔️

Chapter Thirty

A few minutes later I started pulling up a familiar drive and the huge palatial style mansion we had grown up in came into view.

"You've got to be kidding me, you guys grew up here? Kareem when I took you home, you acted as if my parents house was paradise, this is....." Diana exclaimed but I cut her off before she could finish.

"Prison. Your parents house exhibited warmth even before I walked through those front doors. This might be bigger and more prestigious but believe me that's all there is to it."I said with a frown on my face.

Diana didn't reply after that, just looked at me sadly probably feeling sorry for me. To me the mansion had never been a place of love from family unlike Diana's home where you could feel it's warmth before you walked through the door.

I parked closest to the door and in such a way that would allow a quick get away. There were a few more cars outside, all great machines but none as exotic as mine. We all filled out and stood in front of the car facing the house.

"Woah, it's huge."Nuru commented her child like innocence making us all laugh.

"Understatement of the year."Diana muttered next to me.

She was right, it was huge and intimidating but we were all together so we would be okay.

"Let's get this over and done with, the sooner we go in, the faster we can come out."Jamila commented and I murmured my agreement.

Diana looped her arm around mine and I wasn't sure if it was for her support or mine, either way I was glad to have her by my side. We walked up the steps into the house and the door was wide open. A lot of memories bombarded me the closer we got to the house and none of them were any good. We had barely walked in when my mother came barreling towards us with a smile on her face.

"Welcome, welcome."She greeted excitedly.

None of us said anything at first, probably trying to come to terms with what we were about to face. Diana squeezed my fingers and I derived strength from having her by my side.

"Um, thanks. This is Diana my girlfriend and the little one is Nuru."I introduced finally finding my voice.

She looked at Diana with a smile, giving her a once over as she held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Diana, I'm Kadija, their mother."She replied.

"Thank you for having us, you have a lovely home."Diana complimented politely shaking her hand.

"Thank you and hello, Nuru, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."She cooed at Nuru bending slightly to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you."Nuru answered timidly hiding half of her face behind Jamila.

My mother's eyes lit up and she looked like she wanted to pull Nuru into her arms but she held back.

"You're all welcome, come in."She said finally stepping aside to let us in.

The house looked basically the same as it had when we left, with a few slight improvements. A jasmine scent floated around us bringing up a lot of memories both bad and slightly bearable.

"Everyone's out in the yard."My mom informed us leading the way.

"Why is it so cold in here?"Diana whispered.

"A reflection of all the cold hearts it houses."I retorted making her laugh softly.

"Be nice."She scolded squeezing my arm.

We finally got to the backyard and everything stopped in a sequence after one person spotted us. We stood like statues in a single file looking out to the backyard filled with our estranged family. Even the kids stopped playing looking at us like strangers, which we were. Our father and siblings detached themselves from the rest of the family and approached us. My dad looked different, older, like the years had finally caught up to him. He still had the domineering aura around him that always had me cowering back but I was older so I stood my ground. He had an impassive look on that made it had to decipher what he was actually feeling. My siblings also looked older and more mature, all in traditional Muslim clothing.