Falling For Haneef

27

Even though I know no one can take my mother's place in my father's heart, Tayibah has made her own place like that in his heart. I know he can't love them both equally and the ration is left for him to decide but I'm glad they're happy, it's what matters most.

" Why're you crying now?, ugh you guys I want to sleep" Juwee whines as Tayibah rests my head on her shoulder. " It's tears of joy you fool and it's already time for salah, get up" Tayibah says and pats my arm gently. " You don't know how much I'm thankful that you're okay with this Zakiyah"

Cleaning my eyes, I respond " You're my bestfriend and he's my father, what I want is to always see you two happy, nothing more"

" and we most certainly will be, we already are"

" Inalillahi wa ina ilaihi rajiun" Juwee screams, gasping out loud all of a sudden. " What's it?" Both I and Tayibah ask in unison as we instantly turn around to face her.
" Haneef is actually going crazy, look at him" She says as we look over at her phone. It's showing a clip of Haneef in a hotel lobby, he's screaming loud at an invisible being in thin air and literally throwing things at it, and trying to run away from it. It's as if there's something there that we can't see, but he can, and it's chasing him.
Inalillahi. " Ina ne nan? ( Where's this place?)" Tayibah asks. " A hotel in Abuja. Everyone's running away from him, no one wants to approach him" well of course, he can cause them harm. " Who sent you this?" I ask, it's going to cause a huge commotion for his family, oh Allah.  There's no one to come to his aid. " It's not a video, kala, it's this influencer that's live on Instagram and this began to happen"

" message her, tell her to end the live this instant"

" She might not answer me"

" who is she?"

" Firdausxx"

" we don't know her right?"

" Yeah"

" she has a low viewer and follower count, no one knows how to make her stop?" Tayibah asks. Money. No, she'd exploit us.
" oh Allah, lemme go online, maybe someone knows her on my contact list"

" I'll do the same"

Juwairiyah screams all of a sudden again and we rush to her. " He was running towards where she was filming from and she ran away, she has ended it" Oh thank God. " Alhamdulillah, how long was she live?" Tayibah asks. " I can't say honestly, I'm not sure it reached 5 minutes"

" Okay toh, we would need to talk to her gaskiya. We can't let it spread, call Khairiyah to inform her parents to make use of their connections ASAP" Tayibah says to me.  " Juwairiyah message the girl privately, tell her who you are and how you're connected to Haneef, tell her to lie low for a while because she really doesn't want to be involved in this mess" I say to Juwairiyah.

Immediately after dropping Khairiyah's call and getting a positive response, I and Tayibah sit beside Tayibah side as she waits for a response from the influencer. " What did Khairiyah say?" Tayibah asks. " Her husband is a cousin to the Firdaus girl, they'll speak with her" I respond and both Tayibah and Juwee heave a sigh of relief.  " I can unsend the message then, since they can handle it"

" Yeah do that Juwee"

" Seriously you guys, I can't believe this is actually happening to Haneef. Like we were all dancing in dubai together months ago" Tay Tay says, voice wrapped in sadness. " It's sad honestly, we can only pray for him to get better. It seems he's getting worse, Khairiyah's mother said he talks and argues with himself alone in his room and it has now advanced to him doing it in public" maybe his anger issues before we even became cool was a sign of a mental disorder but we all decided to ignore.

" Zakiyah, your father and Saleem are about to leave" Tayibah's mother calls out as soon she gets Tayibah's door open. " Okay toh, Juwairiyah let's move" locating my hand bag and veil was quick, I wore an atamfa kaftan dress today. I like how this one suits me specifically. " let me escort you guys" Tay Tay says as we all walk out of her room. " Madam just say you want to go and tell your future husband bye" Juwee says and rolls her eyes beside me. " Well that too" Tayibah's blushing, lol.
" See her blushing" Juwee teases and pokes her cheek. "  Kai" Tayibah whines and hits Juwee's arm as hard as possible. " wo if you want to fight meet me downstairs" that's my cue to leave them to their drama.

Juwee and I get seated in daddy's car with Saleem in the front passenger seat after bidding our goodbyes to Tay Tay's family. On reaching home, I pray asr and get tucked up under my sheets, the weather's cold, of course, it's
January. One of my windows is open while the rest are tight shut, the fan's in the lowest speed and the air conditioner's off, perfect condition for sleeping. This is my most favourite part of the year, cold. I love rainy season sure but nothing beats cold season, cold season in Nigeria though. I got to experience snow in NYC and boy, it's going to take time to get used to. I really don't want to be that cold.

Khairiyah managed to send me feedback before falling asleep. The Firdausxx girl didn't keep a recording from her live so everything's good on her side and luckily for us, none of her viewers was talking about Haneef, they all only asked if she was fine and that was it. First time Nigerians aren't trying to get the tea so badly. Haneef's stable now apparently, the Muslims around him thought it was a jinn attack so they got a fearless imam to pray ruqyah for him.

They got to find out he's living in that hotel for the meantime, obviously preparing for his wedding with Ameerah. They still can't reach him but at least they know of his whereabouts. I wonder what those two are planning to do with their lives, Haneef has literally abandoned his job so how are they both going to survive?. Well I'm sure he already has a lot of money saved up so he can always start a business of his own and Ameerah's clothing brand is more than successful so there's actually nothing to worry about, only their sanity.

I should stop thinking about them, sleep's calling.

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I had promised Saleem's mother that I'd come visit her today with her son, she never got to see us together before. I'm going to get to see their family again, in a happier state. The first time seeing them was when I came alongside Haneef for a condolence visit. I can clearly remember how she embraced me when she saw me for the first time, and told me to pray for Saleem, that something better was in store for me.

When I met her with Haneef's mother, she said she was sure Saleem would be contented that I moved on with his bestfriend. I wonder what she's going to say today really. " Why're you quiet?" Saleem asks, eyes stuck to the road. " Don't tell me you're nervous. She told me she knows how sweet and charming you are, she just wants to see us together. My mother is one big romantic nerd"

" How can someone be a romantic nerd Saleem?"

" She is, anywhere she sees love, she's literally glued"

" Well I think that's nice"

" she stresses my father, their love can choke you" He says and I can't hold back my laughter. " Those two are in love really, it's not something you see everywhere"

" It's definitely not, reminds me of my parents back then. You know we're lucky to have been raised in such a beautiful environment right?. I mean the love our parents share is lacking in a lot of African homes"

" Sadly. Don't worry, our love's going to stay alive, even in the hereafter"

" We're going to do everything we can to keep it as it should always be. Even during the uneventful sour days, we need to try and keep it alive. We would come to learn to always run to each other first during the good and horrible times. Look Saleem, we're each other's pillar of strength for a reason. We're together to share everything, not just selected ones. So let me cut you warning, I'm your top priority now, anything that happens, I should always be the first you run to. If you're sad and you want to be alone, we can always be alone together. If you need space, let's share the space together. Anything that happens to you, happens to me.  We are one now"

" Of course my love, your warning has been noted down"