SAKINA (COMPLETED)

Chapter 4

(Little change; Sakina's sister Sadiya is now named Salma)

After the dinner with her sisters, the calls between Sakina and Abdulazeez grew less and less, and even though it's been a couple days since he called and at least a day since he texted her, she didn't want to think too much of it.
She was too preoccupied with trying to think that she might actually be wrong about him.
She continued to try and assure herself that Abdulazeez wasn't like the rest of them.
She told herself all that she could to keep herself from worrying.
Instead, she decided she would focus on school; she had a few assignments and tests that she had to submit and study for and so she did just that.
The semester was coming to an end and her work load was more than it had ever been; she was in her second year of university and it was only getting harder.

Her father's voice brought her out of her thoughts, that's when she realized she had zoned out once again while reading; it was happening more often than she would've liked to admit.

She walked down the stairs to the living room.

"Ina wuni baba" she greeted taking a seat beside Maimuna; The twins and Jawa were already sitting in front of their father, on the floor, when she arrived.

"Komai dai lafiya ko baba?" (Is everything okay?) Jawa asked after a couple of minutes of silence.
Abdulsalam was looking for the words to use, words he knew would break his baby girl's heart.

"Abdulazeez and his father just left" Sakina felt a pit in her stomach, as she read the look on her father's face; it wasn't one that said he had good news.

"I don't know how to tell you this" she watched as he avoided looking her in the eyes and that just confirmed all her suspicions.

"Abdulazeez has expressed interest in another one of you girls" even though Sakina knew what he was going to say, it still hurt to hear it. She sat there with tears in her eyes as he continued to speak.

"He's interested in-" he started, but Jawahid cut him off.

"Baba, we don't want to know" she said, their father wasn't surprised at her outburst.
Abdulsalam was a calm man, he tolerated so much from his daughters; some even say his girls had turned him soft. He would always tell him how proud he is of having ALL his girls, he didn't give anyone any room for anyone to disrespect his girls and he didn't start on that day.
"Gaskiya Baba (Honestly baba), what kind of disrespect is this?" Mariya followed suit.

"How can he come here and talk to Sakina and get all our hopes up, especially hers and then he decides he doesn't want to talk to her anymore? And he expects one of us, whoever that may be, to just go along with his foolishness?" Jawahid said with so much disgust in her voice.

"He's a very stupid boy" Maimuna added. Abdulsalam sat there silently as they voiced their opinions.

"Can I talk now?" He asked calmly and they all fell silent.

"That's exactly what I told him and his father, I scolded him, I told them that they ought to be ashamed to even think of asking me that. I told him that it was his loss, my Sakina is the most beautiful and intelligent girl he will ever meet in all his days, and I sent them away" Sakina knew that her father would defend her, she knew he wouldn't entertain Abdulazeez's shenanigans.
Her father is her biggest fan so much so that everyone calls him Baban Sakina; even though she has 6 older sisters.

"Yawwa Baba" Jawahid commended.

"Toh shikenan, ku tashi ku tafi" (alright, you can go) he dismissed them. Sakina was the first to stand up but he stopped her "Banda ke Sakina, ki dan jira" (not you Sakina, wait a moment) so she waited for her sisters to leave before going to sit beside him.