The Scars They Hide

Chapter Six - It's Not Obligatory if it's Love

Chapter Six – It’s Not Obligatory if it’s Love

It had been a few weeks since she’d visited home and Lutfiyah knew that her father would be anxious just as she knew that he would not phone and tell her so.

“Hello Tina. How are you? How’s Ally?”

The nineteen-year-old Spanish girl looked up from her mail inspection and smiled as Lutfiyah made her way to their building door.

“Hey Ms Fiyah. She’s good and I’m good. Thanks for the casserole last night. I don’t know when last we ate such good food. It’s so crazy with all our studying and we cannot wait for Spring break. It seems like it’s ages away.”

Lutfiyah nodded in sympathy. “Less than a month now, Tina. You girls hang in there. I’m going to visit my dad so you just leave the dish outside my door. I’ll pick it up when I get home tonight. Tell Ally I said hello, okay? Have a good day. Bye.”

The brunette nodded with a smile and lifted a hand in greeting before collecting her mail and turning towards the stairs. The lifts, unsurprisingly, were still out of order.

Lutfiyah called for May who had been wondering the lobby like the busy bee that she was and together they walked out and headed for the tube.

# # #

“Assalamualaikum Papa, I’m home!”

Lutfiyah locked the door behind her and frowned as she noticed the state that the house was in. Setting May on her feet, she watched as her little girl ran in search of her grandfather. Lutfiyah let her be and instead started to collect the rubbish lying all over the floor. She wrinkled her nose in disgust when she noticed the pizza boxes and cans of Doctor Pepper lying around.

“Papa! All this junk food is really unhealthy for you.”

She stepped into the lounge and groaned as she saw that it was worse than the entry hall and kitchen combined. And that was saying something since it was obvious that the dishes hadn’t seen soap and water in days.

She found May poking at her father’s potbelly as he lay on the couch, giggling every time it jiggled.

“Papa.”

The old man groaned and lifted himself off the cushions, scooping his granddaughter into his hands and nuzzling her stomach, much to her delight.

“Assalamualaikum Papa. When last did you shower?”

Her father frowned, his thick brows meeting in displeasure. “Did you come here to lecture me or spend some time with me?”

Lutfiyah sighed and bent down to pick up more dirt, grunting when she noticed the dust under the couch.

“Did you fire Loretta?” she asked, referring to the cleaning lady who was supposed to come once a week.

“Can’t fire someone who doesn’t come to work.”

Somehow she doubted that that had been Loretta’s choice. She threw the remaining dirt into the dustbin bag that she had grabbed from the kitchen and then went to fetch her daughter.

“May, Papa has to go and take a bath. You are clean but he is not so you can’t play with him.”

Turning to her father, she glared at him until he relented and headed for the room.

“I’m the parent here you know!” he called out, slamming the door behind him.

“I love you too!” she said in reply. She grinned, setting her daughter down again and headed to the broom cupboard.