I AM ABLE

Chapter 47 - Yusuf

A month later...

Ever since I found out Farzana was my child, I had not been at rest. I was a very busy man but yet I chose to be creating time for her. It was apparent she lacked fatherly love even before she told me. She said all her daddies left her because she used to fall sick always!

I understood what she meant by the words "her daddies", it means the men her mother probably dated after giving birth to her. One thing about her is she could speak fluently. I had wondered if really she was 4 years old.

Sometimes she would be gisting me stories about her friends in Jigawa, and one Sadiq that she loved. She said he broke her heart. Seriously, I was puzzled. How could such a small girl like her know about relationship and love? She said people disliked her just because she used to fall sick all the time. It broke my heart. If only our genotypes are written on our foreheads, then I probably wouldn't have slept with Aminah knowing both of us are AS and could give birth to a sickler but nay, some of us don't even care about knowing our genotypes. Have you checked yours? Do that, it is very essential.

The day I found out about Farzana, I was so pissed off realising Aminah had lied to me. I had thought she aborted the pregnancy but nay, she only lied to me. That day, I wanted teaching her a great lesson for all what she did but she had refused to come out of the room she ran into until after having made me promise her that I wouldn't harm her if she comes out. It worked, and she came out crying. Thus, she explained everything to me. She said her relatives said it is a great sin to abort pregnancy, thus they forced her not to abort it. And the reason why she did not let me know about it is because I would come over to Jigawa and that might disclose my identity, sully my name and our company.

It made sense though!

That day, we had talked a lot. She asked for forgiveness and I told her she didn't offend me, the person she offended was Farzanah, our daughter. If only I had knew about that girl earlier, maybe she wouldn't have been weakened that much by her ailment (SCA).

But no problem...

Now that I already know about her, I would make sure she get the appropriate medical care, even if it meas flying her overseas for treatments. I just wanted her to be healthy, and also to live the kind of life she'd wanted.

...

Today, I was driving to Safiyah's house from work when my phone began ringing. It was actually an unknown number, so I hesitated and wondered before finally picking the call.

"Salama Alaykum, is this Yusuf?" A strange voice came through the phone, it was a guy.

"Wa'alaykumus Salam, yes!" I responded.

"Okay, please come to Bulama Factory. The new one, Alhaji Aliyu Bulama awaits you!" The person said and quickly ended the call.

Hmmmm!

I heaved a sigh thinking what I would face. Honestly, since the day Professor Marwan paid him a visit we hadn't heard anything from him. And Fatimah had been so weak, frequent night prayers made her to always sleep during the day. She said she wouldn't stop praying until her father welcome our relationship... I just pray Allah has finally answered all her night prayers, Ameeeen!

I swung the car and headed straight to the factory, it was actually a big place and was adjacent their head office. The security in charge of the gate stopped and queried me. "Hello sir, how may I help you?" He asked.

"I am here to see Alhaji Bulama" I uttered.

"Do you have an appointment with him?"

"He summoned me... just recently" I said.