Federal Capital Territory,
Nigeria.
The three brothers reached the polo club where they're supposed to meet the so called anonymous person. They unmounted the car and walked to the lounge with Khalifa lagging far behind. He has so many thoughts rushing through his head, so many 'what ifs'.
They all took a seat on the L shaped couch and ordered for some drinks, waiting for the person they came to meet to show up. Five minutes turned to ten minutes turned to twenty minutes of them waiting. Khalifa hissed and stood up.
Fadeel raised his gaze to him. "Where are you going?"
Khalifa huffed. "Home, this is obviously a scam."
"Khalifa sit down." Abdullah voiced. Khalifa let out a frustrating groan and slumped back down on the couch beside Fadeel, his head starting to throb.
Clicking of heels got all their attention. Their words got stuck within them. None of them could say anything. The lady took a seat opposite the three brothers with a sophisticated smirk on her face, the exact reaction she needed from them.
With shock evident on their faces, Fadeel spoke first. "You're a lady?"
"What do you expect?" She replied in her alluring yet cunning voice.
"Let's cut to the chase." Abdullah announced. "What do you want?" He leaned forward, his hands supporting his chin.
"Straight to the point." She crossed her legs one on top of the other. "With all due respect, I am here to tell you that I am the one that sent you..." She faced Fadeel. "...all those code messages while you were in Egypt."
"How did you know we were in Egypt?" Fadeel asked.
The lady shrugged. "I'm someone from the inside, a close one." Her gaze landed on Khalifa. "Seriously close."
"Who are you?" Khalifa asked the million dollar question.
"Let's not jump to that yet, let's save it for the end." The lady called a waiter with the flick of a hand. She ordered for a cup of sparkling water and sent the waiter away. "Now, why I called you here."
Khalifa's intense gaze never left her. Even though with the niqab that covered her face except her eyes, he still feels this nagging feeling brewing from the pits of his heart. Her voice sounds familiar, like he knows that voice. He knows for a fact that she's someone really close, just like she said.
"Have you ever wondered how Haaya died?"
"Don't you dare bring Haaya into this. Haaya's dead already so don't." Khalifa's jaw clenched. He's about to lose his calm.
"Okay." She shrugged. "Someone is after your wife, just like someone went after Haaya. I believe you know who that someone is but the one after Haaya isn't the one after Sakeena. You're suspecting the wrong person."
"What do you mean?" Fadeel asked confused.
"Your uncle in jail isn't the one after Sakeena."
"How did you know he's our uncle?" Abdullah asked.
"I know everything about you guys." She answered deadpanned.
"What else do you know?" Fadeel asked.
"I know for a fact the person after Sakeena isn't just after her because of something trivial. It's a serious issue that has to do with your grandfather, your maternal grandfather, Hamiz El- Bahd." She elaborated.
Fadeel's brows drew in in confusion. "why does this have anything to do with Sakeena then? She was never a part of our family in the first place till she got married to Khalifa.
"That's where you are wrong." She opened the bag she came with and pulled out an envelope. She placed the in front of them and urged Abdullah to open it. Abdullah opened the envelope and scanned it's content before passing it to Fadeel.
"Sakeena was never born in Nigeria but she grew up in Nigeria." The lady stated.
"Maybe her parents weren't in Nigeria when her mum was about to give birth." Fadeel assumed. "It has so many possible explanations."
The lady shook her head amusingly. "You still don't get it."
"Why don't you make us understand?" Fadeel snapped, pissed.
"Why don't you conduct an ethnicity test on Sakeena? Maybe that'll answer your question." The lady's eye caught a silhouette behind where they're sitting. Right there and then, she knew it's time to move to the next step of her plans, her real identity. "Now, to answer your frequently asked question. Who am I really?"
Khalifa's head shot up. He's been quiet the entire time but his brain processed whatever that is being said. He kept a keen eye on her as they all watch her slowly remove the niqab covering her face. His heart started to race, the nagging feeling brewing in his heart getting stronger and stronger.
His hands became sweaty, beads ofsweat forming on his forehead. He hasn't felt this anxious in a really long time and he just hopes that nothing will go wrong but who is he kidding? It will.
Those hazel eyes that he hasn't seen in years stared at him, only him. His brother beside him gasped, his other brother couldn't even move. He's starting to feel it, it's coming. He collapsed on his brother, his seizure getting intense. Shit has definetely hit the fan. Khalifa lost unconsciousness with one word slipping out of his mouth.
"Haaya."
•••••
The faint beeping of the heart monitor filled the room. Khalifa laid on the bed in a deep slumber with an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth, an IV attached to his hand. His chest is rising and falling at a steady rate.
Sakeena stared at their laced fingers then his face. He looks pale, his face still bluish from the seizure, his lips dry and chapped. His overgrown hair is messy and sticking to his forehead.
Sakeena sighed and took her eyes off him. He's heavily sedated and won't wake up anytime soon so she decided to walk out of the ICU because she has stayed there overtime. She took off the clothes required to be worn when she entered the ICU when she walked out.
Mamie, Amma, Fadeel, Fahad and Adam are in the waiting area sitting with peaceful silence looking over them. Sakeena greeted her mother and the rest of the members present then asked for a ride home and Fadeel volunteered to take her home.
"What led to his seizure?" Sakeena asked the question she desperately needs an answer to.
Fadeel kept mute not knowing what to say but he cannot tell her the truth. His fingers drummed the steering wheel trying to come up with an excuse but his brain decided to abandon him at that moment.
"Ya Fadeel please." Sakeena pleaded.
"Why do you want to know?" He regretted it as soon as those words slip out of his mouth. "I mean what's the point of knowing, he's fine now that's all that matters. Besides, anything can trigger his seizures."
Sakeena didn't say a word and averted his gaze to the view outside, her mind in a serious rummage. She knows overthunking won't help matters but she can't help it. She has been having this gut feeling for a while now but she doesn't want to give in to the feeling.
Sakeena stepped out of the car as soon as it pulled up and went straight into the house without a single glance at her brother. She headed straight into their room and stripped her clothes off then stepped into the shower. She got dressed in an army green dress with forest prints and a black cap over her messy hair.
She cleaned up the room, putting Khalifa's laundry away then proceeded to the kitchen to get something light to put in her stomach when she heard mumbled voices coming from the living room. She thought one of her brothers arrived so she shrugged and went ahead to grab a bottle of yogurt from the fridge but the voices got louder and louder to the point she can recognize one of the voices as a female's.
Her brows drew together in confusion. The closer she gets to the living room the cleared the voices sound. Sakeena couldn't make out anything they are saying because they're speaking in Arabic. Because of her stealth moves, she bumped into a pillar making the bottle of yogurt fall out of her grip.
She rubbed her nose and bent down to pick the bottle. Fadeel's eyes stare at Sakeena who's dressed in fresh clothes. His heart is racing because he doesn't know they excuse he'll give had it been Sakeena saw the person he's having a heated conversation with.
"Who were you talking to so loudly?" Sakeena asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
"I was on a phone call." Fadeel lied. "I had an argument with Inaya and she got mad all of a sudden." He raised his phone making Sakeena nod her head. "Are you done?"
"Yeah, let me grab my stuff upstairs then we can go." Sakeena turned and walked away to their room.
Fadeel let out a breath of relief and rubbed his forehead with tension is starting to build up. "You can't keep lying to her." Fadeel hissed and turned to face the person he's having an argument with who walked out from behind the sofa she hid before Sakeena made am appearance.
"Can you just leave." Fadeel stated deadpanned.
"I want to meet her."
"You are getting nowhere near Sakeena so you should get your crusty ass out of here." Fadeel's voice rose to an octave. Faint footsteps are heard approaching the living making Fadeel's eyes narrow to slit at her."My brother is on the brink of death because of you so won't make matters worst and leave." He commanded, his voice dangerous and low.
She huffed and stomped her feet out of the living room just when Sakeena walked in. Fadeel's eye lingered on Sakeena. She felt his stare on her and raised her eyes to meet his gaze. Sakeena raised a brow in question but he shook his head and walked out.
Fadeel waited in the car for Sakeena to lock the house and they drove to the hospital. Fadeel trailed behind Sakeena lost in his thoughts. His brows drew together in confusion. How can someone, all of a sudden appear out of nowhere and claim to be Haaya? The Haaya that died four years ago.
They were all there, all of them when it was revealed that she's indeed gone. It was so devastating bearing her loss, a tough time for the entire family. It came as a huge blow for Khalifa whom got affected more than the others. He was beyond shattered and pained, the pain which almost cost him his life. And now he's here fighting for his own life again for one person, a person that they all thought was dead.
He simply can't wrap his head around it. How is Haaya alive?
Wailing and sobs reached his ears as soon as he reached the room his brother was admitted. The sight in front of him made his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. His heart raced when his eyes landed on his mother. Doctors rushed into the room his brother is, the beeping of the heart monitor got louder, making the fear increase.
"What's happening?" Sakeena's soft voice reached his ear. He looked at her clenching onto the hijab she's wearing. Fadeel took in a sharp breath as he averted his gaze off her. This is all his fault. Had it been he didn't force Khalifa to go with them none of this would've happened.
Sakeena bit her lower lip harder, trying to suppress the fear and dread brewing inside of her with prayers. Her mind is also creating worst scenarios in her head. Fear is an understatement for what she's feeling, it's a lot more than fear. She shouldn't have left his side, she was only away for twenty minutes only to come back and find him having an attack.
Tears sting her eyes pooling making her vision blurry. Her hands became sweaty and clammy anxiety filling every inch of her body. Khalifa can't leave her, he can't. She got tied to him at a really young age and just when everything started to fall in place, it all came crashing down. What really happened? The question is eating her up and only two people can provide an answer because they were the one with him before his seizure happened.
After half of an hour of silence and impatient waiting, the doctor walked out of the room and walked towards them. "Are you the family of the patient?" Nods were the reply to his question. "The patient is now stable. We have put him in a temporary coma due to his health condition. He will be awake after 48 hours. His condition is serious." The room was pin drop silent, all the occupants holding onto the little bit of hope left.
"I'll need a close family member of his to follow me because his case is a severe one that needs to be discussed." The doctor walked away with Amma and Abdullah following him.
Sakeena walked up to her mother who wrapped her in a hug, a much needed one. Her mother calmed her down and advised here to keep praying. "I want to see him." Sakeena voiced.
"Naisa you need to rest." Fahad urged his younger sister but she shook her head. The last time she left him he almost died, she cannot risk again.
"Mamie please." Sakeena raised her glossy eyes to meet her mother's gaze silently pleading with her. Her mother agreed. Sakeena scrubbed in and put on all the stuff necessary.
The heart beat increased when Khalifa came into her view. A sob broke through her followed my another and another. She took small steps towards the inclined bed and didn't stop till she reached Khalifa's laying unconscious figure.
That was when she let her guard down. Strings of tears rolled down her face getting absorbed by the mask covering half of it. Her body shook as she slide down to her knees beside the bed. She gripped his hands that is laying idly by his side and clenched it tight. His motionless figure broke her down even more.
"Khalifa please." She whispered more sobs raking through her body. "You need to get up. Don't do this to me." She remembered the first time he had a seizure in front of her. The memory flashed in front of her eyes. She was scared to the core that day. The one he had in Egypt also gave her the creeps but they all weren't as severe as this one.
"We still have a long way to go together please get up." Her nose got runny but that is the least of her worries. Tears matted her face but she couldn't care less. "I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever. You just can't leave." She has never experienced true pain of losing someone till today even though that person isn't gone yet.
So this was how he felt when he lost Haaya, or maybe even worst. In her case, he's there with her but in his case, he knew that when Haaya left she won't come back. He'll never see her again. He'll never hear her voice voice again. She's gone forever.
But, little did Sakeena know her thoughts are the main cause of the situation Khalifa is in, the exact opposite.
•••••
No AN today.
Peace✌