"Hello, officer? Any news yet?" Sa'eed inquired immediately he picked up the phone.

"Yes." He replied from the other side of the phone.

Sa'eed heaved a sigh of relief. "What is it?"

"Nafisa's accomplice, Muktar has been caught." He announced.

"That's nice to hear. How- where was he caught?"

"In a crime scene in Kubwa. He was among the robbers who invaded someone's house earlier today. Apparently, he hasn't learnt his lesson yet. As we speak, he is already in our custody."

"Thank you very much, officer. How about Nafisa; any news about her yet?" Sa'eed questioned. "it's been four months."

"We tortured the criminal into telling us where she is hiding, but he insisted he knows nothing about her whereabout because they haven't been in touch since the day they escaped. But don't you worry, just like we caught him, we will surely catch her as well."

"I hope so." He muttered. "Thanks a lot, officer."

"You're welcome." He said and ended the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maryam was seated in their room staring into space when Sa'eed walked in.

"Good news, habibty." He grinned.

"Has Nafisa been caught?" She asked, hopefully. She couldn't wait for her to be caught and Manal to be finally home with them again.

"No." He replied.

Maryam's face fell.

"But her accomplice, Muktar has been caught." He continued.

"Really?" Maryam's demeanor brightened.

"Yes. The officer just called to tell me."

"Alhamdulillah." Maryam muttered. "He can lead us to where Nafisa is hiding."

"The police officers have already asked him and it seems he doesn't know where she is."

"That can't be true. He's definitely lying. They escaped together, remember?"

"I know, habibty, but that's what I was told."

"We shouldn't rely on them entirely." She voiced. "We need to go to the station and speak to him ourselves."

"Habibty, just relax, okay? Nafisa will be found soon and the moment she is found, we will file a case against her and have her imprisoned for live." He assured.

Maryam was about to reply when she felt a contraction in her womb. At first, she ignored it, thinking it was just the baby kicking as usual, but when it happened again for the second time, she felt very uncomfortable. Was she in labour? Her instinct was confirmed when she felt liquid running down her legs. "Habibi." She boomed. "My water just broke!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting all alone in the balcony, Manal couldn't help, but cry as she suddenly reminiscing how her mother left her all alone in the house. She recall how hard to cried and pleaded with her to take her with her, but her efforts were futile. She even went to the extent of promising to be more behaved, but she was ignored and thrown away like a piece of trash.

She didn't even realize Hussaina was calling her, until she tapped her softly on the shoulder. "Hey, Manal, I have been talking to you. What's wrong? Why are you crying? Do you miss your ummi and abi already?" She bombarded her with questions.

"I want to go home." She cried.

"But why?" Hussaina questioned, hurt. "Don't you like it here?"

"I do, but I miss abii very much. He rarely visits me here." She voiced.

"But he did come few weeks ago." She reminded.

"I know." She replied sadly. "I'm sure ummi told him not to come again."

"Why would she even do that?" She frowned.

"That's because she doesn't love me." She replied, hanging her head low.

"How could you even say that?" Hussaina asked in disbelief. "I'm sure she loves you so much."

"That isn't true! You don't know her as much as I do. She's just pretending to like me in front of abii, just like..." She trailed off for a minute before continuing. "She brought me here because she thinks I'm annoying and doesn't want me close to her." She remarked, remembering Nafisa's exact words - your ummi doesn't love you. She thinks you're annoying that's the reason she left you with me. "And I'm sure she convinced abii to bring me here. Why else did they bring me here? Why didn't second ummi take you, Hassana or Faisal to live with someone else?"

Hussaina hummed. "I really don't know why she brought you to live with us, but I'm sure she has a good reason for that and besides, she promised you will only stay for a short while."

"But I'm still here, right?" She questioned. "I just want to see abii. I miss him."

"Cheer up. I'm going to sneak into ummi's room and take her phone to call uncle, okay?"

"Really?" Manal squeaked.

"Of course. If we ask her for the phone right now, she may refuse because we broke her vase yesterday."

"Yeah. You're right."

"Let's go downstairs, it's almost time for our Islamic teacher to arrive." She grabbed a hold of her hand and they left the balcony hand in hand.

"Manal, Hussaina!" Hassana called, emerging from the kitchen. "Where have you both been? I have been looking everywhere for you." She complained, down in the dumps.

"We were just in the balcony." Hussaina replied. "Manal was sulking. She misses uncle Sa'eed."

"Don't worry, Manal." Hassana hugged her. "I'm sure he will visit soon."

Manal nodded. "Why were you looking for us?"

"Because..." She trailed off with a grin on her face.

"Why?" Hussaina asked impatiently.

"OUR ISLAMIC TEACHER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COME TODAY!! he just called ummi few minutes ago."

Hussaina rolled her eyes. "Is that why you're happy? I thought it was something important."

"Me too." Manal added.

"I'm happy because I haven't done the assignment she gave yesterday." She grinned sheepishly.

"As usual." Hussaina sighed. "Where's Faisal? I haven't seen him around and I don't want ummi to scold me."

"I don't know." She shrugged. "He's probably sleeping in her room."

"Alright. We will go and check. Let's go, Manal."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peeping through the ajar door, Hussaina could see her mother sleeping with her arm around a sleeping Faisal.

"Is she inside?" Manal whispered.

"Yes, but she's sleeping. Come on." She opened the door wider and tiptoed in.

Carefully, Manal followed.

"Where do you think she kept the phone?" She mumbled.

"I don't know. You should check her purse. I will check the side drawers." She mumbled back.

Tiptoeing, Manal grabbed her purse and fumbled around for the cellphone, but couldn't found it.

Hussaina checked the side drawers but didn't see it as well. She was about to check the nightstand when she sighted the phone on the bed, beside her. "Found it!" She whispered and carefully stretched out her arm to take it.

Hussaina as well as Manal got startled when Rahamah stirred in her sleep, but relief washed over their demeanor the moment they realised she was not about to wake up any time soon - the sound of her soft snores proved that.

The same way they got in, they tiptoed towards the door and was about to run out, when they bumped into Ahmad.

Hussaina attempted to talk, but ended up voicing out incoherent words. Swiftly, she hid her hand behind.

Apprehensively, Manal looked on.

Ahmad looked at them questionably. "Why do you both look nervous and where you looking for something."

"Yes."

"No."

Hussaina and Manal replied simultaneously.

Ahmad gazed at them confused.

"ERM...she meant to say yes." Hussaina smiled sheepishly. "We were looking everywhere for Faisal and it turns out he's been here all along." She remarked smartly.

"Oh! Okay." Ahmad replied, totally buying her little lie.

"We will go ahead, abi." Hussaina grabbed Manal's hand and they ambled out of the room in a hurry.

Immediately they were far from the room, Manal heaved a sigh of relief. "We almost got caught."

"Yeah." She breathed. "Ummi would have surely reprimanded us. We should give uncle a call quickly before ummi wakes up." She said, handling her mother's cellphone to her.

Swiftly, Manal dialed Sa'eed's number, but he didn't pick up. "He isn't picking up." Manal pouted.

"You should try again." Hussaina suggested.

"Alright." Manal replied and did just as she was told, but he still wasn't answering. She tried calling again few more times, but it didn't go through.

"The number you're trying to call is currently busy, please try again later. Thank you."

Handling the phone back to Hussaina with a frown marring her forehead, she spoke; "why isn't he picking up? Doesn't he want to speak to me anymore?" Tears welled up in her eyes and within seconds, ran down her flawless cheeks.

"Don't cry, Manal." Hussaina wiped her years away. "I'm sure he will call back later." She assured. "We should return ummi's phone before she wakes up."

"Alr-" she was about to reply, when she heard her name being called on a high pitched voice.

"Manal! Manal!!"

Manal gasped and covered her parted lips. "That's second ummi's voice. She must have found out we took her phone."

"What are we going to do now?" Hussaina panicked.

Manal shrugged.

"Manal? Where are you?" Came Rahamah's feminine voice again.

"We better go to her." Hussaina advised and they both maneuvered to the living room nervously.

Surprisingly, Rahama didn't look mad, intact, she had a broad smile on her face.

Manal and Hussaina exchanged a look of confusion.

"Where have you been, dear?" Rahamah questioned with yet another smile plastered on her face.

"I... I was with Hussaina in-"

"Never mind." She cut her off. "I have good news for you. I'm sure you're going to be excited after hearing it!" She smiled. "Your uncle just informed me."

"Really, aunty?" Manal grinned. Her parents were probably visiting - she hoped.

Hussaina gazed at her mother inquisitively.

"I was just told your ummi gave birth this evening." She caressed her cheek. "You're now a big sister, Manal!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yay! Maryam has finally given birth!!

What do you think the gender of the baby is?

Do you want it to be a boy?

Or

Girl?

Give my new book a chance, guys ❤😘

deey_jah
❤❤❤