Saleem's POV

" you know I won't lie to you Buhari. I'm sure you know how bribery works in this system. You're going up against DanLadan" That's Zakiyah's father's lawyer. We managed to process an arrest warrant for Haneef and we're presently on our way to the DanLadan branch Haneef's heading here. " I myself am powerful as well" He responds.
" I know you know that power pass power" his lawyer responds. " Let's hope his father doesn't support his crimes as well. That should be our prayer, without his father, Haneef is nothing" I speak up and Zakiyah's father sighs heavily. " We have solid evidences to take him to prison. Besides the emirates are involved in this well, there's no way he can go scot-free" he says again.
" Like Saleem said, let's hope Isa DanLadan doesn't protect his son in this whole mess, the Emirates is something that man can handle" His lawyer says again.

The frustration on Zakiyah's father's face is undeniable, it's clear how disappointed he is on how corrupt the world is now. Anyone with enough wealth can get away with any crime, humanity has no hope. It's sad. The rift this mess is about to cause between our families is going to be huge. Who ever thought a war like this would happen between us?, and all for what?, all for a mentally unstable girl. Well, even the Haneef is mentally unstable so no wonder they love each other.

My heart begins to pound a bit faster as we drive into the parking space of their company. I and Haneef grew up together, I'm nervous to see him again after everything, this time, I'm against him. I've legitimately always been by his side. Eyes around us are stuck on the police men getting down from their car, I can already hear the whispers and gasps from people that lay eyes on me.
Yes people, your boss tried to kill me but I'm very much alive.

We meet the receptionist on the first floor and the police enquire if Haneef's around, he is. We all get into to the elevator at once to the last floor, where Haneef's office is situated.
It's a five-storey building.
On reaching the last floor, I get out of the elevator first and meet Haneef's secretary. " Saleem?" She asks in shock, getting up from her seat behind her desk. " Where's Haneef?" I ask coldly. " in the meeting room.." she says and I head there, barging into his meeting room with the enough support behind me.

Everyone, startled to see me, get up on their feet. Their gasps can't certainly be left unheard. My eyes finally meet those of my bestfriend, staring intently at me. He doesn't look shocked, in fact he's holding back a laugh. Piece of shit. " I've been waiting for you, best friend" he says, getting up on his feet. " Mr Haneef DanLadan, we have a warrant for your arrest" The police say behind me as Haneef walks closer to where we stood. " I'm sorry your plans against me failed" I say, coldly. I literally want to punch him in the face right now. " I'm ready to co-operate with the police to solve this misunderstanding" he responds. " We've solved it already, all that's left is for you to take your rightful position behind bars" Zakiyah's father chips in and Haneef focuses his gaze on him. " We don't need to waste more time here, let's go to the station. I have a business to handle" Haneef responds and walks past us.

His guard is up, well we're both certainly not backing down. " What's going to happen if he pledges innocent against all these charges?" I ask our lawyer on our way out of the company, behind the police. " Our evidences are solid so you need not to worry, we have solid statements from the victims which is you and Juwairiyah"

" Bribery is his only way out of this right?"

" Certainly"

News about Haneef's arrest and my return was spreading like wild fire around countless blogs and news stations, the police station was packed with lots of journalists ready to hear from us. We were taken to the chief's office to wait for results from Haneef's interrogation and as expected, he pledged innocent of all charges. His lawyer is even seeking to post bail for him. " We only have statements from the victims which can be countered by his statement. We're still trying to get the video footage from the scene of the event of his attack on Juwairiyah and we are also trying to find the man Juwairiyah saw Haneef talking to that day" Zakiyah's father's lawyer says as we all gather around in the chief's office. " And my statement about what happened on the plane?" I ask and the chief finally takes it upon himself to respond. " You're the only survivor of that plane crash, the judge is going to ask why you delayed and didn't show up.."

" Ha'an, I wasn't strong. I was sick, I can take you to the people that took care of me"

" We're going to need to do that" he answers.

" But his lawyer is good as well, he's going to be able to win against you if we don't find the man Juwairiyah saw Haneef talking to that day" Zakiyah's father chips in. " We need to find him before Haneef does, for all we know he's planning how to get rid of him already" I respond with a disappointed heart.
Winning against Haneef is going to be much harder than I thought.

" Excuse me chief, Mr DanLadan is here to see you" he's acquainted with him of course, they have connections everywhere, literally. " Let him in please" the chief answers and I watch my second father figure walk into the office. His wife's right beside him. " Subhanallah, Saleem" Haneef's father gasps upon sighting me. I can imagine the disappointment he's going through from Haneef, old man doesn't deserve this. " I am so sorry" he starts, bursting into tears as he walks further into the room and hugs me tightly. " I am so sorry" oh Allah. I feel horrible that our families have to go through all this. " Why didn't you say anything to us Saleem?" Haneef's stepmother asks as she walks closer to stand beside me and her husband. " I didn't want you to stop me from going ahead with my plans" I respond and watch Haneef's father nod as he let's go of me. " I'm beyond devastated about all that has happened honestly. Don't worry, I'm on your side, I'll always support the truth no matter what" I knew he would.
" Saleem, this shouldn't ruin the bond our family shares. Haneef has been displaying all sorts of madness that I really can't seem to understand" Haneef's step mom starts. " it started from when he brought Ameerah home saying they'd made up. I don't know what that girl has that he's obsessed about. There are times where I'd actually find him talking to himself and laughing. He'd be holding conversations with himself and he gets himself angry, when he does that, he destroys things in his room. He seems okay when he's around people but when he's alone in that his room, problems arise" he might actually be going crazy. " I don't think he did all these in his right senses" His father supports. " If that's the case then we need to run some medical tests on him" Our lawyer chips in.

If Haneef's truly going crazy, I believe all his actions now will be explainable. " But what could possibly be the cause of his madness?" I ask, thinking hard. He doesn't do drugs or alcohol, and he was a happy child growing up, no case of depression due to any sort of abuse. " genes" his father finally says. " his mother was bipolar" my goodness.
How could we have forgotten about that?. " Haneef's mother was bipolar?" Zakiyah's father questions and gets an affirmation. " That's messed up"

" Her obsession with money literally drove her crazy" Haneef's father says again. " so this could possibly mean we're victims of a mad man?" I ask. " certainly"

" We're going to subject him to some tests, for the meantime I'm sure his lawyer is going to make an appeal for him to post bail" The chief says and my heart sinks.
I've been wondering about the evil force that drove Haneef to do all what he has done, little could I have imagined he might actually be crazy in real sense. The disappointment I felt is turning to pity bit by bit.

I and Zakiyah's father left the police station after maghrib prayer to head to their home. Apparently Zakiyah's cooking today, and she also ran into Haneef and Ameerah at the supermarket she went shopping. A video of their encounter is all over social media. I'm going to personally need to make a tweet about the happening events once our theory about Haneef is confirmed to be true.

" Welcome you guys" Zakiyah greets happily, welcoming us from the kitchen entrance. The smell of egusi soup filled the entire kitchen and that's when I actually realised how hungry I am. After giving her dad a warm hug and a proper greeting, she keeps a bowl of water on the kitchen table. " Sit down let me set our plates. Wash your hands please, how did it go at the police station?" She asks as we take our seats on chairs around the kitchen table. " Well apparently, Haneef might actually be going crazy" I respond, washing my hands in the bowl she had kept earlier. " Seriously?"

" Yeah, his step mother made her observations known to us today" Her father answers. " Wow, what could have possibly driven him crazy?" She asks again as she places a cooler filled with amala wraps and a plate of soup in front of us. " Genes, you know I told you about how his mother milked them dry right?. She was bipolar, she might have passed the gene onto her son" I answer again as I serve myself. " That's something, so he wasn't in his right senses all this while"

" He's going to go through some tests"

" So is he going to remain in jail for the meantime?" Zakiyah asks, sitting on the chair beside me. " He's going to be able to post bail, so no"

" I suddenly pity him. Ameerah should be subjected to checks too, the scene she caused today should declare her crazy too...oh my Allah" She suddenly stops with a gasp and widened eyes. " What?" Her father asks. " You just said Haneef's mother was bipolar" she starts. " Yes"

" Well so is Habeebah" she exclaims and realisation hits me at the point she's trying to get at. " wait, that's true" her father adds. " Habeebah has a history of doing what she does, your mother made mention of that, how could I have forgotten?. Habeebah was there at the wedding of one of your mother's friends with a son, I didn't get to see her husband. That son might be Haneef"

" I bet you it is Haneef" Zakiyah says. " do you have a picture of her?" I finally ask. I might still be able to remember what she looks like. " Yes" Zakiyah's father says, taking out his apple device from his pocket.

There she was, the woman that caused I and Haneef to resort to going to a public school, the woman that brought about the downfall of both our families back then. My goodness. This is almost unbelievable. " So Ameerah and Haneef are actually siblings, this is messed up" big time. " No wonder he's willing to do anything to have her. He is meant to naturally be in love with her" Zakiyah adds. " but this is very bad, Where's Habeebah now?"

" Hiding from the police. We've finally opened her case" Zakiyah's father answers. " You didn't tell me"

" it escaped my mind"

" Zakiyah told me about Habeebah back then but I didn't think about it this way" I comment. " You've divorced her right?" She asks again. " of course"

" I'm so glad they have no business with us again. But what about Haneef, how are we going to tell him about our new findings?" That's going to be a problem. " We should inform his father, he'll know how to go about things"

" Why didn't she get arrested in the first place after what she did to you guys?" Digging into my meal finally, Zakiyah asks. "when she does things like this, she goes into hiding for a while, leaves the state or country for a while and comes back when the police have more to handle and avoids them at all costs, she's smart you know. She's a wanted criminal now and they're going to get her sooner or later".

" We'll keep praying she's found soon and all these ends"

" In Sha Allah. Babe, this soup is amazing" I comment and they both laugh at me. " It's funny how you can actually eat during this tense discussion love"

" It's not my fault that the food called out to me. Besides we actually need the energy for us to go on with this discussion cause Allah knows I'm famished"

Zakiyah's POV

An hour after Isha, Saleem left for his home and dad decided to go to bed early, leaving me alone to wander in my thoughts. Who would have thought Ameerah and Haneef would end up being siblings?. How can things be so twisted for crying out loud. Now that there's a reasonable explanation for what they've done, I feel very bad for them honestly. I know they're probably lunatics that are going to end up in an asylum, but for the love they share to end up turning into a sibling love?.
Ouch.

They're a twisted family of lunatics but my goodness, it's sad. Very sad.

Before sleeping, I make sure to inform my bestfriends about the recent findings and urge them to pray for khair, it's literally the only thing we can do now.

Tay Tay 🙄❤:
You guys, my parents want me to meet someone that's interested in me soon, apparently he's their friend🙃.

Juwee💖:
Really?, finally!

Tay Tay🙄❤:
Finally what?, I have no idea who he is.

This girl is trying to get me to say something, I'm not playing her mind games, no strength.

Zakiyah:
Madam, I know you already know who it is. None of us here are fools or blind. Don't worry, I'll be accompanying my dad to see you officially.

Juwee💖:
How can you think we're fools because we decided to keep shut about what was happening between you two until you were ready to talk about it miss Tayibah?🙄

Tay Tay🙄❤:
My goodness, I honestly thought you guys were oblivious about everything all this while 😂😂. Well, it's because I was scared of Zakiyah's reaction honestly and why I spoke up was to actually play mind games to know if you'd be okay with your father finding love again after your mom and finding it in the most unexpected place, with your bestfriend.

Honestly, It's sweet that she had this in mind.

Zakiyah:
Madam Tayibah, I know you're not going to be replacing my mom. Besides, who am I to stop my father from finding love in an amazing person again. I'm happy you two are together honestly, even though the age gap is almost absurd, love knows no age. To be very honest I'm glad his heart chose to be fond of you instead of some random outsider. I'm more than grateful for that. So don't worry Madam, I'm more than cool with this.

Tay Tay🙄❤:
You don't know how relieved I am to see this 😭❤. Wallahi I was so scared that the feelings I have for your dad would end up ruining our friendship.

Zakiyah:
Take care of my dad's heart or it will.

Juwee💖:
Lmao. I can't believe Tayibah's going to end up being your stepmother Zakiyah.

Tay Tay🙄❤:
Omo, better respect me o😏

Zakiyah:
It is what it is.