Fadwa abruptly opened her heavy eyelids and then closed them again because of the brightness of the room, she batted her eyelashes and opened the eyes slowly this time. She peeked through her dark lashes trying to decipher the kind of surrounding that she was. She had no idea what she was doing there but when the events of the previous night came rushing into her mind, she began panicking and though her eyes were half open, she tried getting off from what she was laid on.

"Calm down Baby sis" Salman's voice stopped her.

"Ma..." She began with an itchy throat so Shukrah grabbed her cup of water and gave it to her.

They both scrutinized each move she made and when they were sure the cup of water had somehow revived her and made her calm down a bit, Shukrah began asking her some questions.

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore but I'll be fine" She weakly smiled.

"In shaa Allah" Salman added.

"You don't have much wound, You sprained your ankle and then your hit your head a bit" Shukrah explained.

Fadwa silently listened as they narrated to her everything that happened, she remembered all of it, except for the part where she was unconscious. She wanted to ask them where their mother was, because she could not bear seeing her walk through the door or come close to her, thinking about it was already making her panicky.

"Stop staring at the door like that, Mama is in a place where she wouldn't hurt anyone for now, In shaa Allah" Salman intruded Fadwa's thoughts as if he was aware of what was going on in her mind.

"Your fiancé visited" Shukrah grinned to lighten up the atmosphere.

"And he saw me this way?" Fadwa asked her eyes as wide as saucers.

"What's wrong with seeing you this way?" Salman chuckled.

"I'm a mess" Fadwa blushed face-palming herself.

"You're not serious" Shukrah giggled and they continued chatting in order to make her forget about the incident that threatened their inner peace. Salman left minutes later saying he had somewhere to be, Shukrah knew he was going to see how their mother was doing hence she did not probe.

She was trying to feed Fadwa after they had chatted enough when Ahmad and Safaa walked through the door, looking like the perfect couple that everyone well except for Hajiya Turai wished they were. Fadwa smiled with teary eyed when Safaa held her cold palms, she could not even imagine the kind of heart the woman possessed, because after everything she still was able to smile so radiantly.

"Don't just stare at me like that, You're making me teary-eyed too" Safaa smiled.

"Thank you Safaa" Fadwa croaked.

"Hey why are you thanking me, How are you feeling?" Safaa asked.

"Sore" Fadwa chortled.

"You'll be fine in shaa Allah"

"In shaa Allah, and where's my baby?" Fadwa asked stretching her arms to reach for the baby who was sleeping peacefully in her father's arms.

"I brought you lunch, Yaa Ahmad told me your favorite" Safaa said before exchanging pleasantries with Shukrah .

Ahmad walked to Fadwa's bed, gave her the baby and stood some steps away from them, Fadwa cooed smiling adoringly at her little niece, she was so lost in her thoughts when Ahmad called out her name.

"Fadwa are you okay?" He asked carefully taking Yusrah from her arms and handing her to Safaa.

"Well..." She sniffed.

Ahmad sat beside her on the bed and cupped her cheeks trying to make her understand that thinking too much about what happened would only make her condition deteriorate.

"You have to stop thinking, we want you to be hale and hearty because Baba said he would postpone your wedding until then" Ahmad teased her wiping away the tears cascading down her cheeks with his thumb.

"I don't want to get married, I'm so scared" Fadwa whispered while she hugged him like her life depended on it.

"You will be fine" Ahmad assured her after she had calmed down.

"Maybe everything I did to Safaa is coming back to hunt me already, what if Muhammad's mom never like me?" She croaked bursting into new sets of tears yet again.

Safaa tried her best not to pay attention to what her husband and his sister were discussing but when she heard the last statement Fadwa made, her heart reached out to her and she had no idea when she walked to the bed and sat on the other side too.

"Fadwa, Stop stressing yourself about all this, Allah is AL Ghafoor, He's aware of your repentance, You'd be happy in your home In sha Allah"

"How do you do it?" Fadwa sniffled.

"What?" Safaa smiled.

"How do you forgive so easily Safaa?" Fadwa asked.

"Why don't we all forget about this? I'll serve you your lunch and you eat before Muhammad's family arrive, Yaa Ahmad told me they'd be visiting later" Safaa changed the discussion entirely.

"Really? But I don't look presentable" Fadwa gasped.

"You're a patient" Shukrah who had been a quiet listener of their conversation said.

"But...Fine" Fadwa pouted.

"What is presentable to you Fadwa?" Safaa giggled.

"Smelling fresh and not of antibiotics, having a little glow on my pale face and yeah a nice outfit not this baggy gown would do" Fadwa explained as if she was not the one crying minutes ago.

"Okay then, we'd do that after you eat, I'm sounding like an elder woman aren't I?" Safaa laughed.

"You're sounding like my brother's wife, Let me eat and get ready, I'd rock even though I hate this bandage" Fadwa winked pointing the bandage on her forehead.

"Yeah, You always rock" Safaa smiled when her eyes locked with her husband's and he smiled back, Thanking her through his eyes for making his sister lively.

"Sweetie call me when you're tired, I have to go somewhere" Ahmad informed Safaa, kissed Yusrah's forehead and sauntered out of the room.

Some minutes after he left, Abidah walked into the room alongside Mommy. Mommy had been in the hospital with Fadwa's siblings all through the night and when they were told of Fadwa's condition, Ahmad insisted she went back home and rest.

"Well Fadwa has always been a cry baby, I knew she'd be sobbing by now" Abidah smirked at Fadwa.

"And she's here to tease me" Fadwa mumbled and they continued conversing while she ate her lunch.

Abidah took away Yusrah from Safaa's arms but the baby began squirming before letting out a loud wail, Abidah tried calming her but it was all in vain.

"This girl can cry for Africa, Here Safaa calm her down" Abidah handed the baby to her mother and Safaa laughed before walking out of the room.

"She cries this much" Mommy asked walking out of the room with Safaa.

"She does Mommy, she rarely allows us to sleep" Safaa smiled pacing the reception in an attempt to shush the baby up.

"She would stop it soon, sit and feed her" Mommy ushered Safaa to the waiting area.

Safaa wanted to leave the hospital before she could have another encounter with Hajiya Turai, but she did not come with a driver, Ahmad drove them to the hospital and he had went out an hour ago. She nervously fiddled her bracelet staring into space, lost in the pool of her thoughts. Mommy looked at her concern marring her face, she knew what Safaa was thinking about.

"She won't be here" Mommy answered the question that had been bugging Safaa's mind.

"Na'am?" Safaa asked absentmindedly.

"Hajiya Turai was taken to a therapist last night, Salman didn't even ask their father's opinion, he just took her there"

"Kawu Sunusi is out of town?" Safaa inquired.

"Yes he travelled abroad, Hajiya Turai is sick Safaa, I just hope she would let go of her anger"

"I pray so too, Maa will be here in some few minutes, I think I'd go with her"

"You're tired right? Ahmadu said you should call him when you want to go home"

"Yeah tired and hungry" Safaa chuckled.

Safaa and Mommy fell into a comfortable silence as she fed her baby, Yusrah fell asleep some minutes later making Safaa sigh, she brought out her phone from the baby bag and texted Ahmad. She was tired and there was no sign of her mother. She loved the serenity of the waiting area and seeing the distressed look of some of its occupants, she inwardly thanked her Rabb for his blessings. Fadwa's inlaws arrived and Mommy stood up and welcomed them leaving Safaa to her thoughts in the quiet place.

"A penny for your thoughts Darling" Ahmad's deep voice almost scared her, she had no idea when he reached the place.

"Thank God you're here, I'm famished"

"I'm so sorry" He caressed Yusrah's cheeks.

"Where have you been?" Safaa asked.

"I'll tell you all about it in the car, I promise, Let's go inside, You need to say bye to them" He said taking the baby bag.

"What are you doing? You want people to talk? Give me the bag and hold Yusrah" Safaa panicked snatching away the bag from him.

Ahmad chuckled and handed the bag to her, she gave Yusrah to him and they walked side by side back to the room.

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Safaa kept staring at Ahmad with a pout while he concentrated on driving, acting like he had not seen the look she was giving him, she had been waiting for him to tell her what he promised to tell her but he deliberately procrastinated it just to annoy her.

"Yaa Ahmad we're almost home" Safaa whined.

"Yeah so?" He raised a brow at her.

"Fine" She huffed turning her gaze to the window.

Ahmad continued driving silently, trying his best not to burst out laughing because of her mumbles. When they reached her Baba's house, Safaa angrily grabbed her baby's bag and began struggling to open the door but he stopped her by locking it.

"Now what?" She spat.

"I love your fiery side" He grinned.

"I don't care, I said I was hungry, so can you please let me go home"

"You really want to go home? Seriously?"

"Yeah" She mumbled uninterestedly.

"Alright then" He started the car but she stopped it before they could start moving.

"What are you doing?" Safaa whined.

"I'm taking you home, This isn't home Safaa, you know where your home is" He said using the tone she used to imitate her.

Safaa frowned waiting for him to unlock the car but he refused, he began staring at her making her self conscious, he missed everything about her and he wished he could take her home with him.

"I'll come home, I promise just let me go inside, Am famished, it's unhealthy for me to say with an empty stomach" She tried blackmailing him using her health but he kept mum, the look he was giving her making her cheeks flush.

"Yaa Ahmad" She whined again after some minutes.

"Alright, let's go inside" He smiled unlocking the car.

"Freedom" Safaa squealed when she got out of the car, startling the little baby, Ahmad raised a brow at her questionably and she shrugged swinging the baby bag in her hands like a little girl.

They walked inside the house and Safaa immediately raced to the kitchen, while he walked to the nursery and placed a sleeping Yusrah in her cot. He came to the living room to find Safaa with a plate filled with food and he watched her quietly as she savored it without even asking him if he would mind having some.

"I had no idea you are this mean"

"That's your punishment for not letting me go out of that car on time" She stuck out her tongue at him.

"I'll have to tell Maa the kind of wife you've turned into, Where's she by the way?"

"The maid told me they left for the hospital some minutes ago" Safaa walked to the fridge and brought out a chilled drink.

Ahmad was surprised when she hid behind a curtain but he did not say a word. He walked to her and when he reached her she froze.

"Why are you hiding?"

"I don't want Maa or Inna to come back and find me taking a chilled drink, Habibi they have stopped me from having something cold for the past weeks, I can't take it anymore" Safaa broke down at the end making him stifle a laugh.

"Okay, but why?" He dragged her back to the sofa slowly.

"I don't know, it's all Inna's fault, she said nursing mother's should always take something warm" She sniffed.

"It's okay, when you come back home I'd even allow you to take ice" He winked at her making her smile amidst her tears.

"I become so emotional this days, you know sometimes we cry together with Yusrah" She chuckled resting her head on his left shoulder.

"Are you full now?" He asked her.

"Yap very full" She sighed contentedly.

"Mama has a disorder, She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia disorder" He informed her.

"Ya Salaam, how's she? What's schizophrenia?" She asked awkwardly pronouncing the name.

"I don't know too, browse it up later, or rather wait until Shukrah tells me about it, I'll tell you" He said.

"May Allah grant her shifa" She said but he only kept quiet, letting her warmth ease some of his tension.

"Safaa" He called her softly.

"Na'am?" She raised her head up and answered him with her soothing voice.

He faced her leaning towards her silky smooth face and pulled her into a warm embrace and closed his eyes, letting her smell of oud soothe him.

"I'm so sorry, for everything" He whispered.

"Why?" She asked softly.

"I've hurt you so much"

"It's okay" She slowly untangled herself from him and caressed his beard.

She had missed annoying him by pulling his beard.

She smiled at him, making the strings of his heart thrum while he instantly closed the space between them capturing her tainted lips lightly, it was a brief kiss yet it held so many emotions, he let go of her after some minutes and she shyly turned her gaze to the other side of the living room. After so many years of being married, Ahmad still made her feel all giddy.

"You promised me you'll come home" He said with a teasing smile on his lips.

"I was... when did I...uhm" She stuttered.

"When will you come home?" He used his palm to turn her face towards him.

"When will you take me home?" She asked his bravely.

"Oh really? Well let's go home today"

"Haha, very funny, Maa will kill me" She rolled her eyes at him.

"I'll talk to your Baba about him, but you really want to come home right?" He asked nervously.

"I want to come home Habibi, I belong to your home" She said, making him seal her lips with his again ever so gently.

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Assalamu Alaikum my people...

Yay or Nay?

My sister said she loved the chappy even before I  published it.

So who's going to help Safaa pack?
And who misses Hajiya Turai?
Y'all should come with your flowers and teddies, we need to go and visit her...

I'm so excited, I'm about to wrap things up, and have peace...

It's not easy being a writer, I started something am afraid I won't finish ☹☹

Some people are glaring at me through their phones rn, Don't worry I'll finish Safaa bi'iznillah...😂😂😂😂

Thank you so much for your patience...

I love y'all lodi lodi.

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Sai mun hadu a babi na gaba...Nagode😍😍😘😘😘