Being Mrs Dantata

49

July, 2023

Abuja, Nigeria

Jonathan and Busola were married while Hassan and Summayya were finally engaged. Hussayna was pregnant with a baby boy and Jameelah's restaurant was growing. She was set to open branches across the country. Catherine was living her best life with her husband and kids, enjoying the benefits of her new office to the best of her ability. Hauwa was engaged too. She and her fiancé were putting things in place for their future.

Yarah and Yazan, at eight months, were much bigger and were now moving around the house on all fours whenever the opportunity presented itself. Yazan was still noisy but a tad quieter than he had been in the first months. He now preferred Zayd over anyone else. Zayd never got tired of holding him. When he had to work, Yazan calmly sat on his laps and watched with awed and innocently curious eyes.

"You're going to turn him into an architect as this rate." Zainab said the day she visited and found Yazan following his father's every hand movement as he worked on a new floor plan. "Then you'll come and say you did not influence his career decision in any way. Like you and your father."

"Mama, that's not fair."

"That's not my business. Life isn't fair but we live it like that. If this boy decides to be an architect, Sa'ed, I'll deal with you myself."

Yarah, on the other hand, turned out to be a quiet devil with the looks of an angel who could do no wrong. Like her mother, she never hid her true emotions. If she liked someone, it showed and if she did not, it showed too. She never allowed them put things in place and she was the very reason why Zayd and Hanan were moving things out of reach. She always wanted to touch and move something and nine times out of ten, those items ended up broken or damaged.

Whenever she got frustrated (which everyone found amazing), she screamed and it was always so shrill. The first time she did it, Hanan nearly suffered a heart attack and Zayd nearly lost his footing while running down the stairs. Amal was not home then and when Yarah repeated it in her presence, she paled and turned to Hanan and Zayd.

She pointed at the small devil with a shaky finger. "W-who taught her that habit?"

"Trust me, Amal," Zayd replied, "We're wondering the same thing too."

Another thing Yarah loved doing was biting, especially when they started teething. Zayd was always her victim. Each time she sunk her teething gums in his flesh, he would flinch and face Hanan. "See what you taught her!"

"I refuse to deal with you and this small rabbit today, Sa'ed. I simply refuse to do so. I also refuse to believe that this small mouse is the one who made me like biting people. I thought it was Yazan!"

As though she knew they were talking about her, Yarah would smile and then proceed to bite Zayd again. There were days when she was the sweetest person and one would be unable to overlook her cute eyes and lovely face, her hair as curly as her mother's and as soft as her father's.

On such days, Hanan would hold her and sigh. "What am I going to do with you, Yarah?"

In response, she would smile and Hanan would fall in love with her all over again.

~*~

Ahmed returned from a business trip on July 22nd after being away since the start of the month. He had texted Suraiya during the transit stop at Addis Ababa, telling her to leave the front door open as he was going to be at the estate late. The last thing he wanted was keeping her awake long after the kids had gone to bed.

He ascended the entrance stairs as soon as the designate driver left and pushed the door hand down. Like he had asked, the door was unlocked and he stepped into the half lit foyer. He removed his shoes, naturally replacing them with one of the pairs of home slippers on the shoe rack. The living and dining room lights were still on and he noticed that there were more potted plants. There was a faint tinge of burned incense and it made him smile.