Misfortunate (Completed)

Chapter Forty Eight: Kawu's Passing

Omg, guys, hello. I hope I've been missed. I swear I had  some kind of writer's block for this story. It was so bad that I was stuck on this one chapter for almost a month. Sha Sha, today, I've finally updated. I pray you all will read it , vote and leave a comment. I'll be very grateful if you did. Honestly.

This one is for Maman Nour; thank you. ❣️

"Did they really fight?"

I stopped in the motions of laying out another skirt, adjusting my phone so Rabiah can hear me. "Wallah, they nearly fought. Falmata eventually told me they've been that way for nearly twenty years. Even before she was born, my uncle told my aunt not to marry her husband, she, being strong headed went ahead and married him, I don't see a problem in what has happened but my uncle has never forgiven her for not doing what he wanted."

Rabiah laughed long and hard, making me chuckle too. I really don't see the problem in marrying who she married, she made good on her life goals from what I heard. I stan women who make their life dreams come true.

"Sha, when are the pictures coming out? Are you going to post them?" She asked me and i moved from the wardrobe where I was picking clothes to pick my iPad where Falmata sent the photos to.

"The pictures are beautiful, but I'm wondering, would it be somehow insensitive to post the pictures before my siblings?" I asked her instead. She tutted and asked me why I was worried.

" I heard their mom has been taken to a mental institution in Turkey. The news came out after Baaba's birthday three days ago so, I'm sorta worried about being the insensitive person." Rabiah's hiss reached me from the phone and I withheld what I was about to say.

"I don't know why you're becoming so soft, that woman turned the wheels of your life around, stalked you, tried to kill you and you're worried about children that are not so worried about her? Give yourself a break Beebah. You deserve a break. Stop worrying about it and just do what you want." I nodded even though she couldn't see me and asked her about her fertility clinic program.

"Guy, this thing is hard as nails. I have to get hormone injections twice a week, then monitor Hakeem and I's conjugal relations like it's the clock. I'm sure I'm going to go mad soon." I said a Dua for strength for Rabiah and she said Ameen with a sigh.

"It's all going to turn out the way you want it. In Sha Allah. It's going to be good news in the end. Don't worry too much okay?" Rabiah hummed and we talked about several other things, including my impromptu trip to Kano.

A few hours later, Iyamé helped me pack my bag and I left Abuja around four pm. I got into my aunt's house, just as the adhaan for Magrib prayers was being called. When I rang the door bell, my aunt's maid told me my aunt was praying in the back room,  so I set down my bag and went to perform ablution.

When I reached the backroom, Kawu was about to start leading prayers, he looked lethargic so I quickly joined the prayers. Just as we finished the last sujood, Kawu collapsed on his praying mat. I don't think I know the definition of what I felt in that moment, I was just rising from my own sujood when I heard Ma's scream.

She rushed to him and while I ran back to get my phone, I heard her continuously shouting No. When I reached, I saw him smile at my aunt, raise a weak arm to pat her face and begin to say the shahada. His arm that was patting her face dropped, and a tear slid down his wizened face.

The chaos that followed it, a blur.

*****

The loud whirr of the outside air-conditioner was the only thing that broke the silence in the house. Everything else was quiet, as though they knew a life had just left the world and they all had to mourn, even standing fan that used to creak after being used for quite a while, quietly blew air into the jam-packed room like it knew that it needed to be quiet.