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REPLACEMENT GIRL 👧
CHAPTER 31
*HUMAIRAH POV*
Yesterday was Zaki Group’s 35th Anniversary and we had a very exhausting interview with Tv Reporters. They were so interested in knowing almost everything about our lives. Imagine them asking about my un-dercover marriage with Ahmad, and also asking Rania who amongst us did Ahmad loved more! Well, we answered what we could and left what we couldn’t. After all, it was just an interview.
Today, Ahmad took me and my kids to our village. We had no intention of staying there for long so we returned back late in the night. Just after lulling my triplets to sleep, I pe-cked them on their foreheads respectively and left to my room. They disliked slee-ping in the dark so I didn’t turn their lights off. One thing I loved about them more was their complexion, they were so fair like their father, Ahmad.
“Honey, you are still awake?” I puzzled as soon as I walked into my room. “You really nee-d to rest!”
“Humairah, I tried” Ahmad smiled shutting off his l@pt©p. “I think I have insomnia these days”
“No, you don’t” I said as I gently climbe-d the be-d with my bu-mp and covered myself with the blanket. “Just try and get some sleep, okay?”
“Alright” He said dropping the l@pt©p aside.
“Good” I smiled and turned my b©dy to the other side of the be-d. That way, he would be able to draw himself closer to my back, place his hand on my bu-mp and enjoy my warmness. He loved being very close to me.
“Something is telling me twins are in here” He uttered cherishing my bu-mp with his hand.
“Twins?” I blurted out. “I… I alre-ady gave you triplets and it wasn’t really easy” I complained.
“Hmm” He sighed.
“Okay, if that’s what you want then no problem. May Allah Almighty give me the strength to bore them for you” I prayed.
“Ameen” He pe-cked my shoulder. “I love you, Humairah”
“I love you too” I said.
“Goodnight” He bade me.
“Goodnight” I bade him back.
Just then, I shut my eyes off and there I went, to the dreamland.
The following day, I woke up as early as quarter past five in the morning. Ahmad was still slee-ping so I woke him up for fajr prayer. We prayed and he returned back to sleep while I went to wake my slee-ping kids up.
“Wake up babies, it’s morning alre-ady” I said as I slightly patted each and every one of them. “Wake up and pray plea-se!” I kvetched.
Thus, they began raising from their be-ds one after the other and yawning. “Morning, mommy…” They greeted me respectively.
“Morning, babies” I walked to the window and slid the curtain. “Make sure you all pray, okay?”
“Okay, mommy” They chorused.
“Good!” I said wearing a broad smile on my face. “Let me go and prepare breakfast. Don’t forget to greet everyone after praying, okay?”
“Yes, mommy!” They chorused again.
“Good” I said and left their room to that of Rania. Yes, Rania! We had all packed to Ahmad’s late father’s house. It was a very big mansion and Ahmad’s mother was finding it difficult to live there alone ever since she lose her husband to death.
When I knocked at Rania’s door, I didn’t get a reply. She was probably still slee-ping and I doubted if she had prayed Fajr yet. One thing I disliked more about Rania was her irreligiousness. She ha-rd ly pray in time and she didn’t care if her children pray or not.
“Hajiya Rania!” I knocked again.
“Humairah, plea-se!” She squealed.
“Yes, it’s prayer time!” I announced.
“I know, thank you!” She said.
“Alright” I huffed and left the door.
I went to Ahmad’s mother, Hajiya Qudrah and greeted her before going to the kitchen to make breakfast.
When I stepped into the kitchen, I found out Nanny Hadiza had alre-ady started cooking. We had two nannies, Hadiza and Barakah. The former took care of my kids and helped me with chores while the latter was responsible for Rania’s case.
…
We had our wonderful breakfast, hence Ahmad drove me and our triplets to a plaiter to plait our hair.
“Dad, don’t go!” The girls chorused as soon as Ahmad dropped us in the plaiter’s house and was about driving back home. “plea-se, dad!”
“Hmm, kiddies I have a lot to take care of at home” He said. “I have files to arrange for tomorrow”
“Dad, plea-se…” Qudrah said.
The triplets were so identical but I knew my kids, I knew what I conceived and bore and after all, they all had their favourite colours. Qudrah loved black, Jasraa loved yellow while Aisha loved pink. You can hi omeano on+233544142683 to be added to story headquarters room for more exciting stories. I selected the colours for them since when they were babies, and all their clothes had their colours in them.
“Okay, I will stay” Ahmad rose his hands in defeat before gently hopping out of the car.
“Thank you, daddy” They rushed and hvgged him. “Let’s go inside together” They held him.
“Okay… okay” He uttered before turning to me with a smile. “I hope I won’t be the only male inside?”
“We normally buy time from her, no one is allowed to get in while we are in. So, it’s only us” I uttered as we walked throu-gh the gate of the house.
“I love you, Humairah” He said in front of our kids. “And I am so very happy to have you”
“Same here” I said smiling back at him.
We went into the house together and just as the woman began plaiting one of our kids’ hair, we heard a loud knock by the gate.
“I thought we book this time?” I said to the plaiter. It seemed she was surprised as well.
“Yes madam, and I alre-ady told my customers about it. Maybe it’s a new client since I am not expecting any visitor this morning” She said.
“Now what?” I said as the knocking continued.
“Let me go and…” The woman was about standing up when Ahmad told her not to.
“Just continue with your work, let me go and check” He uttered as he stood and walked over to the gate. Just then, we heard him screamed. “Naziha?? No, no, no, this can’t be real. This can’t fv¢king be real!”
That moment, I was perplexed!
Did he just say, NAZIHA?
REPLACEMENT GIRL
CHAPTER 32
*AHMAD’S POV*
Today was Sunday, and as usual I would drive Humairah and our triplets to Faizah’s house to plait their hair. Rania had her own hairstylist, the foun-der of Najmah Beauty Saloon and she normally dressed her own hair on Fridays.
Just as Faizah began plaiting the hair of one of our triplets, a loud knock c@m£ from the house’s gate. It was so loud that it jo-lted me.
“I thought we book this time?” Humairah said to Faizah in an interrogative manner.
“Yes madam, and I alre-ady told my customers about it. Maybe it’s a new client since I am not expecting any visitor this morning” Faizah said somehow annoyed with the knock too.
“Now what?” Humairah asked as the knocking continued. It was loud and unbearable.
“Let me go and…” Faizah was just about standing up when I decided to check instead. After all, she was busy and I shouldn’t be useless.
“Just continue with your work, let me go and check” I said as I stood and walked to the gate. Just as I opened it, my eyes landed on Naziha. “Naziha??” I screamed. “No, no, no, this can’t be real. This can’t fv¢king be real!” I said glancing at her from head to toe, she had changed and the beauty was gone albeit I recognized her.
“Ahmad…” She said as she began weeping.
“Hey, st©p crying” I said almost holding her hand when I saw a ring in her f!nger. “Naziha, are you married or something?” I asked.
“Yes,” she sniffed wiping off her tears. “I married two years after I left your house but I lost the man I married to death!”
“Oh…” Was all I could say to her. She looked dark and pathetic. I never regretted losing her, I deserved Rania and Humairah more!
“I was surprised when I saw you entering this house with a woman and three little girls” She said.
“It’s Humairah, our cook. I married her, and those little girls you sp©tted are our triplets” I said.
“What??” She puzzled. “Ahmad, you mean you married Humairah? That house girl?”
“Yeah, but I married Rania first” I said.
“Rania?” She asked.
“Yes, the one I once told you is my cousin, my first love and the girl I first made love with” I tried to remind her.
“Oh, yeah… I think I remember” She said.
“Well,” I cleared my throat. “She’s also my wife and right now, I have two kids with her” I proudly said with a smile on my face.
“$h!t!” She cursed un-der her breath. “I regret losing you, Ahmad. And now I know it’s too late, right?” She interrogatively said.
“Well…” I was trying to tell her to accept her fate when Humairah pu-ll-ed the gate open.
“Naziha? How?” She said, not that surprised though.
“Humairah,” Naziha said in tears. “So you married Ahmad, bore him triplets and now you are carrying another child for him?”
That moment, Humairah adjusted her veil downward to cover her bu-mp but it was still showing. How could one cover seven months pregnancy from the world? Noway!
“Naziha, you changed” Humairah said.
“Yeah” Naziha heaved a sigh. “I am now ugly, and you are the beautiful queen. Indeed nothing is impossible in this world, Allah has granted you what you’ve wanted. I knew you loved him, I just didn’t take it serious”
“I am sorry” Humairah said.
“No, it’s okay” Naziha wiped off her tears again. “I should be going. plea-se greet those triplets of yours for me. Tell them a mother says hi”
“Okay, I will” Humairah nodded her head.
Thus, Naziha turned to me. “Ever since my new husband died, things have not been easy for me. From luxury to garbage, I am now selling palm oil and other cooking oil to survive. If you ever wish to patronize me, just come to the new market, shop number 206. Thank you” She said and left in tears.
I actually didn’t felt like I loved her anymore, but the love we shared in the past made me to feel something for her. It’s normal to feel that when you’ve been with someone for quite some time, but it absolutely means nothing.
“We are not going to patronize her, right?” Humairah said holding my hand.
“Yes, she’s just trying to find a way back to my life. That’s life, she was my queen” I said.
“Yeah” Humairah huffed and continued. “Let’s just go back inside, I don’t want our kids to be worried”
“Okay” I said.
Hence, we went back into the house.
**************
Ever since Naziha and I met again, I hadn’t been myself. Not like I wanted her back but I felt like she didn’t deserve the life she threw herself into. If you could remember, what she did in the past was for the sake of both of us, she wanted to conceive against all odds and that was what resulted into everything.
I kept thinking about her until finally, I decided to visit her today. Her shop number was still on my head so I drove to her shop in the market after work. She was also about closing when I arrived at the shop.
“Ahmad?” She puzzled as soon as she saw me.
“Hi, are you closing?” I uttered.
“Yes, it’s almost time” She said locking her shop’s door. “I thought you wouldn’t come”
“I never wanted to” I said staring at her.
“Hmm” She huffed. “You look great, Ahmad”
“Thank you” I managed to smile.
“Don’t mention” She said and continued. “So, why are you here? We both know you are not here to buy something, Ahmad Jaafar Zaki”
That moment, the Naziha I knew surfaced from her. I could remember the first day I met her at Brimstone, it was love at first sight. I thought we were going to live together till death do us ap@rt but nay, life would always be dynamic.
“Can I drive you home?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure!” She smiled.
We both went into my car and she told me her destination, which was an old countryside in Minna. It was a silent drive to her destination. I pu-ll-ed over and just as she was about alighting from the car, I halted her by holding her arm.
“There is something I want to tell you” I said.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“It’s about my promise to your mother” I said.
“Hmm, you are taking me back?” She asked.
“No, I am offering you a job in my company – that way you will live a better life and your mother won’t have to ask me on the day of resurrection why I didn’t fulfill my promise of giving you a better life till the end” I uttered.
“No, thank you” She said about leaving.
“St©p, Naziha!” I held her again. “Don’t make this ha-rd for the both of us, just take the offer”
“No, I can’t!” She objected.
“Why?” I queried.
“Because living around you will be difficult for me unless you will marry me again” She said.
“Marry you again?” I wrinkled a brow. “We both know I… I will never dare do that, Naziha!”
“Then leave me alone. Come to me only when you want to buy my stuffs and don’t feel sorry for me because I deserve the life I threw myself into. I deserve everything!” She said in tears.
“Just take the offer and…”
“I will not, Ahmad!” She yelled at me crying. “All I want is you, I want you back not any job!”
“Then I am sorry” I said re-leasing her arm.
“Yeah” She sniffed as she stormed out of the car. “Farewell, my love” She shut the door off and left.
I nee-ded nob©dy to tell me she still loved me, but was there was no way we could ever be together again. In fact, my mother would never even agree to that.
I drove back home and never told anyone about my visit to Naziha. My mind was clear and I lived my life peacefully with my two beautiful and h0t wives, together with my lovely kids too and my mother.
Life wasn’t really fair to me before but now, all praises and thanks be to Allah the Lord of Dignity and Honour. I believe one day, Naziha would be happy again as well.
Tbc