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XL: The Calm Before The Storm
He felt her finger brush his hand as she steered from her sleep, groaning in the process. He jerked his head up and fixed his gaze on her face as her eyes flickered open.
Najmah let out a shaky breath, her hand slowly moving towards her forehead as she felt immense pain from that portion of her face.
"Hey," she whispered when her gaze found his. "How long was I out?"
"Three hours," he replied, adjusting the pillow for her so she could have a more comfortable sitting position before pressing a button by the side of her bed to alert the nurse that she was awake.
"How are you feeling now?" he questioned after a moment of silence.
"Like I was hit by a truck," she uttered, attempting to smile but it ended up as a grimace.
"Najmah!" Lale burst through the door. "You gave us such a scare. How are you feeling?"
"Alhamdulillah."
"Anne and Baba have
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Flawed Hearts XLI: Don't Let Me Go
Thick silence descended upon them like a curtain, blanketing the atmosphere with its eerie presence. Najmah pushed off the door frame and advanced towards him with hesitant steps, her mind muddled with the events of the last few hours, unable to comprehend what he had just uttered."What did you say?" she came to stand beside him, raising a hand to cradle his face but he inched away from her, leaving her hand hanging in the air."I want you to leave Najmah," he enunciated, looking at anywhere but her."What do you mean leave? Leave the room? Leave the house? Leave Istanbul?""Istanbul.""What? Aslan, what is going on?
Flawed Hearts XLII: Homecoming
The flight back home wasn't as terrible as she thought it would be. She slept throughout the flight as the exhaustion of the last hours had finally caught up to her.The ride to Janbulo was quite as she stared into the scenery; the busy streets of Kano, the hawkers at the roadside and the traffic jam that never seized to exist since the renovations for the roads have begun. Oh, how she missed her home.Occasionally, Umar's gaze would flick to Najmah through the rearview mirror before going back to the road. He was anxious to get home so he would inquire about her return.He had wanted to grill her for answers when she had phoned him to pick her up at the airport but she had disconnected the call before he could get a word out and when he had tried calling back, she had switched off her cell. And now, as he was driving towards their parent’s house, he couldn't help but wonder what had got her so shaken up. Could
Flawed Hearts XLIII: Mama Knows Best
Kano, NigeriaNajmah lay numbly at her side, curled into a ball as she stared unblinkingly at the swishing curtains of her room. She was paralyzed with hurt, hurt that she had given him her all and now, she was left with nothing.The second time they had kissed, he asked her to trust him; that he would never hurt her. Who would have thought that they were just empty promises. And for what? Just to have her high on his affection and leave her dry? What could she have done to deserve such treatment from him? He should have let her be, he should have divorced her when the time of their agreement had elapsed. But no, he didn't. He decided to toil with her emotions just to let her go in the end.Everything he told her was a lie, and she found it hard to believe that she was so stupid to think that it was all true. She hated herself for wishing that he had followed her, that he had a good reason for doing what he did, but what c
Flawed Hearts XLIV: Shattered
Shattered ⚠ Proceed with caution •••Lale pushed through the door of the apartment and walked in, the click of her heels echoing through the quiet building."Aslan? brother are you in here?" she called out, advancing through the abandoned building. The last time she had been in there was when she was five and yet, she still felt uneasy being in there. Her memories in the apartment were something she had locked somewhere in the back of her mind with no access to them, but as she walked further in, the memories came back to her in a rush. Her head began to spin as a wave of nausea hit her, making her knees grow week.Lale halted -mid-step,contemplating whether to go in or not. Her memories in the house were gruesome and little as she was, she promised not to return there, but now, she had broken her promise all because of her brother's reckless decision to let go of the only person who was ab
Flawed Hearts XLV:Mending Ties
Lale's hand faltered as she struggled to sketch in the book she was holding, guilt gnawing at her conscious. She tore the paper and curled it into a ball, throwing it into the other piles of her messed up sketches. That had been her state ever since her talk with her brother.Could she have been too harsh on him? It was his fault anyway, he was the one who had made the stupid mistake of letting Najmah go, and she was only doing what a responsible sister would have done. Lale knew that telling him he was the same as the man who had fathered them was rather too harsh. In her defense, he was so stubborn and perhaps that was the only thing that could break through his charade of nonchalance.Sighing, she dropped her pencil and leaned her head on the headboard mulling over their conversation. She only hoped he would forgive her for what she had said. Lale picked up her vibrating phone from the nightstand, a smile gracing her lips before morphin
Flawed Hearts XLVI: Finding Peace
Aslan tapped his foot gently on the ceramic floor, looking down on the visitor's badge pinned to his shirt. His face was calm and collected, a varying degree from the turmoil raging within his heart and mind as he gazed around the visitor's lodge in the precinct before looking down at his watch.Lale was the opposite of calm, she could feel the four walls of the lodge closing in on her with each passing second yet she couldn't bring herself to leave. She had to be there for her brother and mostly for herself. She needed to know the reason why they were brought up the way they were; she needed closure in other to move on with her life.Her eyes wandered around the lodge till they settled on a little girl sitting on her father's lap, playing with his beard. A look of forlorn flashed across her face as she got transported back to the time when she was just the same age as the girl."Baba Baba," she called out joyfully, ho
Flawed Hearts XLVII: Broken
Swinging her legs on the ledge, Najmah couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to jump off the balcony of the two storey building.Either one of two results would occur; if she didn't die on impact then she would surely break her neck and maybe a couple more bones if she was lucky.'Man, that would definitely suck.' she shivered, drawing her shawl closer not because she was cold or anything but the thought of breaking her bones or initiating her death brought shivers down her spine.She wondered what others who had taken the leap thought in between the moment of letting go and making impact. Did they ever regret the decision of ending their lives? Did they ever look at the ground as they surged towards it and wondered what it might have been like if they hadn't jumped? Maybe not."Najmah what are you doing?" Hanifa gasped, rooted in the doorway."Just thinking," Najmah replied coo
Flawed Hearts XLVIII: Walk Away
Najmah dipped her paintbrush in the palette and stroked gently on the canvas, humming softly to an unknown tune. She had been in that state ever since her encounter with Aslan. She had refused to think nor talk about it. Instead, she focused all of her attention on her canvases."You are sulking," Hanifa spoke from behind her, patting her two months old baby on the back. Her gaze roamed around the room which was filled with lots of painted canvas before settling on Najmah."I am spiraling," Najmah responded, her voice void of emotions."Is this how you are going to be for the rest of your life?" she furrowed her brows, laying her daughter who was fast asleep on the bed gently."Do I control my life?" Najmah challenged, stroking lightly on the canvas. "You see, as Klaus once said, painting is a metaphor for control. Every choice is yours, the canvas, the color, what you paint, it's all under your control."
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