Chapter 5

Yushraf's POV

"Reedah, be fast, we are getting late. You know today is Friday and we will soon be back." I reminded, checking my gold wristwatch.

Reedah took almost an hour before she came out of the room putting on her hijab.

I went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and brought three bags of bottled water and gave one to Reedah and carried the remaining two myself.

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We were hawking in the streets, When I sighted my former best friend Bashar, leaning on his car. He was my closest friend and a cousin. His dad, uncle Jaafar and my dad were brothers. They had only one sister Aunty Salamatu. She lived in Canada with her husband and three kids - two boys and a girl. Hafiz was the firstborn and was older than I, by a year. Noor, the second-born, was of the same age as Reedah and the last born Afzal was sixteen years old.

While uncle Jaafar had just a son named, Bashar. We had been friends ever since childhood, but after baba and ammi's departure, Uncle Jaafar and his family had cut ties with us. Not even once were we welcomed at their house. We only went there once, when we did not have any place to go, thinking we would be welcomed because aunty Salamatu made us believe she would always be there for us.

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Flashback

3years ago

It had been more than three months since Baba and Ammi left us all alone in this vile world, and everything started changing for us. Things had started becoming unbearable and aunty Salamatu too had gone back to her husband's country, where she stayed with her family.

We didn't know how it all happened, but we found ourselves losing all of Baba's belongings, to the extent that we were told that baba's companies had gone bankrupt... How? when? we didn't have an idea. The companies were then sold to repay the loans we never knew dad took.

We tried to take the issue to court, but uncle Jaafar stop us, insisting we were the ones that would lose the battle and face severe consequences. He told us about a time baba was facing some difficulty and went to take a loan. We found it very difficult to believe, but what could we say when uncle Jaafar and baba were very close and he even shared his secret with him, so we believed it might be one of the secrets he kept from us in order not to make us worried, so we gave up fighting.

Reedah and I were sitting in the living room when a knock on the door interrupted us. I stood up and went to the door to get it. Immediately I opened the door, I saw some men at the door staring at me.

"Good afternoon." I greeted them and welcomed them in, but they refused to enter.

"You must be Yushraf Sufyaan by the look of your face." One of the strangers at the door said and I nodded and asked if I could help them with anything. They show me their ID cards "We are EFCC from Abuja, and we are here to close down this house in other to repay the loan your father owes the central bank." One of the men I assumed to be a police sergeant said and before I could say anything out, Reedah spoke first.

"What about the companies sold, are they not enough to pay off our father's loan?" She asked.

"No, ma'am. It was not enough the loan was up to 20 billionaire dollars, so I think this one will be the last we will sell to gain back the money borrowed." The sergeant said.

We were both dumbfounded and speechless. We never knew dad could collect loans worth billions. All for what? We tried everything possible to beg them to let us stay for few more days, but they disagreed and closed down the house immediately.

We tried to enter and pack some of our stuff, but they did not allow it. We were only able to take our phones, wristwatch, wallets and some of Reedah's golden pieces of jewellery.

That was how we left the house we had been living in for the past twenty-one years of our lives, empty-handed.

Reedah kept on crying, I tried to console her, but it all fell on deaf ears.

"Yushraf, what are we going to do now? Where are we going to sleep and how will our life be from now on?" Reedah kept on asking me questions.

I was still in deep thoughts when Reedah started suggesting where we could go.

"Yushraf, why don't we go to Uncle Jaafar's place In Lagos? You know he is the only relative we have now, especially now that our favourite Aunt has gone back to her husband's country."

"We can go and stay with uncle Jaafar. He can accommodate us, You know how he and baba are very fond of each other." She added.

I just nodded, assuring her I will think about it, before tomorrow, as it was already getting late and I knew how Ammi hated night journeys."