Chapter 69: B

Amjad was about to make a move when Adil spoke first. "We will leave, but if all arrows point at you and Yarima Sadeeq as the kidnappers, we will be back; just that when we do, it will be along with Alan Gubro and the royal guards." He motioned for them to leave and they were trying to walk out of the room, Saima still clasped in Amjad's arms as she cried bitterly. Everything was so hard for her. She had to choose right over wrong even when that wrong was her birth mother.
"Saima," Ya Gumsu called out but Amjad didn't stop walking her out of the room. "If you take a step out of this room, just know that you're no longer my daughter and you can never set your feet inside my chamber again."
Saima was about to remove her body from Amjad when he pulled her closer and whispered into her ears, "It's fine, okay? We can have Alan Gubro speak to her but she's going to kill you if you walk back into that room." She relaxed under his touch, the hard reality registering in her brain.
"I'm sorry, Umma." Was all she said before they walked out of the room and then out of the chamber in whole. They stared at how she was wincing in pain and spoke.
"Do you need to see a doctor?" She quickly shook her head.
"No, I just need a good bathe and sleep, I'll be fine when I wake up." They nodded their heads but what was remaining was where to take her now. "But where do I go now? Your mothers, I mean Mommy and Mama, they will never accept me because of her." They all knew that was the truth and didn't even try to argue with her. Those two women harbored such an unhealthy hatred for Ya Gumsu over what she had been doing to them since when they came to the palace as the King's wives and then it passed onto their children.
"Ya Girema will always accept everyone with open arms, let's go to her chamber." Adil suggested and they didn't even think about it before they placed her calmly in the back of the car and hopped in.
"I guess it's left for me now, this is where I come in, right?" Adil was talking about their plans with Na'im and they all hummed a yes sound. He didn't know how to go about it, but he would find a way. "Drop me here, I ought to start doing my own part." He said when they were about to drive past Sadeeq's chamber and Areef, who drove the car didn't seem to argue.
"Good luck, Dil!" They chanted at him and he smiled at them before he waved and turned to walk into Sadeeq's chamber.
She looked at her brothers and smiled to herself, she had always loved all her siblings. She didn't know whether it was because she hardly got the love she wanted from Ya Gumsu or her own full siblings, but Saima knew even if that happened, she would still love her step brothers and sisters. They took her to Ya Girema's chamber and it turned out she was still in the hospital but when Amjad called and told her about what was going on, she was elated. Not because of the circumstance that brought Saima to her chamber, but because she loved kids so much and Saima had always been a good girl.
She asked him to give the phone to her and when he did, Saima slowly greeted her. Afraid that she might not be able to accept her like she should. "Ya Girema, good evening," she greeted and she heard her smiled from the other end.
"The pleasantries can wait until I'm back, Saima. Get yourself a room, okay? Choose the one you like the most and I can even have it renovated for you, that's until your Umma is calm enough to accept you back. But I'd even be glad if she gives you to me wholeheartedly." Saima chuckled at that and this was the warm welcome she wanted.
"We will come back if there's anything, okay? And call us, in case you want us to know anything about Maryam or Yarima Sadeeq." She nodded her head and they patted her head lovingly before they walked out. Saima was guided to the rooms by one of the maids until she choose the one that halfway resembled her room and she settled there. She needed clothes and other things, but she doubted if anyone could walk in and out of Ya Gumsu's chamber unscathed. Except her brothers, she thought and decided she will ask them later for it.
?
Na'im had heard their low voices under hypnosis and he thought he was dreaming because the male voice sounded like that of Alan Gubro, but the thoughts that first came to his mind even before the pain he was in got registered in his brain was enough to tell him that maybe it was someone else, Alan Gubro would never come to him now. He hated him and wouldn't mind even if he had lost his life, because it seemed like that was what he was after.
And the soft and warm woman's voice didn't sound in anyway like Ya Gumsu, it must be Ya Girema. He tried to open his eyes, but the pain was all over his body and his heart throbbed like it had never done before, he felt like dying. He groaned outwardly and it seemed to only take a few seconds for them to hoover over him protectively.
"Are you awake, Na'im?" Ya Girema asked, as she touched his shoulder slightly, tears of happiness pooling the brink of her eyes. "Let's call the doctor, Buba, he's awake." She seemed to have forgotten that they weren't alone now and hearing the name had gladdened Alan Gubro's heart.
The doctor came and checked, seeing the way he was clenching his eyes in an attempt to open them but he couldn't because of the steering pain was enough to show him that he was having the expected headache, so he injected him with a pain killer and told them it would take at least five minutes before the pain subsided and Na'im would be able to open his eyes then.
Na'im could feel their hopeful eyes on him and when he tried to open his eyes again because the pain had subsided, he was able to. The first eyes he got in contact with were that of Ya Girema, because she looked at him with her heart in her eyes as she hoped that he was alright. "Oh, Na'im!" She exclaimed and he watched as tears dropped down to her cheeks. He always got emotional whenever they called his name, because they hardly ever and this was the first time she called his name in his entire life.
It reminded him of something, of someone calling his name as slowly as she did. It wasn't Maryam, he knew, because Maryam always referred to him as Na'im whenever she was elated by something he did. It was a woman, and she held a huge part of him, and when she called his name the last time, it was with so much pain and urgency, but he had forgotten who she was. His head pained, so he stopped trying to remember and fixed his eyes on her.
"I'm fine...Mammi..." he found himself whispering laboriously and the name he had referred to Ya Girema echoed in his entire body. This wasn't the first time he had referred to someone with this name and it wasn't her.
She broke into tears because of the name he had called her and took his hands, "You'll be fine, Na'im, okay? I'm here and I'll take care of you."
He felt and thought like a small boy, as if there was a day he was stuck in and he didn't seem to pull his body out of that day. "Abba isn't here? He...isn't going to see me...right?" It pained to speak, but he would. He wanted to say all the things he wanted because it didn't look to him that he would be alive much longer to say everything.
"I'm here, Na'im. Where would I go when my boy is here and in pain?" He took his other hand and smiled, "I'm sorry I came late and I wasn't able to save you from the pain. But I'll be here when it goes away, Na'im. I'll always be here, okay?" Alan Gubro's voice was laced with too much pain and regret and Na'im didn't know how or why, but he started crying. Because these where the exact words Alan Gubro had told him that day, that morning when he woke up and he felt he had lost something huge but he couldn't remember what it was. So, he cried into his father's arms.
Amidst his tears, Na'im asked. "What about Mairam? Where's she?"
"She's at home. I'll have them bring her over to you. She's still your wife and will always be, Na'im. I can never try to take away your happiness, she's yours, forever."
...
It felt surreal that Na'im couldn't believe his ears and he stared at the remorseful face of his father, thinking whether or not, he meant what he had just said now. But the soft smile he was seeing on his father's face was enough to tell him that he meant it and Na'im felt an urge to hug him. But his head weighed like a thousand rocks and he couldn't lift his body up. "I want to hug you, Abba." He mustered the words out and no matter how Alan Gubro wanted to control himself, he couldn't. Na'im saw the sheen of his tears in his eyes before he leaned towards him and they warmly hugged each other.
"Thank you, Abba. Thank you for letting me keep her, I have no words." He was crying, for the joy he felt. For the unmovable loss that had always been there in his heart and how eager he was, to see Maryam and hold her in his arms.
Alan Gubro smiled before he broke their bodies apart, "You don't have to thank me, okay? How are you feeling now?" It took only those words to remind him of the physical pain he felt and when he remembered how the accident had happened, Na'im wondered how he was even alive.
"I feel...like death." That was it, he felt like death. But even if he were destined to die today, he would have to wait until he saw Maryam and he made sure he handed her to Alan Gubro and he knew he would take a very good care of her. But no, he wasn't good to die yet, he would have to do all it took to live the forever he had always hoped for, with Maryam.
"Now, that's enough for all these terrifying thoughts, Na'im. You aren't dying, one day you'd rule the kingdom of Maiduguri, okay? It's time to have you eat, it's been eating me how you haven't eaten for the two days you've been here." He slightly gasped, had it been two days already?
"Mammi," The name seemed to be stuck in his heart and lips and she always looked pleased whenever he called her that, "Has it been two days now? I thought it happened yesterday?" He took his free hand and slightly touched his bandaged head.
"It has been, my son. Your Abba has been here for all those two days and only went home for two hours and he would be back. You weren't alone, we've been here with you throughout those days." He smiled at the words and shot his father an appreciative glance.
"The king shouldn't have been missing for two days from his palace. You need to go back, Abba. Mammi is here, she'd take care of me. And Maryam will come over, I wouldn't be in the wrong hands." Abba smiled at him and nodded his head. He knew what he did wasn't right, for him to spend two whole days away from the throne but this was something he couldn't help.