~°°~The journey may leave a scar~°°~

Gwarinpa, Abuja, Nigeria. 10th March, 2022. 12:35pm. ~

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ "I returned just yesterday and you are already planning to take my wife away from me?" Sayf asked, more like complained to Amani and Layla.

"It is just for few hours ya Sayf and the poor woman have not stepped her legs out of this house to have some fun ever since you got married, except for the day we visited uncle Arshad's" Layla said.

"Exactly, she's not a prisoner" Amani also commented, the two were hell bent on taking Tauhida out with them. "Okay, let me get ready and take you guys out. Is that fine with you?" Sayf offered. "No it's not, it is a girls day out so you cannot tag along, we'll manage by ourselves" Amani replied.

"That's absurd, just let me drive you" Sayf insisted, he thought he could also be as stubborn as they were. "Not gonna happen, you'll just make us uncomfortable because we won't get to say and do things we want to do" Amani also insisted.

"Okay then, be careful on your way" Sayf said. He expected them to have left already but they didn't and when he raised up his head to look, he found them with wide grins on their faces and that's when he understood they wanted more than just permission from him.

"What again?" Sayf asked even before any of them could speak to him. "Can you lend us your card, we don't have enough money for the shopping" Amani requested.

Sayf knew already that they wouldn't leave until they convinced him so he just brought it out and handed it over to them and also told them the pin before they left the room.

The two headed back to Tauhida's room and informed her about Sayf's permission to follow them, they planned on going out after zuhr prayer.

Tauhida took a bath and got dressed into a lilac coloured Abaya. She was about to tie her hair into a bun when the door opened. Sayf stood still for a moment staring at Tauhida's hair, he could have said he never saw that much of hair if not for his mother's.

"I see you agreed to abandon me" Sayf said immediately he came inside. Tauhida took the pen and book he left behind the other night and got writing. "Abandon is kinda big for the situation" Tauhida wrote down before dropping the pen and book back to their previous position and continued with what she was doing originally.

"Whatever it is, it hurts like hell" Sayf said and Tauhida could only chuckle as she struggled with her hair.

"May I help you with that?" Sayf asked moving even closer to where she was sitting. Tauhida quickly dragged her phone to reply him before he reached out for her hair. "Hey i don't really want my hair to look like it was hunted" Tauhida typed.

"You actually don't believe I can do this?" Sayf asked, Tauhida didn't reply him but instead sent him a look that did. "Trust me, I can pull this off, I do it a lot on Mami's hair" Tauhida was then convinced to let him do her hair.

Don't blame her, no sane someone would want her hair to look terrible just because someone offered to help her with it. She nodded her head and he took that as his cue to help her tie her hair.

"Done" Sayf said when he finished. "Thank you" Tauhida lipped while he read it. She then stood up and headed for her cap and veil, she placed the cap on her head and rolled the veil around her head and shoulders protectively. All the while, Sayf was just looking at her.

"I keep on realising how lucky I am to have you as a wife" Sayf complimented.

"That was cheesy" Tauhida typed making Sayf to laugh. "It's weird when you laugh" Tauhida typed and she meant it. That was her first time seeing him laugh, it was always a smile. "I'll try to do it more often so it won't be weird anymore" Sayf replied. "Uh um, shall we get going?" Amani asked, she had been standing there for a while but none of them noticed.

Tauhida nodded and picked her bag up before heading for the door. "Roohiie, what about the goodbye kiss?" Sayf asked making Tauhida's eyes to widen.

The guy didn't realise Amani was there or what?. "Should I give you guys a minute for that?" Amani asked the question to Tauhida making Tauhida to avert her widened gaze to Amani, the two siblings seemed crazy to her.

She quickly shook her head and leaded the way outside without waiting for anyone to comment again as she heard their laughter echo in her ears. Yes she was right, the two siblings were crazy.

Amani met up with Tauhida and Layla outside and surprisingly, they all wore abayas. They entered a single car, Layla being the driver as they drove off to go have fun finishing Sayf's money.

The first thing they did at Jabi lake mall was to watch a movie in the cinema, they enjoyed the movie on two cups of popcorn. When the movie was over, they engaged themselves in shopping. Tauhida noticed they were taking more than required so she decided to ask them.

"Don't tell me you have the money to pay for all that?" Tauhida typed on her phone. "You can say that, I'll tell you the secret before we get home" Amani replied her, Tauhida then shrugged it and kept following them around.

Tauhida loved shopping, so it was a first for her to allow others to shop for her.

After a long while of shopping for things they wanted and those they don't even want, they decided to call it a day and headed to the counter to pay for their bought stuffs. Surprisingly, they didn't spend up to the amount they intended to so they decided to drop by a restaurant and eat lunch there.

They all ordered for what they wanted to eat and ate it alongside drinks of their choices. It was no joke that they spent very much in just a day. It was after the lunch that the two informed Tauhida whose money they spent.

Coming out of the restaurant, the person they met made Amani and Layla to stop right on their tracks. Tauhida who was behind them also stopped when she noticed their sudden halt.

Marwan stood there looking very helpless, he looked awful and dirty too.

"Amani, Layla" Marwan called, it was just then that they realised it wasn't a dream, it was truly him standing right before them. "Please, help me, help my mother please" Marwan kept pleading. It was very impossible for them to see their brother in that situation and ignore his pleas.

"What is wrong?" Layla asked. "Momma, she is paralysed and we have no money left with us. Please help us" Marwan pleaded again. "Take us to her" Amani quickly replied. "Get In the car" Amani added again. Tauhida was clueless about what was going on but she followed them nevertheless.

They drove for a long distance before they finally reached to a bungalow. Tauhida wondered why a person who lived in a house like that would need help from anyone but decided to shrug it off as she understood no one wanted to hear her thoughts.

Going into the house, the place was all dark and before they even realised, they lost consciousness due to the strong smell of chloroform. ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ 8:53

"Did they pick up already?" Ruha asked.

Sayf, Ruha and Malika had been trying each of their numbers ever since it clocked 6:00. They promised to be back by 5:00 so it left everyone worried that they didn't, and when their numbers were called, no one picked the calls.

"Tauhida's line is now switched off" Sayf replied, it was making him crazy that he couldn't even sit and kept moving to and fro the parlour. Just when they were about to go extra miles by informing the police, a text message came through Sayf's phone.

"Oh Sayf, I thought you can do better but a mute woman as a wife? I am really disappointed. Tauhida, Amani and Layla are with me and guess what, all you need to get them free is to bring yourself as replacement. I will send the location tomorrow morning, anticipate it. Yours sincerely, unknown" The text read.

"Inna Lillahi wa'inna ilaihi raji'un" Sayf kept chanting as he found a place to sit down, he handed over the phone to them and they also read the text before giving him back.

Sayf was shocked but also angry so the first person he called was Imran, it was time to get someone back to his senses.

~°°~The journey may leave a scar~°°~

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ Hey, hey, hey!

I'm not going to say anything and you also shouldn't so just follow up the next chapter let's see what happens. Lots of love,

Deedi--❤️