"Thank you Baba," she said with a wide smile and hopped out of the car.

"You are very welcome," he said with a smile and came out of the car. He took her box from the boot while Nabeela streched her legs and hands. It was a five hour drive from Kano to Bauchi, Nabeela was exhausted.

"So for how long do you want to stay?" Nabeela's father asked her.

"A week or two?" Nabeela said, her dad smiled at her and said, "Stay for as long as you want,"

Immediately after her phone call with Akeelu, where he suggested she should go and spend sometime with her grandmom, Hameeda ran to her dad's room and asked for his permission. He agreed and even offered to take her there. And two days later he asked her to start packing and today here they were. Mamie didn't want her to come as Nabeela always helped her in the kitchen and with the kids but she had no choice.

The father and daughter stood at the compound of the house staring at the front door thinking about the same person. They stayed there for a few minutes before the father took his daughter's hand and together they walked inside with the same prayers in their minds.

The last time Nabeela's dad entered the house was six years ago when he came to pick Nabeela up. Being the emotional type he was, he couldn't come to the house without breaking down.

Hajiya, Nabeela's grandmom welcomed them with open arms. Baba greeted her briefly and quickly left probably so that he wouldn't break down.

Nabeela saw her dad out and ran back inside, she missed the place. It was her home.

"Hajiya Hajiyaaa," she yelled when she entered the living room. She wasn't there so she proceeded into her room. There she saw her praying. She sprawled on her bed as she waited for her to finish praying. Immediately she said her salaams, Nabeela jumped on her and hugged her tightly.

"Hajiyaaaaa I missed you"

"Do you want to break my bones," her grandmother answered teasingly.

"Hajiya you are supposed to say I missed you too,".

She laughed as she asked, how she had been.

"Munyi babbar bakuwa," she heard a voice coming into the room. It was her mother's immediate sister, Anty Halima. She stood up and hugged her. Aunty Halima was her mom's 35 year old sister.

"How have you been?" She hugged her back.

"I am fine. Where is Afnan, Afreen and the Baby Afrah I have never seen ?" Before she could close her mouth, two young children ran into the room.

"Ina wuni Hajiya," They greeted their grandmom. They looked up and saw their mother talking to someone. Afnan the younger one, asked his elder sister, "who is Mama talking to?"

Afreen started walking towards her mom trying to firgure out who she was talking to and when she did her face broke into a wide smile. "Yaya Beela," she exclaimed as she ran and hugged her.

Afnan walked slowly to his mom and asked, "Mama who is that?"

When Afreen broke the hug, she took Afnan's hand and pulled him to Nabeela.

"This is Ya Nabeela remember her? The one we visited in Kano." Afnan's mouth made an 'o' shape then in a cute voice he said, "Hi Ya Nabeela,"

"Are you tired? What do you want to do? Do you want to rest first? Or eat first?" Nabeela was bombarded with questions by her aunt and grandmom. Questions that showed how much they cared about her and how much they loved her.

She ate lunch first then went to her room and lied down. She slept before she knew it. She was woken up by the shouts of her youngest aunt.

Her youngest aunt, Aunty Zainab started shouting 'Nabeela' on top of her lungs immediately she came back from work. She ran into Nabeela's room and jumped on the bed.

"Hellloooooooo,"she greeted and pulled Nabeela into a hug the moment Nabeela opened her eyes. Aunty Zainab was 25 years old and was Nabeela's favorite aunt. They talked for a while then prayed.

They were chatting when Afreen knocked at the door and told them Hajiya was calling them. Nabeela grabbed her veil and walked to the living room. There she saw a beautiful lady that looked familiar seated on the sofa. When she walked a little bit further she saw her favorite and only Uncle, Uncle Dawud.

"Uncle Dee," she shouted as she hugged him.

"Beelaa," he too exclaimed when he saw her.

After the greetings he introduced her to his wife. Uncle Dee got married when Nabeela was writing her waec so Nabeela couldn't attend the wedding. Though she had never met the wife, they had talked few times on the phone.

The rest of the night was spent chatting, laughing and playing games. Nabeela had so much fun and enjoyed herself to the fullest. It was the best night Nabeela had in many years, a very memorable one. It was spent with joy, love and happiness, in the companionship of those Nabeela loved the most in the whole wide world.

**

Over the few weeks, Nabeela's and Akeel's friendship blossomed. Their bond grew stronger each and everyday since the night they talked about their problems. They talked for hours everyday. They became each other's best friend and confidant. They told each other about almost everything. They talked about everything and anything. Akeel was the best friend Nabeela never had. And Nabeela was the best friend Akeelu recently lost. They still couldn't believe they met on wattpad and no one could.

"How's Bauchi?" he asked her.

"It is so fun. I am loving it here. I don't think I will go back to Kano anytime soon. It is home. You won't understand. I never felt comfortable and free in my paternal grandparent's house or in my brothers' grandparent's house, I always feel out of place. But here," she sighed then whispered, "it's my real home."

Akeelu smiled. "You know, No one does. Everyone feels more comfortable with his maternal relatives and in their houses. By the way how is Hajiya and Co?"

"They are all fine. It feels like forever since I last saw them. I missed them so much. Did I tell you about how baby Afrah thought I was her mom the other day and didn't let any one else take her. Afreen and Afnan are so cute. I wish I had a brother like Afnan. And guess what? Anty Khadija's wedding is December. I can't wait. I just love them," she kept babbling through out the night while Akeelu listened attentively.

It was after an hour or so, she started feeling sleepy. Just before she slept she whispered, "Akeelu, thank you very much for suggesting this. You are the best, Goodnight."

He smiled happily. He was so glad that he was able to make someone else happy. "You are very welcome Nabeebee, anything for you. Goodnight. Sleep tight," he replied back but she was already sleeping so he disconnected the call and went to sleep too.

The next day his bestfriend, Adnan woke him up from sleep. After breakfast they started playing Fifa. While they were playing, Adnan told him about a girl Amira that he thought he liked . Akeelu also told him about his closest friend now, Nabeela.

They were still playing Fifa when Nabeela called Akilu. Akilu paused the game and answered the phone call . They talked for a while then he told her he would call her back. When he ended the phone call he saw Adnan staring at him with wide eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"Did you just pause a Fifa game to answer a phone call?"

"Yes what's the matter?"

"Omg!! They say if a guy pauses a Fifa game to talk to a girl, the girl should marry him. Whoever this girl is must be very special. Wow!!! I had never seen you pausing a game to answer a phone call not even for Niimah. And we have been playing Fifa since when we were nine," Adnan exclaimed.

"Who is she?" He asked.

"It's no one, it's just Nabeela,"

"You like her,"

"I don't"

"Yes you do"

"No I don't."

"Who does my brother like?" Walida came into the room, slumped on the couch next to Akeelu and asked.

"No one," answered Akeelu while Adnan at the same time answered, "Nabeela,"

"Wow, the wattpad girl," Walida then waved at Adnan, "Hello Adnan, how did you find out?"

"Hi Walida, well he paused his game to answer her call"

"Wow!!! really?" she exclaimed as she also knew her brother never pauses a game to answer his phone, no matter who the caller is. Adnan nodded his head while Akeel groaned.

"Why don't we talk about Amira the girl you like Adnan?"

Walida hid a smile while Adnan glared at Akeel then whispered, "Shhh its Walida I like,"

"Don't even think about it. You can't have my sister," he whispered back.

"On a serious note Akeel if you don't want to start liking her, stop talking to her every single day. You won't know when it will happen. Trust me, I have been there. "

"I don't know how I started liking this Amira that I have never even seen. I just know I like her so much,"

Akeel laughed and said, " I am not you bro,"

Walida just kept quiet playing with her bracelet. It's only when you look at her closely you would notice how wide her eyes were and how red her nose was.