Guys, I've been nominated for an award but in two categories. Most friendly writer and writer of the year at the Arewa Wattpaders awards (AWA), so please vote for your girl. 🙏🏽🙏🏽Na beg I beg🙏🏽🙏🏽

Go to Arewa_Interviews open the book and vote for me. Please🙏🏽

Edit: please don't go to the nomination page anymore💔, nomination is over. Please vote for me in the 'most friendly writer' and 'Writer of the year' categories. I'll be very grateful. Thank you.

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that everywhere was blurry. I blink, feeling tears rush down my eyes due to the pain of trying to clear my eyes.

I blink again and the ceiling comes into focus, it's a hammered glass that houses several florescent bulbs. The hammered glass is surrounded by a white pop ceiling that hurts my eyes. I shut my eyes and try to think of where I could be.

I open my eyes again and find out that I cannot look around the room unless I move my body, and just as I try to move my body, the door opens. It feels like I'm thirteen again and trying to let Ma know I'm annoyed so I quickly shut my eyes again, but the person comes close and leans over me, her breathing lingering with incense reaches me and I am forced to open my eyes.

"Upstairs neighbor." I croak, when I see who is standing over me. My throat is dry, feels like brittle paper. So I try to produce saliva to whet my mouth.

She laughs, then tears roll down her eyes. "You don't even know my name. Cousin." I blinked but she does not let me speak again before going to the beside table where a glass of water is waiting. She picks up a papered straw and tears it open before sticking it in the glass of water.

"Drink slowly. You can only have twenty centiliters per hour." I would have nodded, I noticed, but my neck is a thick cast.

"Slowly..." She comments as I take steady sips of the water. When I'm a little full, I blink and surprisingly, she understands that I no longer want the water.

"Enjoyed your sleep princess?" I try to chuckle at her Disney princess allusion but fail, instead it comes out in several hiccups and coughs.

"Easy." She says as she pats my arm closest to her. Then I really look at her. It's a little strange that upstairs neighbor, she has wiped her tears now but her eyes are shining really brightly.

"How long was i out?" I ask as though I was away for a simple nap and as though I'd just gone through a simpler event. She wipes her teared up eyes with the sleeve of the purple crepe Jilbab she has on.

"Four weeks. And I promise you a lot has happened." I blink to let her know that I know that since I'm here, I know that a lot must have happened. I want to know what has happened to Abdul but I hold my tongue.

"Before you continue speaking further, let's call the doctor who has been coming to check on you since you where brought here. The nurse is off duty today." She searched her deep pocket for her phone and finally fished it out after several tries.

"Hello, Yes, she's Awake." That was all she said with joy in her eyes and voice. She flicked through the phone again and next I heard, she was greeting someone that sounded like Ma.

"Aunty Hanna, she's awake. I know right, Alhamdulillah. Yes. You want to speak to her?" I watched her put her iPhone Xmax beside my ear and said "Talk!"

"My baby. I'm coming to Lagos now. I'll leave Kano immediately." I longed to tell her to stop crying and calmly wait for a flight to Lagos, but knowing Ma, nothing will ever enter her ear at this moment.

"Okay Aunty Hanna. I'm here, we're waiting for the doctors." She suddenly jumped up and giggled like a child, making me incredibly curious. "I told you and Maama that she's going to wake up when I'm here. I'm so happy." When she ends the call, she giggles happily at me and tells me that she made a bet with her cousins that I'll wake when she's here than when anyone else watched me. Though due to their jobs they haven't been able to come visit.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of tiredness come over me and the urge to shut my eyes Suddenly overtook me and I was too weak to fight it, so I did and shut my eyes. Just as I shut my eyes, I heard Huda calling her own mom and I wondered how much had gone on while I was asleep, that Huda, upstairs neighbor would turn out to be my cousin and would be far happy than I am that I'm awake.

As I fell asleep, I resolved to ask Ma once she arrived.

*****

"Labibi."

I felt Ma's hand on my arm and then a kiss to my forehead. I slowly opened my eyes this time and they appeared clear when I lowered my eyes and met with Ma's.

"Ma." I croaked and tears spilled from my eyes, down my ears and into my hair. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to kiss her hair and tell her that I'm fine now, but I allowed holding her hand to suffice.

"My baby. My heart. I'll never give you to someone who I don't know his history again. Wallahi, I will never. I let you down, I let my sister down." I notice she doesn't mention my dad and I shelve that thought for later.

"Never give me to someone, I'm still married to Abdul aren't I?" Saying his name brings a set of motion like pictures to my head, I see him throw me down unto the fence and how he smiled happily when he was done, not even an ounce of remorse on his face.

"He divorced you the day we flew you away from Abuja." She stopped immediately she spoke and thought she had said too much but I pressed her arm gently.

"Well, he was sent by someone who hates you." She said as though it was hard for her to comprehend.

"Who?" I asked. Then she sat and told me everything that had happened while I was in coma, what she had come to learn, what I had become overnight. The vice President's first daughter. I blinked and felt a headache coming up, so I said;

"Ma. There are so many holes in this story, Please explain." She pats my arm and just as she's about to speak again, the door opens and Huda supports an older woman in. She's so old that all I can see is Ma and my mom's face in her, and her all white hair.

"Child. You've frightened all of us." She says when she reaches me. I try to make some respectful movement but she stops me with her hand. Ma holds out a hand and her mother takes it.

"I heard you telling your Ma that there are many holes to the story and that you don't understand. It's fine, I will give you the full gist as you young ones say." She gestured to Huda to get the single chair left in the room, when Huda brought it, she sat and put her cane between her legs.

"You know your Mother, Bushratou Dambazzau-Sambo right?" I nodded slowly. My mother's real name was a cause of trouble between my Baba and her. He used to sneer and say with all of her name, she didn't have enough money to throw around. With the bearing and standing of her mother now, I finally understood what was going on in those years.

"Before your Mother married that Sheriff boy, whom you know as your father." I nodded again. "But before she married him, she sneakily found fake parents and got married to that Bakura boy. Her father found out and forced them apart before forcing them apart and marrying her off to the Sheriff boy.

Do you see the trouble now?" I nodded again. The big picture was becoming clearer and clearer to me. It seemed like Grandfather Dambazzau-Sambo didn't like the sight of B.B Bakura but liked Ahmad Sheriff so he did not hesitate to do his will.

"Now, before you ask how you would be conceived in that sort of situation. Understand that your grandfather was not someone to listen to the teachings of Islam or the laws of Islam. So, he didn't even know his daughter was pregnant when he forced her to divorce one man and marry another.

At this time, she was already pregnant with you and by the time you were born, even though sheriff lied to his family that you were born premature, they still knew. Which is why none of them took you in when their son died.

Do you understand now?" I nodded. It was hard to take in, but I would take the time I would be alone to sort out my thoughts. Now was not the time.

Just as I made that decision, my grandma, I suppose I can call her that now, pulled Huda closer and said; "This is your cousin. She's going to be here with you, till you recuperate completely and can go back to your normal life. For now, both of you are stuck here together, get to know each other." I chuckled. It was not as though I had any other option anyways.

One thing I've deduced from my grandmother is, she's someone who has wielded authority for such a long time that it has become a part of her. I glanced at her again before flicking my gaze to the smiling Huda.

"Upstairs neighbor, did you hear that, we're sticking together for a while, let's make the best of it." I said after clearing my throat.

The whole room shook with laughter at my words and for the first time since I woke, I feel like things are finally going to be fine. I trust this guy feeling.

*******
Hi guyyyyssss💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿, how have you all been? Fine? Please be fine. I'm okay now, thank you all so much for your prayers. I'm very grateful ❣️❣️❣️🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Also, who ever suspected Huda was Beebah's cousin? Raise your hand lemme count you😂

See y'all soon. Please vote and leave a comment. 😘😘

TheOmoope