Hello!

I missed last weeks update. Unfortunately, my eyes have again started to cause me trouble. I will try to take it slow and make sure to write until the end and for that, I must be careful. So, please bear with me. I hope you all like the update.

Enjoy:)

"Why would a father give everything to one child and leave the other one? Sure it can happen if the child and the parent aren't close but Mr Ismail and my client were very close. In fact, he died with him by his side and not his older son. The son was not even there when he was sick. Why would then he give everything that he has to him?" Alessia walked towards Haajar who handed her a book. "This diary belongs to Mr Ismail. As per his wife and son, he maintained a dairy because he wanted the world to know how his life was after he was gone. He wrote all the important things, that made him happy, or that bothered him. He believed every human has something to give to the world and that is his or her story. That was why he liked to write. He thought his life would help someone, someday. Now in this diary, you can find the important events. This one belongs to the year when his son, Ibaad left him and the family for his love. And it also mentions how his son told him he would take everything from him and he did. Now the court may ask how can we believe it really is written by him, for that I brought the handwriting samples. Mrs Ismail, the daughter-in-law, has a paper with his signature which the court is really to believe are his. Then why can't we believe all these papers belong to him too? Study and then we can go ahead with it."

Haajar gave a nod to her head when Alessia returned to her. The court was active for another hour until it was adjourned for the day. Alessia immediately left the room to meet someone, leaving Haajar to wait for her. Haajar went through the case and the details mentally, trying to be as helpful as she could. She was interrupted by the client himself, to whom she narrated every minute. When Raiyan disconnected the call, she was quick to keep the phone away and started to work on it again.
When Alessia returned they drove to the office by thinking or talking about the case the whole journey. They walked very slow on the stairs as their words kept their energy occupied. When they reached their floor Alessia exhaled in exhaustion but before she could say a word she saw a woman sitting next to their door.  As Alessia raised her eyebrows, Haajar walked forward and greeted the woman who immediately stood up. 

"Hi, hello. The door was closed so I thought of waiting here. I hope that is not an issue. I came here before when a woman and her men came to threaten you. I am not sure if you remember me."

"Of course, we do," Alessia said as she used her keys to open the door. "Please come in. I am sorry for making you wait. You should have called us. We need to put a banner on the door," Alessia said to Haajar who nodded her head in a yes. "Please sit down. Can we get you anything? It is so hot today. You must be boiling outside. Yeah, please sit down." Alessia brought a water bottle from her fridge and passed it to the woman. She took a moment to arrange her things and the sitting area before she sat on the sofa with her. "So tell us, how can we help you? Wait I guess I remember what you said to us the last time. You want a divorce from your abusive husband."

"No, no. I want a divorce but not from my abusive husband. He is not abusive. The area is I would say." There was a frown on Haajar's face which made the woman shake her head and say, "The area that I live in is not that great of an area. It is a scary place with not many nice people around. I have been married for twelve years, things have not been the greatest. Money was always been an issue but life was still moving forward and I was always fine with that. But then three years ago my husband moved us to a place which isn't great. It is not safe and the company there, of course, is bad for the kids. For us all. Even him. If it was money that took us there then I would have been fine. But he moved there because he made friends from that area. He is doing many things that he shouldn't but again I was fine. However, this is taking a troll on my kids. They do not deserve to hear and see the things that they do now. I do not want my kids to grow up thinking violence is fine. I told my husband many times and I showed him how it is harming us all but he refuses to listen. I do not want to live with a man who does not care about his children and their safety. They never had a lot of things, they didn't have good quality books or bags or clothes. They never had toys that weren't broken. There even were days when they didn't have food, we survived it all, we were still going strong because we were a team. We loved and care for each other.  But now we are no more a team. He no more cares for them like he should have been. I have moved out of that place and tried to talk to him but he insists on the continuation and I do not want to be a part of it. Nor will be my children. I am trying my best to let my children see and meet their father but if he does not get his acts in line then I would have to take that away as well. But for now, this is the reason. I want us to move on from that side of life and have a better life." She looked up and smiled at Alessia who smiled in return. 

"You are brave. Most people wait for a tragedy to occur before they take an action but here you ate taking action before your children witness a tragedy. That is brave. I am glad you are making this decision."

"What other choice do I have? I have spent days locking my door with the table, sofa and what not. The windows were always shut and protected as well. I was so scared there. I am sure I was more scared than I needed to but when I talked to him, he dismissed me. The kids talked as well, they said how they saw a gun and blood but no, he did not react. If he cannot make us feel safe, there is no point in staying with him. Maybe I am making a hasty decision as many told me but this is my decision and I will go forward with it."

"You should," Alessia said with a shake of her head. "How you feel matters. If someone cannot make you feel safe, it is not safe to be there. But before that, I would just say one thing. Make sure you tried everything. Often people who get divorced later wonder if there was something they could have done. They reget later so take a moment and make sure you did your best but if things still did not change you must go forward with your thought." 

"I have tried everything. In the past three years, this is what I have been doing. I tried very hard to keep us all together but he is no more safe for us. My children are innocent. I want them to be the same for as long as they can. I do not want them to find out the horrors of this word just yet. I refuse to let things be the way they are."

Alessia shook her head. "We will help you and your children. Children need to be protected at all costs. I do not believe anyone else needs as much protection because when they grow up, they become the society and society needs to be a safe and warm place." They conversed with the woman for some more time before she excused herself. She had to rush to her work. Once she was gone, they had their lunch and took a small break to relax their mind. 

"It was a very small thing. They said everything was given to them and nothing was forced. We had evidence, we had witnesses, we had everything yet it took us two dates to actually do something. That is how prepared they are." Alessia picked the fork. "Their documents are more real than real. Their lawyers are the best. This is making me go crazy. It's a small house, let it go. Why is she doing it anyway? Her reason is my only driving factor. I want to know what that woman is thinking. What is she up to?"

"You have a lot of energy to think of her," Haajar said shaking her head, "I cannot stop thinking of what we need to do. We still haven't proved that they took everything on their own and it was not given to them. What had happened exactly? Raiyan said after the death of his father his lawyer came to them and said everything was his brothers and that they had to leave. Raiyan said a day before his death his father was worried about how Raiyan would handle everything, meaning he did not give it to his older son. I guess the lawyer was involved. Maybe we should look into him."

"We can but I have a few questions before that. I will talk to Raiyan. But, congratulations! We have clients flying in! We are rocking it!" Alessia high fived Haajar before she left the room leaving behind a frown on her colleague's forehead. "Rocking from which angle? She sure is not normal. Far from normal." 

Half of the day was over and the other half came with more work than they wished for. And then around six, a party was formed which no one anticipated. Ever since the clock had hit five in the evening William had been there, not saying or disturbing them in any way. He did his work, while they did theirs. Next came Raiyan who found out that Alessia needed to talk to him. And the last one was their latest client who arrived ten minutes past seven. Alessia and Haajar were still engrossed in their work so they sat in the living room by themselves. 

"Why are they here?" Haajar asked when she walked to Alessia. "We are still working and they are sitting. Why are they here? Did you ask them to come?"

"Nope. William just came. He gets anxious a lot and he says staying here calms him. I wonder how. Raiyan, I told him I wished to talk to him but I also said he does not have to come today. I was hoping for tomorrow or the day after. And the new one, What is her name? Did she tell us what her name is? I have absolutely no idea why she is here. I just have one more thing to do and then I will go and attend to them. How long before you are done?"

"I am done. I went through all the cases and even made notes for you. I have nothing else to do now." She turned her face to their clients and tilted her head as she observed them. 

"I met him the other day," William said, "He and my sister had a talk. He was furious as if I am the reason for his problems. He could not maintain a difference between his personal and professional life. It is all on him and he had the audacity to get angry at me. He hurt my sister and took my business. I should be the one screaming in anger. What does he think of himself? What a nutcase. I should have been careful. What was I thinking about getting involved with him? Stupid me."

"You were going through a rough patch," Raiyan consoled, "Divorce is not an easy journey. Be proud of yourself that you got yourself out of a tough phase. You are inspirational. Even now you are standing strong, fighting for your right. You deserve all the respect you get."

"Not sure about that. I keep questioning my decisions. But enough about me. How is your fight going on? Are things getting better? And you, you are a new client I suppose. Why don't we introduce ourselves? I am William, fighting against my business partner because he is taking everything away from me, illegally of course. This is Raiyan, he is fighting against his sister-in-law for a property that is his. She and her husband took everything from them, again, illegally. And you? What is your story?"

Nadia smiled as she leaned forward. "I am Nadia Lukin. I am not really fighting with anyone, but I want a divorce. I feel my children and I deserve better. Not a man, of course, just a better life." 

"That is a good decision. A better life is what should be our goal. Glad you understood that early." 

As Nadia smiled, Raiyan and William smiled with her making Haajar frown in confusion.