SLAMMING the trunk closed, Khalifa glanced at the house he once called a home and his soon to be ex-wife was leaning on the doorway, her gaze transfixed on him waiting for him to leave. Wishing he could drive out of her life like he was about to.

Khalifa sauntered over to where Halima was standing with her arms crossed over her chest. "When will we be meeting to sign?" Khalifa asked with his hands resting casually in his pockets.

Halima insisted she preferred to sign the divorce papers than the normal procedure. This moment felt surreal for him, but he had to man up to his mistakes and if granting what she wanted was  one of it, he would.

He wasn't about to force her to stay with him, but he was definately going to be in his daughter's life whether she liked it or not. He knew he fucked up and he was still in regret from losing his wife of seven years, but he wasn't about to lose his daughter. He was definately going to lose it if that really happened .

"I'll contact him and ask and we can discuss Iman's living arrangements." Halima responded in the same nonchalant tone she had whenever she spoke to him.

Khalifa bobbed his head in agreement. "I know I may have made some mistakes, but don't let my mistakes ruin our daughter's life. I know I'm not in the right position to give ultimatums, but I did whatever you wanted with no questions asked. This is my only wish." He stared into her orbs as Halima admired his eyes for a moment before nodding her head in agreement.

Khalifa's upper lip tilted in a brief smile before turning away, walking down the stairs to his car. He hesitated for a moment glancing at Halima who wasn't standing in the spot she was before. He let out a brief sigh, getting in his car, driving off as the tires came in contact with the gravels making a crackling sound.

Halima walked into the house dragging her feet behind her plopping on the couch beside her longtime friend besides Namisha, Sauda. She quirked a brow when she saw the annoyed look on Halima's face.

"I would've expected a different expression." Sauda spoke, her eyes roaming around Halima's blemish free face that seemed to get clearer than the last time she saw her. Sauda was the person who sent her the pictures of Khalifa's chat with anisah along with the picture at the park.

Sauda walked into anisah's home following behind her as anisah directed her to a medium sized living room as they sat themselves down. Sauda and anisah were actually classmates in secondary school and they ran into each other at a park.

"If only you know how hard it was to lose all this weight." They shared a laugh when anisah said that. Anisah battled with weight when she was younger, which was her biggest insecurity. But she was a a bit thick, with a slimmer body.

"So how's been life and everything?" Sauda asked, raising the glass to her lips, taking a sip from the can of virgin mojito anisah provided her with.

"Well, I'm suprised you haven't heard of it." Anisah forced a smile as she said that causing the smile on sauda's face fall turning into a concerned one, tilting her head to the side.

"What do you mean? Is everything okay?" She pressed.

"Well, I got married, but for some reasons, we didn't end on good terms. I'm single as it gets as of right now." She faked a cherry response. She had a feeling sauda knew about it, so she was going to beat her saying it considering people can be nosy and inconsiderate at times.

She knew word went around that she was divorced, and that she slept around, but she wasn't about to try and explain her life to them. She knew the reason she filed for a divorce and she would never regret it. Whatever the case.

"I'm sorry about that." Sauda licked her lips hanging her head feeling a bit bad she brought up the topic that seemed to be sensitive to her that killed the whole mood. But at the same time, with what she has been hearing around town, anisah had a messy divorce because she was sleeping with other people behind her husband's back and he caught her which was the reason he filed for a divorce in the first place. So from her point of view, she didn't deserve her pity.

"Nah it's okay. Not your fault." Anisah smiled at her. "But I'll go to the bathroom real quick. I'll be back." She finished, standing to her feet with her hands clasped together.

Sauda faked a smile as Anisah strolled out of the room without looking back. She leaned her head back on the couch, popping a slice of mango in her mouth looking around the simple yet fancy place.

A flash went off catching sauda's attention to the coffee table where a phone was placed face down. She peeped to see if there was anyone around, before reaching to snatch the phone off the table.

Pressing the home button, she was suprised when the phone didn't have a password. She expected someone like her would have a password or anything, but she obviously thought wrong.

Khalifa

2 attachments
Souvenir 👅

You're making me feel like turning the
wheel right now😏

Maybe a sign

I hope it's sending the right signals then

Sauda's eyes widened when she recognized him as Halima's husband when she viewed his contact photo. She quickly fished her phone out, taking a picture of the chats, letting her phone drop to her lap. She scrolled her gallery to find anything of importance.

Finally coming across a picture of him at the park they met, sauda sent the picture through airdrop. She placed the phone back to it's original position, leaning her head back finally paying attention to what was playing on the tv.

Anisah reappeared a few minutes later with a tray in hand. She walled over to where they were sitting, placing the tray down giving Sauda an opportunity to see what was on the tray which was neatly cut pineapple and watermelon causing sauda to roll her eyes internally.

"Sorry for taking so much time. I wanted it to be perfect." Anisah expressed, sitting on the couch at the same spot she was before she excused herself.

"Nah it's okay. It's very nice. Thinking about it, let me take a picture of it for my vlog."  Sauda offered her a polite smile, sitting up with her phone in hand to get a better angle.

"You didn't have to. But thank you anyway." Anisah blushed peering at the picture sauda took that came out better than planned.

"What do you mean?" Halima huffed, slipping off her slides resting on her calves.

"I would have expected you to be emotional or hurt not irritated. I know it might sound insensitive, but I'm just curious." Sauda admitted. Halima twisted her lips to the side in thought considering the last person she told her secret which was Yasmin reacted differently but she needed to vent out to someone.

"There's this guy." Halima drawled catching Sauda's attention. "Do you remember the Nasir guy I had my eyes on? Yeah him. We might have kissed at his office and one thing led to another, we were at the hotel." She blurted out causing Sauda to raise both brows in suprise.

"When was this?" Sauda questioned making halima look up in thought. She remembered her fight with Namisha being a month ago, and she told Yasmin they have been seeing together for three weeks.

"Seven weeks." Halima snapped her fingers prompting sauda to raise her eyebrows. When she checked the chats between Anisah and Khalifa, they started talking three weeks ago. Unless she deleted their chats.

"Then why are you enraged on something that you're also guilty of?" Sauda asked bluntly as Halima let out an exasperated sigh looking off to the side. It was like whoever she explained her situation judged her not bothering to listen to the whole story, just the cheating part.

"Because it was a perfect opportunity to get out of the marriage. Nasir doesn't know I'm married with a child but I'll just tell him I was actually divorced with a kid. Khalifa and I had something real, but I need someone with a higher financial status." Halima confessed which seemed to throw Sauda off.

But instead of voicing out her thoughts, she kept to herself only nodding her head listening to Halima rant about something that was obviously stupid, but she wasn't about to tell her anything considering halima would get defensive and would turn into something they both didn't have the time or paitence for.

"Why wouldn't you just take advantage of the situation and use his cheating against him? He would always feel bad about the situation feeling like he betrayed your trust." Sauda brought up a better plan.

Halima shook her head side to side not feeling the idea. "Why do you guys keep telling me to stay with Khalifa? Am I the only person who actually thinks Nasir is a better candidate?" She tilted her head to the side, frustrated they weren't getting her point.

"I'm guessing this was the reason you fought with Yasmin." Sauda guessed earning an eye roll from Halima. Namisha obviously showed her she wasn't with her and she wasn't going to pursue a friendship with a fake person whatsoever.

"Yes. The girl was being judging and that pissed me off. Then she started saying some shit and as soon as I said one thing, the girl can look at me like I was a heartless person." Halima ranted getting angry at the thought of it. Her guts was really something to see.

"Well damn." Sauda mumbled. She had obviously missed a lot considering she came back to find her two closest friends were not getting along with each other, and it didn't seem like any other petty fights like before. Knowing Halima, she'll involve her in the fight at some point, and she would have to choose sides and that was not what she wanted to do.

"Tell me about it. But I'm not about that. What about you? Anyone you're seeing?" Halima directed the question back to her causing her face to pale for a moment. It was time for her to confess.

"Do you remember...uh-Faisal?" Sauda scratched her nose, her demeanor completely changing to a less confident one and it was Halima's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"The only Faisal I know, is Yasmin's so called boyfriend." Halima's lips curved into a smirk. She knew where this was going, but she wanted Sauda to say it herself. Sauda was a sweet person but she couldn't pass by that with anyone.

"Well we started talking and I-um..." Sauda paused mid sentence, nervously fiddling with the ring on her pointer finger. "We're thinking of taking a new step in our relationship. And he told me he would break up with her soon and we could start talking about marriage." Halima's face was unmoved when she heard the news.

She felt bad for Yasmin considering she loved him more than herself and to find out he was leaving her for her best friend at that matter, was definately taking a toll on her, but she wasn't allowed to care since Yasmin clearly showed her side, and it wasn't wirh her.

Halima's high pitched squeal rang Sauda's ears before she felt slender arms warp around her, jumping up and down. To say she was confused was an understatement. She honestly didn't expect this reaction from her, but a different one but she was happy at least one of her friends understood her at least.

Song: Rose Gold - PnB Rock ft King Von