NASIR leaned back in his seat watching Halima pace back and fourth on a phone call. He didn't want to admit it, but he was getting attached to Halima but it was hard for him not to. She was a female version of him and understood whatever the circumstance, and she had her own money to even care about her being with him for his money.

He showered her with gifts and she didn't seem affected by it in any way and that was the last strike. To know someone wasn't with him because of his money but for him was one of the reasons he paid attention to her in the first place.

She was always nervous when she spoke to him and stuttered time to time which he found cute. But after spending time together, forming a relationship made her free and quite interesting.

"Yes, I'll send it to you. Thank you." Halima nodded before ending the call, rolling her eyes after sitting across him as she twirled a pen that was in her hold since she came into the office. He noticed she was either chewing on it or twirling it around her finger. There were times where he would just stare at her and he noticed small things like this.

"I can't stand people like that." Halima complained, letting out a strained breath. The investors were uppity and their secretary's attitude was bad. They act like they were the people who were investing their money when they're supposed to help. But they only offer you stank faces and attitudes.

"And which kind of people do you mean?" Nasir inquired, sitting up with his hands on his table. Halima leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest getting annoyed at the thought.

"You'll do nothing to them but they hate you for no apparent reason. I don't need their acceptance but just do your job! But they purposely forget to print out something important and feign ignorance after. And if you react, you get painted as the bad guy." Halima ranted.

Nasir could only nod as he thought of what to say, something Khalifa usually did. She would admit she went too far two weeks ago when she called out his mother, but she was irritated and hurt. And she wasn't regretting anything she did or said. He was worse to do it behind her back and play the victim.

"I usually don't pay attention to them to even acknowledge their behaviors. If you don't give them the attention they need, they don't dare to cause you had already placed yourself on a level they're clearly not on.

They do all those petty things to annoy you, and you took the bait. That's it." Nasir told her as she looked down in thought, fiddling with the watch that decorated her wrist.

"Someone told me that." Halima mumbled, her mind going to Yasmin. She told her that the first day of her work which seemed to make her much better at the time, but not anymore. She didn't like disrespect.

"Whoever told you is right considering I'm always right." Nasir cockily said, making her look up with a smile on her face. He seemed to light up the situation everytime.

"I knew you couldn't hold that cockiness back. It always comes out." Halima let out a laugh as Nasir held his hands up in defense as if saying "it's not my fault."

"So what are you about to do? I mean, we could go grab some lunch." Nasir asked clasping his hands together behind his head. Halima twisted her lips in thought remembering she had to pick up Iman from school.

"Um, Sure." She shrugged her shoulder with a smile. Nasir nodded in agreement and Halima picked up her phone texting Khalifa asking if he was free to pick up Iman.

He replied a few minutes later saying he could as she let out a breath of relief. She wanted to speed the process so they could get married after the divorce with Khalifa done.

She picked up her bag following him down the stairs as she slipped into the Brabus M5 earning a smile from Halima. She loved how the leather seats felt against her skin and that was one of the reasons she wouldn't stay with Khalifa.

Khalifa had an Audi A8 which was nice, but she wanted more and she couldn't be blamed after years to want something bigger and better.

"What's wrong?" Nasir's question snapped her out of her trance as she looked over to him with a raised eyebrow. She was in her thoughts to check her surroundings.

"Huh?" 

"You were smiling to yourself. Is going out with me making you smile like that?" Nasir cocked an eyebrow pulling out of the parking lot. She let out a laugh at his words rolling her eyes playfully.

"I just remembered my sister telling me never to trust a guy who drives a Mercedes." Halima ran her tongue over her bottom lip with a mischievous grin on her face. Nasir jerked his head back, taken aback before shaking his head, chuckling.

"I'm sure I see you park a Mercedes if I'm not wrong, every morning." Nasir retorted as she bobbed her head feigning ignorance. Most of their conversations were mostly taking jabs at each other, but they also had adult conversations when needed.

"That's why I said a guy. It is okay if I drive considering I'm a woman." Halima cocked her head to the side, dating him to say something, anything. And he decided against what his mind was screaming him to stop. But he wanted competition and she seemed to be giving him one.

"Don't take yourself where God hasn't taken you. You females are better off with those mini vans with six seats. I suggest your father gets you a portable one." Nasir exaggerated, pinching the air with his index finger and thumb earning a laugh from Halima.

"And how are you sure my father got me one?" Halima looked over to Nasir with a smile. The car was a present from Khalifa for her twenty seventh birthday. She had been lusting over the car whenever they went out and the next thing she knew, it was in her driveway with a huge red bow on it.

She could still remember the day like it was yesterday. That was when she was stupid, thinking you could sacrifice what she dreamt for, for love. And after all what she went through, just to find out he had cheated on her threw her off.

"Then who?" Nasir glanced at her then back at the road. Halima nibbled on her lip in thought. Telling him Khalifa bought the car for her was out of the question. She already implied it wasn't her father, so who could she say it was.

"My uncle. He's my favorite." Halima clenched her bottom lip in between her teeth, purposely dragging out the favorite to get a reaction from Nasir. She wanted to see if he cared enough or he would brush it off like she said nothing.

"Well, can you hook me up with him? Maybe he can also buy me a car, or the money is okay." Nasir shrugged his shoulders making Halima squint her eyes at him, hurt before reaching her hand to smack his arm. He could only laugh as she sat back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest.

**

Khalifa looked over to Iman who was walking towards him as she looked around the peaceful and beautiful place her father had taken her to. She tugged at his hand earning a hum from him as she pointed to a man standing there, unmoving.

"Is that a mannequin?" Iman asked earning a chuckle from Khalifa. He scratched his beard glancing at the tired looking man then back at iman in amusement. Last time he checked, mannequins weren't looking that real.

Khalifa shook his hand that iman was holding. "Nah, that's a person." On que, the man fished his phone out of his pocket, walking towards the other building like he knew they were talking about him. "See."

"Yeah." Iman mumbled, as they walked into the building, Khalifa went in the direction of the stairs instead of the elevator that was in their faces. "There's an e-ele-eleva...tor." Iman pushed out just to make sure. Maybe he didn't notice it there probably because he was unfamiliar with the place.

"Yeah I saw it, we're taking the stairs. I'm on the second floor. There's no use taking the elevator." Khalifa shrugged his shoulder, answering her question. They arrived to his room that was already furnished as iman looked around in her socks considering she removed her shoes at the door.

He whipped up something for her eat as they sat on the comfortable plush grey couch in his living room. Just like they normally did, Khalifa was laid on his back with Iman laid on his chest as they watched Winx, that they searched on YouTube for ten minutes before finding the episodes considering it wasn't played on the channels anymore.

In the meantime, Halima was in her car dialling Khalifa's number to pick up iman after her lunch date with Nasir that went smooth with nothing but jokes threw around.

Khalifa's phone rang for the second time as he carefully reached for it, not wanting to wake up Iman in the process. He pressed the phone to his ear, not caring to check the caller ID.

"Hello?" His raspy voice boomed through the speakers of Halima's phone making her discreetly bite her lip, before shaking her thoughts off trying to focus on what she called him for in the first place, not be drooling over his voice that she still found quite attractive.

"I-um, where are you exactly? I just stepped out of your mother's place and you're not there." Halima breathed out as she walked down the steps to her car, tucking her phone in between her shoulder and ear as she unlocked her car.

"My place. I'll share my location." Khalifa mumbled as he tucked his hand behind his head to get more comfortable. Halima ended the call getting a familiar feeling when she heard he got a place. They were once living with each other and it seems it wasn't the case anymore.

Hadiza finally arrived at the apartment complex, putting her car on park before stepping out, locking the door sauntering towards the building. She pulled her phone out to text Khalifa but it was unopened so he probably drifted back to sleep. She let out a strained breath, pushing the second door open to see it was unlocked, before walking in hearing faint sounds of the tv.

Walking to the end of the hallway, halima was met with Khalifa and Iman sleeping peacefully on the couch. Looking for the remote to reduce the volume, she spotted it in Khalifa's hand that was dangling off the couch.

As soon as she took the remote off his hands, his red eyes popped open, making contact with hers. She froze for a second before stepping back, clutching the remote in her hands as she turned down the volume, turning back to Khalifa whose head was leaned back on the arm rest.

"I didn't know you got a place." Halima cleared her throat as she hugged herself, swaying on her feet as Khalifa raised up slowly, his shirt rising up a bit, revealing his muscled torso that she so badly want to run her hands over, but looked away instead busying herself with the painting of an alley in Italy hanging on the wall.

Khalifa successfully placed Iman back on the couch as she shifted in her position, before drifting back to sleep. He slid on his slides, standing up to go to the kitchen for some water. Halima's eyes followed him there as he drained the water from the dispenser built in the fridge.

"Got it a week ago. Need a place to lay my head and hotels weren't doing it for me." Khalifa shrugged leaning on the counter, drinking from his cup as Halima felt thirsty herself, sauntering towards him, taking the glass off his hands, taking a sip before handing it back to him.

"Seems like this is somewhere you're settling into, not a place you're going to lay your head in. I'm sure the paintings wouldn't have been necessary." The words flew out of Halima's mouth without her knowing, not being able to hide the bitter feeling that was growing in her chest.

Khalifa set the cup down on the counter, facing her with a blank expression. "Where's this coming from?" Khalifa asked making halima scrunch her face, thrown off by the question.

"Excuse me?" Halima asked.

"You were the person who asked me to move out. Where's this energy coming from?" Khalifa leaned on the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't about to put up with Halima's sass session. He wasn't the type of person who liked smart remarks and he wasn't about to beat around the bushes. If she had a problem, she was free to speak on it, not to make snide remarks.

"No, but it baffles me how you're acting nonchalant about the whole situation, like I did it when in reality, you were the person who ruined everything and you're quick to move on, leaving me to recover from the heartbreak you caused." Halima laughed bitterly, showing how she felt for the first time after what happened.

Khalifa stared a hole through the ground letting the words sink in, under all the anger and hurt in her words, he thought about how she felt about the whole situation. He can't believe he was apart of the possible insecurity growing in her.

"I know you wouldn't believe a word that will come out of my mouth but I regret what I'd done and if I had the power to undo it, I would but I don't. I can only live with the regret of knowing I ruined what we had. And I don't blame or judge you for what you had done. I just want another chance to fix this, and you're free to leave if I ever made a mistake like this again." Khalifa said, walking towards halima, as she let him embrace her hoping everything would just solve itself and go back to the way it was before.

Should I just tell him? Halima thought as she inhaled his familiar scent mixed with his cologne. She reminisced the moments where she dreamt of this when he was on a trip that lasted a month or two.

He was probably spending it with the woman leaving her all alone. The thought angered Halima as she broke out of his hold, using all her strength to push back his broad chest that only made him stumble a few steps back with furrowed eyebrows.

"You expect it to be that easy? For me to forgive you like that after all those times where I wished you were there for just a minute- just for me to hear your voice or be in your arms, while you were out there with that woman, enjoying each others company leaving me to fool myself thinking you really loved me to stay loyal! I will never give you another chance after what you did."

Halima gritted with tears building in her eyes. She might have been cheating, but he had cheated longer than her and made her feel bad for what she did. She wanted to leave him first, not him to beat her to it.

Khalifa stayed quiet letting her get everything out. This was her venting out how she felt. To hear she didn't want to give him another chance did sting, or how she looked at him with so much hatred. But he knew she was healing, and would blame him until she healed and he was okay with it.

But the thought of them living separately, seeing other people did something to him. The only thing that would actually keep them in each other's lives were Iman, and that might be a problem in the future when Halima tries to get full custody.

Khalifa took a step closer to her, wrapping his arms around her protectively as she let herself cry in his arms that made her feel better which was ironic considering he was the reason for all her pain.

Song : H.E.R ft Chris Brown - Come through