KHALIFA'S KNUCKLES CAME IN CONTACT WITH the large brown door as he waited patiently for Waheed to open the door for him. Minutes later, Waheed appeared in the doorway with low red eyes. Khalifa shook his head in disbelief after they slapped hands.

"You were asleep- come on." Khalifa let out a breath as a laugh as Waheed rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand stepping to the side, letting Khalifa into the house. He followed behind him shortly after shutting the door to the dim disorganized living room.

Khalifa slid his his hands in his grey sweatpants pocket, nudging an empty packet of chips in the floor with his leg that was covered with black ankle socks paired with white Nike slides.

"This girl sure did a number on you huh?" Khalifa said.

Waheed only gave a lazy shrug in response, sitting on the chair with slouched shoulders. "The housekeeper is sick or something like that and mah didn't bother to send another person." He mumbled, reaching to the coffee table for the opened bottled water, taking a few gulps.

"She say anything about when she coming back?" Khalifa asked taking a seat on the chair, leaning his head back with his legs wide open. He had trouble with some sitting positions mainly because of his height, so the position was the best for him.

"Didn't care to ask. I was too caught up with-" Waheed cut himself off mid sentence, shaking his head closing his eyes. "After the incident with Maryam. She really caught a man off guard." He mumbled wiping a hand down his face.

"How did she find out?" Khalifa asked earning a sigh from Waheed.

Waheed was a married man of four years actually, but his wife Laila left after she caught him in bed with a woman and found out later she was pregnant for him.

Laila could have stayed because she was close to forgiving him but that shattered when she found a brown envelope in his closet and the next thing he knew, she was packing her clothes.

Waheed seemed to have slipped into depression after that, considering he was close to getting his wife back just for him to find out he was having another child which was the worst thing that can happen because laila is infertile and that had been something had desired for a long time, just to find out another woman was doing that for him. She was going to have his first child. That hurt more than anything.

"Yo." Waheed dragged out in frustration. "I was dumb enough to stash the folder in our closet. I mean Laila doesn't even check my phone or anything so I didn't really care about her finding out, but she was organizing our closet and- she found it." He finished explaining letting out an exasperated sigh.

"What about the baby. Is it yours?" Khalifa moved his head side to side that seemed to hurt because of how he positioned his neck by the time he had woken up.

Waheed glanced up to Khalifa shaking his head licking his lips. "Nah. The girl was lying all along. Knew it from the start. Used my sickness against me." He chuckled bitterly, leaning back in his seat like Khalifa with his legs spreaded apart.

Waheed stood at 6'3 with a goatee and with the reddest lips that caught a lot of attention of women that he had no problem with. Waheed is a man a lot of women wished for not only because of his looks, but his personality was hard not to fall for.

Khalifa on the other hand stood at 6'4 with a choclate complexion but his hair was luscious that people sometimes asked whether he was mixed or not but he always declined so people automatically thought he was Fulani, when he was full yoroba.

"Does Laila know?" He asked.

"Nah, she doesn't even pick my calls bruh. How am I supposed to tell her? Besides, I don't think that would change anything." He replied with his eyes on the ceiling.

"One of my biggest regrets is losing my wife. And if I had anyway, excuse or opportunity to get her back, I would. Trust me. And to know I've lost her is something I will always blame myself about. And for her to even think about forgiving you, you know that girl loves you. So instead of wasting your life here, I suggest you go handle this." Khalifa advised, rolling his head to the side glancing at him then back at his phone when it made a ping sound.

"I gotta go pick Iman up." Khalifa pushed himself off the couch, dusting his sweatpants heading for the door.

"You're picking up your daughter like that?" Waheed raised a brow as he gestured to Khalifa's outfit who only shrugged in response.

"Yeah? Whatchu want me to do? Dress up for six year olds?" Khalifa made a face, jerking his head back earning a loud laugh from Waheed.

"Their mothers or teachers if they are worth looking at." Waheed shrugged as Khalifa bobbed his head in agreement letting himself out.

**

AFTER PICKING UP Iman from school, Khalifa decided to branch to Khadija's shop, because she told him to and that she had something to tell him. She seemed serious for some reason which was weird considering she was always cherry on the phone and to hear her sound annoyed, he grew concerned.

He arrived at the familiar two storey building that held a sign bold letters of his sisters name. He closed the door pressing on the locks as soon as he did, he strolled into the shop instantly getting the attention of the women in the salon.

As expected, inaudible whispers erupted in the room as usual as Khadija looked over her shoulder when the woman she was drying her hair cut their conversation, staring at something, rather someone.

Her lips curved into a proud smile when she saw how the women in the shop were openly gawking at her brother. She flagged down one of the workers to take over what she was doing and approached her brother whose attention was on his daughter who was chewing on something.

"Now who told you to come and disrupt my shop?" Khadija asked with her arms crossed over her chest with a mocking smirk on her face. Khalifa looked up when he heard her voice, his upper lip curling up.

"Apparently. You." Khalifa replied slickly, licking his lips. Khadija rolled her eyes averting her gaze to Iman who seemed to be hiding behind her father's leg clutching the material of his addidas sweats. Khalifa was dressed all black from head to toe, a black addidas sweatpants with white strips on the sides, a black tee and white ankle socks paired with addidas slides.

"Look who decided to visit." Khadija mocked, craning her neck to take a look at the girls hair which was neat then to her uniform who seemed to have a bit of crumbs on it along her cheeks which made her look cute and she looked like Khalifa which she found freaky when she looked back at him, who was running his hands through his curls, ignoring the stares considering he was used to it.

"Inawani." Iman greeted in a small voice with a smile, peeking her head out to glance at her before hiding her face back behind his leg making her chuckle shaking her head bending to her height.

"Lafiya. You want a haircut?" Khadija asked causing Khalifa to make a face. She was trying to be nice which looked so weird. She usually held a blank face everytime and she wasn't a fan of kids so to see her acting like this was mind blowing.

Iman pushed her lips together in thought before a breif smile made it's way to her face. "Yes. I want conrows." Iman beamed.

Khadija nodded in agreement calling out a random name as a fair petite girl approached them with her gaze locked on Khadija.

"You called me?" She inquired, wiping her hands on a paper towel.

"Yes, she wants conrows." Khadija pointed at Iman who was hiding behind Khalifa's leg.

The girl smiled at the young girl, reaching her hand out after offering Khalifa a respective head nod. Iman hesitantly took her hand following her to a vacant chair with her feet swinging in the air.

"Let's head to my office." Khadija jerked her head towards the back and Khalifa nodded in agreement following behind her keeping his gaze transfixed in front of him but something catches his eye when he noticed the girl in the parking lot sitting on one of the chairs, her head getting braided as she tapped on her phone screen with a blank look on her face.

He raised both brows suprised be saw her once again but continued his trip to his sister's office following behind her. He pushed the door closed glancing at the frames hung on the wall, one being the picture they took years ago.

"Why you doing me like that Khadija? Why did you have to put up the pictures at the time I was fat?" Khalifa dragged out throwing his head back closing his eyes.

Khadija only gave a shrug in response. "I preferred that. I don't want to lose every customer because of your hoeness." She defended with a smirk on her face, leaning back in her seat.

Khalifa snapped his head towards her. "I'm married. That era is over. I have to do what's best for iman." He let out earning a loud laugh from Khadija. She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"The deed has already been done." Khadija paused looking over to him with a cautious look. "Speaking of marriage, how's it going with Halima?" She asked.

Khalifa sat down with his legs spread apart rubbing his beard thinking of his answer. "Well she's still mad at me for what I've done, but it seemed like she wanted more time and I didn't mind waiting, but I have a timer. I don't have time to waste. I'm on a timer." He mumbled. Khadija felt tears pricking her eyes but caught them before they fell but Khalifa already noticed unfortunately for her.

"Khadija we talked about this." Khalifa sighed closing his eyes with his jaw clenched. There were three things he hated and that was seeing the women he cared about cry. That included Halima, Iman, his mother and Khadija. And he hated being the reason for that.

"I'm sorry." Khadija apologized through tears wiping her tears. "It's just not easy Haleefa. I don't want you to go." Her lips wobbled before she buried her head in her hands not being able to hold back tears.

Khalifa walked around the table wrapping his arms around her. "It's going to be okay. You remembered our promise, right?" He raised both brows pulling away as she looked up at him with red glossy eyes.

She pressed her lips in a thin line nodding slowly. Khalifa's lips curved into a smile but she knew it wasn't genuine nor did it reach his eyes. He showed he was okay but they both knew he wasn't. She sat up wiping her eyes as leaned on the table staring a hole through the ground.

"I have something to tell you. That's why I called you up in the first place." Khalifa's eyes snapped to her after she said that but kept quiet waiting for her to continue. Khadija opened her mouth to speak but closed her mouth shut not knowing how to really break the news to him.

"I um- well I went to a restaurant then I heard a commotion so I went there and it was a girl finding out her boyfriend left her for her friend." Khadija paused, beating around the bush. "And I um- saw halima come to the restaurant with a man-- with her and they..." Khadija trailed off knowing he got what she meant by the way his jaws clenched.

He only nodded slipping his hands in his pockets. "I'll look into it. Take care." He wrapped his arms around her briefly and he was out of the offfice before she knew it.

Khalifa walked out of her office trying to remain calm as he met eyes with the familiar woman who was already looking at him. Her eyes widened when she was caught, quickly averting her gaze elsewhere.

He exited the salon without another word causing Yasmin to scrunch her face at his rude behaviour shaking her head. She didn't know what got into her last time that she hadn't recognized who he was and she was embarassed he saw her at her weakest point.

Song : Central Cee - Commitment Issues