As salamu alaykum! Welcome to a new chapter! Thank you for your patience & your support.

These covers were sent in by @ralfie ! I appreciate it, thank you! Xx

Enjoy the chapter. :)

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Recap;
"Mummy?" Hamza said as he walked beside me, making my head spin. The world felt like it had stopped as Zaid's head slowly turned downward, looking at Hamza with wide eyes.
I shut my eyes. Ya Allah. Help me.
Help me.
I took deep breaths to try and calm myself as Zaid stared directly into Hamza's eyes, that looked exactly like his.
Zaid looked back at me, his jaw clenched as he swallowed, his Adam's apple bopping up and down, before he looked back down at Hamza who was looking up at his...at Zaid with his beautiful eyes through his thick lashes.

Sumayya's p.o.v

"Is he..." Zaid sputtered. "Is that..."

"Don't be stupid." I said immediately, feeling protective all of a sudden, narrowing my eyes as I felt sweat forming on my upper lip, my lips drying. My arm shot out to block Zaid from Hamza's view.

"Your mummy's inside sweetheart. Fayza, come get your son!" I yelled, praying to god that she understood what was up and praying that Hamza wouldn't say anything else.

Fayza looked at me with wide eyes and quickly gathered Hamza in her arms. "Come here, baby." She said.

She had put on a jilbaab before leaving quickly, covering Hamza's mouth as he wriggled in her hold.

"Is that Fayza's son?" Zaid asked as if he hadn't believed me.

"No, I was lying." I replied sarcastically with a scoff, trying to hide the pounding in my chest and the frantic look in my eyes. "You've been gone for four years Zaid. Fayza got married in that time and had a child." The lie tumbled out of my mouth before I even had a chance to go over what I was saying.

Zaid looked down at where Hamza had just stood, looking deep in thought with narrowed eyes, my heart continued to beat wildly against my chest.

It was only after my mum came out that Zaid was snapped back into reality.

"Honey," She said looking at me with wide eyes like she didn't want to believe that Zaid was in fact here, very much like me.

She pulled the door open further and faced Zaid.

Zaid looked at her before looking at the ground, a complete look of shame taking over his features.

"As salamu alaykum, mama." He said and I narrowed my eyes, breathing in and out of my nose heavily.

"Wa alaykum salam." She said beneath her breath. "I wouldn't disregard Allah's (swt) salaam and blessings upon you, but do not ever call me that again. Do you understand?"

"Mama, wallahi I can ex..."

"Zaid." She said, raising her hand to tell him to stop. "I do not want to listen." She turned to look at me. "Sumayya, why's he here?"

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. "I don't know, mama. He came and found me two days ago and hasn't been leaving me since then."

She turned towards him with narrowed eyes. "I'm only going to ask you once. Please, leave my home and do not show yourself here again."

"No, you both have to listen to me. Please? Wallahi once I explain myself...you'll understand why I had to leave."

I shook my head. "No." I scoffed. "I don't care why you left me. No matter what, you had no right to leave me like that. The very least you could have done was written me a letter or something to explain. You just left...without an explanation. I'll never let you explain yourself. You don't deserve that chance."

"You know you want to hear why I left!" He yelled and my mum held her forehead as if she had a headache before moving backward and leaning against the wall.

He was right. He was so bloody right. I wanted to know every single detail down to even the most minor ones of why he left, but there was absolutely no way I was telling him that. Just like he'd never know how much I still loved him, he'd never know that in all these years that have past, I've been praying that I'd find out exactly what made him leave somehow.

"I don't."

"You do, Sumayya!"

"I really don't." I shrugged my shoulders carelessly. "Yeah, maybe I did the first week, when I felt completely lost. Maybe I did the first month, when every corner of our house was absolutely hell for me to see everyday in hopes that you'd come back. Maybe even for the first three months, when I had no where to go, no one to turn to. Even after a year, maybe even two years!" I said and I could feel my voice getting louder by the second. "Not anymore, Zaid." He shut his eyes and his whole body seemed to relax when I said his name. "Not after four years."

"You still love me." He said and I scoffed, releasing a laugh, hoping that it wasn't obvious that it was probably the most forced laugh of my life.

"I don't, I really don't."

"Then why'd you keep your rings on all these years."

I subconsciously rubbed my thumb on the back side of my ring finger and again it felt cold without the gold rings on there.

I didn't know what to say so I stayed silent.

He took my silence and turned it into something else as a smile took over his face.

I sucked in a sharp breath as the sight caused me to go weak in the knees.

In that moment, for a split second, him standing on the porch with a small smile on his face as his eyes glistened ever so brightly, made it feel like everything was normal, like he hadn't left me. But he had.

His smile hadn't changed, it was still as beautiful as ever, MashaAllah, but everything else was now different. So different that not even his smile that I would die to see could make me listen to his excuses.

"See? You still love me. Like I still love you."

"We're divorced, Zaid. You can't speak to me like that. Ittaqullah." I said to him with narrowed eyes. "I don't love you anymore, and you clearly never loved me to begin with. Now, please leave."

"Sumayya," He trailed off with hope rising in his eyes. "You don't know, do you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't." I scoffed. "I don't know anything because you didn't tell me anything, remember?"

"No, Sumayya, we're not..."

"Enough, Zaid. Just leave." I muttered, cutting him off. "I've heard more than enough." I said before shutting the door on his face and rushing to the living room, hearing the doorbell being pressed over and over as well as loud pounding as my mum entered the room and sat beside me, engulfing me in a hug.

I released a breath and shut my eyes as I felt the tears I'd been holding back the entire time slowly start to slide down my face, my mum comfortingly pulling me tighter into her warmth, whispering sweet nothings into my ear continuously and hushing me.

"Mummy?" I heard both twins whisper sadly making my heart break.

I forced myself to stop and my sobs calmed a little. My mum pulled away from me and held my face, wiping my tears with her fingertips. "Come on, sweetheart. You're stronger than this now. You've cried enough for him in the past, remember? Those days are over."

I nodded my head, trying to give her a small smile before turning to my kids.

"Mummy's okay." I whispered as I kneeled in front of them, pulling them into me and hugging both of them to my chest.

Their scent was my sole form of comfort in this world and I really couldn't thank Allah enough for blessing my life with them.

"Come on, kids. Let's go and eat our shawarma now?" My mum said softly, smiling towards me slowly.

I released a small smile as I sniffled and wiped my cheeks dry with the backs of my hand. "Shawarma sounds really good right now." I smiled at her and she laughed, throwing her arm over my shoulder as we walked to the kitchen, Hamza and Hafsa already making it there before us and making Fayza laugh.

As long as I had my babies and my parents with me, I wouldn't ask for anything else from Allah.

Al-hamdu-lillahi-rabbil-alameen.

:::::

The next morning I woke up to the smell of pancakes...well, I actually woke up to the sound of my alarm, but the smell of pancakes hit my senses immediately.

My mum loved making me pancakes for breakfast when I slept over at her house. She always made sure that we had honey, maple syrup, chocolate dressing, bananas and strawberries.

The kids both loved strawberries and bananas.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't let me have ice cream with my pancakes since it was breakfast, but hey, at least I had breakfast to eat even if it was bread and tea alhamdulillah and I was no one to complain about not having ice cream with pancakes when people around the world were starving.

Plus, I wouldn't have ice cream anyway, since if I had it the kids would want and they weren't allowed to have ice cream for breakfast.

Gosh, I'm such a mum.

I walked down the hall after washing my face and sat on the table just as my mum brought the stack of steaming pancakes into the room. "Mmm, they smell so good."

"Hopefully they taste good too." She said, smiling as she placed them on the middle of the table before leaning down and kissing the top of my head.

"Oh, stop fishing for compliments. You know they always taste good." I said, laughing as I stabbed my fork into the top pancake and put it in my plate before reaching straight for the Nutella.

"Fishing? I don't even own a fishing rod." She said, causing for me to stop spreading the Nutella and look up at her with my mouth slightly agape.

"No?" She asked innocently and I shook my head side to side.

"No! Never again, mum!" I said loudly before bursting into laughter at her attempted joke. "Never again." I repeated in between breaths as I wiped my tearful cheeks and continued to spread the chocolatey goodness over the pancake on my plate before topping it with strawberries and bananas.

"I'm sorry. My pun game is fairly weak."

Once again, for the second time in the past minute I froze with my mouth agape as I looked up at her. "Mum!" I shrieked. "This is why you need to deactivate Facebook!"

"What!? What's wrong with me being ahead of my times?" She asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Everything, mama! Just...eat." I said as I stabbed another pancake, this time putting it on her plate before handing her the honey.

"Fine." She said, releasing a small laugh before squeezing the gooey substance over her pancake.

"Fayza's sleeping with the kids. They'll be up soon." I said and she nodded.

"I've got some mixture to make them fresh pancakes." She said and I smiled at her.

"No ice cream." I said and she sighed.

"I know."

It was silent for a moment or two before my mum cleared her throat and spoke up. "Did he find out about Hamza and Hafsa?" She asked, looking at me with a sad facial expression.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think...you should tell him?" She questioned me softly, clearly apprehensive about my reaction."

I widened my eyes, my stomach feeling queasy. "No, mama! He can't know! I raised my babies alone because he left me! He has no right to come into my life and take them away!"

"Sweetheart, calm down." My mum said as she walked around and hugged me from behind. "I didn't mean it like that. He won't take them away from you."

I took deep breaths and calmed down a little as my mum turned my face to face hers, wiping my tears with her thumbs and giving me a look of sympathy. "Oh, my poor baby. You've suffered so much in life already." She said as she hugged me tightly. "Always remember what I tell you, okay? Allah (swt) loves you, habibti. He tests those whom He loves. I'm a witness for the nights you stood and prostrated, praying to Him to take your pain away. Please don't ever change. When Allah is your refuge, you will never feel weak." She told me, holding my cheeks in her hands.

"Jazakallahu khayr, mama." I said to her. "May Allah grant you Firdaws al-A'la." I spoke from my heart as I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"Ameen, habibti. I pray the same for you." She said, kissing my forehead and using the napkin on the table to wipe my face before going back to her seat.

Although I had lost my appetite, I forced myself to eat my pancake slowly, not wanting to upset my mum.

I put my fork down once I was finished and cleared my throat as I looked up at my mum.  "Mama?" I said, hearing her soft hum in response. "Do you..." I wet my lips and exhaled. "Do you think he has a right to know?" I asked her softly, feeling my heart beat against my chest as a lump grew in my throat as I waited anxiously for her answer.

She sighed, shutting her eyes for a few seconds before holding my hand over the table and staring deep into my eyes with nothing but love and sincerity. "I think you need to decide what's best for your children and their future. Hamza and Hafsa are your priority."

She left me with that, leaving my mind reeling as she walked into the kitchen while I exhaled and held my head in my hands.

:::::

After cleaning up the breakfast table, I went back to my room and got changed before bidding goodbye to my mum and driving to work.

"Be safe!" She called behind me and I nodded my head, not knowing whether or not she would see.

I took my apron that was on my passenger seat and wrapped it around my waist, tying it as I walked into the restaurant and began my shift.

I felt as though the time went by fairly quickly and without much of a drag, I realised I only had a couple minutes left.

Kyle came up to me and leant against the counter I was standing behind as I was preparing someone's check.

"Wanna go for a coffee later?" He asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"If Bella comes I will." I said, knowing that Bella still had another 6hours left until she clocked off.

"Really?" He said to me, narrowing his eyes.

"Well find another person and then we can go." I said, smiling at him before he grunted and walked off to ask another worker who also finished at the same time as us. I watched as she shrugged her shoulders, smiled then nodded, causing for Kyle to beam as he walked back towards me.

"Looks like me, you and Lydia are going to coffee." He smirked and I chuckled as I took the check and put it in a booklet to take to the table.

"You, Lydia and I, Kyle." I corrected and he grunted once again, muttering whatever as he began untying his apron while I went and dealt with the last table I had.

They were obviously a couple, but both were very polite and well-mannered.

When you work in hospitality for so long, you learn to appreciate well-mannered customers...courtesy of the not-so-well-mannered ones who could literally drive you insane.

After getting their payment sorted, I clocked off and untied my apron as I went to the front where Kyle and Lydia were waiting. "Really? My car?"

"Doesn't look like my motorbike or Lyd's bike would cater for the three of us." Kyle said cockily and I chuckled along with Lydia, unlocking my car and taking out Hamza's baby seat. Kyle put it in the boot as I got into the drivers seat to leave, Lydia quickly stealing shotgun as Kyle groaned because he was stuck at the back.

"Mind all the mess in the back." I said as I noticed Kyle's eyes roaming all the toys, rubbish, scraps and other lost and forgotten objects that loitered the small space in the back. "That's what happens when you've got two kids."

Kyle laughed loudly, waving a dismissive hand as he picked up a toothbrush with raised eyebrows, making me chuckle.

Hamza had an obsession with toothbrushes at one stage where he would not leave the house unless he had a toothbrush in his hand.

"We're splitting petrol money, by the way." I stated jokingly and Lydia laughed.

"Hey! You two can split. I was just told to come as a third party."

"Yes, Lydia only came as our chaperone." Kyle said, wiggling his eyebrows at me through the rear view mirror.

I shook my head with a light smile as I slowed at a stop light. "So, where are we going?"

"Pip cafe?" Lydia suggested and both Kyle and I grunted in disagreement. 

"Too crowded." Kyle said.

"And way too expensive."

"Cafe Haiti then?" She suggested another and I shrugged.

"Yeah, sure." Kyle said and I nodded as I took the next exit.

"Then we can go beach side later and have ice cream." I said, feeling excited since I might finally be able to have my ice cream after all and they both agreed happily.

"It's been ages since I've had ice cream!" Lydia said clapping her hands as she turned on the radio, getting even more excited once she heard Drake's voice flow through the speakers.

"Haram." I commented in a sing song voice and she rolled her eyes.

"It's gonna be my haram, not yours so shhh." She said and I shook my head with a laugh as Kyle began taking a snapchat video. He bought the screen to my face and I laughed but kept focussing on the road and not looking at him or his phone screen.

"Yeah, cool. Take Sumayya and not me." Lydia commented and Kyle chuckled before posting a story and then recording yet another, this time showing Lydia who was more than happy to feature on Kyle's snapchat.

After he finished recording I called my mum, telling her I'd be back before dinner and she told me it was no problem.

After drinking coffee with some dessert and taking a couple of Instagram photos, we piled back into the car, this time Kyle managing to sit shotgun.

We made our way to the beach side around 5pm and bought ice cream, deciding to walk around the coast footpath once we realised that the benches were all full.

"Aye, Sumayya. I've got a joke for you." Lydia said and I raised my eyebrows.

"Why me and not Kyle and me?" I asked her suspiciously.

"Oh my god. You and Kyle whatever." She sighed. "Knock knock."

I rolled my eyes. "Who's there?"

"The interrupting pig."

I raised an eyebrow. "The interrupting..." I couldn't even finish my part before Kyle cut me off.

"Moo!"

I put on a weird face as I looked at Kyle while Lydia burst out into laughter.

"Moo?" I asked him, understanding the joke, but not knowing if Kyle had understood the joke himself even though he was clearly apart of it. "She said pig."

He lightly slapped Lydia's shoulder. "You were supposed to say cow!" He complained as I laughed. "I guess she changed her mind without consulting her partner in crime." He muttered, seeming genuinely annoyed at their half-failed joke attempt.

Lydia took in much needed breaths before wiping tears off her cheeks. "I thought you'd realise and change it on your own!" She said.

"Well I didn't really have enough time to think, okay?"

"When did you even plan that?" I asked as I laughed loudly at their little argument. All this because of one attempted joke.

"When you filled up the tank." Kyle grunted and I laughed as I looked at the anger on his face as he begrudgingly continued to lick his ice cream. Shaking my head I looked ahead only my laugh was cut short at the two people I saw sitting on a bench across the beach, eating a cone filled with hot chips and topped with tomato sauce.

It was some girl. A hijabi. Someone I'd never seen before. She was covering her mouth as she chewed and laughed at the same time.

Sitting next to her, looking down and smiling was none other than Zaid. I couldn't help but stare at them as they continued to laugh and smile at each other and only when we had gotten closer did Kyle and Lydia realise my mood change.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard Lydia's voice but I couldn't quite make out what she said as my whole world seemed to be spinning and before I knew it, Kyle shouted my name and hooked his arms under mine as he stopped me from falling to the floor.

My vision went hazy for a while and I could only focus on Zaid's shocked expression as he ran closer to me in panic.

Finally after what seemed like more than the 30 seconds it was, my head stopped spinning and my mind didn't feel as fuzzy.

I held Kyle's hand that was resting over my shoulders and he aided me to get up as Zaid now looked angry alongside concerned.

"Are you okay?" Both boys asked at the same time.

I continued to look at Zaid. Why was he so concerned?

Clearly, everything that he had told me was a lie.

My eyes shifted to the girl who was with Zaid, still sitting on the bench, looking in our direction with an unreadable expression.

I turned my head back to Zaid before swallowing the lump in my throat and looking up at Kyle, giving him a small smile. "I'm fine. Thank you." I said gratefully and he nodded, slowly releasing his arm from my body as if he thought that I could fall at any moment.

From the suspicious look on Kyle's face, I assumed that he had recognised Zaid from that time at the restaurant but he chose to stay silent.

"Sumayya..." Zaid began but I cut him off, completely ignoring and turning away from him before he could say anything else.

"You guys wanna head back now?" I asked Kyle and Lydia and they both nodded as Lydia put her arm through mine and led me back towards the car park.

"Sumayya, wait!" Zaid called from behind me and I felt him grab my other arm. Instead of ignoring him I turned around and gave him a hopeful look. "Please, please don't make a scene right now." I said softly, turning back around.

"Suma..."

"She said don't make a scene, bro." Kyle said through clenched teeth as he stopped, turning around and placing his hand on Zaid's chest to stop him from getting closer to me as if he was my personal bodyguard.

I felt weird seeing him act that way, but I was glad nonetheless.

"How about you stay out of it?"

"How about you leave? Now." Kyle said, his jaw twitching.

"Who are you? Or wait, who do you think you are?" Zaid asked, using his arm to move Kyle's hand off his chest.

"Bro, I'm serious. Leave or I'll be the one making a f**cking scene."

"Enough." I whisper shouted. "Zaid, I really don't want to talk to you right now. I don't want to talk to you at all. Leave me alone."

"You can't go thinking that."

"Thinking what?" I said, narrowing my eyes as I took a step towards him. "There's nothing to think, everything is pretty clear actually."

"No, it's not. You need to..." I cut him off.

"Listen. I know. You've been saying the same thing over and over again, I get it. Now can you please understand that I don't want to listen!? I've told you fifty times already. Leave me alone. There's nothing to talk about."

"But..."

"That's f**king enough, mate. She wants you to stay away so f**king stay away." Kyle said, using his palm to lightly pull my shoulder back, moving me away from Zaid. When I wasn't budging he turned his head to me and narrowed his eyes in warning.

There he goes again. Seriously, did he think he was my bodyguard or something?

I looked up at him before sighing and walking away, letting Lydia pull me to the car park.

"What the bloody hell was all that about?" She asked but I just exhaled loudly and rubbed my forehead.

"It's way too long of a story to explain, Lyd." I said, wondering what was going on between Kyle and Zaid while we just sat in the car and waited on Kyle's return.

"Looks like you need a bodyguard of sorts." She commented and a small smile took over my face despite my anxious mood at what she stated tying in perfectly with my previous thoughts about Kyle. 

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Ahhh! What's going on???

Who is that sister next to Zaid??? Lmaoo! Take a guess of who you think it may be or what you think is going on and we'll see if anyone's right :)

Don't forget to vote and drop a couple of comments here and there for quicker updates. ;))

As salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu ❤ Xx