Halima's POV(Noor's mother)

Excerpt from the untamed storms
*Not edited*

It was a few minutes to noon. I was writing on my black diary and working on some designs that needed to be fixed. My head throbbed badly as I took a sip from my homemade ginger and clove tea.

The door bell rand loudly, almost making me spill my tea. Who could be at the door, I thought. I had given Khadija the day off and Noor wouldn't be back until after Zuhr.

I opened the door to a young man that seemed to be in his early twenties. He greeted and I shuffled my brain for his face. He looked so familiar...his face brought back so many memories of someone special. He then coughed before speaking. "Umm...My name is Rayhaan...I brought your daughter back the other day..she was lost" he said. "It was also raining" he added.

"Oh..I'm sorry, please come in" I said remembering where I saw his face. I shook my head slowly. "It's not him" I silently said.

He came inside and sat on the carpet. "Oh please get up, sit on the chair. Please I insist" he then reluctantly sat on the sofa. He has such good manners.

I gave him something to drink before i sat on the opposite sofa to hear what he came for. He then pulled out a small box from his pocket and gently placed it on the small table.

"Umm..she dropped this in my car the other day.. I thought I should return it" he said. I looked at the familiar bracelet on the table before I spoke.

"That's so nice of you..Noor had been throwing tantrums for this bracelet. Thank you"I said.

"Oh it was my duty to return it" he said then placed the empty cup of Zobo on the table slowly, as if he's contemplating to tell me something. He then finally spoke.

"I wanted to talk to you about something" he said.

"Yes. Go on" I replied.

"She seems to have...umm..some issues. I'm saying this as a doctor, because when I dropped her here, the other day, she took a while before she said she lives here. She didn't recognize her house in an instant" he said.

"You're a doctor?" I asked and he nodded. "She had been diagnosed with depressive psychosis two years ago" I slowly added. He seemed to have understood everything in my last sentence.

"She has refused any treatment or therapy. She keeps on lying to her doctor that she's fine. I know she's not. Even though she says she doesn't get nightmares anymore, I hear her screams in the middle of the night. I console her after every terrifying nightmare. She talks to herself sometimes, or sometimes she talks to the wall or her stuffed toys" I rambled. The truth was I wanted it all out. I wanted someone to speak to. He looked so much like her. I wanted to speak to her. Only Allah knows where she is now.

He nodded and I continued. "She lies every time to her doctor. She's not fine and she's refusing treatment. I don't know what to do anymore"

He was silent for a while before he spoke. "Can I help?"

I don't know if it's his familiar face, or his voice. But I said yes to this stranger that offered to help. I just want my daughter to be alright.

He left after I gave him her hospital files and he promised to speak with his colleagues and find a suitable treatment.

I thanked him afterwards and retired to my room.

Sadeeq called me after I prayed zuhr.

"Salam alaikum" he spoke

"Wa'alaikumus salam" I answered. Then it was silent for a while.

He wasn't like this before. Sadeeq was a chatterbox, alway talking, cracking jokes. But now, he is distant, very distant. I wonder when things will be alright between us.

Whatever had happened to Noor wasn't only a big incident in her life, it destroyed what we tried to build with Sadeeq. It destroyed our little home. Our little friendship.

It destroyed the tiny seed of love that had began to germinate into something.

"How are you?" He asked, and I could hear a car honk from the background. He can't make time to even call me. It has to be when he is driving? I'm his first wife for goodness sake.

"I'm fine" I said bluntly trying to keep my anger inside me. I silently repeated the words of my father.

Don't let the anger show, keep it burning inside of you, always conceal it....

"And noor?" He asked and I could tell he had severe sore throat.

"She's also fine"

"I..um..I don't think I'd be able to spend Ramadan wih you. I'm so sorry. The governor has invited us to discuss a very big project and the meetings would take place most of the days of the month. I..I know it hasn't been..uh..right of me, but I'll make it up to you Sadiya, I promise.

One thing I had noticed about Sadeeq in almost 25years of marriage, he doesn't know how to use word to express himself properly and he stammers a bit when he's guilty of something. Maybe he's actually guilty of not spending much time with us.

"Uh okay. It's alright. I'm sure it must be something very Important."

"And uh..there's something I needed to ask you" Sadeeq said. "Jamila is going to Abuja, so I wanted to know if it was okay if she stayed with you"

I felt sandwiched between two answers. When I thought of Noor, my answer was no! My child wouldn't be able to face her, and then on he other hand Jamila was my stepdaughter, I was willing to do anything to strengthen our bond.

"Yes, it's fine" I heard myself say

"Thank you Sadiya" he had said, before the line went dead.

Now I had to find a way to tell Noor about this.

**

Wattpad is misbehaving😐
My published chapters are vanishing into hin air. I had to rewrite this one also. It's really really hard to remember what I wrote again so I made major changes to the chapter.

Also, this story was original know as 'Trials of life'
I have now changed the title to 'Trials of Noor'

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Husnah❣️