Zayn rushed to the hospital. He doubt he had ever drove that fast in his entire twenty eight years of life. But even then, he feared that he wasn't fast enough.

The minute he parked the car, he jumped out of it and all but ran into the hospital. He didn't care one bit about the people that stared at him with curious looks masking their features. How could he care when the life of one of the most important people to him is on the line?

He headed directly to the ICU, where he saw a couple of people standing outside it whom no doubt the doctors inside sent them out. He spotted Sabrina there, along with Hanif, and quite surprisingly, Aasim and Hayra were there too with sullen looks.

But his attention was on them, it was solely on the person sitting on the waiting chairs with a bandaid covering a side on her temple.

The sound of his footsteps was what gained their attention all. Sabrina who had red, swollen eyes was the first to speak, "Zayn..." She croaked out, her voice cracking as if his sight brought back all the emotions she had been trying to keep at bay.

Hanif was quick to place his hand over her shoulder, pulling her into a warm embrace as she tried to sniff the tears back.

Zayn uttered no word to his sister, as he made his way over to the waiting chair and sat beside her. He eyed the bandaid with brows drawn in, noting how despite it being there, the area still looked a bit swollen and red which a a huge contrast to her light skin. He then blew out a low breath, "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice soft. "What happened to you?"

Batoulah offered him a small smile, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine" And that was the truth. Sure, the wound hurts but she had was alright. Her wound is nothing compared to the issue at hand. Intentionally, she refused to anwer his second question.

She didn't want to answer it in front of the four people who were undoubtedly staring at them.

Zayn didn't seemed convinced for a second, but he nodded eventually. He then looked up, his gaze falling on Hanif, "How is he? The doctor said..." He couldn't even repeat the words the man said. It was hard enough hearing it, but voicing it is harder.

Hanif released a small sigh. "They are preparing him for surgery, but nothing is certain yet" His voice came out low. All he did was to simply leave along with Sabrina to get food for Mama, and when they returned, the man was at the brink of dying.

Zayn's eyes moved round the place, searching for the one person he so desperately wanted to talk to. He needed to. The emotions he felt from what he discovered earlier were still there, heavy on his shoulders. "Where's..." He shifted his gaze from Sabrina to her husband, "...Mama?"

Sabrina sniffed, wiping some of the tears from her face but there was no use, more kept cascading. "We don't know..."

"When we came back, she wasn't there. Only Batoulah was" Hanif completed the sentence for his wife, knowing the way she trailed off, she could no longer talk.

Zayn shifted his gaze to Batoulah who was simply staring at space, a conflicted look masking her features. "Batoulah?" He called out, making her snap out of her chain of thoughts. Hearing him voice out her name like that felt weird, considering he always uses the 'Dr' prefix. "You sure you're alright?" For some reason, despite everything he is going through, she still wondered whether she's alright or not.

Maybe it's because she was the onethat called the other doctors when his father was at the brink of dying before Sabrina and Hanif arrived.

She swallowed thickly, "Can we talk? In private?" Her voice came out barely above a whisper, making sure only he heard her.

Zayn blinked, then stared at the ICU where his father was being prepared to be moved out for surgery, a bit of doubt clouded his features. He didn't want to leave.

"Please"

Her voice came again, and the desperation he heard in her tone was the reason he snapped his gaze to her for a moment, eying her features for a moment briefly before he nodded. He knew whatever she wanted to say to him must be important.

The two stood up, and made their way away from the four people who had been eying their exchange quietly. Yet no one uttered a word about it, not even when he rounded the corner away from prying eyes.

"What did you want to talk about?" Zayn asked, the minute they stoppedonce they were out of sight from people.

Batoulah uttered no words. Instead, she slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Tapping, and swiping the screen a couple of times, she finally handed it over to him.

Zayn held the phone in his hand, and the more he watched the video, the more his grip on it tightened. His eyes hardened, jaw clenched. The video wasn't long, but in it was the truth that Zayn had been trying to deny.

Batoulah swallowed thickly. "I haven't told or shown it to anyone" Her voice came out low. "I figured you'd be the one to want to find out first considering everything that's going in your life" She added, carefully watching his expression.

He seemed furious. But more importantly, he was hurt. He tried to hide it but it was evident in the way he brought the phone down and shook his head, clenching his eyes.

Her next words came out as nothing more than a whisper. "I'm sorry Zayn"

Those three words, they kept running in his head as he drove his way over to the house he grew up in. He stormed out after handing her phone over to her, that was the last bit of calm he mustered up but it all got thrown out of the window the minute he stepped out of the hospital.

It took him a couple of minutes before he had the energy in him to even start the car.

He had so many thoughts and questions runnung through his head, and he was well aware that he wouldn't get any peace without getting his answers. So, he drove to the only place where he knew he would get his answers.

The minute he arrived at the Danbatta residence, he stepped out of the car not bothering how he parked it. He opened the front door, then stepped in, slamming the door shut making the sound resonate round the empty house. It has always been like that except for the maids running round the house.

But on that very day, even the maids were absent. The house was oddly quiet.

Zayn didn't leave because of that though. He pushed himself forward and headed upstairs. The minute he reached the top of the stairs, he heard movements from his parent's room; as he expected.

His fingers curled around the rail tightly, mentally preparing himself for the conversation that's about to go down. Realizing that standing there won't help one bit, he pushed his legs forward and stepped into the room whose door was left slightly ajar.

His feet quitely padded on the floor, as the more steps he took, the more he dreaded coming face to face with her. But no matter how slow he walked, he couldn't avoid it. And soon enough, he stood, facing her as she rushed to pack her clothes into a suitcase she placed on the bed.

She was too engrossed that she didn't realize him standing right behind her.

Suddenly, his throat felt parched and his eyes welled with tears he hasn't shed in ten whole years. His lips parted to say something but only one word came out. "Why?"

She stopped in her tracks. Turning around slowly, she rested her gaze on her only son. "Ahmed..." She tried to take a step close to him.

But Zayn stepped away from her, shaking his head slightly. "Just answer me Mama, why?"

She blinked, tears forming in her eyes but she refuse to let it fall. Her face was already red with the anger she had been holding in for years. Yet that resolve of hers was slowly melting away the minute she laid her eyes on the betrayed look on his face.

She couldn't handle her children looking at her that way; anyone else but them. "Ahmed, I...I did what I had to"

Zayn chuckled humorlessly, looking down as the tears continued to fall. "So it really is you" He whispered, the mere words breaking his heart into tiny pieces that he doubt he can put back together again.

She shook her head furiously, stepping closer to him as she took his face in hers, her own tears finally falling. "No Ahmed, don't say that, please" She pleaded, "Don't look at me like that. Remember, I'm still your mother that loves you so much"

Zayn pushed her hands away from his face as lightly as he could though every fiber in his being was screaming at him to do otherwise. But depsite everything, he couldn't bring himself to even think of hurting her.

He was too hurt to even think of hurting anyone.

He looked away, swallowing thickly as his eyes stung with tears. He then let out a loud breath, throwing a glance at her. "I trusted you, we all did. And how...how can you do that to your own child? How could you betray us like this?"

She continued to shake her head, her tears never stopping.

On any other occasion, he would've felt sorry for her but those tears, she shed the exact same tears when Kulsum died and by the looks of it, she was simply faking it then. How could he know that she wasn't faking it at the moment too.

She couldn't speak though. She was hoping that Alhaji Danbatta would die, and then no one would ever find out the things she ahd done since she had them all wiped out of existence but that doctor simply had to show up. Of course, she managed to hit her head with the first object she found in sight, but she doubted that would kill the girl off.

How she wished it would though.

And that Detective, the friend of Zayn. How she was planning on ending him. Her boys said they took care of him, but she wouldn't be sure until she sees his corpse right in front of her.

Then she would live happily with her kids with no one to disturb their beautiful life.

She was too delusional for her own sake.

But her plans obviously were ruined, since the son that she so desperately loves hate her.

Zayn sniffed, burying his face between his palms when he could no longer stare at her. But he couldn't just keep quiet with everything that's going through his head. So, he looked up, biting his lip hard to hold back the tears. "How could you do that to Dad too?"

"No I didn't do anything Ahmed, please, trust me" She knew her words were blatant lies, but she was hoping he would believe her. He always trusted his poor mother.

"I saw the video Mama! How can you still deny it?" His voice rose slightly, his eyes red with anger. "You removed his life support! Were you hoping that he would die so he wouldn't expose you?"

"YES!" She finally snapped as she yelled, her hands thrown up in exasperation. "Yes! I was hoping he would die. That was the reason why I swapped his heart disease medicine with the ones that would make him have a heart attack. I was hoping he would die and meet his daughter so they could have a family reunion. That's what he wants afterall" She stated through clenched teeth. Her face coated in nothing but pure hatred.

"She's your daughter too!"

"NO SHE IS NOT!" She screamed again, this time her tone higher than Zayn had ever heard her before. He was stunned to be honest, as he stood rooted in his spot simply staring at her. At that moment, she was not the mother had grown up knowing her.

No. She was someone else who was eaten up completely by hatred.

Yet that tears never stoppedstreaming down her face. It continued, just like his. "She's not my daughter"This time around her voice came out lower. "And neither are you my child"