Chapter 8: His Friend

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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.

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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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