Chapter 26

Shit!

Shit!!

Fuck!!!

I watched her frown, a glare directed at me as she approached the table, She sat opposite us.

"This is Mrs Balogun from the Ministry, she has been assigned to the child and will be representing her." She explained.

"Mrs Balogun this is Hajiya Jiddah Barde and her grandson Mr. Abubakar Abdullahi, the..."

"I know who he is My Lord. In fact I believe this will be a very straightforward case. Mr. Abdullahi is not fit to be a parent, I am positive you are aware of his exploits."

"Mrs Balogun I am sure you are familiar with how people can change" Hajiya interjected.

The woman frowned at her before looking over at the judge.

"I don't see how a person who has no control or sense of responsibility can change overnight. Due to his lack of responsibility, he is not even in charge of his parents' company." She snapped.

"If I may, My Lord" the lawyer interjected "due to the previous nature of Mr. Abubakar, we have decided to make Mrs Jiddah Barde as the co adopter, so as to balance the equation." He explained. The judge nodded but was quickly interrupted by Mrs Balogun.

"Mrs Jiddah Barde would surely side with her grandson and we should consider the age factor. She is not exactly a young woman and taking care of a child requires a lot of effort on both parties which I cannot say I see happening. Besides the financial constraints of adopting a child should be considered" she argued.

I felt my fist tighten under the table, I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying something I would regret.

"I assure Mrs Balogun. My clients have no issue when it comes to finances" Mr Lawal retorted eyes narrowed.

"Mrs Jiddah Barde might not have any constraints but Mr Abubakar cannot raise a child on his paltry salary." She snapped.

"That's enough Mrs Balogun, I adjourn this meeting till next week Monday. I'll continue deliberating on the issue however I would like Mrs Balogun to watch how the family interacts with Yasmin for two weeks. I want daily reports which I will also consider before I come to a final verdict." She said before standing up.

"Fuck" I muttered under my breathe. This made no sense and why out of all the support workers in Abuja, why her?

"I will send a schedule of my daily visits, however don't expect me to keep to it. I like to catch people unaware, seeing their true colour and not what they paint for society ensures what kind of home the judge will be sending a child into." she said. I glared at her swallowing the string of curse words that were threatening to flow out of my mouth.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Come on man" Khalifa said. We walked out of the room, the woman following us.

I collected Yasmin from Najma rubbing her back as she stirred from her sleep.

"Shhhh... go back to sleep" I murmured rocking her while descending the steps to the car park. I buckled her in while Hajiya talked to the woman.

Najma came over to me as I stood straight, a frown marring my face.

"Don't worry, everything will work out" she soothed rubbing my shoulder. I sighed shaking my head.

"I'm just so pissed off."

"You need to calm down Abba, think of Yasmin."

I took a deep breath glancing down at Yasmin before letting it out and nodding.

"We'll see you guys later" she said, I watched them say goodbye to Hajiya before leaving.

Hajiya came over and we got into the car, we drove home in silence, my attention on Yasmin throughout.

"Mr. Lawal is going to come over later in the day and we'll see what we can do about this" she said reaching over to squeeze my hand. I smiled back at her before turning my attention back to Yasmin.

We got home and I helped Yasmin out of the car. She raced into the house, probably going to bug Atine. I paused, a frown on my lips. Hajiya placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Abba, it will be fine. Everything will work out. Stop worrying about it."

"Thank you Hajiya, I'll be in the chalet if you need me" I murmured heading to the chalet and laid on the couch, feeling exhausted. I slowly drifted asleep.

**********************

A knock woke me up, I sat up rubbing my face.

"Coming" I called out, I grabbed my phone checking the time.

12.00pm

I staggered to the door and unlocked it, Najma and Khalifa walked in.

"Did we wake you up?" Najma asked.

"Don't worry about it." I said sitting, they sat on the love seat opposite me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Najma who still looked a bit pale.

"Fine, I just have this splitting headache." She groaned massaging her temples.

"What about you? How are you holding up?" Khalifa asked.

"I'm freaking out, Oh God why does it have to be that woman?" I groaned rubbing my eyes.

"That reminds me... what's up with you and the woman, you looked frightened when she came in and she looked like she wanted to kill you" Khalifa asked.

I sighed leaning back.

"It's a long story" I whispered.

"We have all the time in the world" he replied, wrapping an arm around the back of the love seat."

"Last year my friends and I met at a club, a mutual friend was throwing a party and well, Afrah was there." I started.

"Who's Afrah?" Najma asked.

"Mrs. Balogun's niece" I answered clearing my throat before continuing. "She was with one of the guys, I only glanced at her once or twice, she didn't look a day over 19. It seemed odd that a girl her age was at a club, hell we were all way older than her. She shouldn't have been there. Anyway, there was alcohol, drugs, the usual mix with Jamal's friend. I was the designated driver so I stuck to my Roy Roger. But Afrah, she kept on drinking. I guess she loved the attention the rest of the guys were giving her. I ended up going to the toilet and by the time I was back, she was unconscious. They were all shit faced drunk so I ended up taking her to the hospital. Her alcohol level was dangerously high, unfortunately a family friend of hers worked in the hospital and he called her aunt in. Everything went downhill from there. She came in guns blazing, accusing me of something I didn't do and I was already pissed off at the whole situation so I snapped at her, said a few choice words and stormed out. That was the first and last I saw of her and now she's back." I murmured.

"Well... you're fucked" He stated, Najma glared at him. "What?! You and I know it's true."

She hissed turning to me smiling reassuringly.

"Everything will be fine."

"I hope so"

A knock at the door made us all look up.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Naima." A voice answered.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a maid.

"Hajiya wants to see you in the living room" she said before taking her leave.

"We should get going too" Khalifa said standing, Najma stood next to him, a little bit unsteady on her feet.

"I'll see you guys around. Take care of yourself Najma. I'll call you later." I replied. We walked out together and I took the shortcut to the main house while they headed to the front where their car was parked.

"You wanted to see me?" I prompted as I sat, shaking the hand of the lawyer.

"Yes. Mr. Lawal here, has made plans with Mrs Balogun as to the suitable arrangement of how this is going to work." She explained before gesturing to him to continue.

"The social worker and I have decided on random visits within reasonable hours. She will be able to see the relationship between you and Yasmin and make her reports without any complications." He explained.

"Better, I wouldn't put it past that woman to turn up at night. she already has it out for me?" I murmured out before turning to Mr Lawal.

"Isn't there a way we can have her changed?" I asked.

"Unfortunately there isn't. As much as I can see that she will be a problem, we can't do anything about it." He answered. I groaned rubbing my face with my hands.

"This sucks" I muttered.

"Worry not, hopefully this will be a walk in the park. I'll take my leave and please do contact me if anything arises." He said before exiting the room.

"Well, that was hectic." I whispered leaning back into the chair.

Hajiya smiled in response.

"You'll put through." She assured leaning over to pat my hand.

Hopefully Hajiya, hopefully

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A/N

Double updates because well... the last chapter was way too short. What do you guys think of Mrs Balogun?

Let me know.

Sarah

Xoxo