31~Why do you hate me? #2
Hanan's expression hardened.
"I don't want you dead."
She stepped closer.
"I want you to grow old and rot inside prison. I want you to wake up every morning behind those walls, forced to remember every innocent life you destroyed."
Hajiya laughed. "Is that so?"
"Yes."
Hanan swallowed the lump in her throat.
"And I pity you."
Her voice softened.
"You once told me everyone would want a daughter like me... except you."
A tear escaped her eye.
"I agree. You never deserved me."
She paused.
"You didn't even deserve Amina or anyone."
"You destroyed her life too."
Her voice broke.
"You turned her against me."
She looked straight into Hajiya's eyes.
"Why?"
"Why did you hate me so much?"
For the first time, Hajiya's smile disappeared.
Her face twisted with years of buried resentment.
"Because..."
She hissed through clenched teeth.
"You reminded me of my younger self."
She took another shaky breath.
"And every time I look at you..."
Her eyes burned with hatred.
"I saw Faiza."
"You looked exactly like the woman I hated more than anyone."
Before Hanan could react, another voice thundered across the courtyard.
"Don't you dare say my mother's name!"
Najib stormed toward them, fury blazing in his eyes.
"A slum girl like me dreamed of becoming a wealthy man's wife." Hajiya laughed bitterly.
"I sacrificed everything for that dream. Years of humiliation... years of waiting... and when I finally became Alhaji's wife, I thought my suffering was over."
Her smile vanished.
"But it was only the beginning."
"I spent years trying to earn this family's acceptance. I humbled myself before everyone. I begged for respect. I served people who looked down on me..."
Tears welled in her eyes.
"Yet I was nothing more than a guest in my own home."
She slowly pointed at Hanan.
"Then you appeared."
"A poor village girl... just like I once was."
"Yet within days, everyone loved you."
"Grandma adored you."
"Najib loved you."
"The staff respected you."
"Even strangers defended you."
"Tell me..." She shouted. "WHY?!"
"Weren't we both from nothing? Why were we treated so differently?"
She laughed bitterly.
"Because of your precious mother... Faiza."
She turned toward Najib.
"Your saint of a mother ruined my life!"
"If she had never married Alhaji, I would've been his only wife. I would've been accepted. I would've been respected."
"Every single day I prayed for her death, believing that once she was gone, this family would finally see me as one of them."
Her expression darkened.
"She died..."
"Yet nothing changed."
She looked toward Grandma with burning hatred.
"You still refused to accept me."
"I threw away my education."
"I got pregnant young just to force Alhaji to marry me."
"I destroyed my own reputation, my family nearly disowned me..."
"And still..."
"I wasn't worthy of becoming your daughter in law."
"But Habiba was?"
She laughed through tears.
"She was treated like a queen while I remained the woman everyone whispered about, the homewrecker."
"Tell me..."
"Am I not human too?"
"Didn't I deserve love and acceptance?"
"Didn't I deserve respect?"
Finally, she faced Hanan.
"Then history repeated itself."
"Just as Faiza came between me and Alhaji..."
"You came between Zaitun and Najib."
"Every time I looked at you..."
"I saw the younger version of myself."
"Every smile you received..."
"Was another reminder of everything I was denied."
Hanan stepped forward, her eyes cold. "No."
"The difference between us isn't poverty."
"It's your choices."
"You chose to be a homewrecker."
"You chose jealousy."
"You chose hatred."
"You chose murder."
"You became exactly what you hated and now you will spend the rest of your life living with the consequences of your ugly actions."
She looked toward the officers.
"Take her away."
And in seconds, Hajiya freed her hands from the policemen, she grabbed one of their guns and aimed it at her head.
Everyone gasped.
"No one should come closer! No one!" She glared pulling the trigger.
"You don't wish me death right?" She smirked at Hanan.
"Well, watch me end my life after yours!" She frowned and immediately fired the gun.
The gunshot echoed through the court grounds.
But it wasn't as deafening as the screams that followed.
Shock. Terror. Panic.
The entire courtyard erupted into chaos.
For a few seconds, Hanan couldn't process what had happened.
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again and again, convinced she must have died.
Instead, she found herself lying on the cold ground.
A heavy weight pressed against her body.
Confused, she slowly lifted her trembling hands and touched the face resting against her shoulder.
The moment she saw him, her eyes widened.
"Faruk...?"
Her voice cracked.
Her hands became too weak to hold him. They slipped away as she froze in disbelief.
"Habiba!"
Najib rushed to her side, dropping to his knees.
He cupped her face with both hands, his eyes frantically searching her for injuries.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, his voice shaking.
She could only manage a faint shake of her head.
Relief washed over him.
"Alhamdulillah..."
Without thinking, he pulled her tightly into his embrace.
She didn't respond.
Her eyes remained fixed on her trembling hands.
"Habiba?" Najib called again, pulling back when he noticed the horror on her face.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Najib..." She whispered.
"Yes?"
She slowly raised her bloodstained hands.
"You're bleeding?" Najib gasped, immediately reaching for her.
"I'm taking you to the hospital."
He slipped one arm beneath her, ready to lift her into his arms.
She grabbed his wrist.
"No..."
Her voice broke.
"It's... it's not my blood."
She looked past him.
"It's Faruk's."
Another sob escaped her lips.
"He... he was shot."
"He took the bullet meant for me."
Najib froze.
His heart dropped.
Slowly, he turned.
Faruk lay motionless a short distance away, blood spreading beneath him.
For the first time that morning, even Najib's composure shattered.
"Call an ambulance!"
His voice thundered across the courtyard.
"Someone help!"