THE COLOSSAL BLUNDER

Chapter 3

It was the 31st of December and also Nabeel's birthday. He woke up and thanked Allah for blessing him to see another year. He had just turned 37 that year.

He had already planned out what he was going to do for the day. He was going to spend the whole day with his family because Mami had been complaining about how he doesn't visit them often since he has busied himself with office work.

He got ready after zuhr prayers, Nabeel took a shower and got dressed into a white caftan with a brown Borno cap and sprayed his favorite oud, he grabbed his cellphone, wallet and car keys Then made his way for family home for the first time in a long while. .

Soon he arrived at the Uwais Mansion seeing that it was 15mins drive from where he lived. While parking his car, he could see his brother's kids playing in the garden . Coming out of his car the only thing he heard was "uncle Nay Nay!" Shouted Aisha who was called Fahima because she was named after thier mother . She ran towards him on full speed with her siblings following behind her. seeing that he was their favorite Uncle, you could imagine the amount of joy and excitement in their eyes after seeing him.

"ina wuni Uncle Nay Nay" she greeted while giving him a tight bear hug . " lafiya lau princess and how are you" he asked "I'm fine!" she replied with full enthusiasm. " And how are you little munchkins" he asked her siblings namely Muhammad, Imran and Sumayya. "we are fine Uncle Nay Nay" they replied with enthusiasm as well.

" Grandmami said today was your birthday koh Uncle nay nay?" Fahima asked while holding his hand as they were walking towards the house. " yes that is true. Today is my birthday" he said "Yay! Happy birthday Uncle Nay Nay" they all chorused very loudly.

"Thank you Munchkins Thank you" he said giving each of them a kiss on the forehead. He made his way to the kitchen guessing that was where Mami would be. His mother was a complete Arabian woman from Libya, that was where Nabeel got his looks from. "Assalamualaikum Mami Good afternoon" he said while making his way to hug her. "Waalaikumus salam Habibi A Good afternoon to you too and wishing you a very Happy birthday Barakallahu feek, Hafizakallah!" she said Returning his hug Giving him a pat on the back as well. "Ameen Mami Jazakillah khairan" he returned.

Just then Asim walked into the kitchen singing the Happy Birthday song loudly to Nabeel making him block his ears dramatically. "Happy birthday bro" Asim said patting Nabeel on the back. "Thank you, but please never sing again, you have a terrible voice , hearing you sing is like t*****e. If you had continued another second my ear drums would have popped out" Nabeel said while laughing making Asim release a huge dramatic gasp while putting his hand on his chest feign being hurt.

"So what are we doing today? Are we celebrating or you're going to be that big old boring guy again this year and say no to celebrating" As Nabeel was about to answer Mami was quick to cut him off and say "There's no way he will stop us from having a little family dinner today. I have already called your siblings and I have told them the time to come. All you have to do is get good outfit, wear it and enjoy yourself. Yufham?" she said with a tone of finality. Making Nabeel nod. "By the way go and see your father, he has been missing you ever since you left. He didn't say it but It's clear. Drop your misunderstandings aside and go greet him now!" Mami said leaving Nabeel with no scope for argument. He looked at Asim with pleading eyes and Asim understood the message and followed him to go greet Abba together. Ever since Nabeel decided to separate from Faiza his ex wife, Nabeel shared a sour relationship with his father because his father blamed him for ruining a good relationship between him and his friend that was also part of the stakeholders of the company.

They reach the door to Abba's study knowing that was where he spent his afternoons before going to his living room after magrib prayers. Both Nabeel and Asim gave each other a glance before Asim landed a soft knock on the door “yes, come in” taking that as their cue Asim twisted the door nob opening the large oak wood which gave full view of Abba who looked so busy going through some documents that were on the table. "Salamualaikum" Asim and Nabeel chorused. "Waalaikumus Salam" Abba replied while raising his head which was focused on what he reading seconds ago. Abba pulled up his glasses to get a clearer view of who was coming in . "Ina wuni Abba" they said in unison " lafiya lau ya kuke? Nabeel, we don't see much of you around here, Your mother is always complaining about how you don’t come over anymore” Abba said in his usual casual tone. "Abba work has been hectic since we decided to give the workers a holiday for the end of the year." Nabeel replied casually as well "Yayi kyau toh. Asim I've seen the work you've done with accounts and I'm very impressed. Allah ya muku albarka gaba dayan ku." " Thank you Abba. it's all because of your duas." Asim replied to Abba's compliment. "Mun gode Abba" they said in unison while making thier way to leave the study. Just as Nabeel was about to close the door, Abba spoke once again Making Nabeel stop. "Oh and Nabeel Happy birthday. May Allah continue to bless you." A shocked Nabeel replied "Ameen Jazakallah khairan Abba". With that he closed the door.

Nabeel and Asim walked downstairs hearing voices from Mami's living room. They entered and saw they're cousins and siblings all catching fun with one another seeing as they hardly get together like this.

Rashad Nabeel's younger brother sees Nabeel entering and says " Here comes the birthday boy!" While making his way to hug his brother. Nabeel felt a little embarrassed. He hated fhe attention. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" chorused everyone as wel making him muster the largest smile he could.

Soon it was magrib after a series of catching up with each other on life, work and other things. The men made their way to the compound masjid while the ladies prayed inside. As they were walking towards the main house Asim decided to call Aneesa seeing as they hadn't talked thru out that day.

"Salamualaikum Good evening Noor." he said earning a look from Nabeel. "Waalaikumus salam" she answered giggling. After that they exchanged pleasantries and when Asim was about to hang up, She said "Extend my birthday wishes to Mr Nabeel, would you?" "Sure" he said and hung up. "Aneesa the girl from last night said I should wish you a happy birthday" He told Nabeel making him smile and he told Asim to thank her on his behalf.

Soon they had thier dinner which was filled with jokes here and there. Mami had amazing libyan biryani and curry along with some other dishes. After eating all that delicacies, all Nabeel wanted was to go home and lay down on his bed do a few things and then sleep.

When he was about to leave he went to Abba's living room and to say goodnight.

He got a gift bag from Mami which she told him not to open until he's home.

He left the mansion and went to Shoprite to buy a few things he needing before finally heading home.

He reached his house, took his bath and dressed up for bed. He opened Mami's gift bag and it was a photo frame of him, his siblings and his cousins. There was a photo of him and his father when they went to libya for the summer when he was almost a teenager. They were laughing in the photo which made him remember that day clearly and he felt little teary. Maybe that was why Mami told him not to open it till he was home. He put that aside making a mental note that he'd call a carpenter the next day. He was about to keep his phone and sleep, just then something in his mind told him to personally text Aneesa and say thank you to her. As he was about to, she texted him wishing him a happy birthday and he instantly replied saying "thank you very much. I was about to thank you because Asim delivered your message." "oh it's no big deal I thought he didn't so I thought of doing it myself." she replied. He ended the chat with a good night as he was already tired a dozens of other messages unread.