HIS LIABILITY: CHAPTER 1:EP1

 :

"Words have power."
-Mira Grant

A

.
.
.

The household was in merriment, preparing the arrival of Aabid; the eldest son of Jalaludeen II. His bedroom upstairs was all tidied up by ma'Naima herself with the aid of the househelps. Balloons were setted up in the living-room by Hashim and Karan, his twin step-brothers.

"Where do we place this," Hashim had asked his twin, holding a poster that had 'Welcome Home' boldly written on it.

"Uh... isnt it best if we place it at the corridor? Near the few balloons we've sticked. That would give him a highlight of what he should expect in the livingroom," Karan replied, pinning red bow unto the walls. They were in Aabid's room, adding minor decorations.

The house is situated in Ankara--it is a 5 bedroom 2-storey building; consisting of Naima, the third wife of Hameed Jalaludeen and her 3 sons, Hashim and Karan who were 14, and Zain who was only 8.

Aabid had specifically chosen to stay with this stepmother of his, for she was the one whom he got along with in a jiffy compared to the rest of his father's wives. They had a nice relationship ever since Aabid was set to live with her during the time he was brought back to Turkey from Germany and she was recently wedded to his father which was 16 years ago. She was the only one at that time to treat him like her own son. Therefore he bonded incredibly with her, despite knowing it was all a delusion.
'She was not his birth mother. '
After living with her for 5 years, Aabid then traveled out of Turkey to live with his father and 2nd wife, Haleema in Ukraine. At 19, he proceeded to study Engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing. Shortly after his Bachelors, Aabid was enrolled to the china branch to develop his business management and entrepreneurship skills together with his 2 cousins, Muhammad and Yeccef.

Having served the Al-Taajir group (still under Jochron INC.) loyally for only 2 years, Aabid began to secretly work at an engineering company which lasted for 9 months till his father found out. The news had maddened and disappointed him; for he had wanted his son to become well acquainted with the life within Al-Taajir Enterprise and the other Empires. As the third male grandchild of late Jalaludeen I, Aabid was expected to fully become a comitted member of the Al-Taajir group of Jochron INC, but he showed very little interest in becoming part of the long, hard built family business.

After finding out about his lax and irresponsible lifestyle, Hameed Jalaludeen sent an order for Aabid to vacate Beijing for Turkey, with the luxury to choose whom he wished to live with, which he had no choice but to follow. He feared his father's power.

At around the late hours of 3pm, the gate opened and an orange Toyota Prius drove into the premises.

"He's here! He's finally arrived!" Karan screamed in urdu, moving away from the window sill, his volume as loud as it could be. The twins quickly rushed down the stairs with Hashim roughly brushing against his younger sibling Zain, causing him to fall off. It seemed he was on his way up but quickly diverted having heard Karan's announcement.
Hashim did not stop to console his brother, but instead rushed down as fast as he could as if nothing had happened. Zain, realising no one gave attention to his crys swiftly took his toy Car, following the two.

An energetic hug was offered by the twins to Aabid as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"We've dearly missed you!" Hashim told, loosening his grip around Aabid.
Smiling, Aabid adjusted his blazer and replied, "I can see your English has improved, I'm proud of you,"

Zain appeared immediately, clinging unto Aabid's blazer. Aabid took him into his arms, smiling broadly as he looked at his face.

"Wow! You're all grown up, Zain! Do you remember me?"
A nod came from Zain who grinned from ear to ear.

"I bought you a toy Car, I'm sure you'll love it," Aabid spoke softly to little Zain and placed him on the ground. The twins got hold of Aabid's hands and forced him forward.

"What are you all doing outside? Come in! The weather is not nice for me to stay long outside, I got awful cold!" Aunt Naima called from the main door, grinning from ear to ear. She was beyond pleased to see Aabid after a long while. The last time she'd seen him was when she went to visit Jalaludeen II in Beijing and was able to attend Aabid's graduation and that was 3 years ago.

Aabid began seeing the balloons from the corridor. He assumed they must have prepared an even larger surprise inside.
A large poster was situated near the entrance that led to the living-room. Aabid read it out loud and smiled at the three boys. ma'Naima had already walked into the livingroom and was waiting for them. Before Aabid could utter anything, she embraced him into a warm hug.

"Thank you, Mami, " he voiced, returning the hug. He had learned to call her 'mami' after he left Turkey for Ukraine. If not, he naturally addressed her as 'aunty' which secretly hurted her, but she never disclosed it to him. Gradually, he learnt to call her 'Mami' by himself.

"I miss you so much, Aabid. Come, make yourself at home, I've prepared Chapatti for you," she told, swiftly moving to the kitchen to call the househelp.

Aabid sat on the comfortable sofa, exhaling a sigh. The househelps began moving his baggage and items he had come with upstairs to his room.
He looked around the walls, saw minute deco items. Definitely the twins, he thought. The boys had went upstairs to get their drawings to show Aabid.

The table was set and ma'Naima forced Aabid to the chairs, but he still declined for he had no appetite. She finally gave up and let him be. The twins showed Aabid their drawings and they received praises from him.

"Let your brother rest, let him be, he just came from a long journey! You know that!" She scolded them.

"No, no it's really okay. They're keeping me entertained," Aabid told, grinning at the children.

" I received a call just now from the driver that Aabid has reached Ankara, sir," Yeccef informed his uncle, Jalaludeen II. The uncle gave a nod but said nothing.

"When does he plan to send a report at his new office?" Jalaludeen II asked after a long while.
They were seated In his office, conversing on ways to increase their customer base in the Ankara branch.

"I am not very sure sir, I will ask immediately after I reach my office," Yeccef answered. Despite Hameed Jalaludeen was his uncle, they were all trained, including Aabid to address him as 'sir' at work.

"Email me the list of VIP customers. There's something important I have to check,"

"I will quickly get to that," said Yeccef. He left the moment he bowed.

Jalaludeen gave a loud sigh, massaging his temple.
He began quietly complaining to himself about Aabid. The eldest son of his and yet his cousins were the ones producing more brilliant results and output compared to him. They looked to be smarter and more responsible than his own son, he believed. Farida was the next child, 4 years younger than Aabid. She is Fatma's (his first wife) first child.

The history was that After several years of not conceiving a child with Fatma, Jalaludeen proceeded to marry Narmin (Aabid's mother). But Fatma later bore 4 children: Farida, Husnah & Semih who were twins and finally Asya.

A ring from the telephone knocked Jalaludeen out of his thoughts.

It was a call from his brother-in-law, the CEO of both the Ankara and Istanbul branch of Al-Taajir group.

Next page loading...