— The People Who Raised Me
The journey back was painfully silent.
Not the comfortable kind of silence.
Not the peaceful kind either.
It was heavy.
Suffocating.
The kind that pressed against the chest until breathing itself became difficult.
Basit drove quietly through the darkening highway while Faridat sat in the backseat beside Rihannat, stealing worried glances at her every few minutes.
But Rihannat never looked back at either of them.
Not once.
Her swollen eyes remained fixed on the window throughout the entire ride.
The scenery outside blurred past endlessly, but she saw none of it.
Her mind was too loud.
Too crowded.
Too broken.
Everything she thought she knew about herself had collapsed within a single evening.
And no matter how hard she tried to stay composed, she was failing miserably.
Every few minutes she would wipe her face quickly before another tear escaped.
She kept pretending she was fine.
Pretending she was holding herself together.
But the trembling of her fingers betrayed her.
So did the way she bit her lips repeatedly just to stop herself from crying again.
Faridat's chest tightened painfully watching her.
Several times she wanted to speak.
To comfort her.
To hug her.
But she knew no words would be enough right now.
Even Basit, who normally always knew what to say to Rihannat, remained quiet.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel occasionally as he glanced at her reflection from the mirror.
She looked shattered.
And somehow, that hurt him too.
The five-hour drive felt endless.
By the time they entered Rihannat's state, night had already settled fully across the city.
The streets glowed dimly beneath streetlights while tired movements filled the evening roads.
It was exactly 7 p.m. when Basit finally parked in front of her house.
Faridat looked confused immediately.
"Aren't we going back to campus?"
Basit shook his head slightly.
"She doesn't need school right now."
His voice was low but firm.
He already knew.
There was no way Rihannat could return to lectures pretending her entire world had not just changed.
Before anyone could say another word, Rihannat opened the car door immediately.
She stepped down quietly.
No goodbye.
No glance backward.
Nothing.
She simply walked toward the house slowly like someone carrying invisible weight on her shoulders.
Basit watched her carefully.
And for the first time since he met her…
Rihannat looked truly lost.
The two siblings looked at eachother worriedly and followed her.
—
At the front of the house, her foster parents were already outside preparing to go in for the night.
Her mother was folding a small wrapper over her shoulder while her father adjusted the lantern near the entrance.
The darkness around the compound was slowly thickening.
Then suddenly—
"Rihannat?"
Both of them looked up in surprise.
Her mother frowned immediately.
"You came back unexpectedly?"
But before they could ask another question, they noticed her face properly.
The swollen eyes.
The exhausted expression.
The emotional emptiness.
Fear immediately crossed their faces.
"Rihannat?"
Her mother moved closer quickly.
"What happened?"
Rihannat looked at them silently for a long moment.
Then without saying anything, she sat down slowly on the wooden bench nearby.
Her calmness terrified them more than tears would have.
Her father exchanged worried glances with his wife.
"Did something happen in school?"
"Are you sick?"
"Did someone offend you?"
But Rihannat simply stared ahead quietly.
Then finally—
"Mum."
Her voice was hoarse.
"Dad."
Both froze immediately.
Something about her tone felt unfamiliar.
Painfully unfamiliar. She looked broken.
Rihannat slowly looked at them.
And the next words nearly stopped their breathing.
"Who am I?"
Silence.
Complete silence.
Her mother's face drained instantly.
Rihannat continued quietly.
"Who are my parents?"
Neither of them spoke.
Their hearts already pounding wildly.
"Where did you take me from?"
Her voice cracked this time.
"But don't lie to me."
Tears gathered in her eyes again.
"I want to hear the truth now."
Her mother staggered back slightly.
Her father's expression became tense immediately.
Rihannat inhaled shakily.
"You... shouldn't have kept this from me for this long."
The pain in her voice shattered them instantly.
Her foster mother's eyes filled with tears.
But before guilt could consume them fully, Rihannat spoke again softly.
"I'm grown now."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I know you treated me well."
Her voice trembled badly.
"And even if you are not my biological parents…"
She looked directly at them emotionally.
"I will still love you for treating me like your own child all these years."
Her foster mother immediately burst into tears.
The older woman covered her mouth painfully as sobs escaped her.
While her father lowered his head heavily.
Not once had they imagined this day would come.
Yet deep down…
They always knew it eventually would.
Her father finally exhaled deeply before sitting beside her slowly.
He gently patted her back like he had done since she was little.
"She would know later anyway," he said quietly to his wife.
"Let's tell her."
Then he looked at Rihannat carefully.
"But after this… you must tell us how you found out."
Rihannat swallowed hard.
Then softly replied—
"I met my biological parents today."
The effect was immediate.
Her foster parents looked like a bomb had exploded beside them.
Shock.
Fear.
Panic.
Their faces turned pale instantly.
Her mother sat down weakly.
"They… found you?"
The fear in her eyes was heartbreaking.
Rihannat noticed immediately.
And despite her own emotional turmoil, she moved closer reassuringly.
"Don't worry," she said softly.
"They are not bad people."
Her voice remained gentle.
"They want to meet you too."
The kindness in her tone only made her foster mother cry harder.
Her father inhaled shakily.
Some tension left them slightly.
But not completely.
Because deep inside, fear still lingered.
Fear of losing the daughter they raised.
After several moments of silence, her father finally began speaking slowly.
"We found you on the roadside."
Rihannat's fingers tightened around her handbag.
"You were crying badly."
His eyes became distant as he remembered.
"You kept calling for your mummy."
Her foster mother wiped her tears quietly.
"You looked dirty…"
"But your clothes…" she whispered, "they were expensive."
Rihannat listened silently.
"We immediately knew you weren't from a poor home," her father continued.
"So we took you to the police station."
He sighed deeply.
"They questioned you."
"What is your name?"
"You said Rihannat."
He smiled sadly.
"But when they asked about your parents…"
"You said nothing."
"You couldn't answer."
Her mother nodded tearfully.
"You just kept crying."
Her voice broke.
"You cried until you developed fever."
Rihannat lowered her head emotionally.
Her father continued softly.
"We waited on that road for hours."
"Thinking someone would come searching for you."
"But nobody came."
The guilt in his voice was obvious.
"We repeated it for one whole week."
Rihannat looked up slowly.
"One week?"
Her father nodded.
"Every day after work, we checked the same area."
"Hoping maybe your family would appear."
"But nobody did."
Her foster mother cried quietly.
"The police later advised us to hand you over to the government orphanage."
Immediately her father shook his head firmly.
"But we refused."
His voice carried no regret.
"We couldn't do it."
His wife smiled tearfully through her pain.
"We were childless."
Silence settled briefly.
Then she whispered emotionally—
"We thought Allah had answered our prayers."
Rihannat's tears flowed harder instantly.
"We loved you from the very first day," her foster father added quietly.
"We never saw you as anything less than our daughter."
Her mother nodded repeatedly.
"That was why we never wanted to tell you."
"We were scared."
"Scared you would leave us one day."
The older woman finally broke down completely.
"But now…"
She cried painfully.
"Now your real parents have found you…"
Rihannat immediately moved forward and hugged her tightly.
"No."
Her voice cracked badly.
"You are my parents too."
That single sentence shattered whatever restraint remained in the older couple.
And under the deepening night sky…
The small family held onto one another tightly—
Terrified of what tomorrow might bring.
@OlukoyaZainab