𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 - 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

twenty-five

╔═══════════════════╗

"𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉 𝙄𝙁 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀 𝙈𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀
𝘼 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙇, 𝙄'𝙈 𝘼𝙇𝙒𝘼𝙔𝙎
𝙂𝙊𝙉𝙉𝘼 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆."

╚═══════════════════╝

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑, Nas had had a change of heart. As much as she didn't want to even think about her dad leading a double life in Bradford, she had to know the truth. So, one long bus journey later, she'd managed to navigate herself to the supposed house with Mollie and Missy in tow.

22 Shipton Avenue. It was slightly bigger than Nas' house, but on the whole it was nothing too fancy. Just your average family home.

As they approached, the view of a family sitting around their dinner table through the window became increasingly clear. But what was even more shocking was the smiling man at the head of the table. There was no mistaking it- that was Iqbal Paracha.

Mollie and Missy were speechless, their hearts breaking for Nas as she looked through the glass. She stood completely still for a moment, but she felt her heart drop when all of the family members turned towards the window. Making eye contact with her father, she saw the guilt wash over his face.

The front door opened within seconds, but to Nas it felt much longer as thoughts spiralled through her head. When her dad stepped out, she couldn't even bring herself to meet his eyes.

"Do you want to come in, love?" Mr Paracha asked, although the tone of his voice suggested that he already knew the answer.

"No, no, I don't. I think I've seen all I need to now." Nas said, shaking her head as her voice began to break. Still not looking up to him, she bit her lip. "How long?"

"Since before you were born, love." The woman at the door answered, causing Mollie and Missy to exchange a look of utter sadness.

Suddenly, the young girl came running out of the house and attached herself to Mr Paracha's side. As if she wasn't already hurt, that all but broke Nas as she let out a sob and began running away. Mollie and Missy followed as quickly as they could, desperate to give her the comfort she needed.

✰ ✰ ✰

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐌. She'd barely slept anyway due to the previous day's events. It wasn't exactly every day that you found out your best friend's dad had a whole other family in Bradford.

After getting changed into her uniform, she went downstairs to make herself some breakfast only to find Jordan sitting at the kitchen table with a distracted look on his face.

"Morning." She said quietly, sending him a gentle smile which he acknowledged with a small nod. "How was your mock yesterday?"

"Flunked it. I mean, I don't even see the point in trying. I'll be dead by the time the exams start." He said with a dry chuckle.

Gasping, Mollie gave him a look of disapproval. "That's not funny."

"I'm not joking." He said, but this time he was deadly serious. "If I don't get Khadim his money, he's gonna kill me."