Irrevocably In Love

CHAPTER 07- Persuasion.

RECAP

His lips thinned into a straight line, and he continued " Daurin aure kawai za a miki (There would be no event but the Wedding Fatihah) nothing more, nothing less after then you would be taken to your husband's house. Baba is displeased with you and he said you deserve nothing more and I agree with him"

"Thank you Ya Mukhtar" and he left the room without replying me. I'm doomed.

   ___Chapter Seven___    

Khadijah's P O V

I cried for a long time gummed at the position Ya Mukhtar left me, I felt so embarrassed and disappointed at myself, by tomorrow everyone at home will be aware of the foolishness I did. Realising that the act of shedding tears that I kept doing was useless I decided to perform wudhu and pray for Allah's forgiveness.

And so I did.

I kept praying until the adhaan for fajr was called. After fajr I recited the Holy Qur'an for a long time then got ready for the day and sluggishly walked to the kitchen.

I boiled water for tea as no one jokes with it in this house, made a lot of toasts and cakes. I arranged everything on our 'eating carpet' we all hate sitting on the dining table and knocked on their doors.

Running back to my room I ate there as I was nervous. Not possessing the courage to meet them yet. Had it been it was a normal day Ya Mukhtar would've knocked at my door to see what was wrong. He's my best friend, best brother, my very own favourite. I can't imagine life without him. But unlike every other day, Ya Mukhtar is pissed off with me today.

After breaking my fast I laid on my bed and got lost into my train of thoughts.

Oh Khadi, My own wedding ceremony with no event! Never thought that I could be this stupid. Why did I let Zayd persuade me to go.

Flashback.

"Zayd pleaaase, i'm not used to places like that wallahi" I confessed packing my Accounting note and materials into my bag.

"Haba baby, it's not fair you promised to do anything I wanted"

"Still, Baba will be very angry with me" I tried to reason with him.

"He won't even find out, i'll make sure of that, I promise babe. Relax" he chuckled at how tense I sounded.

And that was how he managed to coax me into going. This happened on a wednesday and the party was to blast on Friday.

Zayd managed to get me wear my favourite black and white zebra-striped jeans then topped it with a faded denim jacket which he made me unbutton and tuck my sleeveless shirt into the jeans.

I was nervous since we met at school and took off. At arriving to the party, I met a lot of his course mates already flexing and that wasn't my scene. We stayed for like an hour and left thanks to the expression on my face. It was after we left that I began to feel at ease.

End of Flashback

I kept throwing myself questions on why I let Zayd's Sweet talk coax me into going, how foolish of me. Letting out a groan I picked my phone and called Amna, told her of all that happened and she kept quiet for awhile, after calming herself she threw all sorts of insults at me and pitied herself for the lack of events that she was sure she would've been the best friend or only friend of the bride.

__________

After Dhuhr prayer, Mama called my number telling me to come downstairs to the main parlor and so I did with shaky legs. I saw her sitting with Yaa Ayshah close by so I chose to sit on the lone sofa closest to Ya Ayshah.

"Ina wuni Mama, Ina wuni Yaa Ayshah" I greeted them both. Ina wuni means Good Afternoon.

"Fine Alhamdulillah" they answered.

"So khadi we were discussing about your wedding, since baba said there will be no event but the Wedding Fatihah and ceremonial sitting (It comes after the wedding Fatiha where guests sit, eat and congratulate the newly weds. It is otherwise known as Yinin biki) and we have just five days to the occasion so we better start making arrangements for your attire. Any particular dress on your mind yet?" Ya Ayshah began. 

I've always wanted this particular Iro Buba style, they can choose the material for me, so I voiced my thoughts.

"Yeah that will be nice, but you're too skinny" Ya Ayshah who listened attentively to my description replied.

"I want the sleeves to flair at the edge". After then we discussed on the colour , we agreed on Dark purple to complement my skin tone- somewhere between Fair and Dark. And the head was to be ashoké of the same colour because Ya Ayshah said atleast since i'm not getting any other event I should look good on the only one.

A day passed with Baba not speaking to me, only answering my greetings or something of the sort but nothing beyond and i'm kind of okay with that, that he was atleast saying something to me because I'm disappointed at myself talkless of them.

Yaa Ayshah bought everything needed for I, her and mama the next day.

_________

I was sitting in our main parlor watching tv when I heard Yaa Ayshah's salaam, I answered and greeted her all the while putting my phone away.

It was after she fully came in that I noticed another woman trailing after her so I greeted her also.

"Khadi where is Mama?" Ya Ayshah asked.

"She's in her room" I answered, curiously yet discreetly eyeing the woman.

"Okay. So you'll be staying at my place from today onwards. Maman Safiya is in charge of your gyaran jiki "

I did a mini dance in my head as I was tired of living alone chilling with boredom, but then my heart stopped at the words gyaran jiki (A traditional spa in which a woman comes or the bride/married woman goes over to the doer where she gets thoroughly cleansed, all shiny and sparkling. All in all made up like a bride).

Like i'm really not ready for marriage i'm just 19 for crying out loud. I remember when I said this to Amna, the girl almost beat some s**t out of me.

Minutes later I was walking to Yaa Ayshah's place with Maman Safiya- that's what I heard Yaa Ayshah calling the woman. So she's my personal mai gyaran jiki, I felt all jittery and nervous knowing the reason and aim of her job.

When I got to know her I understood that she's a woman of virtue and a talkative also, she told me about her family to make me feel free with her which was hard to resist. I enjoyed her company to the fullest extent and later on I was informed that she'll be coming everyday from now to Friday morning, 4 days kenan.

Atleast she's not boring and tolerates me!

_________

Two days passed in a blur, the house nearly full with our relatives from both mama and baba's village. Seriously it was hard tolerating a few- or rather many, with Mama's relatives speaking Fulfulde while some Kanuri, Baba's relatives were correct Hausa speaking people from Katsina. Some of them were my mates so they stayed with me in Yaa Ayshah's house.

I made friends with 5 of them, 2 were married already- Maryama and Qawwama while one is a widow- Hajjar, another is to get married 5 months after mine and when I asked the last person- Jamila aka Beauty when she was getting married, she replied me with "Se Na gama cin duniyata da tsinken lollipop" making all four of us laugh.