When Stars Collide

Dakin Rufi

Just as Subh prayers ended, a truck parked outside the house, several people came down from a sixteen seater bus and began a meeting right there in front of the covered truck. A huge sign emblazoned on the truck read, AlVeena Events Decor. 

Hibba dropped the curtain and went to pick up her vibrating phone on the bed, before it woke Chichi up but the rustling of the cling film woke her and she handed Hibba the phone drowsily before going back to sleep almost immediately. 

"Hello?" Salman was breathing into the phone, then he spoke.

"Assalamualaikum Jaan, Good Morning." She smiled, a blooming smile that she wished Salman could see but thanked Allah that he would see for the rest of his life. 

"Walaikum Salam Love of my life, did you sleep well? Don't come here with your eyes red as though you didn't sleep because I'm the bride and I slept." Salman chuckled, a deep happy chuckle that spread happy feelings into Hibba who was waiting for him to speak. 

"I slept well, slept around ten because Mami would not stop breathing down my neck about sleeping early and I woke up just before Subh, prayed and then called you. Satisfied?" He asked teasingly, Hibba could hear the smile in his voice. She realized she had really consented to spend the rest of her life with this man. He was good to her, he thought of her, he never made promises he could not fufil, he made sure she had comfort, there was nothing else she was looking for. Allah truly made humans in pairs, one for another. She'd found her own pair. 

"..Jaan?" He called out, noticing that she wasn't speaking. A tear had rolled down Hibba's eyes in gratefulness to Allah for giving her several chances to be with her Salman. 

"We should arrive around Noon In Sha Allah, then we'll get to the venue by one pm or so. Say a prayer of safety for me okay?" She nodded and remembering he could not see her nod, she said Yes, they both said a Dua and ended the call. 

When Salman first told Hibba he liked her, Hibba's first thought was that he had found a plaything. She toyed with the idea of being with him and it came out like a joke, she wondered, how could it be her? 

"Madam? What are you thinking of?" Hibba turned around, spluttering with nothing to say. She couldn't tell Chichi that she was reminiscing about Salman, so she smiled and went to her friend. 

"I'm going to be married, in about twenty eight hours from now," She bragged, referring to the next day, "I'll be Mrs Baazinye." Chichi laughed out loud at her boasting, only walking to the bathroom to brush her teeth, halfway, she came back to the room and asked with a serious face; "Last year, did you think you'd be marrying him? Like seriously?"

Hibba heaved a sigh and found a comfortable place leaning on the headboard with her chin on her knees. Chichi's brushing was the only sound in the room. 

"No. When we broke up, I honestly didn't think I would take him back, or he would try to win me back. I thought I would forget him in a few months, though before him, I've never ever experienced a love like this. 

Love for me used to be butterflies in the stomach, never able to be myself. But with Salman, I'm fully Hibatullah Abubakar, Mother of UmmulKhair, Business owner, Career woman. Without fear that he could at anytime take any of those away from me." Chichi nodded her head, she knew firsthand what it was like to be lied to and your livelihood nearly taken from you in the name of marriage. 

"He let me bloom not that I needed permission to do so, but I watched as he pushed me to go for my goals, helped me find business contacts, followed me to Kuje to shop, he knows all the Jos Business men that bring me fruits, he's on good terms with everyone at ShopRite Abuja, he knows which mini truck driver is reliable. He went for his own goals and mine hand in hand, without missing a step, without worrying about me overpowering him and one day, while he helped me sort drinks with Nana in the compound while I dressed for an event, I knew I was going to marry him." Chichi went in to dump the toothpaste foam, only to come back to swoon happily.