Destined Hearts

Chapter 24

Madeenah's POV

24 hours. 24 hours until I am a married woman. I will be a married woman at the age of 19. I don't think it has registered to me yet until this moment. I am standing in front of my mirror in my temporary bedroom. It is big and pretty, but I definitely prefer my room back home. Well, it won't be my home anymore.

It is white and gray which feels so depressing to me. There's no colour, none of my books lying around or my sketches. Mami said I should leave some of my stuff in my room, because I will still be coming back.

A few days ago she took me round to my maternal relatives houses. The ones that live in Abuja anyway. I cried a lot that day. I didn't know a lot of my mom's cousins and aunts and they didn't really know me. They showed me pictures of her and kept talking about her. It felt good to hear stories of my mother when I haven't spoken about her in years.

They all seemed to like me luckily, and there was a lot of praise directed at me. They were also happy that I could speak Fulfulde, because apparently most of their nieces, nephews and grandkids didn't know how to. One of them even said if I wasn't marrying Ya Muhammad, they would have married me off to their son.

After that she took me to some of Abba's siblings. That one was a bit more tense. Many of them were judgmental towards me and Ya Muhammad. A lot were questioning me about if I had ever taken care of a house, talk less of a child. Mami helped me a lot in that situation, but I still had to figure out how to handle them.

My makeup artists is already here and I can hear the girls getting theirs done. Yesterday was my sakun lalle. Today is my Kamu. My dress is hanging behind me, staring at me. It is this beautiful maroon, glittery gown with gold embroidery. It has a matching sheer cover that I am supposed to put over my head.

My door opens and Maryam, my makeup artist comes in. Her assistant, Lily, comes in next carrying her makeup box.

"Amarya, are you ready?" Maryam asks with a bright smile on her face.

I smile back, "Yes of course."

Two hours later and I have my dress on, my makeup done and my jewellery and everything else on. The dress is fitted so it brings out my shape. The glittering maroon fabric flowed down my body. There was gold embroidery of flowers around my waist and hips then the hem of the dress and sleeves. My head tie was a smoother material but also in maroon and had no design. The dress also had a big sheer veil that I placed over my head tie. It trailed behind me and also had gold flower embroidery on the hem.

To match my dress, I had on gold jewellery. They weren't big pieces because the dress was already sparkly enough. My makeup was, luckily, light and natural and really beautiful. I had to go downstairs because the photographer was waiting.

Hafsa, Labiba, Layla, Yasmin, Fatima, Naima and Kelly are waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look stunning babes." Kelly squealed as I walked down the stairs.

"Muhammad is definitely lucky to have a beautiful girl like you." Naima said making me blush and almost stumble.

"Just his name is making her weak in the knees fa." Hafsa decides to put in.

"All of you shut up." I say to them, and they start laughing.

"You need to hurry up. You need to take pictures then we go to the event center." Fatima, the only sensible friend I have, says.

They are all glammed up in their asoebi. They all have different dress designs, but it looks so nice when they stand together. I enter the living room where the photographer has already set up the backdrop.