So close, yet so far

05

ABUJA, NIGERIA

"Sa'eedu Your Mami told me you came with the lady you want to marry, right?" Alhaji Sa'ad Mato asked as he sat at the head of the enormous dining table. Sa'eed looked up from his food and nodded his head before he looked at his mother and winked at her, making his father chuckle and shake his head.
Diyar Alhaji Muhammad Gimba koh?; Alhaji Muhammad Gimba's daughter right?" This time, Mami didn't let Sa'eed answer and she quickly replied,
"She is such a lovely girl, our Sa'eedu is so lucky to have her."
"More like, she is lucky to have him." Safar said nonchalantly as she continued eating her food. Even though her eyes were on her food, the intense stare coming from her father made her want to open up and swallow her.

Alhaji Sa'ad is a jovial man, especially with his children but he always put a limit to his friendliness with them so they wouldn't become brats but Safar he had noticed was beginning to change into what he had always avoided turning his children into; a brat!
"Ke bakida kunya koh; Have you no shame?!" Alhaji Sa'ad bellowed and Safar flinched.
"Sa'eed is your elder brother and he deserves respect, any woman he marries automatically becomes your elder sister and you have to respect whether you like it or not!" Alhaji Sa'ad chided. Among his children, Safar had always been the bold one. She always had something to say and in her eyes she was never wrong. Just like right now, she believes she isn't wrong and has something to say, even though she was shaking because of fear, she still managed to say;
"But Daddy, what about Mardiya? She loves Yaya!" Immediately she said that, Sa'eed flashed her a heated glare but when Daddy didn't say anything, she got the courage to continue speaking;

"Da arziki a garin wani gara a garinku, a Kuma gidan Kuma a dakinku, Kuma a hannun Ka(hausa proverb that I don't know how to translate)"
"Because Mardiya is your best friend and your cousin doesn't mean you will force her on your brother when he clearly loves someone else." Mami said for the first time since the fight began.
"Hauwa is the woman I love and will marry and nothing any of you say will stop this marriage." Sa'eed bellowed in a loud voice and he shot Safar a harsh glare that finally scared her and shut her up. He left the dining room with his food unfinished and in less than 2 minutes, they heard the front door downstairs being banged loudly making them all flinch.

Safira softly tsked as she moved towards her twin sister's ear and whispered, "Adda Safar always kills the happy mood in this house."
"Ya Sa'eed once told me Mami and daddy picked her up in the bush as a baby." Safina whispered and they both giggled softly.

"Safar, this will be the last time you will put your mouth on matters that don't concern you in this house, or else." Daddy left his remaining words hanging but they all knew what his "or else" means and it is something you wouldn't want to see.

•
Hauwa lay on her bed, surrounded by the comforting silence of her room. She had spent the morning scrolling through her phone, but the endless stream of social media updates and messages had left her feeling drained. She had tried watching a movie, but even the engaging plot and captivating characters couldn't hold her attention. Now, she simply lay there, her mind wandering aimlessly.

As she gazed up at the ceiling, her thoughts drifted back to her family in Kaduna. She missed them dearly, especially her younger sister Jannah, whose antics always made her laugh. She remembered how Jannah would pout and whine when the Islamic scholar came to their house for evening lessons. Hauwa, being a hafiza, was exempt from attending, but she loved watching Jannah's reactions.

She chuckled to herself as she recalled how Jannah would often fall asleep at the table, her head nodding forward, without the sheikh even noticing. Their mother would nudge her awake when she was passing by and happened to se her, and Jannah would look up, bleary-eyed, before settling back into her slumber. Hauwa's heart swelled with affection for her family, and she made a mental note to call them again in the morning.