I listened carefully to him, it's been two days since I found my food in the dustbin, I called Hanif cause this wasn't going to slide, he made him so angry easily, he's never been that angry since I first met him, he surely could teach me but instead curiosity lead us to the discussion we were having... how it all started.
"Hanifa, Hanee, is a few months older than me, our dad married my mum secretly in Niger, he had some business there so he was always traveling there, he met my mum when Zainab was three, he fell in love with her, Amma had a miscarriage after her, a girl, Ababa wanted a boy, so he married my mum, a year after the miscarriage Amma got pregnant again, with Hanee, he insisted on getting a gender scan, they did and it was a girl, his fourth daughter, or third living one... then I came into the picture, Hanee was given birth to four months later and me two months after her, I was premature" he sat back
"Ababa was elated about his first son, so he named me Muhammad, just like he said he would name his first son and coincidentally my grandfather's name, from my mum's, so I was nicknamed Hanif, like twins I would say" he laughed
"Nani, my mum knew about them, she knew Amma, but Amma didn't know, life went on like that till four years later, my brother came to the world, I was happy, though I couldn't go see him, Ababa showed me his pictures, and everything... he had to name him Muhammad, to avoid suspicion, everyone knew it was his life goal to name his first son Muhammad, but what they didn't know was he had already, he was nicknamed Mukhtar, life continued with him spending a month with us sometimes two weeks and he would go back to Nigeria for a month at least, Nani was cool with it, she knew he couldn't tell Amma because he didn't want to hurt her"
"What you don't know doesn't hurt you" I said "exactly" he chuckled "well, when I was twelve, Mukhtar eight, Ababa took his decision and I found myself in a flight to Nigeria with Nani and Mahnoor, my little sister, you haven't met her before, she's the same age as you" that made me feel small and him big
"We came to Nigeria but it wasn't all sunshine and surprise welcome party, when we first went, that was the time Amma found out about us, I still remember how she looked, I felt like an illegal thing, almost like a bastard son being introduced, she had tears in her eyes she forced to push back, Ya Ummi and Zainab both stood looking at us, Zainab was seventeen and Ya Ummi nineteen, then from afar I saw Hanee, I already liked her even before meeting her, she looked at me, she stared from where she hid, she and Mukhtar were asked to go upstairs and let the bigger ones stay, I smiled and waved at her but she glared at me, I felt bad, Ya Ummi if you've met her you know she isn't the calmest person, she challenged Ababa, I can still remember her words" he smiled
"Amma stayed with you when you had nothing and this is what she gets in return? Ababa this isn't right, they aren't our family" he narrated what she said with a high pitched voice which had me laughing
"and what Amma did right there made me fall in love with her, instead of standing with Ya Ummi, she sent her away, she told her to apologize and sent her away, Amma smiled at me and Mahnoor and told Zainab to take us upstairs to play with Hanee and Mukhtar, at that time she called Mukhtar baba, she said 'take him to baba's room and her to Hanee's, let them rest, they must be tired' I wasn't but we left, Zainab walked in front of us, she opened the door first for Mahnoor, I didn't want to leave her alone considering Hanee glared at me, but Zainab's scowl had me shutting up, she opened Mukhtar's room and I went in before she shut the door, I was scared, nervous and Mukhtar stood with an action figure in his hand staring at me, he looked at me for almost ten minutes, I was scared of the little boy that was there and he looked curiously at me" his eyes seemed to be reliving the moment
"I called his name and he asked how I knew his name, I told him I knew everyone, Zainab, Ya Ummi, Hanee and him, the next question he asked was 'is your mum wicked like the stepmoms in Hanee's books?' The little kid in me was offended so I got to defending my mum, Nani liked them, when she found out we were going she made lots of namsa and rijata" I knew what they were so I smiled, though I've never tried rijata but they were almost similar
