Broken Vows COMPLETED √

Chapter 38

This chapter is dedicated to my one and only meenah shuaib

Wedding week

Time has moved closer and it's almost time for me to officially be a Mrs,  I couldn't be any happier.  The whole month passed through series of beauty treatments and appointments with my dress designer and I must say I haven't found it easy.  They really cut me some slack during my first wedding.  A whole week has been set aside for my wedding,  I mean who has events all week long?

"Hajiya it's time for us to continue."  It was fatuma,  the beautician.  She was brought all the way from the boarder of borno state specially for me.  The thought of having someone brought to please me is very fulfilling.  I smiled as I curled out of the love seat in the corner of the room and made my way to the bathroom and removed my clothes. 

The blaring alarm from my phone jolted me with full force out of my peaceful slumber.  I turned to the other side of the bed and snoozed it then laid on my back.  I stared at the ceiling for God knows how long till I finally got up and made my way to the bathroom to perform wudhu.  I could barely keep my eyes open while praying subhi subhanallah.  This whole wedding preparation has drained me physically but on the bright side I look prettier thanks to fatuma.

Today will mark the first day of my wedding events.  Sa lalle will be the first and since I don't have any friends my cousins will be there for me. I moved aside for hajiya babba,  my fathers second cousin on his mother's side who was removed from their family tree because she brought shame upon their family to pass through the tight space in the hallway.  The house was full to the brim,  sometimes I wonder if people are hired to act like family members during weddings because everywhere gets congested in no time with so many unknown faces.  I went to the extra room which was kept aside for my "friends" who are my cousins to get ready and do all those stuff girls do during weddings.  We all had to get ready there so the henna event could be done quickly before it gets dark. 

There was so much merriment,  we all ate laughed and danced as we waited for our henna designs to dry off,  and for a spilt second I wished bahijja was here with me. I couldn't have amina here because she went abroad to further her education.  But Alhamdulillah,  i was happy with those that made it.

Why was there so much noise?  Why were people screaming?  Is the house on fire?  Fire!!! That thought jolted me forcefully out of my sleep,  I made my way to the door and ran as fast as I could.  Fire!  Fire!!  I shouted on top of my voice and I continued to run.  I have no idea who I was alerting or who told me there was a fire,  probably just my instinct.  The awkward looks from people brought me back to reality,  I was confused.  Whenever I sleep tired I always wake up confused and hallucinate stuff,  therefore the fire in my head was merely a hallucination.  I felt so embarrassed because they all stood there like statues looking at me and throwing insults at me in their heads.  I felt stupid!  I picked up my shame from where I threw it and hugged myself with my two hands while trying to cover my inappropriate night wear and turned to go back to my room. 

I wrapped my towel around my body and left the bathroom.  The sight before me irked me,  cousins all over my room.  Some on the bed,  others in my wardrobe looking for God knows what,  the disrespectful ones were eating on my carpet and the ones I hated the most were touching my makeup.  Patience zahra,  patience!  I had to calm myself down before speaking to any of them because I know I'd just spit out venom. I quietly dressed up and waited for the time my makeup artist would arrive,  I looked down at my phone to check the time,  she'd be here in precisely two hours and fifty two minutes.  It'll definitely be the longest wait of my life.

Heaven knows I can't wait for all this to be over. 

I swiped my phone screen and opened whatsapp, no none sent me well wishes for my wedding.  What was I expecting?  I hardly know anyone.  I searched for my "habibi" and scrolled through our previous chats.  A few brought tears of joy to my eyes and even more made me giggle,  I'm so in love with this man.  Just as if he was on my mind,  he sent a message; 

Habibi - I miss you ❤

I didn't know what to reply or if I should just leave the message unreplied.  I quickly closed the app and locked my phone.  I became really restless and couldn't get him off my mind,  i picked up my phone and and opened his message

Zahra - For a minute there I don't know if I was scared of replying,  or i just didn't know which reply to give but I came to realize that I was scared,  scared of loving you with all I've got but then I thought about it even more and I regretted why I ever got scared.  I have absolute trust in you that you'll never let me down and youll always put me first.  I miss you a lot more than words can say,  I can't wait for all this to be over and I won't have to miss you as much. 

My heart skipped a gazillion beats as I pressed send,  I shut my eyes tightly and clutched the phone tightly to my chest so I don't cancel the message.  As if on que the makeup artist arrived which annoyed me because I really wanted to see his reply.  I turned of my data and dropped my phone  on the bed side drawer and moved to the makeup chair. 

An hour and a half passed and I was all glamed up,  I dressed in a yellow iro and buba paired with a cream aseoke with yellow embellishments,  my shoes, clutch and jeweleries were golden.  My brides maids were all looking beautiful in their mai taburma atampa.  That was my anko for the kamu event. I'm so happy because I'll finally get to see Jamal today,  after what felt like forever.  My thought of him reminded me that I was expecting a message from him,  I took out my phone from my clutch and turned on my data impatiently waiting for his message to come through. 

Ding!  The notification tune that brought so many butterflies to my stomach announced the arrival of a new message. With so much eagerness I opened the message,  honestly I felt like smacking him through the phone.  I mean after pouring half of my heart out to him I only got three red hearts.  With so much annoyance and exasperation I turned off my phone and threw it back into my clutch and got ready to start taking pictures. 

I was sprayed with money from different angles,  enough money to feed a town for a week was laying on the floor next to me.  Jamals female relatives sprayed me non-stop,  they were asked just to bring a token so their bride could be showed to them but they brought 5 supersized ghana-must-go's. Massive token I must say! 

Finally they stopped spraying and his mum moved forward and sat beside me and my relatives gave her permission to unveil me.  "Masha Allah" She said and pulled me into a warm motherly embrace.  Is that all?  I mean after all the spraying I thought she'd give a long speech and break into tears afterwards.

The sound of the drums pushed my mother-in-law to break our hug,  the men had arrived.  She stood up and put my veil back over my face and I bowed my head waiting for another spraying session,  or not. 

The only thing in the way of my sight was his black shoes,  it was hard to tell which brand but by mere looking at them they screamed expensive!
As expected,  he removed a bundle of five hundred naira notes and started to spray me,  after a while his friends joined in too and so did his family.  I already smell like money,  a money making factory I mean!  They rounded up and it was his turn to unveil me,  he did so while giving me an evil smile.  What's with this one I thought after his silly reply he's now smiling at me.  I shot him a cold icy glare and he wrapped up his smile and sat beside me.  Moments of silence passed without even a sound from either of us,  just the sound of our breathing and the music in the background could be heard. "Baby are you okay?" I'm guessing it took him a lot of courage to speak to me.  I looked at him with my side eye and he returned my look with pleading eyes.  "I feel ashamed to look at you,  you mocked me silently" that was all I managed to say. He was obviously confused, short of words maybe.  "But how did I do that?  He finally asked "after the long message I sent you,  all you could manage was three hearts.  Only three hearts!" I heard him chuckle after I finished speaking and he looked at me with his mouth formed in an 'o' shape.  "I wasn't mocking you,  three hearts is an indication of love forever.  It means my heart has grown three sizes since I met you,  I love you three times over Zahra!" At this point my eyes were already filled with tears, I let my tears fall as I stared at the most handsome creature seating before me. 

"I love you Jamal" I said amidst sobs...

Alhamdulillah!!! I keep stretching the end out because I honestly don't want it to,  I think this chapter was supposed to be the last but somehow I stretched it out by another chapter. 

See you guys in 39❤