Bonded: A Hausa Love Story.

Chapter 16.

I stood there waving as they left our compound one by one. These past few days were fun and exciting but now we are back to our normal routines. Yusuf goes to work Laila and I work at home.
"You didn't want them to go, right?" Yusuf asks noticing my frown.

"Yeah I didn't but from the look on your face you didn't either" I smile.
"You know I love having guests especially those guys". He answers back.

We both go back inside the house.
"Ugh I'm so exhausted" I say as I fall on the couch beside Khalid.
"Definitely" Khalipha replies switching on the TV.

"But Mukhtar and Bello are here in Kaduna" I say.
"You know Nabil's sister is getting married next week so they decided to go to Kano a little sooner because Mukhtar wants to visit his parents and Bello just wanted to travel". He answers back.

"So we are going to Kano next week?" Laila asks.
"Don't worry I'll show you around" Khalid says making her blush.

"I'm going to the kitchen to check on the food" she says getting up.

A moment later he follows.

"Well aren't they lovely" Khalipha smiles. "I'm going to my room so if you're looking for me you know were to find me" he adds before he exits the living room.

"Well I was thinking maybe we should go 2 days prior to the wedding. I know you are close to Atika so how about we leave a day after the wedding?" He suggests.

"I love it. I'm so excited" I smile back.

•

Laila and I are both on my bed using our phones. We decided to stay in my room when Yusuf and the twins went out.

"Ya Khadija look at this" Laila says showing me something on her phone.

"Mudassir is the one marrying Atika?" She asks shocked.
"Yeah. You didn't know I thought I showed you the pre-wedding pictures she sent me?" I answer back keeping my phone beside me.

Then I scrolled down her feeds and saw a picture of her and Khalid, it was in the parlor they were talking when someone snapped them.

"So—when did you post this picture. I didn't see it" I ask.
She quickly grabs the phone and try to ignore my question.

"I'm so tired" she says dodging my question.

"Laila I asked you a question. So when did you take this picture and don't think I am going to forget this" I smile.

I just like it when I talk about these things with her I feel like she trusts me and wants help. She always told me about her relationships before but now because she is dating my husband's younger brother she is distant.

"It was last week when you went out with Ya Yusuf and Anas came over he was the one who took the picture"she answers back.
"You two really look good"

"Thanks sister. He looks good in the picture" she smiles.
"See you" I say laughing.
"Seriously, I want to eat something sweet, what should I make us?"

"I'm not pregnant but I feel the same way".

"Let's go".

We head to the kitchen.
I open the fridge and got out the cup cakes Rufaidah and I made the previous day while laila got out the ice cream from the freezer and added chocolate to it. We finished and went straight to my parlor upstairs.
We started eating all our junk.

"You know you look really weird pregnant? But is it okay for you to eat all this?" She asks stuffing her face with the icing on the cup cake.

"Yeah as long as I don't eat it a lot. You know I'm not the kind of person who eats a lot of sugar".

After that we decided to watch Me Before You and as usual we cried our eyes out.

The next thing I knew Yusuf was waking me up.
"So...this is what you do when we aren't home?" He asks smiling.

"I didn't even know when I slept off".
"You were watching Me Before You, right?" He asks.

"You watched it? I thought you were using your laptop".
"Just because I know the name? You have watched these movies multiple times I lost count and you cry every time". He says sitting on the chair facing me.
"Not a lot". I smile.

"Come on every time you say you want to chill and have fun, you watch it" he says tilting his head jokingly.
"Yeah yeah".

I get up as slowly, he quickly walks over and helps me.
Laila was already up, she is probably with Khalid downstairs.

I head downstairs as Yusuf enters his room.
I enter the kitchen to start preparing dinner but Laila is already there.

"Maryam" I shout as I hug her.
"Ya Khadija" she says hugging me back.

"I can't believe you are really pregnant congrats sister. Oh! I can't believe I am becoming an aunt this is really exciting". She says.
"Yeah it is so how is Mustafa and uncle Nura?" I ask.

"They are all fine they're sending their regards". She says smiling.

I walk towards Laila who is by the cooker. "So what are you cooking?"
"Your favorite rice and stew" laila replies.
"God Bless You" I smile.

"Yeah so you can eat a lot" Maryam smiles at me. "I just heard about my Lil sis and my brother in-law" she adds.

"Yeah they are doing fine". I say.

"Yeah he posted a pic the two of them took with Ya bello and a pic they took in your parlor and another one outside but that one is a selfie" Laila cut her off.
"I showed her his account".

I burst out laughing, they both start throwing me questioning looks.
"Come on can't you see her blushing? Look at her face" I say pointing at Laila.

I start laughing again only this time Maryam joins me.
I stop laughing and look at Maryam intently.

"So you are dating mustapha. When did it start nah?"
"I'm going to tell you all about it later".

::