The Expensive Daughter Of A Pauper

Chapter 18

"When I was fifteen, I was tagged 'the queen' because of the so-called statistics which revealed that I was the prettiest in my village. This village isn't my place of birth, I was born and bred in 'Baka', a village known for farming and spreading of gossips like wildfire. It's full of critics. Even though Western education wasn't accepted by many, my parent stood my me though thick and thin to ensure that I was educated to a certain level. They payed zero attention to the criticism and the blabbers of people. They owe me everything in life but I disappointed them, I became a disgrace to them,"she burst out of a painful cry.

"Sorry,"Aunt Zaliha gave her few consoling pats before she continued.

"Me and Idris grew together and became close friends, just like you and Rayyan. He was also my neighbour and our parents are also friends to eachother. I called him Idi because i could not call his real name. Being the only female daughter with an older brother- who was really protective, I preferred spending time with Idi because of how simple he was. I respected him I will always do..."my phone ranged which caused all eyes to be on me and of cause halted the story. I eagerly declined the call coming from Aman.

"I..."she went on before being interrupted by a second call. I declined again and switched off the phone completely. 'What ever Aman wanna tell me can wait,'I thought before turning back to the storyteller.

"I had a regular routine to my Quranic school which was save and secure. I usually hear a lovely voice reciting the Quran everyday I pass through the mosque close to our house. I never cared to know who it was initially but later, I became interested to know the man. I enquired from Idris and he told reciter's name was Hassan. I began to hear about him but it was hard to hear anything vulgar about him. His life did not bother me much due to how busy I was. But even so, I wished to see him one day.

I once went with a friend to the forest to get fruits. After getting the fruit, we turned and found a big snake waiting for us which scared us to the fullest. I trew away the fruits I held and began to cry. I started imaging how my funeral would be. I knew I would die that instant. My friend ran but in lieu of the snake to pursue her, it came towards me demandingly. I closed my eyes, covered my ears and muttered silent prayers. I wished had obeyed my mother not to go to the forest without Idris. A painful tear roll down my cheek upon thinking of how my parent would miss me after death. I realised the snake took too long to bite me so, I opened my eyes, I saw it lying dead before me. I didn't see its killer and so, I didn't waste time in running away.

Later that day, Idi came with some sugarcane and as we were taking it and gisting, he told me that he saw Hassan's shirt with blood and upon enquiry, he told him he killed a snake in the forest. I was extremely amazed at how a person will save life and not wait for something as simple as 'thank you'. I hid the fact the I was the girl Hassan saved from Idi and vowed to thank him one day.

Couple of weeks later, I went to my Quranic school and I could hear nothing except the talk of a new teacher. Every girl talked about him, every group of girls where discussion how handsome, charming, cute and lovely he was. With the fact that I was absent the day before, I had no idea who they were all talking about and actually didn't care to know. When my friend wanted to tell me, I showed no interest for I had been angry with her since the day she left me all alone in the forest as the snake's prey. I sat in the class and recited the Quran in a melodious voice, avoiding the girl's topic. I heard a voice reciting the same verse I was reciting, it took me seconds to register that I made a mistake and was corrected. I averted my gaze to the window and saw a masculine figure with long silky hair, hazel eyes, a fair complexioned and slightly pointed nose.

"There is another verse almost like that one in the previous page, you have to be careful,"he said while I nodded. He didn't stare at me for more than two seconds before he left. I had it in mind that he was the subject of the girl's topic.
"What did he say to you?"
"Do you know him?"
The girls bombarded me with questions which made me ran to the door and pushed it hard to escape. I exclaimed when I noticed I almost hit the new teacher with the door. I apologised and all he did was nod.

"Girls have your seat please," he softly annouced and when we settled, he continued, "my name is Hassan and I am your new teacher, I will teach you for sometime and I hope you will cooperate."

As time goes on, I became close to Hassan because I was the most serious in the class. He began to give me some of his book to keep for him. He became concerned about me - questioning my health when I seemed sick and so on. I had the oppurtunity to thank him for saving my life too.His respect for women attracted respect to him too

After teaching us for two months, Hassan left for his Master's degree which no one in our village have ever done before. Everyone missed him really much, including me."she paused before firing on.

"I once had a serious conversation with Idi where he told me there was a girl he love, he wanted to marry her. He hid her identity from me but I felt really happy for him. He always told me how beautiful and gorgeous she was. I believed he really loved her alot and at a point, prayed she loved him the same way. I was so foolish to not understand I was that lady until it was too late. Idi concealed his love and deprived his heart of my love to make me happy."mother paused, wiped her tears and demanded for water before she moved on.

"I was going to run an errand for my mother one day when I saw Hassan smoking. I was shocked even by his appearance, his cloth were not decent at all, his hair was so unkept. I discussed with my mind whether to approach him or not. He rudely starred at me, rolled his eyes before he averted his gaze. I summoned enough courage to face him so I walked up to him.

After I greeted him, I recieved a harsh answer in a terrifying voice, accompanied by the bad odour of what he smoked. I had never seen him talk like that. I seized the roll of cigarate and trew on the floor, used my heel to crush it. I almost got a slap from him when Idi saved me. He drew him to a side and told him something before he came back to me and accompanied me home.

"I wonder how Malam(teacher) changed,"I told Idi.
"Which Malam? That person is not Hassan, it's his twin."

"What? He has a twin? They look hundred percent alike."
"Not hundred percent, Husein have a scar above his ear which he got while fighting. He is engaged in every fight happening in this village. His father took him to the city so he could be a little soft but he even became worst. People call him a pagan because as they say, he don't go to any worship place but i don't know the attenticity of the rumour. I should not even have mentioned it."
"Malam and his twin are direct opposite of each other."

Mother looked at the window and noticed it was getting late so she suggested we go back home and she would continue the story or rather my her history.
Me, mom, Rayyan, Maryam and Aunt Zaliha travelled back to Abuja where the story continued.

Hello dear readers
I hope you like this chapppy. Its full of Zarah's mom'life and I hope it was not boring.
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