Umariri Songhai, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Friday 5th April, 2018.

The whole house was bustling with activities, old women were yodeling to aggravate the celebration, phones were pinging with congratulatory messages, people were trooping in and out, cars were coming and going and people were smiling as though they were the newly wedded bride.

Yes, Eesh has just been tied to Abulkhair and all the bridesmaids had been waiting to hear her phone ring and how Abulkhair would announce it to her. They were surrounding her, some on pillows, some on the bed, some on the cushion and some on stools.

Immediately Eesh's phone rang, they all got closer so they could hear every single thing that was being said. As she put the phone to her ear, Ruqayya gestured to her to put it on hands free mode, and she did.

"Assalamu Alaikum." Eesh replied his salam.

"We're now one qalb, congratulations to us. I love you." Eesh cringed inwardly.

"I love you more, babe." Series of awws went off in the room as Abulkhair ended the call. They all loved how he kept it short and simple, yet romantic. It was a beautiful sight.

Few minutes later Abulkhair arrived with his groomsmen, he was dressed in a white brocade with white babban riga, while his groomsmen all had different colors on them.

Eesh was brought down to him and they were left alone to have their first 'couple's moment' as the others called it. Eesh was wearing a white lace sewn to perfection into a wedding dress with a long trail, queen Anne neckline and raglan sleeves. The dress was tight to the bust and then flowing downwards. Silver shoes adorned her feet and diamond jewelry adorned her ears, neck and finger. Her head tie was done in the simple pleats.

"Trust me, marrying me is going to be your worst nightmare." Eesh whispered in his ear and awws were heard. They realized the door was open and they had to act all lovey-dovey to each other so Abulkhair initiated the first hug which was gotten on camera.

"We agreed to make this work so stop being a child. You don't know what I've given up just for this." Abulkhair whispered back in her ears as he rubbed her back all in the name of hug.

"I didn't ask you to sacrifice nothing so that's your cross to bear, not mine." Eesh hissed lowly as they let go of each other smiling widely to enunciate the fact that they were really in love.

After the short photo shoot, Abulkhair left with his groomsmen while Eesh was taken upstairs to eat so the could leave. People were soon going to start trooping in for the wuni and the bride isn't supposed to be seen so she's going to be taken out of the house.

The clothes Eesh was going to wear and everything else that was needed were put in a car and Eesh was taken to her father for the fada {admonishing}.

"Aishatu na, please forgive me. I don't know, I feel like I'm ruining your life," Alhaji Muhammad said holding his daughter's henna-stained hands with tear-filled eyes. He knew the deed had already been done and there was no use seeking for forgiveness but he felt guilty. Even though it was for her own good, deep down, he knew she was going to hate him if she found out. But he had kept alot for secrets for years so why did he feel like that one tiny one was like a huge bolder on his neck?

"Daddyn baddo, I've told you. I've prayed Istikhara. You're not ruining my life In Shaa Allah. Allah sees your heart and He knows your intentions." Her last sentence pierced through his heart like a heated dagger. He knew she only said it to make him feel good, but it did nothing but aggravate his guilt, and rightly so. At that moment, he felt like telling her everything he had been hiding but of what use would it be? He would just be exposing her to danger. So it was only sensible of him to keep to himself.

"Allah ya miki albarka, alkhairin da yake cikin auren Allah ya tabbatar dashi, sharrin da yake ciki Allah ya kare ku daga shi. {may Allah bless you, may He bless the goodness in the marriage and shield you away from the badness of it}." Eesh muttered an Ameen and they left, leaving Alhaji Muhammad to his haunting thoughts.

Women all wearing the anko were trooping in and throwing congratulations in the air with prayers for the newly wedded couple, some heart felt and some fake. They were going to stay and spend the better part of the day until it was time for the kamu.

°°°

Arab Road, Abuja, Nigeria.

"Nuhu this is the seventh time since our marriage you're collecting money from me, or as you like to call it, borrow. And I'm not even talking about the little amounts you take from my purse every morning. You know I don't pick money from the ground right?" Nana Asma'u complained as she checked her phone for the latest debit alert she received. It said thirty thousand naira had been deducted from her account and no one had access to her ATM card except Nuhu. She didn't want to give him her pin, but Hansatu had forced her to. When she refused, she threatened to curse her, leaving her with no option but to give him.

Nana Asma'u was wondering what Nuhu even did with the money as she checked her account balance.

"Fifteen thousand naira! Nuhu fifteen thousand naira is all i have left, out of seven hundred thousand. My earnings Nuhu, my dowry, every single thing! I would like to know what you used the money to do?!" Nana Asma'u thundered making Nuhu's lips to quiver, his eyes filling with tears.

"Don't. Don't even shed those tears around me because I'm about to lose it." Nana Asma'u closed her eyes. She started walking out of the parlor to the kitchen when Nuhu's sobs reached her eyes. Anger brewed in her chest but she pushed it down with her home training, she wasn't going to let his stupidity get to her.

Nuhu scrambled from where he was seated and held Nana Asma'u's leg, halting her in her steps.

"Let. Go. Of. Me," Nana Asma'u said through gritted teeth. She was already boiling with rage and him lying on the floor sobbing with snot and tears all over his face while he held her leg like the pathetic loser he was, it was making her angrier.

"Matata {my wife} I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry. I'm..." Nana Asma'u snatched her leg from his hold and walked into the kitchen and locked the door so he didn't even have a way in. She couldn't with him. She still considered marriage to him a punishment for something her ancestors did. She was happily in love with someone else when he came along with his short legs.

After cooking, she sat down with her laptop completing the flyer she had been designing for the new business she was starting. If she was going to rely on her perfume business then they wouldn't have anything to eat. It wasn't like the business wasn't moving, it actually was, very well if she could say. But Nuhu used alot of money, and he wasn't working, even though their store was stocked, they had clothing and the house was bought for them, they still needed money. They didn't have a car, a bike, a tricycle or any personal means of transportation. They needed to pay for electricity and gas for cooking too.

And to top it all Nuhu always demanded expensive foods, the previous night he asked to eat cow head pepper soup with fried rice. She couldn't blame anyone for his behaviors though, that was how he was trained. Being the last born of his father with fourteen children had groomed him into the man he was. His parents thought it was a good thing to spoil him rotten thereby making him misbehave.

"Matata {my wife}, what are you doing?" Nana Asma'u bit her lower lip to stop herself from hissing.

"I'm checking on the orders I have for this week." Nuhu said an okay before he asked what she was making for dinner.

"I was thinking of making tuwon gero and miyan taushe." Nuhu groaned before taking a seat in front of her on the bed.

"At home, I don't eat this type of stuff. We normally have pepper soup and bread at night or something similar." Nana Asma'u closed her eye, praying that the Almighty gave her enough patience to deal with him for few more minutes before he went to the mosque for Asr prayers. She knew he wouldn't come back until after Isha once he went out for Asr.

"Well, that's too bad. You finished the bread. And we don't have anything to use for pepper soup. Also, there's nothing similar." He frowned then went out of the house. Nana Asma'u released a sigh of exasperation before she tried to remember the name she thought off then type it and changed the fonts.

AsmaKhair's events. She sighed, she had always wanted to be an event planner but she didn't think she'd do it because she needed money to take care of her husband. Tears gathered in her eyes as she thought of her life and how miserable it had become in the past few weeks. If she must say, she preferred staying with her mother. At least she could ignore her daily tantrums or just sleep. But Nuhu would wake her up to listen to his tantrums, he was just a pain in the neck.

As she saved the flyer, her phone pinged with an alert from her bank. She screamed in frustration and almost threw her phone against the wall before she remembered she was officially broke and poor so she angrily dropped the phone on the bed.

Nana Asma'u closed the laptop and took it back to its hiding place because she didn't need to be told that if Nuhu found out where it was kept he'd sell it. He had attempted to sell the microwave her mother bought for her the previous week.

"Assalamu Alaikum. Matata? {Peace be upon you, my wife?}." Nana Asma'u couldn't stop herself from hissing. She had never disrespected Nuhu but he had pushed her to the wall and she was going to turn and give him and he had asked for.

"I bought fish, ganda and meat. I also bought bread and butter then I gave the guy I sent one thousand naira for running ny errands." Nuhu smiled happy with what he had done.

"So because you don't want to eat what normal humans eat, you decided to use my money, the entirety of it. Nuhu let me ask you something, between the both of us who's the husband?" Nuhu lowered his head. He knew Nana Asma'u rarely got angry but he had angered her.

"I'm hungry, I haven't..." Nana Asma'u hissed long, loud and hard.

"Nuhu you don't bring money into this house. You didn't contribute a single thing to this house. I do everything single handedly, while you lavishly spend all of my earnings on unreasonable costs that I'm not aware of. I'm tired of this. I believe you're happy that you have exhausted my money, huh? Now you might as well cook everything you've brought because I'm not lifting a spoon. And don't you ever ask me for money again." Nana Asma'u banged the door to the room hard before securing it with a lock. Nuhu could sleep on the roof for all she cared. That evening had just proven to her that she was about to become a divorcee. And soon too.

Nana Asma'u took her phone and opened another account, she was going to leave the other account for Nuhu since he was hell bent on being stupid. After doing that, she posted her flyer on all her social media pages and asked for reposts.

°°°

El-Kanemi Halls, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

"The groom has paid three million naira to see his bride and the groomsmen have paid one million naira to back up the groom's payment." Amrah announced into the speaker after receiving the alert. Cheers and shouts filled the hall.

Abulkhair walked into the hut-like structure with gait in his white brocade sewn into a below-knee length kaftan with babban riga which had platinum hand-threaded embroidery on the neck which he had paired with a plane ash cap and black handmade Italian leather shoes and minutes later, he came out with Eesh smiling shyly, her head ducked low.

Eesh was dressed in a rose lace sewn into a buba with off-shoulder neckline and kimimo sleeves paired with a simple plain wrapper which was tied atop the buba in the Yoruba style. Her headgear was tied into the standing pleats and rose beaded jewelry adorned her neck, wrist and ears. Rose glittering wedged heels were clad around her henna stained feet. She looked breathtaking.

"As a gift from me to my wife..." Music started playing and the person that walked in made Eesh hug Abulkhair in happiness.

It was Korede Bello and Deezell.

"Yarinya, ina sonki Aisha.
You dey make me dey lose control oh, with your body Aisha, Aisha, Aisha." Deezell took it from there.

"Aisha, wallahi Aisha.
I go take you around the world oh
L.A to madina." That was how the Kamu went, after that the bride danced with her groom and food was served.