Umariri Songhai, Borno, Nigeria.
Saturday 6th April, 2018.

Eesh was dressed in a lavender embellished atamfa with ice eel-like designs sewn into a six-piece skirt with a short trail and a blouse with keyhole illusion neckline and two steps kimono sleeves. Her head gear was tied into the splitting Zara Buhari style. Her makeup top notch, she slipped into her ice Brian Atwood's heels and an ice colored material with lavender designs on the edges was tied into a laffaya around her body and then used to cover her face halfway.

"No one will admonish her. Take her to the car." Alhaji Muhammad said after he had hugged his daughter. He wasn't going to follow them to Abuja yet, he had some unfinished business to complete before he left.

"Haba Alhaji, if no one admonishes her she would go there and misbehave. Daman gashi bah irin auren al'ada aka mata bah. An bar yarinya tayi abun da ranta yake so babu koh gwal daya {moreover it wasn't a traditional marriage. They've allowed her to do what she wishes that there's not even a single gold}." One of Alhaji Muhammad's half-sisters, Hallira said, making the last part sound like a whisper but Alhaji Muhammad heard her loud and clear.

"Idan kin tashi sake aure sai kice mijinki ya baki gwal tunda abun da kike so kenan {when you're getting remarried then you can tell your husband to give you gold since that's what you want}." Alhaji Muhammad said something under his breath.

"Alhaji what did you just call me?" He ignored her and walked away.

"Wai today it's me Alhaji called haffaratu thahabin {gold digger}, because of that hagara {shameless girl}." Hallira said surprised.

As Eesh was taken to the car where Abulkhair was waiting, Uwani's mother came out dressed in a lemon paper lace sewn into a plain wrapper and buba with v-neckline with silver stones used to trace the flowery pattern on the lace around the neck and bell sleeves. She was wearing a silver veil and a silver wedged Jimmy Choo shoe.

She took Eesh's right hand and said, "Aisha, this is for you. When your mother was dying, she placed your hand in mine and said, 'Take care of my daughter, for she is yours too'. And now, by Allah's grace, I'm about to hand you over to a man. I hope you respect him and work towards getting your Jannah from him. I know you won't disappoint me. I love you my daughter, now it's left for you to love yourself."

Eesh wondered why she had to translate the poem she wrote for her. She thought it was only for the Arabian night but shrugged it off.

With that, she placed Eesh's right hand in Abulkhair's right hands. She squeezed their hands. The way their hands were sitting in each other's, was how they entered the car and drove off to the airport where they boarded a plane to Abuja.

°°°

Arab Road, Abuja, Nigeria.

Nana Asma'u scrolled through her Instagram feed, saving things she thought necessary and liking the ones she liked. She stopped by a video which was still loading, she dropped it on the counter to check on the stew she was preparing to take with the yam she had boiled. Pouring a little quantity of soaked potash into it, she heard her phone making sounds which meant the video had finished loading.

She quickly dropped the bottle where the potash was soaked and cleaned her hand with the kitchen napkin then picked her phone. Jealousy took over her features when she realized it was one of the numerous videos of Eesh and Abulkhair's wedding events that had been trending since the previous week.

She couldn't help but read the caption which was written by Arewa Family Weddings.

You can literally see the love encasing them like a cloud.

She hissed lowly before unfollowing the account like she did all the accounts she had seen the wedding on. The next post was a latest picture of them. A woman of probably forty was holding the classical Muslimah's hands and the next slide was off Abulkhair holding her hands. The next was of Abulkhair looking into her eyes like she was the only person that mattered there. The last was where Abulkhair helped her into a car. The caption said they were coming back to Abuja to start their married life.

She unfollowed the account too without even checking which it was then went to the next post. She checked the name of the account and saw it was wedding street. It was her all time favorite. She almost screamed in pure unadulterated relief when she saw that it wasn't about her ex-boyfriend's wedding. But did Abulkhair count as an ex? They never actually broke up, they both just got married to other people without telling each other.

She spurned the thought away realizing how ridiculous she sounded, even to her ears. She went back to the video. It was of a lady and a guy having a dance off. It was obvious the lady won.

She swiped to the next slide and what she saw made her to shout. Nuhu peeped from the parlor and asked what happened.

"Why are you suddenly interested in what is wrong and what's not?" She snapped before realizing what she did. She muttered an Astagfirullah.

She switched off her internet connection and set her phone down. She didn't know why only their wedding was trending. There were other weddings that were going on so why was everyone interested in just theirs?

She hissed again and went to switch of the stew when she perceived it was burning. Picking her phone, she switched on her data connection and went to check her DMs on Instagram. Happiness clouded her when she read a message from someone she didn't care to check who it was.

Hey, I see that you're an event planner. I'm celebrating my 18th birthday this Friday so I want you to plan it for me. I already have a theme in mind.

Nana Asma'u replied immediately and at the end of the conversation, she had a scowl on her face. After all what she had done to make sure she steered away from having anything to do with seeing Abulkhair's wedding she still ended up with no choice but to look for a video of the classical Muslimah's fandango.

Can you send a link to the video?

Nana Asma'u sent. She didn't have the strength to start going through all their wedding posts because she knew deep down she was going to cry without stopping if she had to see him look at the classical Muslimah the way he had done in all the videos.

Sorry, I have to go for my fitting now and I can't really start going through all the wedding posts. But I know the account where I saw it.

Nana Asma'u groaned.

What's the name of the account?

The beginning of #KhaEsha

Nana Asma'u almost laughed out loud at the ship name. KhaEsha, she laughed. What sort of name was that? She shook her head and headed to the account. Putting aside her relationship with Abulkhair, she scrolled through the page until she found the exact video.

She saved it and switched off her data connection and got to work.

°°°

Gwarimpa, Abuja, Nigeria.
Saturday 13th April, 2018.

Eesh smiled victoriously as she realized that the one week of eating food from Uwani's house was over. Now she had to cook. She chuckled at that. The chuckle had an evil tilt to it. She stood up and went to the bathroom. It was a Saturday and Abulkhair was still on work leave. He was going to resume the next month.

Eesh emerged still in her pyjamas of a silk gown with scoop neckline and straps for sleeves. She took the robe the pyjamas came with and wore it over the pyjamas. Realizing she had nothing on her head, she entered her large cream themed walk-in closet and opened a random drawer then drawed out a plain black cap. She wore it and went into the kitchen.

An hour later, she was done with the breakfast and had already cleaned all the utensils she used. She smiled at herself then decided to eat before taking her bath. She never played with her breakfast. After eating, she walked upstairs and went to take a bath.

Abulkhair was coming out from his room when he saw Eesh entering hers. They weren't sleeping in the same room as they both still didn't know where the marriage stood. Eesh knew though, Abulkhair, well, he was confused.

Abulkhair wondered what she was doing awake on a Saturday morning before 8am. Even on weekdays, she always woke up by 10am, eat her breakfast, take her bath and go back to bed or scroll through her phone. He shrugged it off and went downstairs to find something to eat.

His jaw slackened when he saw food warmers on the glass Artesian dining table. Bedazzled, he walked slowly, as though the floor beneath him was going to crack, and opened the warmer. His tongue involuntarily slipped out of his mouth to lick his suddenly chapped lips, his mouth was suddenly watering. It was as though his taste buds had been celibate and the gourmet dish in front of him had just awakened them.

His eyes went to the flask that was sitting pretty, a ceramic mug beside it. Opening it, his olfactory senses went haywire the magnificent scent of whatever was in it. The scent was familiar, filled with coconut, groundnut, milk, rice and a hint of spice.

Without any more hesitation, he took a plate off its rack from the kitchen and scooped some of the potato sauce and picked three rottis. He took the ceramic cup and poured a generous amount of the kunun gyada and without much forestall, he cut a piece of the rotti and used it to scoop the potato sauce. He moaned in the delight, having never tasted anything as delicious as that.

In less than ten minutes, he was done. He drank the kunun gyada and stood up to wash the cup and plate.

"Just leave the plate there. I will wash it." Came Eesh's voice. He rose his head and their eyes clashed, she had never looked more beautiful to him. Maybe it was because she was the one that prepared the food. Or because she had finally dressed up for him, or even because she was wearing his favorite color, mint green. But the reason didn't matter to him, the fact remained, she looked beautiful.

"You look beautiful." Eesh lowered her head, blood rushing to her cheeks and a giggle escaped her rose stained lips.

"Thank you. How was the food?" Abulkhair made an exaggerated sound which resembled a moan while rubbing his stomach.

"It was delightful." Eesh grinned and took the plates from him, their hands brushed and she looked at him then giggled before hurrying into the kitchen.

Abulkhair smiled at the kitchen door. If she continued like that, then he definitely wouldn't have a hard time loving her. He started walking up the stairs when his stomach made a sound, followed by another. He clutched it when he felt like it was being tied in knots. A fart escaped his anus then another. Soon enough, his underwear was heavy, he didn't know how or when, but something had made his underwear ridiculously heavy.

Carefully, he walked up the stairs and into his room. Unknown to him, he had dropped stool all over the place.

Eesh laughed wickedly and followed him into the room. The putrid smell coming from the toilet followed by the cacophony made by Abulkhair made her want to throw up but she was too busy laughing.

She opened his wardrobe and picked one of his singlets then went downstairs. She wore hand gloves and used the singlet to clean the poo on the stairs. She went back to the room with the singlet and dropped it on the bed. Hearing Abulkhair groan made what she was doing less disturbing and she laughed. She took one of his white Getzners and used it to clean the remaining poo and also dropped it on the bed.

Taking her phone, she called the cleaning company and they said they'd be there in an hour.

When Abulkhair came out, he was sweating despite the air conditioning in the room. He saw his favorite white kaftan scrunched up on the bed and when he picked it, he saw his own stool on it.

Looking on his vanity mirror, a large bottle of hot spirit was sitting there and that was when realization dawned on him. He went out and to Eesh's room.

"What's the meaning of the stunt you pulled?" Abulkhair said immediately he entered.

"That's the beginning of your worst nightmare." Eesh smiled wickedly and Abulkhair heard his stomach make a sound again. He rushed to the bathroom to avoid a repeat of what happened and Eesh laughed out loud.

The sound of the door bell made her stop laughing and walk downstairs. Looking through the peephole, she saw one of her father's half-sisters with her three female children and someone else she didn't know.

She groaned silently then went to take a mop and it's bucket with detergent. She cleaned where Abulkhair had messed up and sprayed some room freshener.

The door bell rang again and she rolled her eyes at their impatience.

"Welcome." Eesh opened the door and ushered them inside. She saw the second girl with the glasses look around then nudged the one who looked to be the oldest. The oldest hissed and eyed Eesh.

After serving them some chinchin and drinks, she showed them around the house and they left.

"Imbeciles," She said angrily then banged her door.