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Amina put down the heavy brocade curtains and walked outside her room, meeting her mom in the hallway, she swallowed nervously before asking, "Are they here?" 

Her mother nodded with a smile. The house was filled with people from her paternal and maternal families who had been informed of a mini momí mo é (introduction of families) that was to be held today and a bigger one the next day. All in a bid to get the two families comfortable enough to be fooled until the Nikkah would be held later the next day. 

"Change, this Abaya makes you pale. There's a fuchsia pink one I ordered you but you never wore, it's in my room, let's go get it." They tiptoed, they couldn't walk loudly because it would alert another family member who wanted to have an hour discussion, talking about how Amina was marrying into doom, marrying another ethnic group. 

Of course they didn't outrightly put it that way, they said it in their worried body slaps, those hits you gave your body when anxiety was sitting next to you. They'd successfully made Amina a jittery bride which was why she was going to change her Abaya from a sage green one to a fuchsia pink she'd never seen before. 

The Abaya was embroidered with firm black thread, the sleeves and middle part sprinkled with Swarovski crystals. Amina held the material to her face, fighting tears. The veil, a lighter fuchsia pink, was the perfect accompaniment to her skin complexion. 

When she wanted to marry Kassim, she'd worn old clothes, she'd bent herself backwards, to cater to Kassim's ego, to his family's ego. They said her parents used their 'hand of wealth' to slap their poor faces and they threw how ashamed they were anytime at Amina when she  appeared.

So, she forced herself to be small, to be little. It worked, her self-esteem was at it's lowest and she hoped she would be a good wife the second time around. 

"I bought it just before you got married." Her mother shut her eyes, sitting on her bed in her beige voile lace Iro and Buba with an equally beige veil around her neck, shoulders, and back. She didn't have to explain which married, Amina knew. So she scooted closer and held her mother, breathing in her warmth and her signature perfume until she felt comfort. 

"May Allah bless this union with everything the last one lacked. May you be a good person to him and may he be a good person to you, may your love be kind to one another. Onikede mi, you'll never know sorrow again. Shó gbó?" Amina nodded in her mother's arms, tears threatening to slip through but she held it back. 

"I'll be fine and if it ever gets to hard to bear, I'll always remember you're here." Her mother took her face in her hands and kissed it. They went back to their uncomfortable hugging position for a minute more before letting Amina change into the new Abaya. 

When they stepped outside the room, smiling now, they met her mother's cousin who was known to never be caught un-fresh. Aunty Amirah to them all, Amis to her mother. 

"Enter that room back." Amina laughed, the disciplinarian had arrived. She realized her mother had backed up into the room. 

"E kaasan ma." She genuflected holding the doorframe as she greeted her, Amina realized there was no direct name for one who was your mother's cousin except Aunty. 

"Let's not talk on this corridor. The walls have ears." They shuffled back into the rooms, though Amina feared being late, she feared her aunt more. 

"Why are we rushing this wedding like you're hiding a pregnancy, onikede, are you pregnant?" Amina shook her head with a laugh, a smile playing on her lips afterwards. 

"Well, Iya Agba called them in Oshogbo that I'm getting married in a few months, asking Kassim to come beg me so that our fight can be over." Her aunt's mouth dropped comically in surprise. 

"May her children meet those who will use them for sacrifice, maybe then she'll understand the gravity of this thing. That boy should be sleeping in police cells, not being anyone's husband." Amina spread her hands in agreement. 

"Why didn't you tell me, allowing me to be shining teeth with the enemy earlier." Amina laughed, remembering how her aunt had bent in respect to the older woman earlier. 

"Let her not even- Ehen, the most important part, does he know you were married? Does he accept it? Does he have a house for you to stay? Is his Deen good? Is he a good man to those in his employ?" Amina nodded her head, then she nodded again very firmly. 

"I'll be praying for you, you're always in my duas na, but extra prayers for you to have twins and triplets very soon." Amina covered her face with her hands in shame, talking about reproduction was still a deal breaker for her. 

"They're around. His sister is wearing one necklace I saw in an Abu Dhabi souk shop, I couldn't afford it, moya look away. If she can take care of that necklace, they'll be good to you." Amina drew back to look at her, shaking her head. 

"You're obsessed with gold and it's not a good thing. What kind of logic is that?" Amina made sure she was in her mother's closet, changing her Abaya before saying that. Her aunt could throw hands at anytime. 

She came out, adjusting her veil, then she realized her aunt hadn't responded. 
Her aunt adjusted her chocolate brown veil over her left shoulder before saying in a tone of finality, "That necklace was over twelve years ago, when Gold was cheap. If she's taken care of it so well till now? She's a good person." 

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"I accept." 

The mosque event center next door to the main Central mosque erupted in cheers as they concluded the Nikkah ceremony.  Amina put down the microphone they handed her when they asked her permission beside her knees and her eyes met with AbdulRahman's. 

They stared at each other for a hot minute before he broke the staring contest by accepting the Imam's congratulations. The Imam, her father's life long friend commented with a light laugh how AbdulRahman could not wait to see her. 

"It's Halal now, Alhamdulilah." That sentence rang in Amina's head as they signed the beautiful Nikkah certificate in a side room, they heard the room they'd left buzz with noise, Amina knew the moment her mother stepped out, she would be mobbed by family. 

They ended the signing and returned to their positions, another Imam gave a wisdom filled  lecture on how the both of them could do right by each other. He admonished them never to go to bed angry at one another, he said it increased the anger into rage and rage could do anything. He talked about them increasing each other's Iman, waking each other for prayers and other things. 

They stepped into the sunshine about an hour later, taking several pictures in the lawn, they got into cars to take them back to Amina's parents house. 

AbdulRahman's friend Tahir sat in front with the driver and he turned his neck to greet Amina. "He has finally had sense." 

Amina smiled in AbdulRahman's direction, asking what he meant by that.

"Tahir is normally not alright, not everything he says is right." Tahir held his chest mockingly in hurt, responding in a serious voice.  "I meant, he was so jittery last night, I thought he would fly over to meet you." 

AbdulRahman looked at Amina, showing a mock disgust expression, "See I said he's not very sensible?" 

Amina laughed at their antics, watching with a smile as AbdulRahman used his vantage position to slap the back of Tahir's head. Amina felt like he could have knocked his head if Tahir's cap was not there. 

"The last time we fought I beat you o, shey you know?" AbdulRahman eyed him, "Liars go to hell fire. May Allah help your soul." Tahir burst into laughter at AbdulRahman's exasperation. 

"Congratulations to the both of you, may your life be happy. May Allah bless your union forever." Amina and AbdulRahman said a fervent Ameen to his heartfelt prayer. 

They watched the white eighteen seater bus that carried members of Amina's family to the reception venue, a restaurant there in Ibadan that had the capacity to take on their fifty guest party. 

"For a last minute wedding, this looks very good." Amina turned to the voice of AbdulRahman whispering beside her. She smiled thinly, nodding, her mother and his mother had pulled in favors from everywhere yesterday and gotten a restaurant that could take them all. 

"We had to opt for a restaurant because we found out a new lead. I didn't even know my mom and your mom talked to each other so much, they just told me they got us a good place as a reception venue and I'd like it. I am grateful for the both of them because left to me, we'd be on a flight back to Abuja." AbdulRahman who had leaned so close on the seat so they could have that secret conversation chuckled. 

"I'd have loved that, we can also enjoy this party that they've striven so hard to throw for us." Amina nodded, suddenly feeling hot since he was leaning so close. 

In the blink of an eye, the man who she'd been running every morning with had suddenly become her husband. She had no idea what to do or say, nothing could fully take on the extent of her emotions. 

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Amina promptly burst into tears when her mother whispered it to her. She was changing her white lace Nikkah gown in the restaurant's changing room. She sat there in her blue silk gown that was unzipped at the back. 

"No, don't cry please. It's such a joyful day," Amina lifted her eyes up to Munayah and with her red rimmed eyes and quivering lips. 

"Did your ex-husband ever go to your father's house to scatter things? Oh I remember you didn't have one, I messed up this family by marrying the worst man, everyone warned me, people said he was a no-good, but," The rest of her words were said in a crumbling mess. 

Munayah stepped forward and hugged her to herself, she rocked her sister in-law until she stopped sniffling. 

"It's not your fault, it's never been. It's all on him, he's the one with the horrible behavior, he decided to be horrible, it's nothing on you." Amina wiped her tears carefully. Using a mirror Munayah got from Aunty Amis, they adjusted Amina's make-up and wrapped her shoulder length hijab. 

"Has he been arrested?" Her mother nodded sadly, She stepped closer to Amina and hugged her to her body. 

"Don't let this cloud rain a parade on your day. Okay?" Amina nodded in her mother's arms. Taking comfort in her mother's love and pure affection. 

When Amina reached where AbdulRahman was, he smiled at her, then he whispered, "Is everything okay?" 

She nodded with a thin smile, letting his Tom Ford cologne wash over her. She shut her eyes and went around the venue with AbdulRahman, greeting members of his family, thanking them for taking time to attend their wedding ceremony.

Their wedding ceremony, that word rang in her head as she sat at the blue fresh flowers and balloon backdrop with AbdulRahman. It was really their union and she was someone's wife.

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I'm so sorry for the late update. Truly sorry😔. I have no excuse.

Please leave a comment, vote and share(I think the low reads isn't just motivating me at all), I hope I write more and update soon.

I hope you have a great day.
May God bless you💓💓

TheOmoope 💙❤️