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"Dada, can I be your plus one?"

His mother's delighted laughter reached him in seconds after seeing him. She stopped the woman tying her Gele and stepped off the makeup chair to look him over. 

"Look how Ma Sha Allah you look, wow!" His mother let her eyes sweep over him, her eyes crinkled in happiness and excitement. Tears looped at the corners of her eyes and she walked to the side stool where she carefully wiped them with a tissue. 

"Dazzy, please finish my head tie quickly, you see how my son has taken away my shine." AbdulRahman who was now reclining lazily on the sofa, his babban Riga taken off and laid upon another sofa to avoid wrinkles chuckled. 

"Please Dada, I hope you know none of your children are getting married, look how beautiful you look, if I didn't know well enough, I'd have said you were giving a child away today." The rest of the wait staff in the room laughed very loudly, while his mother waved her index finger at her lazily smiling son for teasing her. 

Soon, she was done and they took pictures and were ready to leave. At the awning while they waited for the driver to pull up in front them, Dada stopped in front of her way taller son and pulled an errant thread that must have skipped his tailor's eye after embroidery. She patted him afterwards and stepped back with a nod of her head and a twinkle in her eyes. 

"This shade of brown does wonders for your skin." AbdulRahman nodded, a lump in his throat, he wanted to go back inside and sleep the night away but since he had attended the wedding fatiha the previous day, he wanted to attend the dinner to finish it up. 

It was hurting a little bit because he and Nai'mah did this together, they went to weddings and birthdays, every single event together and he almost didn't know how to go alone.

He raised his shoulders mentally and helped his mother into the seat behind the driver before seating himself gingerly beside her. His Babban Riga crinkled noisily as he sat. 

"Are you leaving early?" His mother asked as the driver wound into the VIP parking lot at the event center behind their escort patrol van. 

"No. Ten is considered early enough isn't it?" He asked his mother with a raise of his slicked down natural bushy brows. She smiled at him and told him to stay a little later than ten, before getting off. Greeting one of her socialite friends almost immediately after stepping off the car. 

"Please keep your phone on, once anyone calls, get ready to go immediately." He instructed his mother's driver as he stepped off the car and adjusted his attire, a brown getzner that he had sent last minute to his tailor after his discussion with Tahir days before. 

"You're not the ango, what's this overdressing?" AbdulRahman rolled his eyes as Tahir came out of the shadows and locked his car, his car gave a beep and went silent. 

"Salam Alaikum Tahir." His friend looked him up and down before grudgingly responding to his greeting. 

"Why did you dress up? Now, all the girls that would have looked at people like me will turn all their attention to you. How am I supposed to get married?" AbdulRahman rolled his eyes again and refused to respond to his friend, walking forward like he didn't hear Tahir. 

"Eh! I'm talking to you na?" Tahir grabbed his arm and  AbdulRahman in a fit of petty looked his friend up and down in the same way he'd been looked at earlier and asked him with a smirk, "Who told you to wear neon kaftan to the wedding fatiha yesterday? How can they take you serious when you're a lemon sign flashing everywhere they turn?" 

Tahir held his head and screamed like he had been bitten by a reptile. "AbdulRahman 1, Tahir 0. You won this round. Don't worry, I won't give you ammunition next time." AbdulRahman laughed happily as Tahir conceded defeat nearly at the door of the event center, the full air-conditioning hit them with a blast the moment they got through the glass doors. 

"This is some wedding!" Tahir exclaimed they were tagged and let into the main venue, it was a four hundred guest wedding, the venue decked in blue and gold, the wedding colors, they found their seats, so close to the stage and AbdulRahman found out his mother was sitting by the bride's mother, while his seat was in the groom's side. So after finding his seat, he pulled Tahir with him and went to greet his mother and her friends. 

"My AB!" His mother's friend, the bride's mother exclaimed happily when he reached their side, he stopped pulling a very reluctant Tahir and greeted the older Kanuri woman. 

"How are you, my darling?" He smiled widely as he said he was fine, he leaned down to kissed his mother's cheek, everyone else at the table watched them with an indulgent smile, especially since they knew what he has faced. 

"Didn't you bring me gift? It's your little sister that is getting married, I spent a lot for this place." AbdulRahman smiled and handed her an envelope he'd asked his personal assistant to prepare earlier. When she took it, she smiled widely and said something that made his mother and those at the table laugh, it was in Kanuri and since he didn't understand the language and his mother did, he was left out of the joke. 

"Who is this?" AbdulRahman nearly slapped himself, Tahir had been waiting and he'd fumbled with introducing him. 

"This- " Tahir didn't let him speak and took over, introducing himself with the flourish and charm he'd always known with Tahir, and for a moment, he wondered why he worried about his friend. 

Soon, they left back their seats and Tahir who was brimming with excitement at being introduced, smiled at his friend and asked, "Why didn't you say you were taking me there, what if I had sweaty underarms?" AbdulRahman thought in his mind that if He could get a million dollars for each time he rolled his eyes at Tahir, he would be a billionaire. The man was too much. 

**

*

"Can I seat here? I can't see the couple from my table and I want to watch this game." AbdulRahman raised his head to look at lady who had just spoken with a soft as tissue voice. He hesitated because he knew his friend was coming back, but Tahir overrode him and asked her to seat. 

She gratefully sat, adjusting her light blue veil against a dainty shoulder and he turned back to stage where the groomsmen were playing a chair game where they had to seat after the music ended or they'd leave the game. 

"What's your name, Fero Shawa?" AbdulRahman turned to his friend who didn't speak a word in Kanuri but knew what the word for 'fine girl' was. A typical playboy. 

"Taheerah. Taheerah Aliyu." Before she finished speaking, Tahir turned to AbdulRahman and with wide eyes, asked him if he could hear. Exasperated, AbdulRahman resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

"His name is Tahir. That's why he's overreacting." Taheerah said a small 'oh' before turning back to look at the stage, leaving Tahir feeling like he had done something bad. 

"I'll go to the stage, I need to play that game too." Tahir got up and left them, making AbdulRahman shake his head.  Taheerah turned to him and asked of he would like a picture, since the light around him was very good. He shook his head, the moment he didn't, she stretched out her phone and asked him to take a photo of her. 

"The lighting here is perfect." She said softly and slowly. He stared at her hand before telling her with his eyes to leave the phone on the table. She did and he picked it up, clicked a few pictures of her, having been taught very patiently by Nai'mah. 

She took her phone and awwed very happily over the pictures, calling them absolutely perfect. She thanked him profusely and walked away, leaving her cloudy scent in her wake. 

Immediately she left, Tahir returned to the table and AbdulRahman shot him a death glare immediately he reached. 

"Why did you leave me?" Tahir put his hand on his chest and smiled, "You can't say you didn't see she's interested in you. She didn't even react that our names match, she's interested in the almighty AbdulRahman Barkindo. Who won't be?" 

"Who said she was interested? Tahir? Hmm?" He asked sarcastically, refusing to agree even though he knew Tahir was saying the truth. It was also why he ignored her while she tried to point out several things to him. 

"Why did the table empty out sef?" Tahir laughingly pointed at the stage where the couple and the MC enthralled the crowd in a game of charades. 

"I'm leaving. It's too late to be out, I need to sleep soon." Tahir grumbled but picked up his car keys and followed AbdulRahman complaining as they greeted the now seated couple, wished them a long life together and left the venue. 

"I'm happy you came out with us today. Osman couldn't say it, but I'm so sure he's happy." AbdulRahman shook his friend's hands and went into the house, going up the stairs and watching from an upstairs balcony as the taillights of Tahir's car wind out of the street. 

He couldn't place his emotions about finally attending social events, he just knew a knot in his throat had loosened. 

****

Whoosh!

Say Hello to Queen Taheerah. 😁😁

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TheOmoope 💙😊