Kindred Ties

Chapter 43

Muhammad draped his babban Riga over his arm as he stepped out of his car along with some of his friends. A triumphant smile spread across his face as he looked at their house. My wife is behind these doors. He thought adjusting the placement of his Zannah Bukar cap.

He looked beside him and found his friends talking, laughing, and admiring the house. Just good vibes everywhere. Five of his friends were with him along with Abdallah who insisted on tagging along, to meet the bride some of them do not know. "Let's go." Muhammad gestured to them to move forward.
"Aaah! Ango calm down," Sadiq laughed throwing his arms around Muhammad's shoulders. Muhammad eyed him playfully and walked to the front door. They started passing teasing comments but that didn't bother him at all, nothing will wipe this happy smile he has. Haisham pressed the doorbell and waited for it to open. A few seconds later, the door clicked open.

"Assalam Alaikum," they salaamed removing their shoes inside the house and placing them in a cute shoe rack by the door as they came in.
"Oh no," Muhammad whispered as soon as he looked up and found the bride's maid standing in front of them with a kinda creepy smile on their faces. He had wanted to see Maryam the instant he came in, but now this.

"What?" Farhan asked closing the front door behind him as he walked in. He looked up and also saw them. A smirk replaced his frown, and then the room resounded with his distinctive laugh. He found it funny. The bridesmaid laughed.  Siddiqa stepped forward saying, "Ina wunin ku."
"Ina gajiya, ya gajiyan biki?"
"Alhamdulillah. Ya naku gajiyan?"
"Alhamdulillah."

They all sat around on the couch and waited for the bridesmaid to settle before saying, "Toh where is our bride? Bring her out for us." Sadiq said. Ummita chuckled drily, "we're gonna have to talk first."

"Toh we're listening." He said leaning back on the couch. Jannah looked at the girls and smiled saying, "maganan kudi zaayi, you need to pay before seeing the bride."
"Just bring her out for the groom as you can he is very eager . . ." Sadiq glanced at Muhammad who threw him a look, and laughed. "We'll then pay."

Muhammad looked around the parlor hoping to catch a glimpse of Maryam somehow even though deep inside him he knew that was close to impossible, as she might be in the room as they speak.
"No, no, we must see alert first." Lola stood with arms akimbo.

"Someone should close that door seff," Siddiqa said motioning towards the door that leads to the hallway leading to Maryam's room. ". . . Maybe then they'll know we're serious."
Muhammad chuckled at that.

"Ok talk." Yasir, one of his childhood friends, said removing his cap and keeping it on the center table. She smiled smugly to herself. "You know our bride is an expensive one, so naturally the price is also you know . . ." She trailed off cockily. "Isn't that right, Ango?"
Muhammad grinned at them, "of course." He said earning a few looks from his friends. His bride sure was an expensive on and she deserves every penny spent on her.

"So how much do we have to pay now?" Farhan asked, looking directly at Jannah who visibly flinched unable to hold eye contact. She masked the nervous feeling with a smile and said without missing a beat, "Two million."

Hafeez, the laidback one amongst them looked at them with both brows raised. "Two mil in this era?" He asked. "A dan raga mana."  Abdallah chipped in. Jannah eyed him muttering something under her breath.

Siddiqa looked at the ladies and raised her eyebrows, they all nodded before she turned and said, "1.5 million."
"What was that secret communication thing you had going on there?" Sadiq asked imitating her. "We need to be doing that." He said to his friends. They all laughed and shook their heads at his childishness.

"One million," Lola said. "We can't go any lower than that." Jannah dismissed turning her face so they wouldn't even try to do anything. Farhan nodded, rubbing his hands together, "fair enough. To whom do we send the money?"
They looked at each other and did that communication thing again before concluding. "Me," Siddiqa said.