The Second Path

Chapter 12

Song: How do I live by LeAnn Rimes

Chapter 12

Zita and Joseph's wedding was finally here. The wedding reception just began after a long 3 hours church service. The reception was held in a primary school compound not too far from my house. I almost didn't recognise the school because of the decorations and canopies that were set in the middle of the big school compound.

However, the school buildings were only 7 in number and all of them were yellow bungalows. Some of the chairs used for the wedding were the teacher's own while the children sat on the small classroom chairs. The teacher's desks were used to hold the food warmers at the end of each canopy so that serving will be made easier for me and the other girls who served the guests.

Kaka and I were the ones that came for the wedding. Kauna was in mama Halimat's house under Zainab's care.

Kaka was standing behind one of the tables with the food warmers while I served the food in front of her and took the plates to guests on the canopy I was closest to. I had served few tables but I had not seen Hamid anywhere. During the church service, I looked round to search for him but he was nowhere to be found. Then it hit me that he was Muslim.

I didn't wear kaka's dress like I thought I would. Instead, I wore one of my old simple Ankara gowns. Which I thought was perfectly normal for the wedding.

I bent down to pick a clean plate and placed it on the table in front of kaka. I opened the jollof rice warmer and started fetching the food on the plate when suddenly,

"Sannu." Someone told Kaka from behind me.

She smiled at the person in response. I stopped serving and turned around to see who it was.

It was a boy in a white babanriga. And it was no other than the one and only Hamid in that white babanriga.

For the first time in history, I was looking at Hamid without his army uniform. Surprisingly, The babanriga even made him look much more better than he had always looked in that uniform. Also, he didn't wear a Hula Hausa cap and his hair was on a lower cut than it had always been. It looked like I was not the only one that did a transformation for the wedding.

"Mariam." He looked at me and smiled, "it's good to finally see you."

"You look different." Was my response.

"You look different too." He said, eyes looking straight at my hair. "The hair changes your look."

"That's the point of doing it." I scoffed and still looked at him, still not believing he was the one in a babanriga. I had expected him to wear his army uniform like before. "You look rich."

"Of course I am rich." He chuckled, "just representing General you know."

"Where's he?" I grimaced, remembering that General probably hates me after our first encounter.

He pushed his head towards the table in front of bride and groom's canopy and I turned around to see General sitting on a table with other big and rich men in babanriga. He was the odd one out as he wore his uniform.

I turned around and slowly nodded at Hamid, "So how's your mother? Did she come?"

"Oh no," He shook his head, "she couldn't make it. But she has been asking about you. She was really worried about you when I told her that you faint-"