After her nighttime routine, Jadwa was provided a concoction mixed in yogurt. She gulped it down, her senses dulled by exhaustion and compliance. At this point, she couldn't even muster the energy to put up a fight with the two women Ammi had brought. Jadwa understood almost everything they said in their language, though she could hardly respond in the same tongue, managing only in Hausa.
The two women bid her goodnight and she sat on her plush carpet, picking up her phone and scrolling through her camera roll. She saw all the pictures Zara and Hannan had sent to her phone and went through them carefully. As she did, her posture straightened when she reached the section with pictures of her and Imran.
A small, secret smile played on her lips as she looked at the photo where she had her head laid on his shoulder, his eyes gazing at her with a tender intensity. Another photo showed him looking at the camera, his expression serious yet affectionate. She favorited the pictures and moved on to the videos, watching them with a careful eye. Only two things were on her mind: first, they made the most beautiful couple despite her clear shyness; they looked as if they were the most in love couple. Zooming in on his face, she admired the way the lamplight glinted off his freshly trimmed beard, highlighting the strong lines of his jaw. His low-cut hair, his skin the color rich dark chocolate, the beard framed his face perfectly. The composed demeanor he usually wore seemed to have softened in this candid moment. Her admiration was cut short by the constant notifications on her Instagram.
Her jaw almost dropped at the sheer number of follow requests she received—thousands of them. She went to her explore page and saw multiple pictures of her and Imran trending. The blogs had posted all about them, and there were so many tags of them. She kept scrolling through multiple blogs and saw that they were the content of the day. She hadn't realized that the man she had just married was a dream guy to many girls in the north. Rolling her eyes at the "classless girls" spewing annoying comments about them envying her, Jadwa forced herself to focus on the positive.
Ahmad's story was a picture of her, then another of Imran alone, which she immediately took a screenshot of, and next, a picture of her and him together. She was tagged, and he was tagged. Jadwa didn't think twice before her fingers clicked on the tag, taking her straight to his profile. It was a private account with barely over a hundred followers and one post. He was in her requests. Muhammad Moriki. She accepted the request and followed him back, just as a knock on the door interrupted her.
Reluctantly, she posted a lone picture of herself and reposted Ahmad's tag. The door opened to reveal Hanan and Ammi coming in.
"Did he reach home safely?" Ammi asked, making Jadwa look at her confused.
"I'm sure he did. We didn't talk," she shrugged.
Ammi gave her a warning glare because she had told her to call him after he left. "You don't know how to do the right thing, ko?" She palmed her face, and Hanan snickered behind her.
"Ammi!! I am sure he is tired or asleep by now," Jadwa rolled her eyes frustratingly.
"If you like, don't put some sense into your head. All these hungry girls on social media will steal him by morning," Hanan interrupted.
Jadwa sighed. Would she actually care at this point? She didn't know when she let out a loud laugh.
They shook their heads almost unbelievably at her before they closed the door and left.
"Goodnight!" She shouted for them, still laughing.
As she said her night Adhkar, Jadwa picked her phone and texted him after so much contemplation.
"Hello, Hope you reached home safely?" She typed and looked at her screen again and again before sending it.
She closed her eyes, ready to sleep, when her phone beeped.
