BFFs: finding love again

6. Amal Is Official

Fatima slaps the alarm clock and it stops making noise but tumbles down the bedside drawer. She yawns covering her mouth and says the prayer for waking up. It's 4am so she has an hour before Subhi and one and the half hour before her father travels.

He is going to the UAE to check on her business and make sure everything is going well. She has been trying to get a hold of him and apologize since a day before yesterday but it seems like he's still angry and doesn't want to talk to her. So, she decided yesterday that she'd wake up early before his flight, make his favorite food, apologize and give him the information on the rehabilitation center.

After brushing her teeth and performing ablution she performs Raka'atanil Fajr. She rushes down the stairs careful not to wake up her parents, Afnan and Amal. Amal has finished her university with a degree in Mass Communication from Nile University while Amal is waiting for admission into Nile university or Base university. They both came back from Fareeda - their aunt - 's house yesterday.

Fatima enters the kitchen and brings out the ingredients for making Southern tea cakes and milk-ginger tea, Abba's favorites.

Having prepared everything within a matter of forty five minutes Fatima rushes to go take a bath. She takes her bath, performs another ablution and cleans the house. As she drops the dirt into the dustbin the call to Subh is made. She quickly keeps the colored broom otherwise known as tsintsiyan laushi by Hausas and parker then rushes upstairs, picks up a maroon Jilbab and prays Subhi.

After praying she goes to Afnan's room to wake her up then Amal's. After waking them up, she washes her bathroom and decides to wait for the rest of the family to finish praying and while away time by chatting a bit.

Fatima connects to the Wi-Fi network and her Samsung s20 starts to vibrate due to messages. She watches as the vibration slowly dies down and her phone concludes that she has three thousand seven hundred and fifteen messages from ninety eight chats on whatsapp, fourty three DMs and fifty other notifications from Instagram and thirty seven emails and fifty other notifications.

After replying all the messages from whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat she decides to check the emails. They are all from Pinterest, Snapchat, Wattpad and Twitter. Only two are from work. One has a report of the week's activities. She smiles as she sees that her business is blooming even though she can't really be sure till Abba confirms it.

The second email has a picture of new Jilbabs and Khimars. She had asked for the pictures the previous week because she's planning on starting a clothing line once her profit reaches one million naira per annum. The profit is already nine hundred thousand, seven hundred naira so as long as there is no loss, she has nothing to worry about.

She downloads the pictures and adds them to her favorites to check later as she hears her mother's exclamation from the dining room. She goes to the dining room and sees that Amal has eaten a row of the tea cakes and the ginger-milk tea has gone cold as it is left open. She frowns as Amal giggles.

"Wallahi I'm not going to leave you." She hisses and walks out of the dining room only to come back with a turning stick also known as muciya by the Hausas. Fatima chases her sister round and round the house, hitting her five times square in the back with the turning stick.

"Ammi so you are going to watch her kill your daughter?" Innayo shrugs, she has no say in this.

Once Abba is out they all settle down with Amal making faces at Fatima while Fatima glares at her, long and hard. Abba clears his throat.

"Sallu alan-nabiyul kareem."

"Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam." Everyone in the parlor replies cupping their hands up and muttering some prayers under their breath. After all the prayers they rub both palms on their face then over their chest.

"Innayo...." Abba says but gets cut off by Innayo "Aisha."

"Right. Aisha." Abba says rubbing his temples. He has forgotten that they had decided that he wouldn't call her Innayo but Aisha.

"Get me my breakfast please." Fatima hurriedly stands up almost tripping and scurries to the dining room. She picks up the food and then suddenly remembers that she can't take the food like that.

Fatima face palms herself and rushes to bring a tray from the kitchen. She takes the remaining Southern tea cakes which are on the baking sheet and quickly places the tea on fire to warm while she slices some watermelon and apple in a ceramic saucer. She takes the tea of the fire, pours it into the flask and places it back on the tray. She picks up a ceramic mug and a bowl of sugar and places them on the tray.

She takes everything to her father and serves him. After Abba has eaten he mutters an Alhamdulillah. He looks from Fatima who has a sheepish apologetic smile on her fair, beautiful face to Amal who is busy smiling shyly as she types in her phone, to Afnan who as usual is fiddling with her fingers, eyes down casted and lastly to his wife who is arranging the used dishes in the tray.

He smiles and clears his throat, making everyone's attention yaw to him. He looks at Fatima.

"Nana, I've recieved this week's email and I must say I am impressed. Mashaa Allah keep it up. About the rehabilitation center, send the information and I'll look it up."

"Okay Abba let me forward it to you." Fatima says fishing out her phone from her palazzo pocket. She taps it and within a matter of seconds Abba's phone pings signaling that Fatima's message has been delivered. Abba looks at Amal and she ducks her head low knowing exactly what he's going to say.

"Amal, yesterday a man came to ask for permission to court you marriage..." Fatima zones out when her father mentions Amal's marriage. She's too busy thinking about her miserable excuse of her life that she didn't hear Amal say she accepts since it's Hamza.

Here she is leading a miserable life whike her sister flaunts the fact that she is officially dating in her face. She might not be literally flaunting it in her face but from the rise of tempo in her voice she might just be.

"Okay! It's okay! Yes, we get the fact that you are getting married. I get the fact that I'm here leading a miserable life and trying to get this thing, this Jinn... I'm trying so hard to get it out of me. I know it's my fault I have it. It's all... It's all... All of it... My fault." And Fatima runs up the stairs ignoring all her parents and siblings' shouts of her name.

She enters her room and locks the door then slumps to the ground covering her mouth to muffle her sobs but the sobs don't get muffled, instead they get louder and her vision blurs.

It has been long since she cried letting her emotions out and now crying makes her feel a little bit better but remembering her sister is officially betrothed makes her cry the more. Why her?

"She looks so fragile and I hate seeing her cry. It's not her fault. It's that nitwit's fault." The extremely handsome being says lowly looking at Fatima who is on the ground sobbing continously as she mutters "it's all my fault" under her breath.

He goes over to her and hugs her and she succumbs then nuzzles closer to him before falling asleep. He pats her head and lays her on her pompom carpet before picking up her sky blue hijab and using it as a blanket for her.