Flawed Perfection

Chapter Six: Sealed

21st January, 2007.
Abuja, Nigeria. 

'Don't get swooned so easily. You've tasted hell so many times you no longer need to be reminded there's no such thing as heaven on earth. Marriage is no escapade_ I'm not that easy to get rid of. A word about me to anyone and Hauwa would know what it feels like to bath in lava.

P.S forever is just a name. I can end it even before it begins. With that, Happy forever Aisha!'

The night had passed in shackles. Aisha had read the message over and over again. Each time, realizing all the million and one reasons why she needed to run away and never look back were there, sprawled within the broken screen of her phone_ staring back at her in mock bravado. She knew the words and the man behind their creation. Yet, as the child her mother had birthed_ Aisha sat, with the words scribbled against her heart as she watched the greatest nightmare of her life unfold. A heart explosion and every other obfuscated concept would end her. Aisha wasn't even scared.

"Earth to the bride!" The door to Mama Amina's bedroom creacked open, yanking Aisha away from her reverie. Hauwa walked into the room, struggling against the weight of Zainab's massive make_ up kit. Sighing heavily, she dropped the creator of her misery on the bed with a dull thud. Behind her, a spiffed_ up Zainab emerged with lightly farded cheeks, carrying Aisha's red bridal attire, lightly studded golden heels and jewelry.

"Mashaa'Allah! You both look stunningly beautiful. I'm beginning to feel like the black sheep." Aisha complemented with a smile.

"I'm here to turn the tables around." Zainab enthused, rubbing her palms together in anticipation.

Soon, her elder sister began painting her features. Aisha felt the light trace of pencils against her brows, soft dab of different brushes on her cheeks, faint movements of contour lines against her nose and a few strucks of lipsticks. After long minutes of peaceful torture, Zainab began wrapping Aisha's hair into a matching red headgear.

"My God!" Safiya_ Aisha's cousin gasped"Who are you and what have you done to Aisha?" She continued, slack_jawed.

Aisha wanted to smile, say something silly or even roll her eyes. They all knew the task was too great to carry out on a Saturday she would be gifted to a man.

"Are you ready?" Zainab squealed in excitement, Aisha nodded hesitantly.

"Hauwa, pass the mirror." Grinning ear to ear, her younger sister did exactly as she was told.

Raising her head, Aisha glanced at the reflection that stared back at her in the mirror with eyes widened by disbelief. Through out the years, she had been made to wear different concealers to mask her reality.

Today, it was different. It was the first time her truth got trapped in a beautiful chain of lie, the first time she felt pleased about her reflection in the mirror.

Rose_gold eye shadows accentuated her round orbs just below a set of perfectly traced brows and above the fine lines of kohl that traced her waterlines. Shimmering contour lines glared off her cheekbones, her full pink lips now bold with glossy nude lipstick. Her straight nose sharper.

Zainab's hands really worked magic when she held a make_up brush.

"You have magical hands, Mashaa'Allah." Aisha found the words.

"It's not my hands, it's the beautiful bride they worked on." She started, a sad smile playing against her lips. "Speaking about magical hands. Aisha, the brown box is stashed with your paint brushes and materials." She continued, packing away her lined make_up utensils.

"Thank you Naaby, at least even if things do not work out the way you anticipate and that house grows into a living hell, I'd smile knowing you played your part_ conveying me with a beautiful red clothe and a made_up face." Aisha told her, knowing even life got a few things wrong sometimes and nothing was ever really certain.