The Acceptance

Chapter 24

"Women are half the population and they know how to take care of themselves,if they are only given access to health care"-Cynthia Nixon.

Kaduna, Nigeria

Two weeks had gone already, we were now in karima's Aunt place because the kayan lefe(bethrotal gifts) would be brought today by abdallah's family. Her aunt lives in the same area so it wasn't far from their home.We ate and slept because we came back from school a bit early. After asr prayer, rahma called and told us the guests had left already. Zara and I squealed as we grabbed our bags ready to go. Karima sat there looking at us......
"Hey common get up let's go...I said to her

"Haba mana, you guys should let everything settle down, I'm sure there are still guests in the house...she spoke with pleading eyes

"Ah, I can't wait oo better stand up let's go...Zara spoke

"If you are not going, then let's meet in the house.....I'll tell abdallah to come pick you up....I said

" Please let's wait for just an hour, I'm sure by then everyone has left...she pleaded again
We shrugged and sat back.

At exactly 6pm, we were already in karima's house...we met few people inside,  Karima ran to her room while I rushed to ammi's room with Zara trailing behind. Ammi was the only one in her room....

"Ammi mun dawo...

"Sannu ameerah da Zara, Ina karima?

"Tana daki...

"Okay come and see the boxes and gifts....

We followed her to abbu's parlour were the boxes were kept...o.m.g 2 freaking sets of maroon and golden designer boxes. Everything inside the boxes were super unique, a set of gold jewelries, atamfa, laces, abayas, English wears, shoes, bags, veils, hijabs, hair treatment sets, body treatment sets, full makeup trolley,wristwatches, bracelets earrings and necklaces, Quran, prayer mat....just a few to mention. Everything was so maasha Allah, after the awnns and blabberings,I went to karima's room and forcefully dragged her to abbu's parlour to see the gifts abdallah sent to her. It was after Isha prayer that we got ready to leave, as usual Zara dropped me first before going home.

               *******

Not wanting to miss a single thing in the wedding, we dropped everything related to school for just a week...yeah one week wouldn't hurt...would it? Just missing a  week without having lectures.... Definitely no....but who cares again, we are talking about my best friend's wedding here. Today, I escorted the bride to the saloon, Zara went to the tailor's shop to collect our dresses. The bride had a spa(hair treatment, massage, pedicure and manicure) while I only got my hair washed.
It was decided that karima and her friends  moved to her aunt's place because the house would be so full, besides it's the same area and her husband wasn't in town.So the three of us moved there together with two of her cousins( hajara and Laila). The henna party will take place there too. Bilaal told me he would come on Friday which would be the wedding fatiha and dinner. I really can't wait to see my soon to be husband.

Day 1-henna party

We woke up by 9am, her aunt's maids had already swept the backyard because that's where the ceremony will take place. We had our breakfast and chatted, the backyard was beautifully decorated. Around 4pm, Laila announced that the henna artist has arrived. We helped karima dressed up, she decided not to have any makeup on so we quickly went out, music was playing...we met the henna artist with two of her partners, pleasantries were exchanged and they started their work immediately.....soon enough the bride's hand and legs were beautifully designed
Her hands..