Her Boyfriend, My Husband

CHAPTER 31

Abdallah's POV

I've heard of her and seen her pictures but I've never met her in person  before. I would hear my aunt talking with her over the phone whenever my uncle got a call he said was from his brother that lives in the UK. Aunty Hajaru would talk to her for some minutes and then pass on the phone to Salim who chatted with her non stop as if they were the very best of friends and he would tease her and call her names, starting petty fights with her as if he was her brother. Which wasn't so far fetched given the fact that they were cousins and they spent every holiday together whenever Uncle Kabir's brother brought his family back to Nigeria for their annual visits.

But judging by those pictures I saw with her grinning from ear to ear mounted on a white horse, she doesn't look at all like I expected her to now that I see her. Her accent fits my expectations but most definitely, her character does not. Well I don't know if it's because I expected that she be all smiles and a chatterbox instead of a quiet and reserved girl whose eyes always looked teary and red. It might be because of the shock and grief she was in of suddenly being an orphan and brought to a whole new different country than the one she was raised and that too completely alone but still, this Maryam Rabah isn't at all how I expected her to be.

I had tried starting up a conversation with her many times but all I get in reply was a nod or sometimes when I'm really really lucky, a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. I had tried getting her gifts but nothing really seemed interest her. Was it because of the age-gap? Well perhaps but then, now she behaves like that  with Salim and my sister Hafsat who are both roughly the same age with her so definitely, why Maryam wasn't open with me isn't because of the fact that I'm 5-6 years older than her.

Maybe it was because I didn't have enough time to spend with her and get to know her better since I was always in the university these days and hardly had time for anything but studying. I really don't know what made me start this wretched law degree. It not only messed up with my social life but my wardrobe too. Now, all I've been wearing for the last two years was black and white. No matter the event, the occasion or whatever, I'm always in black and white like I belong in a 1920s colourless TV.

Today, a weekend, I managed to get a window off school stress and I made up an excuse of bringing Hafsat over to see Maryam when the story was completely different. I was the one who wanted to see her and put in some more effort into melting that wall of ice that surrounded her. But my sister was more than happy to go along with my plan since she was just as eager to see Maryam and make her open up like I was. Don't think that I'm taking Maryam's reserved nature personally, I'm just not used to being sidelined when it comes to family. And yes, I do consider Maryam family now and I hope that soon, she'll also start calling me Yaya Abdallah just like everyone else does.

We arrived at the house where Maryam lives with her grandparents through these few months it's been since the accident that orphaned her and caused her to move back here. I have only been here once and this was my second visit and it was all because of Maryam.

I got out of what I now have the privelage of calling my car since my father finally agreed to let me have full rights over this EOD after I turned 18 just last month. That reminds me to ask when Maryam's 13th birthday was. Maybe, if I threw her a surprise party just like they do in all those movies, she'd finally start to warm up to me since she still has white people thinking.

Hafsat ran inside while I entered into the large family house with a salam and went on to greet Hajiya and Kaka even though I know the latter has no special liking for me. I wasn't surprised to see Salim and Amina were already in the house and wreaking havoc on the peaceful abode of two old people. They were shouting and then jumping and then throwing sand at each other and Hafsat gladly joined them in their craziness. If you ask me, I'd say they seemed too immature for 12 year olds but oh well, Hajiya allows them to do everything they want so maybe that's why they always run extra wild when they were in this house.