As he said, they entered through the back door and walked silently as though they were there as robber. He texted Faruk that they could come in and then they dispersed to their respective chambers. Fatima Zarah wanted to take a quick shower, but she knew that won't be possible, considering how their guest had already arrived. She quickly washed up and got into her dress, dabbing a little powder onto her face as quickly as she can. She wanted to have a white lipstick on her lips, but then before she was able to decide on what to choose between her own tons of lipsticks, the door to her room got turned and Al-mustapha walked inside.
He walked to where she sat down on the vanity stool and looked at the lipsticks she had laid out, unable to choose. Should it be nude? Maroon? Red? Or one sort of an alien colour? She quickly shook the though off and looked up at him through the mirror. "Which one do you think I should wear? I want nothing on my lips but the white liquid one but considering we're having a walima I figured out I should wear something colourful, don't you think?"
He took his eyes off from her through the mirror and scanned through the lipsticks. He could remember, on their nikkah day she had a red lipstick on and it was the most beautiful he had ever seen her. He knew beauty when he saw one, and he surely screamed beauty on that day. He picked the red lipstick in his hand and looked closely at it.
"If you wear this, will it look like it did on the nikkah day?" He wanted to say our wedding day, but something choked up his throat and he found himself saying Nikkah day. She was silent for a while and she turned away from the mirror, facing him as he stood infront of her.
"Yes, I think it will." She answered. And the next thing he did surprised not just her, but him. He squatted down until he was on the same level as her and he opened the lipstick while staring into her eyes.
"Can I?" He held it up in the air and motioned at her lips, she was reluctant at first before she nodded her head at him, as slowly as she could ever do.
Like a flick of a wand, Al-mustapha began applying the lipstick on her lips even though he didn't know how to. He had never even noticed that girls applied lipsticks but on Fatima Zarah. Her eyes were fixed intently on his face as he fixed his on her slightly opened lips. When he was done, he smiled genuinely at his handiwork and turned her to look at her reflection through the mirror.
"How does it look? No off edges, everything is fine, right?" She beamed at him through the mirror and nodded her head before she stood up.
"Yes, everything is okay, you're more good than I am when it comes to lipsticks then. I can never apply it this perfectly, myself. Can we?" She motioned for the door at him as they wrapped her veil over her shoulder, with one last look of herself through the mirror, she turned to him and he entwined their hands without a second thought.
They walked to the main living room in utmost silence, even though she could feel the erratic beat of her heart. Al-mustapha wanted so bad to take one more look at her red lips but he was against it, because he couldn't forget what she told him and what he had always urged her not to forget. He can't easily forget the rules he set himself.
From the number of shoes they saw in the main entrance, Fatima Zarah felt as her intestines churned. She squeezed his hand softly and he nodded his head at her, as if giving her an unknown strength she didn't know she needed. They walked into the living, forget about the living room being the longest, biggest and most beautiful living room Fatima Zarah had ever seen, they had filled it to the point that some of them were in the dining area while some sitting on the carpet, she silently shuddered.
"Good afternoon, Yarima!" The men chorused at the same time and he fought so hard to smile at all of them while he answered their greeting.
"Good afternoon, Yarima!" It was time for the ladies, and he did as he did for the men, answering with so much aplomb accompanied with a smile on his lips.
"Good afternoon, Fatima Zarah." All of them chorused, and Fatima Zarah didn't know when her face broke into a smile. She looked up at Al-mustapha and they found a decent place to sit together, their hands still entwined before she answered their greetings while trying to look at their faces, all of them!
There were age ranges between the cousins, and she found it so hard to get in every face into her memory, even though she knew she can't memorize their names, all of them. She stood up while trying to crack up a conversation randomly at no one in particular and went to the kitchen to ask the maids to start bringing in the foods as it was arranged, she came back to the living room, sat beside Al-mustapha and that's when she noticed the hot glare Rahma had been flashing at her, the royal gem.
Both boys and girls ranging from 15-8, that was the last age, were taken out and a carpet was spread out for them and they ate outside the humungous courtyard of the house. Guys ranging from 16-20 were given the dining table and they filled the whole of it. Girls ranging from 16-20 were taken to Fatima Zarah's living room to have their privacy and chitchat like every other teenager did. It was left only from 21 and above, which weren't upto 20 in number, and everything became less boistreperous for Fatima Zarah.
The guys circled around on the carpets as they ate and argued about football while the ladies chatted about their boyfriends, laughing and clapping their hands together. She saw the bond between them at some point, may be this kinds of Family lunches were what hooked them up as a family. But what she noticed was, Zubair, whom introduced himself as Rahma's brother and Rahma weren't smiling, it was as if they came to the house for a purpose known to them.
She asked one of the maids to serve them, and after she did, she looked at Al-mustapha and drew one of the center tables closer to them, "Let's eat together." She spoke out loud, gaining a few eyes on them, mostly Zubair and Rahma. "I think they're waiting to see if we're going to eat separately," she whispered, audible for his ears only.
Al-mustapha nodded his head silently at her before he took the spoon she was handing him and they began eating in silence. "You were doing quite good when I arrived, then." He spoke out of the blue moon and Fatima Zarah looked at him with a confused expression before she asked.
"Doing good in what?"
"Court; you had the confidence, your voice wasn't shaky and all. But I noticed you got a bit distracted when you saw me, right?" He was talking to her in a hushed tone and one could think they were talking about some lovely stuff only them could relate to.
"I was shocked when I saw you, then I thought you went there for a case yourself. But when you kept staring at me without taking your eyes off, I began to get nervous," She admitted with a soft tone, and when she mistakenly stared up at the other people in the living room, she met Rahma's glaring eyes on them. She smiled briskly at her and turned completely to face Al-mustapha.
"You said you'd have given me a hug if there weren't people in the court, I guess this isn't a bad time, is it?" his words made her choked on her food and she began coughing hysterically.
He got so alarmed, because of the eyes watching them. If not, he knew it was nothing just because someone got choked up while eating, he or she would be fine on their own. He gave her water and she gulped it down in a few sips and looked at him while trying to subside the raging storm of her coughs.
He pulled her in for a soft hug while she struggled, and Fatima Zarah stiffed at first before she eased when her eyes fell on Rahma, and she held him to her completely. "Don't think I'm hugging you back because I want to, Rahma's eyes are burning on us right now!" She hushed into his ears and he chuckled softly before he broke their hug.
There was a choatic sound of the word 'Sorry' ringing form every angle of the living room and she looked up at them with a thankful smile and genuinely thanked them for the care they ha shown. When they were done, the maids got the whole used utensils and everyone sat in the position he or she is, and everything got bored. They could hear the chatter and laughter of the little kids outside but nothing appealed to them, not even the television.
"Can we play a game?" One of the cousins neither Al-mustapha nor Fatima Zarah knew of asked, and they all jerked up at once.
"Truth or dare, it's been long we played the game together." Another one said and they all agreed on playing truth or dare. Al-mustapha slowly shook his head at Fatima Zarah when she looked at him, with an inviting look to the game.
"Please, I know you've never played any game with them, do it today. No one here cares about your khaki, and for your royal thobe, they all have it neatly folded in their wardrobes." She rolled at her eyes at him, tauntingly. And surprisngly, the tone she used made Al-mustapha laughed, rather than angry. And with a reluctant look, he nodded his head at her.
"Yess!!!" She squealed softly and hugged him without even knowing she did, before she quickly pulled away from his body and smiled.
"We're in for the game too, is there any space for us?" They all flashed her a surprising stare and she smiled at them.
"With Yarima?" They chorused, and she nudged Al-mustapha to answer the question himself. How they seemed surprised and unbelieving made her feel happy for making him do the game.
"Yes, she wants me to." They squealed at the same time and opened up a space for them in the circle, and Al-mustapha and Fatima Zarah walked to the carpet and sat down, beside each other.
Instead of a glass bottle, they used an empty drink bottle. Faruk swirled it and it pointed at Zubair, he groaned and they both laughed at him. "Truth or dare, Yarima Zubair?" He asked, and Zubair said truth.
"Have you ever cheated on the exams?" He asked, and they both chuckled and waited because Zubair had never given way for his personal life.
"Yes, it's not like any Nigerian has a choice to do that or not." There was an uproar of laughter and Zubair positioned the bottle and swirled it, it got directly onto Al-Mustapha, the whole circle got frozen.
"Truth or dare?" He asked and Al-Mustapha looked at Fatima Zarah, she smiled. He figured out he could never tell the truth about something he was sure Zubair would ask; something about his personal life.
"Dare." Came his reply, short and courtly.
"I dare you to kiss your wife now, for five minutes, and we'll count." They both brought up their phones and looked at them with eyes filled with amusement. Al-mustapha knew Zubair wanted to confirm what he asked him on his Wedding day. He turned to look at Fatima Zarah, and she had a terrified look on her face.
Na barku haka ko ana bukatar kari?😂