Holding up the tall slender glass bottle to her nose, Kameela took in the scent of the turaren wuta.
"It smells so nice but frankly speaking it's too expensive. I'll buy it for half the price." The woman threw her head up, away from the several bottles that laid on the lush carpet and looked up at Kameela with a bewildered expression.
"Haba Hajiya. Look at the bottles and the quality mana. They're even worth more than I asked for." Batulu said as she adjusted herself on the floor, shifting her weight from her left arm to her right arm as she had started getting the marks of the carpet embedded in her palm due to the pressure.
"Don't call me Hajiya. Just call me Kameela. Batulu you know this wouldn't even last me a month." She said as she pointed to the tall slender bottle she had just dropped back on the floor.
"It's from Sudan pa." Batulu said shoving more bottles towards Kameela but Kameela failed to notice as she heard the gate open and a car with loud a engine rolled in.
"Sudan na cikin gari ko? It's either half the price or nothing." Kameela replied as she walked to a window that showed the view of the compound, shoving her two fingers into the blinds to give space for her eyes to see who the guest is since they hardly got them. She stood by the window till a body left the car. She didn't wait another second by the window before dashing out of the house.
"Aunty Khadijah!" She screamed as she ran out and threw herself on her like a 6 years old child whose father had just come back from a foreign land bearing gifts.
"Oh Kameela. Its just been a couple of weeks. You're going to break my back." Aunty Khadijah said as she tried to find her balance after the impact.
"I'm not fat." Kameela said as she peeled herself away from her aunt and stood hands akimbo.
"I didn't say you were. I meant I'm getting old and I can hardly afford any extra gram on me."
"Okay fine. On one condition, you bring a whole bucket of alawan madara next time you come." Kameela said as a smile actuated on her face as she imagined herself seated in a room all alone with a bucket of alawan madara between her legs.
"Done." Kameela held her hand and walked inside the house. Upon entry, she suddenly remembered what she was doing before.
"Oh um, Aunty Khadijah this is Batulu, she sells turaren wuta. She sold them to the neighbours and the house was smelling fantastic so I had to get her contact. Oh and Batulu this is Aunty Khadijah, well obviously my aunty."
"And mother-in-law." Aunty Khadijah added which reminded Kameela of her single but married status. If not for an aching heart and a housemate that always came in slamming the door, she wouldn't have known she was married at all.
"Oh yes. That too." Kameela said dejectedly but almost immediately put on a poker face to avoid any questioning on Aunty Khadijah's part and gossip on Batulu's part.
Aunty Khadijah ended up being the buyer of Batulu's famous turaren wuta from 'Sudan'. After the exchange of money and 3 bottles of turaren wuta and then advertising her gyaran jiki trade. Batulu left
"Good afternoon Aunty Khadijah." Kameela said kneeling down in front of her aunt with her 32 all out for display. She hadn't seen her since the wedding and now that she is, she was over the moon.
"Stand up. Because I'm now your mother-in-law doesn't mean we can't still be friends." Aunty Khadijah laughed lightly while she held Kameela's upper arms in attempt to help her sit up.
"How's Bappa Ali?" Kameela asked as she adjusted herself beside her aunt, pulling out her dress from beneath her.
"He's alright. Just fine." Aunty Khadijah smiled while Kameela looked at her in awe, jealous of her aunt's and uncle's relationship.
"How are you feeling?" Kameela asked with concern evident in her voice as she noticed the weary look on her face
"I'm fine. Just a little bit tired."
"Aunty you should rest then. Let's go to my room." Kameela held her hand in attempt to pull her towards her room.
"No. I came here to see my wonderful children not to sleep. I'm going home after I leave here so don't worry yourself."
"Aunty are you sure?" Kameela raised an eyebrow at her aunt, waiting for her to submit to her will because she looked excessively fatigued.
"Yes I am. Where is Ismail? Is he still at work?" Kameela knew not where he was. She could guess that he was at work but she wasn't a hundred percent sure. They hardly have had a conversation since the night of his discovery. Kameela had tried to have a normal conversation without him walking away, hissing or behaving like she wasn't there but to no avail.
"He isn't at home." She pasted a smile and looked down at the abstract forms on her dress.
"Are you alright? Are you two alright? He did something stupid ba?" Aunty Khadijah turned her head more towards Kameela with a scrunched face.
"Aunty we are fine. Nothing happened." She raised her head to look at her aunt with the same pasted smile.
"How am I sure you're not covering for him?" Aunty Khadijah said slightly reclining back to dismantle Kameela's persona.
"Aunty I'm not." Kameela's voice went higher pitched as she waved both her hands at chest level.
"Let him come back. He'll come and meet me here." Not agreeing with Kameela, she placed her right forearm on the armrest while her fingers were intertwined on her laps.
"Please Aunty Khadijah. Wallah he didn't do anything." Kameela begged as she held unto her aunt's hand, hoping she'll look at the plea on her face.
"He has started again ko? Inna lillahi. Ai he'll meet me here today. Kameela and you kept your mouth shut." She pulled her hand away as she stood up from the chair, heated with thoughts of Ismail's behaviour and what he had done to the poor girl. She turned to look at Kameela, to hear what she had to say but instead of meeting a scared Kameela that was ready to answer her question, she met a confused and startled Kameela.
"Started what?" Kameela managed to ask after her aunt's rants.
"Never mind. I'll let you be. But when there is something wrong, don't you ever hesitate to call me." She said as she dropped back down on the sofa, removing her veil and placing it atop her hand bag.
"Of course. Let me get you some food." Kameela cracked a smile while replaying her aunt's previous concealed revelation in her head.
"I just ate at Ghaji's house. I'm too full." Aunty Khadijah huffed, placing her hand on her stomach, remembering the amount of food she consumed barely an hour ago.
"Haba Aunty! How can you come to my house and not eat my food. I'm deeply offended." Kameela shifted, breaking the contact of their thighs as she looked away and pouted.
"I'm sorry. Do you have those your wonderful samosas?" She asked softly as she placed her hand on Kameela's folded arms.
"Yes I do. But they aren't so wonderful compared to yours."
"That's not true. In our case, the student has become the master." Kameela laughed hard, placing her palm over her mouth.
"Let me go and fry them." Aunty Khadijah gave her a smile and she stood up and walked swiftly as to not keep her favourite aunt waiting alone.
The two ladies talked for a long time but the longer the conversation went, the more Kameela noticed Aunty Khadijah's tired body. Kameela continued insisting she rest a little before she left and she could even meet Ismail but Aunty Khadijah kept refusing the offer and eventually told her she had to take her leave.
"Fine. I'll let you leave when you tell me when next you're coming with my alawan madara." Kameela said taking the bag that contained the bottles of turaren wuta away from her hand.
"When I hear news I'm getting a grandchild." Kameela internally laughed knowing that won't be possible anytime soon.
"Don't worry. Manal shan't disappoint you."
"See you. I'm talking about you. I'll come here to feed you. I want fat grandchildren." Kameela burst out laughing.
"Okay Aunty, I've heard. Bye."
"Bye. Tell Ismail to come when he is less busy."
"In shaa Allah I will." She waved her goodbye till the car was out of sight. She went back into the house smiling. Happy she had finally gotten her aunt's company. She decided on making dinner early because she had nothing else to do and Charity was on leave so she was left all alone in the kitchen.
After an hour long of messing around, she finally decided on ordering food from her mother's kitchen. She called TaRasulu directly, knowing if she called her mother, she won't hear the end if it and the food won't be sent to her.
She did her Maghreb prayer and then sat down to watch TV. She slipped off to sleep in her usual couch after two and a half episodes of KUWTK. She woke up with a startle almost choking on the air around her that felt uncomfortably dense. She looked at the partially opened Venetian blinds and noticed the pitch black colour of the night. She was deep asleep but she knew she didn't hear the gate open or Ismail's car pull up. She also knew even if he had come back, he'd just pass her by and head to his room like his new routine. To clear her confused state, she took a chance on checking his room because he had now banned her from entering since the day she tried to bring the food to his room while wearing his favourite perfume. Isn't that what men liked? She thought but then realised that's when a man was in love with his wife and in the two months of their marriage she had finally decided Ismail was no longer in love with her.
She checked the room and it was empty. She checked every other room and he wasn't there. She figured he wasn't back and decided to go to her room to take a shower and do her ablution for her Isha. On her way to her room, she thought she could have just peeped out to see if his car was there to save her a trip round the whole house. She smiled at her thoughtlessness as she entered her room.
After she came out, she picked up her phone to call TaRasulu to check up on the food. She saw several missed calls. Her mother, Ismail and Amina had called her countless times. You know when you see missed calls from a friend, you just think he/she just wants to badly talk to you. But when you see missed calls from family, especially your mother, you start thinking of the negative. Yeah, that's what she felt at that moment. She was on the left side of zero. Her heart started to sink and beat faster than its supposed to. She called Hajiya Fatima first. After a few rings she picked up.
"Where have you been? Everybody has been trying to get you!" Hajiya Fatima whisper-yelled.
"I'm sorry I was downstairs and then I slept off." Why are they all together? She asked herself making her heart sink lower and beat faster.
"It's Ya Khadijah. She is in a coma." She felt her heart slow down not to the normal level but dangerously slower, hearing the thuds in her ear. Her throat felt constricted, she couldn't breathe. She held the chair in front of her to get a hold of herself before rushing to dress up and went to the hospital.
When she got there she was directed to her room. In front of the room she found her mum and three of her aunties sitting on the metal bench directly in front of the room while other relatives were around and sitting on the other metal benches either with their phones or tasbih in their hands. She greeted them with the little space her mouth could allow her to open. She stood in front of the door preparing herself for what she was about to see on the other side of the door. She held the door knob and opened the door slowly.
She saw the body on the bed, adorned in wires that led to different machines. On sight, she covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her sobbing. Closing the door behind her, she saw Ismail with Manal on his shoulder on the extreme left side of the room. She swallowed the lump that grew in her throat before moving towards them.
She noticed a sleeping Ismail while Manal's bloodshot eyes were looking at her. Manal attempted to move but Kameela placed her index finger over the centre of her lips to signal her to keep quiet. It was evident that Ismail was tired and distraught and the last thing Kameela wanted was a tired and distraught Ismail being woken up because of her. She gave Manal a reassuring smile before moving to the bedside.
She stood beside Aunty Khadijah's motionless body with the most neutral look on her face. It reminded her of him, how he looked while he fought for his life before finally letting go. She just hoped her aunty won't let go. She said a silent prayer for her before exiting the room to sit between her mum and Aunty Yusrah. Silence hung over them before Kameela finally spoke up.
"What happened? She was just at my house few hours ago." She asked with her voice a note louder than a whisper.
"Apparently after she left your house, she went to the market. That's where she fainted and the person that found her took her to a bad hospital. They didn't check if she had diabetes or not. They gave her something. She never woke up since then."
She left the hospital after the Subhi prayer and went to the Azeez residence to help TaRasulu with breakfast for the all-nighters before changing at home and getting Manal her essentials. In the afternoon, TaRasulu brought lunch with Garba but dinner was compliments of Aunty Ghaji. That became a routine but with less people going in and out.
It'd been roughly three weeks since the incident. After Manal was forced to eat her dinner as per routine. She began crying and saying things like 'I can feel her letting go. Fading away.' or 'She's not going to wake up'. Those thoughts had passed through Kameela's mind but she needed to be positive for herself and the people around her so she tried her very best to suppress them. All the aunties ranging from the eldest, Aunty Ghaji to the youngest, Aunty Maryam had spoken to Manal and she stopped crying but immediately after they left the room, she started again. Amina not being there, Kameela was left alone with Manal. She had to wait for her to sleep off before going back home because she also needed sleep but on a comfortable bed.
The next day, Kameela woke up to the blaring of the last alarm she set. With red eyes that still needed sleep, she went straight to the kitchen to start breakfast. As she was whisking the eggs while Charity was peeling the potatoes, she heard her phone vibrate against the counter. She looked over to see if the caller was important enough to drop what she was doing to pick up the call. Sure enough it was. Seeing the name on the screen made her heart do a full frontal flip but immediately dismissed any bad thought. She answered the call and was met some sort of noisy silence.
"Hello? Mama?" Kameela asked, thinking it might be a butt dial or if it wasn't, she was hoping it was just an inquiry on breakfast.
"Kameela don't bother bringing breakfast. Ya Khadijah has passed away." Hajiya Fatima's voice came through the receiver shaky. It was evident that she had been crying.
Everything stopped.
Time stopped.
She couldn't hear anything, just the throbbing of her heart against its cage. The dense air around her made it hard to breathe, clinging to her chest, hoping it will do some relieving with all the pressure she felt there. Her breathing started to hitch as she entered the state of hysteria. Crashing to the floor, her tear glands performed their duty ever so well. She sobbed hard but still tried to breathe but it seemed impossible. Without any warning, she felt two arms embrace her. She was taken aback but the warmth of the embrace was inviting. She eased into it and let it all out. Gradually, her breathing started going back to its restful rhythm. The hot tears that were rushing down her face became a cold stain making the view become clearer.
That's when it hit her, both the scent and realisation that it was him that comforted her. She slowly loosened the tight grip she had on him. He released her too after squeezing her a bit. He looked at her with nothing but concern in his eyes. She noticed the glassy look to his eyes. He cried but he was strong enough to comfort someone else or did he just need her? She asked herself. But be it the former or latter, she was happy he was there at that moment cause she needed him. He helped her up and nodded at her. Reassuring her that everything was going to be just fine.
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In case you're wondering how the name of the chapter reflects the story itself. Candy man is a legend. It is said when one says 'candy man' 5 times in front of a mirror, he appears and kills you. Lmao like Bloody Mary.