Vote and comment please.
•••
Yh I be where the bosses be
Judging from my vibe
You can feel it in my energy
Stacking paper steadily
So I can live in luxury
Looking in the mirror
I thank God for what I'm about to be.
Saweetie, Icy Girl.
•••
***Zubaida
I smiled as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked bae.
I'm barely wearing any heavy make-up, just did my brows, put on mascara, eyeshadow, and eyeliner, did my lips, then matte lip gloss. Still make-up though, and that's what today's vibe is telling me to do.
I have my outfit for today on; the plain white long sleeve top tucked into the blue jeans with the plain kimono and black and white patterned vintage scarf, together with my white scarpin peeptoe heels, and damn, I looked glam.
"Hmm, it's almost nine oo." Hauwa joins me in front of the mirror all dressed up in her white maxi knee length top with a dark belt at the waist area, and a black straight skirt perfectly fitting her slender figure.
Her turban is on point with sunglasses tucked at the top.
I sigh, also grabbing my own sunglasses in which I've been contemplating on whether or not to add to the outfit as I didn't want to look too dressed up. But since Hauwa's wearing it, and I actually really wanted to wear it, I tuck it on my scarf as I then put on my white peep toe heels, now all ready.
I grab my bag and phone.
"Have you called Hanifa?" I ask Hauwa.
"Yes she said she was on her way." Hauwa says.
We need to be there, latest, nine thirty.
I don't forget to pick my camera to do some vlogging.Hauwa helps me with my make-up kit, as we both head out.
"Eh, amma kamar gasu nan ma saukowa (yes but it seems like they're both coming downstairs now even)" I hear Fati saying just as we were making our way downstairs and as I peep I see a female figure standing with them all dressed up in an all black outfit, already knowing the only person that could pull off that crazy fashion.
"O.M.GGG!" I hear Hanifa squealing crazily before I know it jumping in front of me especially with a hug since Hauwa was holding my huge makeup kit.
"You guys look amazing!" She squeals as if this is the first time she's seen us all dressed up.
Hauwa just rolls her eyes at her and her always dramatic self as she walks past us.
"OMG what are you wearing?" I also ask in excitement as soon as she pulls away. Hanifa was always the one to pull off something crazy and still look cute as F.
She was wearing a black turtle neck three-quarter sleeved top underneath a black square neckline thick strapped, below knee length gown which had really thin straps of white all over the dress and a black slitted skirt over the dress which had a slit at the front middle that stopped at just the same length as the gown along with a pair of black leggings that fall hidden into her black scarpin boots which reached midway from her ankle to her knee along with a black turban and a pair glasses tucked onto her head.
"OMG girl you look ciyuute(cute)!" I squeal.
"I know right! " She says in her usual arrogant way, flipping her imaginary hair as Hauwa and I both giggle and roll our eyes at her.
After a whole lot of begging and buttering up, Fati finally agreed to lend us her Ford as we all pulled out of the house with Hanifa at the driver's seat. Don't ask me how that one happened.
I could feel the mixture of excitement and nervousness rise up even more inside me as we drive out of the house.
OMG, it's happening!
I decide to set up my camera and update my viewers on what's going on.
And then eventually Hauwa and I end up spending the rest of the ride clicking selfies and taking videos since we both weren't occupied, as we all sing along to the songs that came on in the car since Hanifa and her crazy ass had the music now turned on loud, which thankfully, is another perfect distraction to help me not get overwhelmed by my excitement and nervousness.
But either way, with the two by my side...I knew everything would be fine.
Soon we arrive at the house, and from the gate already my eyes were already going wide more of in excitement.
The gate, for a huge house like this I must say was quite simple. It's just plainly black but still makes sense as the walls attached to it are painted a light cream colour with neatly trimmed greenery surrounding it. You could already make out the tall buildings peeping out from the inside even from a distance, along with palm trees and other greeneries, and you could already be certain of one thing; the house was huuuge.
Yep, nothing less than what I had expected.
Almost four security men holding real big guns go around the car, inspecting it thoroughly.
They search my make-up kit, and bag, then Hauwa's purse and Hanifa's stuff too.
I can't help but feel like some criminal or something, even Hauwa had to give one of the men that 'Guy, me yayi zapi ( what's with it )' look, when he was searching her bag with a really stern look while Hanifa looked a bit annoyed already.
Well, they're just doing their jobs I guess.
And after one of them has a quick phone call with probably Habiba, they finally make move to let Hauwa and I go in.
My nerves are on high gear due to nervousness and too much excitement, I can sense Hauwa's uneasiness too but Hanifa as usual could care less as this was probably just another opportunity for a crazy adventure to her.
Three of security men open the gate as Hanifa drives into the house, and the only thing I can do is not drop my mouth as my eyes are basically popping out of their sockets already.
First of all, the house is as I said, huuuge. Like huge huge. They're a lot of palm trees and greenery around and as you drive in through the driveway, there are a few palm trees and other greeneries and even flowers lined up in a straight line in the middle of the path that leads to the house.
Another security personnel from in within the house guides us over as we drove in further to where I could sight a huge water fountain which was also surrounded by a few neatly trimmed green plants where we made a turn to another path and a u-turn as we park next to a few other cars in what seems to be a provided parking space.
I pick my bag and hang it over my shoulder then grab my heavy make-up kit from Hauwa as she was probably already tired of holding it, my hands surporting it mainly from the bottom while Hanifa volunteered to hold the camera, as we all tagged along behind the security guard leading the way.
Damn this house was lavish...
The outside compound alone could be enough for a whole school building to be built there or even more, most of the space was taken up by the presence of beautiful flowers, trees and greenery around, most of which I had no idea even existed talk less name, giving the place a breezy and calm atmosphere.
The water fountain which was a circular shape surrounded by plants and greenery, was centralized in the middle of the huge compound and gave the whole place a circular perspective as I noticed the immediate areas of the ground around the fountain which was also in a circular form was a light, almost cream colour while the areas after that part which followed the same circular pattern and stretched farther leading to the various paths that led to the area was grey. But the paths were also cream in colour.
The building is really huge, tall, and looks quite modern, and although it's just one, kinda gives the impression that they're four to six buildings compiled together due to how huge it is. The whole thing is painted in this elegant shade of cream colour and they're a few glass partitions attached to the walls.
The three of us were just looking around with eyes popped out in amazement.
Talk about extravagance.
There's so much more to observe, but this man here was busy walking fast like he's being pursued or something, and before we knew it, we were all making our way into one of the buildings by the right as the security guy opened the door for us and we all walked in.
And...OMG, my mouth drops open, the outside of the house is nothing compared to the interior. It was like the modern version of an ancient palace.
The marbles and chandelliors, Ooo my God.
The ceilings are tall and way up and orange lights make the whole place glow. It feels so elegant, homely, and peaceful...not to talk of that humra and bakhoor scent bombarding the whole place.
The hallways were quite wide, the walls this glossy beige colour, with beige and cream magnificent wall papers and the furnitures are to die for, the vases around are beautiful artifacts of their own, and the artworks and paintings on the walls are master pieces that must cost a whole lot.
There's so much artistery in here, I can't even begin to define. The tiles are shiny and the whole place is sparkling.
As we go on further, passing doors, entrances and hallways, I could notice all kinds of eye catching photos of family members and even paintings of them, hung around more of randomly.
The interior of the house is just as blissful as the exterior. I feel like I'm in some art gallery or something.
The three of us were just starring around like three bakawyus (villagers).
Ok...
Rule 1: Go with the flow
Rule 2: Don't get intimidated
Rule 3: Be confident
Rule 4:Stay positive.
Rule 5: Don't attract unnecessary attention.
Rule 6: Be conscious of everything you do so you don't go embarrass yourself whether knowing my or unknowingly.
Rule 7...
Just then finally, we reach a place with a spiral staircase going up as the man tells us to head up and knock on the first door we see before taking his leave.
I'm thankful as my hands were sore from holding the make-up kit all around.
We both make it up the staircase, me struggling with the heavy make up kit in my hands, I can't help but drop the kit as soon as we stop in front of the door as Hauwa steps forward to knock on the door as lightly as ever. I take in a deep breath.
We hear voices talking in moderately hushed tones from the other side, and some seconds later, a lady peeps out and opens the door widely.
"Oh, you...must be the makeup artists." It takes her a while to guess as her face stretches into a smile letting us in.
Inside the room is chill due to the Air Con on.
The room is so chic... it's really huge, and has a bit of girly but mature look, a bit of really light scarlet, some purple, and faint golden, but mostly white.
I drop the make-up kit in relieve and look around.
God knows I feel nervous.
They're so many ladies around in the room, some just starring at us, and others too busy with their phones to even look up, probably her friends and cousins.
For a moment we all just stand starring around awkwardly.
"Zubie...!" I hear someone squeal as I turn to see Habiba herself, looking as pretty as ever...fair skinned and dark beautiful long hair falling elegantly over her shoulders as her hair had been unbraided. She's even prettier in person.
She gets up from where she was seated in front of the dressing mirror and saunters towards us, not even hesitating as she engulfs me in a heart warming hug.
I was a bit taken aback at her welcoming nature.
"Wawoo you're here..." She realises the hug to look at me.
She really is pretty, those large doe eyes with long lashes cascaded, firm pointed nose and small plump lips. Just like in her vlogs, she's more of cutie though.
"And... these are?" She turns to look at Hauwa and Hanifa with a polite smile.
"Oh, this is Hauwa, and this is Hanifa...my friends" I introduce them.
"Nice to meet you guys." She stretches her hand to each of them for a handshake.
"They're both here to help, you know how hectic stuffs like this can be" I say.
"Oh yah." She nods in agreement definitely knowing what I mean.
"I'm just glad you made it, it means so much to me..." She beams.
"Girls," She turns to the others. "Meet Zubie, the beautician that I was talking about that would be coming for my wedding." She introduces "And this is Hauwa and...Hanifa right?" She asks unsure as Hanifa nods.
"Hiiii." They all look up and smile at us waving. They're actually all nice.
"It's so nice to have you here...." She further beams again.
"Okay now, everyone, oya, get your asses up, before you know it now, it'll be one o'clock."
She says and it takes a moment but they all eventually cooperate, keeping their phones aside or stopping whatever it is they were doing at the moment.
She seats in front of the dressing mirror as I take out all the makeup equipments that would be needed, making sure I listened carefully to the kind of touch she wanted for the event.
Meanwhile everyone else started changing one after another...
All the bridemaids were in anko (a particular ankara in which everyone wears for the occasion)... in light purple gowns, all sewn into their different desired styles.
Hanifa was the one doing the vlogging all this while, while Hauwa had gotten on to start with one of Habiba's friends.
And after about half an hour of working my magic on her face, she looked amazing...I couldn't help but beam at the sight.
The makeup was light and had an elegant touch to it as it totally brought out the beauty of her face, even if she wasn't wearing any other thing to compliment the look but I could already sense this shit was gonna be lit.
Afterwards she steps into the restroom and changes into a light blue long sleeve lacey straight gown, which from the neck area was just this sparkly transparent material that hung to her neck like a choker neck. It had a lot of sparkly beads attached to it especially at the neck and hickey bone area which make it look like she was wearing jewelry there or something.
The actual material of the dress starts off a few inches beneath her shoulders and towards her upper arm area in an off shoulder cut and aside the little division on the waist area like a belt which was the only plain material, the rest of the dress was made of lace.
Hauwa and I help her put on the waist cape as we attached it to the dress, and woww...
The cape was kinda like a high low cape but from behind, as the first layer of the cape overlapped the second and it totally complimented the dress, if not the whole look.
Sorry couldn't get clear pictures, but just imagine the light blue combo of these two dress:
She kinda looked like it was her wedding day already except the style of the dress wasn't exactly something I'd see someone like her going for as her ideal wedding dress.
After that she shows me a pic of the style of turban she wanted and I got to work, putting her long hair into a doughnut bun underneath...
The turban came out perfect.
I couldn't help but be proud of my efforts, like damn. She was looking like the full bridal package already, which she was anyway. All she needed was the finishing touch, which was the earrings, and she was good to go.
"You look stunning." I compliment.
"Aww, see our bride looking peng.... hmm, Sharif would faint today." One of Habiba's friends with long braid extentions high fived the other.
Just then there's a sudden knock on the door, dragging everyone's attention as one of the girls walk up to open the door and I immediately recognize the lady that walks in as Habiba's mother.
More than often she's always in Habiba's vlogs or posts.
She is like the exact older version of her daughter, you can see the resemblance sak.
She's dressed in a beige straight gown, with huge rose details on the shoulder and chest area with huge puffed sleeves and her head tie befitting the clothe perfectly.
"Mummy!"
Almost all the girls rush to her with a hug.
"Awwn... my sweethearts..." She gushed chuckling a bit at the way they almost knocked her down her feet at the impact.
"Is this Safina?.. Amina?.. Naadira? O my God, you've all grown so much.." She pulls them into a hug again as they all chuckle.
"Good morning ma." The rest of us greet.
"Oh, Good morning, an mata (young ladies)." She smiles at us as she walks towards Habiba, approaching us and I begin to feel nervous again.
What if she doesn't like the make-up I did on her daughter, or she asks me to clean up something?
O God.
"OMG, my baby..." She beams as her whole face lits up immediately she takes a look at her daughter. I internally sigh in relief.
"You look absolutely gorgeous." She hugs her.
"Here..." That's when I take notice of the tiny red box in her hand as she opens it to reveal a pair of glamourous pearl earrings as she puts them on for her.
I can't help but smile at the heart touching mother-daughter bond, watching her engulf her daughter in yet another hug again.
Shortly after that, Habiba is in her plain white sparkling peep toe, t-strap heels, seated on the bed and typing away on her phone while the other girls go on about how Sharif is surely gonna catch erection today, taking selfies and pictures of her as she gives them a stern warning to not even think of sending any to Sharif.
In the meantime, Habiba's mom settles down for me to touch up her face a bit as I was the only one available since Hanifa and Hauwa were busy with other people and things.
I was nervous as hell, I mean I'm standing in front of the lady of the household gon gon (-Nigerian broken language, don't know how to interprete-).
She didn't want anything heavy at all, so in a matter of ten to five minutes, all that remained was her lip stick.
"Ruby?" I ask picking the muave-ish red lipstick.
"You read my mind." She says, letting me apply it neatly on her lip.
"Are you completely Kanuri, you don't seem... from around here?" She then suddenly asks.
"Oh, uhm...well, my mom's Yoruba...and I grew up mostly around my maternal roots. But my dad was from Maiduguri." I say.
Too much info Zubie, she asked just one thing. A voice says in my head but I'm way too nervous.
"Aw, my mom was also Yoruba too, so obo yoruba (Do you speak yoruba)?" She asks in yoruba language.
"Byeni ma (Yes ma)." I also reply.
My mom made sure of that.
Nonetheless it feels so foreign and strange to be speaking it with someone I'd assume is a Hausa oriented lady and most probably doesn't care about stuffs like this. But I guess as they say, don't judge a book by it's cover.
"Hmm." She smiles.
What I've noticed about Yoruba women is how much they love it when they meet another yoruba person, especially when you can speak Yoruba fluently with them....
Most especially in the market, if you're their costumer, they'll give you discount and put in extra effort to make sure they sell the best goods for you.
Soon we get to know that tabbas (for sure), we're not here to play.
The bridemaids alone are almost twelve, and soon enough as ladies start coming in and out of the room, extra people like Aunties and family friends also want us do some touch ups and tie their headties or something like that.
Something that always happens in every event I come to do makeup, ladies that are not even in the agenda would just come and of course you're suppose to be the nice beautician and do most for free.
Hanifa who was doing the vlogging had to at some point drop the camera and help with the makeup instead. I eventually had to just take off my heels for a while to feel more comfortable with all the bending down.
We're all too busy with so many people, everyone coming in and out, that we almost don't notice when Habiba and her friends leave the room as it was time for the photoshoot.
I manage to inform Hanifa to leave the room with them to be able to vlog the photoshoot.
By the time Hauwa and I are done, which is about an hour after Habiba and her friends left the room, we're both completely exhausted. I, for one was really thirsty and also really needed to pee.
And guess what, I actually ended up fishily forgetting my water bottle at home. The rest of the women who were still in the room were preparing to go out so Hauwa decided to go with them as I was too pressed to want to go or focus on anything else.
Luckily we were able to sight a maid just as they were leaving, who led me to a nearby restroom to ease myself. I had the urge to tell her to wait for me to get done as Hauwa and the others were gone but she seemed in a hurry and I didn't want to seem too needy so I just let her go as I felt like I could just somehow figure something out.
After peeing I headed back to the room and decided to pack up everything I came with including my makeup kit and leave the room and just then the realization really hit me that I really knew nothing about finding my way around the house. Yep, I really should have told the maid to wait for me.
I decided to call up Hauwa but she didn't pick for only God knows what reason, so I call Hanifa instead, just to realize she'd actually left her phone in the room to charge. Oh wow.
I sigh too impatient to just seat down here alone in the empty room and probably also empty house so I decide to just try my luck, after all this was kinda the third time I would be walking down the hallways of the house, it wouldn't be that difficult to figure it out right.
And so I grabbed everything and walked out but guess what, just a few five to six turns and I was lost.
I couldn't remember anything from when the maid had guided me nor when that guy guided us into the house.
I decided to just respect myself and head back but I seemed to be getting more lost as the whole thing became all jumbled in my head.
What the...?
To top it off the entire house seemed empty since everyone was probably outside for the photoshoot and I couldn't sight any maid nearby.
Oh God.
Kinda left with no choice, I find myself just wandering around the huge house which seemed like a jungle with my heavy make-up kit in hand.
I start to wonder why I hadn't just left the kit in the room then come pick it up later as it wasn't like this was the end of the photoshoot even.
The kit seems to be getting much heavier by the moment, I could feel my hands slipping from time to time, and my heels were killing me.
I resist the urge to curse myself out for such poor thinking and decision making and instead try to focus on getting myself out of this situation
Just then, as I'm about to turn the next corner. I was in the middle of trying to stabilize my grip on the heavy makeup kit which was at the moment slipping off again, when suddenly, I hear footsteps approaching.
The person at the other side had probably been walking at a faster pace than I'd expected cuz before I know it the tall figure is in front of me and in the quick reflex of not wanting to bump into him, I flinch, startled and before I could take control, the whole makeup kit falls out of my hand in a loud thud. The box falls open and more than half of the items in the box are scattered around with most of the contents they're containing also spilled all over the place.
Great heavens!
***
TAG TAG TAG TAG TAG TAG TAG! Please, and comment, please tag as much people as you can. If you know anyone interested in books like mine then spread the news. Allah will reward you greatly inshallah.