CHAPTER 23: A MYSTERY CALLED LOVE (A WEAKNESS CALLED LOVE :MEMOIRS OF AN AFRICAN HOUSEMAID )

We now work for a new Hajiya. We all call her Maama. Maama was a different breed. She seem to always forget our names, I could swear it is intentional. She calls us with whatever name that comes to her mind. You just have to answer her. The worst was that you could cannot decipher who she is calling. We had to guess.
Today, she called me Delu and I politely said 'it's Ladi' this seem to made her angry and amused at the same time. She called people of her household and told them about what I did. She now said
"See this clown, from today onwards we are going to call her 'stick'"
And so, I came to be known as stick while Zakiyya enjoyed the numerous other names that came to Hajiya's mind.

Hajiya was not mean per se. She just treat us like semi-human beings. Mostly ignoring us and doesn't care what we do with our lives. We were allowed to go out. Most times she sent us on errands in the late night. Maama has a hell of an appetite, sometimes we buy her fish, other times it is fried yam, or beans cake, sometimes tofu. The list is endless. In the beginning we had a hard time understanding the roads, we will often get lost. But now we hardly get lost we know almost everywhere.

Hajiya's Daughter Ikilima is a frequent visitor. She is married and lives in another part of the town. She has a house girl that is younger than us. But she never stays in her house. Her husband works in another city. Her house girl said they will watch movies until 3:00am and will sleep the next day only to wake up around 12:00noon or later. They bathe and make a quick meal, they then hit the streets only to return around 9:00pm. This was their routine when the husband was not around. 

whenever he comes back, they were entirely different. The tv was never put on. She will wake up as early as 5:00am, pray the fajr prayer, recite the Quran melodiously and loudly. Then she cleans and makes breakfast. She bathe and takes care of the husband. In her spare time she recites the Quran some more, make voluntary prayers and was off her phone. In those days She was the epitome of spirituality.

Hajiya's house is a three bedroom house, on the third floor of a dilapidated story building. The building was meant for state civil servants. It was poorly maintained.

Hajiya makes snacks for weddings and naming ceremonies and we were the work force. We had an order for 200 doughnuts, 200 cupcakes and 200 meat pies. We were working tirelessly, since the order has to be completed by tomorrow. I was kneading  the dough while zakiyya was rolling out another batch of the dough when a young boy of about 9 years, who lives on the ground floor of the building entered the house. He greeted Hajiya, who was sitting beside us and giving directions. He then said there was a man outside asking for her, that he said He is Zakiyya's brother from the village.

"No, No, Hell No! I will not tolerate this nonsense!!! I will not accept useless distractions. I am paying for these girls, is not like they are doing me a favor or anything" Hajiya Said.

She started rubbing her temples, then she continued
"Why are villager daft?" She states asking no one in particular.

"how can someone be this clueless. How is it humanly possible to have someone as dumb as these villagers? This is still a mystery to me" she concluded

Ikilima Her daughter who was watching seemed amused and she said
" it's the awfully huge amount of sorghum they consume. It probably washes away some of their brain cells" She then burst into laughter.

Zakiyyah was uneasy, the smile she had when it was announced her brother came to see her quickly vanished.

"Ummm, hmmm, Maama, the thing is He is in one of the almajiri Schools in town and maybe"

"Sooo He can come to my house as if it's his property?" hajiya interrupted her

"No, I'm sorry Maama" zakiyyah apologized.

She now turned to the boy and said " lead him to this house. I better straighten things out" she ordered

Ibro, Zakiyya's brother must be really thoughtful. The gesture is really sweet.
I thought.
Not that I will ever tell her that, but it's really sweet of him.

We were interrupted by a Salam, but the voice was deep and manly. Ibro must be really grown up. Although He is 16 but maybe puberty came early for him. I thought.

"Come in" Hajiya said in a low and majestic voice.
But the person my eyes met was not the Ibro i remember. Sure he looks familiar but he was far from being the Ibro I know. He was poise and sophisticated. He looked rich. My eyes were glued to him. It was then I remembered who he was. He was the tricycles driver that kept talking to Zakiyya.

"Good evening, hajiya he said" kneeling down with exaggerated respect.

"I'm sorry to bother you, I know you are like a mother to my sister. God is the only one who can reward you for your generosity and kindness. We all in the village have heard about the wonderful things you are doing to our siblings here. I wanted to meet you in person and thank you for the favor. There are a few people now on earth who fear God and are as kind as you. Thank you hajiya. May God reward and protect you"

"I do what I can. I seek no gratitude from no one but from God the All Merciful. Even as a kid I had always been kind. It's just in my nature. People always tell me I care a lot, and I tell them that is what compassion looks like" Hajiya said with a smile.

"But I must say, you look nothing like Zakiyyah. Nobody can tell you people are siblings" she said

"He is her half brother, his mother is a fulani woman from a neighboring village" I lied

"No wonder, he looks so much fulani, let's go and let the two discuss" Hajiya said

"Maama, He is like a brother to me. The thing is we are related. Zakiyya is my cousin. My mother, zakiyya's father and his father are siblings." I lied yet again

There was no way I am going to miss out on this. I will be an eyewitness. I was not going to let Zakiyyah tell me all about it.

I swear I sounded like Shatu. I did not know where it came from. Shatu would have been really proud. That girl have so much influence on me. That will be exactly what she will do. I borrowed a chapter from Shatu's book. I felt very proud of myself.

Zakiyya, the tricycle driver and I all went out the door.
It was then, I gulped at his immense beauty. Even I, a girl infatuated by Mudi, had to admit He is magnificent.

He is tall, slightly built, fair, although a bit tanned.He had curly black hair. He's straight nose rested perfectly on his oval shaped face. His pink plum kissable lips move gracefully as He spoke. I have never seen such rare beauty. To top it up He is immaculate. His clothes were spotless and He smelt heavenly.

When we were at a safe distance, He broke the silence and said to Zakiyyah
" I'm sorry, I had to lie. I needed to see you again. The woman Laraba did not want me to see you. She said you will be married in the next month. That I should come meet another nice beautiful girl. But I want no other girl. I want you. Since you are not yet married, I have a chance. Just please get to know me first. Maybe you will like me too."

Zakiyyah said nothing, she looked confused.

"She is not getting married, Laraba is a compulsive liar. I knew it! The cunning witch!She lied to us too." I said

He sighed, a sigh of relief.

"You still haven't said anything" looking at Zakiyya who was ogling him.
He smirked when he noticed
" like what you are seeing?" He said, with the smirk still on his face.

She was embarrassed. She turned away, her hands covering her face.
This seem to make him laugh. He then said
"I will take that as a yes"

"Now back to the important stuff, now we have to make some form of arrangement to see each other. I will get you a phone later. But for now we have to have a routine, some sort of appointment to see each other"
He paused and then continued

"What time can you come out of the house? Then I will be there waiting for you then we can meet up?" He asked

"In the night" Zakiyya spoke to him for the first time, but avoiding eye contact at all cost

"Oh God, she finally speak"
" I was beginning to feel a bit lonely here, I was doing all the talking. At least you are paying attention"

He joked.
Somehow his joke made Zakiyya laughed
This was the first time I saw her laugh. In the village, she was not my friend. I never paid any attention to her. I ignored her, but I knew her. Who doesn't, with her history she is like a shunned celebrity.

"What time?" He asked
"How about 8pm? Does it work for you?" He asked yet again

"Yes" she answered

"Okay empress" He said

She giggled at him calling her empress.

"I guess I will see you tomorrow at 8. Hajiya doesn't have to know. I trust you can keep our little secret" he concluded.
"Okay" She said.

"Goodbye" she said

I now said goodbye to him, finally reminding them of my presence.

When He left, I nudged her as I giggled. "Good work" I said to her.

Truly Zakiyya was not one of the girls I would have been friends with. She is too submissive and not daring. But she was the only one here, I had to take what is available. Now that she has been able to attract this hot dude, it feels like she is worthy of my friendship. I am beginning to respect her. May be being friends with her is not such a bad idea after all.

Hajiya too was impressed by the guy. She said if only we were half as grateful as he is, we would have had a chance at success in life. She said we should learn from him, but if we can't, then wretchedness is in our bones. In that case It cannot be cured since our DNA was at fault.

"If only there were one tenth pleasing to the eye as he is, may be their poor DNA may be excused"
Ikilima chime as She laughed

"Definitely" Hajiya replies nodding approvingly.

And so today marked the begging of the beautiful romantic relationship of Zakiyyah and the guy we forgot to ask his name.

AUTHORS NOTE:
Thanks for reading!!! Thanks for all the support. I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will be uploaded soon. Feel free to share your views, Comments and thoughts. Don't forget to vote.