She walked further into the house with her heart breaking softly with each step she took because she knew for a fact what awaited her in this house. She wished something would happen and she didn't have to visit her mother every weekends, but it wasn't like she enjoyed staying in Dutsinma, especially since Baban Fatima mostly spend his weekends in that house and she hated the sight of him along with his creepy looks and smiles.

She knocked on the living room's door softly before she pushed it and walked inside. The house was eerily silent, as if there was no one inside but she knew there was. Just the hum of the air conditioner and the scent of Turaren wuta which she loved so much.

She walked directly to her room and closed the door. It was exactly as she left it, not even a pillow was creased and she now realized that Mama really meant it when she said that the maid wouldn't be cleaning her room anymore since she had refused to get married.

A painful smile marred her face as she placed her bag on the bed and laid down to stretch her legs. She had a car, but Mama had stopped her from taking it to Dutsinma because in her words, Muhibbah would be roaming around carelessly if she had a car. And the public transport was stressing her out that she always found herself dreading Fridays and Sundays.

The door slightly moved and her younger brother of ten years appeared, a wide grin on his face. "Addah Muhibbah!" He squealed and hugged her roughly. "I knew you were back, I heard your voice from my room!" He said excitedly and Muhibbah felt her heart warming. Khalil made her stays easier in this house and she was thankful for the day Mama gave birth to him. He was her last born and most loved by all. Muhibbah practically raised him.

"My baby! I've missed you so much and guess what? I got you that chocolate, enough for you to have it for a week and it won't finish, but you have to promise me one thing, will you?" She said happily, sitting in the middle of her bed as she pulled her bag and started bringing out all that she bought for him and he smiled while nodding his head.

"Whatever it is, I promise I will do it."

She chuckled, handing him the chocolates. "You'll let me sleep now, first. Then you'll make sure you memorize the remaining two hizbs left for you in Suratul Ra'ad before next week, deal?"

"Yes! Now, can I start eating already?" He was already opening one even before she gave him an answer and Muhibbah just smiled staring at him happily eat his chocolate.

Her life would've been perfect if not for two things. One, which she felt could be change since it was happening now and the other she wished everyone would forget since it's in the past and no one can actually change a thing about it.

She ended up sleeping until she heard the Maghreb adhzan. Even though she was certain Mama must've known she was back, Muhibbah slept off and didn't bother to go and greet her. At least she would have this sleep before she heard whatever it was that Mama had in store for her this weekend.

She prayed, recited all her Azhkars and prayers before she left for Mama's room. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down and she entered the room with a soft salam on her lips.

She met Mama on her praying mat. The scrutinizing look she was flashing her was enough to make Muhibbah recoil back into herself but she stayed strong and walked further until she sat on the lush carpet in the room and cracked a fake smile.

"Good evening, Mama. I'm sorry I didn't get to come and greet you after coming back, I fell asleep almost immediately." She was Mama's first daughter, but one could thing she wasn't. Weren't all mothers best friends with their first child? In Muhibbah's case, it was entirely different.

Sareena was the most beloved child and their mothers best friend. And no, Muhibbah wasn't envious of that. She simply wished she had a good relationship with her mother. And all this strain didn't started just because it had taken her long to get married and her mother now viewed her as a spinster, no. It started long before that. Maybe even before she was born.

Mama's voice brought an abrupt end to her thoughts. "Good evening to you too, Muhibbah. Have you eaten?"

"Not yet, but I will." She began getting up when Mama's next words stopped her.

"I was waiting for you to come back and tell me about your encounter with Alhaji Nasir but you're still not saying anything. Didn't you guys understand each other?"

Muhibbah sighed before she sat back and palmed her face while gathering the remaining strength left in her. "Mama," she called out with a soft voice, in hopes that Mama would really understand her pain now that she was staring into her face. "He's a bad person, Mama. There's not a single soul that's saying a good thing about him. I've heard a lot of horrible things about him that he did to his ex-wife and he's here claiming the victim that it was her family that wanted them separated, it's a lie."

Mama was staring at her wide agape. As if she had gone crazy simply because she's showing her dislike to the man she was sure she'd regret ever getting married to, if she did. And it would be the biggest mistake of her life.

"And besides, I really don't like him..."

"It has never occurred to me that you're very stupid Muhibbah, until today. What has gone over you?!" Mama thundered and Muhibbah had to close her eyes due to how Mama's words cut right through her heart. "You don't like him? And who cares whether you like him or not? I just want you out of my sight and that would never happen unless you got married, understood?"

"Mama..." She knew she had heard these words times without number that she had already memorized every word and expression of Mama, but it always hurt her.

"Shut up, Malama! And tell me who ever tells the truth about his ex partner? Aren't all ex partners liars and manipulators?! What good has ever come out of an ex partner, tell me!" At this point, Muhibbah knew Mama was few words away from calling out her father's name and insulting him like she mostly did.

Because he was that horrible ex Mama had and would never forgive. Even though Muhibbah mostly found it so hard to believe the stories Mama mostly threw at her about him for the few times she had met him and the times they spent on phone. He sounded and looked like a good person, that she was sure of.

"You see this Alhaji Nasir? You're going to marry him whether you like it or not. You can't be a spinster and claim you don't like a man that wants to help you and marry you. It seems like you think you can afford the luxury of love at this age of yours."

"Mama, it's beyond love..."

"Get out of my room. He's coming over tomorrow, if you like, sleep until noon and don't wake up to prepare something for him, okay?" There was this hatred Muhibbah saw in her mother's eyes whenever she was angry with her, which was mostly all the time. She knew it was the hatred she had for her father that rubbed off of her and it was mostly too hard to deal with.

Silently, she walked out of the room and leaned by the door as her tears rolled to her cheeks. She couldn't even remember the last time she had had a normal conversation with her mother that wasn't filled with painful words and her mother reminding her that she was a spinster that needed to get out of her house as soon as she could.

She wiped off her tears and walked to the kitchen, where she met her other half brother, Muhammad, who was her absolute favorite after Sareena and he side hugged her upon seeing her.

"Addah Mumu!" That's what he used to called her when he was a child and he couldn't pronounce her name correctly. And even though he was now a twenty one years old young guy, he still called her Mumu whenever he was happy at something and Muhibbah was glad whenever he did.

"Moha na, how have you been?" She chuckled and he walked back to the plate he was serving himself.

"I've been fine. Just got back from school and enjoying the homemade meals that I used to take for granted. How have you been, Addah? I've really missed you and we didn't speak so much last week, had tons of tests and what not. You know how y'all these lecturers are."

He schooled in Maryam Abacha American University Of Niger and always complained to her about his lecturers and what not, telling her not to be this kind of lecturer and that. There was even a time he was begging her to go back to their school and start lecturing because he really needed one of his family there but Muhibbah laughed it off.

If only he knew the amount of tears and begging and prayers that happened before Mama agreed to let her go to Dutsinma, if only.

"Are you eating all that?" She asked instead, because she didn't want to talk about anything school related.

"No, it's for both of us. You came for food, right?" He asked, placing two spoons into the plate and she chuckled, nodded her head before they both walked out of the kitchen.

They sat down on the dining table close to each other as they eat and conversed. With Muhammad telling her all that happened throughout the week because he mostly came back during weekends too, that's if he didn't have anything to do at school. And the weekends he wasn't back were the hardest for Muhibbah to endure. She was glad he was back this week.

Bilkisu walked into the living room while looking all beautiful. She was fully dressed and looking as if she was on her way to a wedding. She took a look at them on the dining table and walked away, making a chord of bitterness to rise to Muhibbah's throat.

Bilkisu was Muhammad's immediate younger sister and she was Eighteen years old. The problematic in the house and the one that had inherited Mama's hatred for her. There was a day Muhibbah had to beat her black and blue because of how she treated her and Muhibbah wished she hadn't been born that day because of what Mama did to her.

That was the beginning of their strain. Or better, what made their strain profound to the point that Bilkisu only greeted her when she wanted or when their father or Muhammad was around. And Muhibbah forced herself to act as if she wasn't in the house because if she did, she might do something that will make Mama furious at her.

And she was okay with the existing problems between her and Mama and would really not appreciate more.

She walked out of Mama's room and Muhammad yelled at her. "Have you gone blind, Bilkisu?"

"Good evening to you two." She said instead, arrogantly.

"Where are you going looking like this? Haven't you checked the clock?" He said, staring at her with anger evident in his eyes because one didn't need to be told that he hated how Bilkisu treated Muhibbah and for that, Muhibbah was always comforted.

At least she had Sareena, Muhammad and Khalil by her side. They are like her own little battalion of army that always stood by her. And she was forever thankful for having them as her siblings, even though they were half siblings.

"Her boyfriend, Mujahid, the one that have already sent his Uncles to your father and they're in talks about Engagement is the one that came and she's going to go out and listen to him. Because unlike others, she's going to get married soon and won't have to wait until she's a spinster and everyone is tired of her. Do you have a problem with that, or she can leave?" They all heard Mama's words as she walked beside Bilkisu and Muhibbah instantly got to her feet, she had to leave this living room as fast as she could.

"Mama, what you're doing is really not right, wallah. And if he's the one, why can't he come inside? I hate it when I see this girl chatting with him inside his car. I'm going to talk to Baba about this."

"Sannu ubanta. Are you jealous too that she's going to get married soon and your Yar gwal is still roaming the street or what? Muhammad! Don't let me start with you wallah."

"Mama, this isn't right wallah. No one is jealous because Bilkisu is getting married..."

Muhibbah didn't know her tears had rolled down to her cheeks until she tasted the salty liquid on her lips. She stared between Mama that was flashing her angry looks and Bilkisu that was rolling her eyes at her and smiled painfully while she briskly cleared off the tears.

"I'm not and will never be jealous just because Bilkisu is getting married, Mama. Please stop insinuating all these thoughts into her head. I'm happy for her as long as he's khair for her, Allah ya tabbatar masu da alkhairi." With that, she walked to her room and locked the door, bursting into tears.

She heard when Muhammad came and knocked but she couldn't open the door for him. She was due for a good cry, a lot had happened that she needed to cry off and this was simply a good chance for that.

She sent Sareena a text and turned off her phone. It was getting harder to bear as the days went by and she felt suffocated in the only place she would've gladly called home. Yes, she knew it wasn't really her father's house, but Mama's second husband was heaven sent. If not because of her mother, Muhibbah really would've lived a good life.

She hadn't gotten out since then and kept to herself in her room. She saw Muhammad's comforting messages when she switched on her phone along with Sareena's asking her what happened. But she didn't have the strength to answer them. So, she resorted to praying throughout the night, crying while she begged Allah to bring an end to all this. And for Him to choose the best for her.

She knew Mama would get her married to Alhaji Nasir since she had set her mind on it. And Muhibbah begged Allah for a way out and a better replacement if he wasn't good for her. But if he was khair for her, Muhibbah begged for solace in her heart and the will to accept him as her husband.