Maleeka and Hanan hopped out of the school bus groggily, they've had a long day at school. Maleeka and Hanan have been friends since they were kids, and are currently in 100level, studying English Language in BGU (Birningabas university). It is situated at the far end of the town, a small town with almost everything in it. There are two bus stops, one close to the market place and the second, close to the gates of the elites in Birningabas. Students come from far and near to study in BGU. Maleeka isn't the type to make friends easily. In fact it was like she had repelling forces chasing the female gender away from her. Hanan was the only person she was able to trap. Every other girl she had met found a way to make everything about their friendship a competition. They'd always compare themselves to her; the frustrating part was she wasn't even trying to be perfect. When she realized the female company was becoming toxic to her, she backed off and found comfort in the male genders much to her parent's dismay. Maleeka and Hanan weren't living far from the market bus stop. It's a walkable distance to their various homes. Hanan was scrolling through her phone, while Maleeka was blabbing ideas about how she would do her assignment given to them an hour ago. Hanan kept mumbling incoherent answers because her attention was far away from what Maleeka was saying.

Maleeka's little speech was cut short when her phone started ringing, the name imprinted on the screen made her pout and roll her eyes. But she picked up nevertheless, said a few yes and no. Hanan had asked who it was, Maleeka's phone doesn't ring a lot, you see.

     "You're so lucky to be her friend! I could kill to be Princess Azeema's friend. She's so popular" Hanan said, squealing the last part, making Maleeka roll her eyes.
     "For the love of God, she's not my friend, she's just someone I know from childhood" Maleeka replied.
     "Explain why she called you moments ago?" Hanan persisted.
     "She's coming back to Nigeria. She needs a friend to hangout with. It's not like we are BFF or something" Maleeka explained again.
     "It's not fair that you get to meet with her and her hot brothers. I heard Azeem is a charmer. Yarima on the other hand is kinda arrogant" Hanan said dreamily. Maleeka scowled. All of a sudden they weren't talking about their studies anymore; they weren't talking about their assignment the lecturer assigned to them. They were talking about the same family she wanted to get away from.
     "I follow them on IG. You need to see the pictures they post. Their followers are wicked!! Yarima kind of puts his account private and doesn't accept requests; he kind of picks his followers. I'm still hoping he picks me" Hanan said, again infuriating Maleeka.
     "There's nothing special about them, Hanan. They have blood flowing in their veins just as you, they are humans. Why do you always look for a way to look down on yourself?" Maleeka said, making her friend gasp. She was actually telling the truth. Hanan always believed she should worship people; she was always at the beckon call of others. She was always trying hard to be noticed; little did she know she didn't need to try. Her caramel skin is more than enough to get her the attention she's in search of. Her silky smooth long hair would grab people's attention in a blink of an eye; her charming attitude is yet another accessory of hers, or her beautiful plum lips that made her perfect. Most of the girls she allows to step on her do not have half the beauty she had at her disposal.
     "You really don't rinse your words before you spew them out do you?" Hanan said scowling. Maybe that was why Maleeka never had any friends. She is definitely blunt. Say things now and regret it later. The conversation was cut short when they got to Hanan's destination. She would have to follow a narrow lane to go to her own house while Maleeka needed to go straight.
     "Bye" Hanan said without looking back. She is definitely angry. Maleeka mumbled a bye too. By tomorrow, Hanan would not be angry anymore. The girl never gets angry for more than a day. Maleeka's house came into sight. Her father's house always stood out from others in the neighborhood because of the streak of people always gathering at his front door. It's almost time for maghrib prayers, yet here they were standing patiently for their turn. She groaned for the umpteenth time eyeing the people wearily. She always gets irritated by them. Because her father is Sarki's best friend, the people of Birnin-Gabas have decided to turn her home into a counseling site. Everybody comes with his or her tiny problem expecting her father to tell his best friend. Her poor father wasn't even on the council. She was pretty sure none of the council members went through with this madness to help the poor. Her father, being a nice person, tells his friend about the common people's problems. Some of the problems were attended to, while some weren't very lucky. As she drew closer to the house, her frown deepened. It's getting pretty late and some people were adamantly seated on the floor waiting for their turn. What frustrated her most was the fact that there was no day off. They came every single day. She wanted to yell at them to take their complaints to the palace. But she refrained from doing so. Her father would bury her alive if she tried it.

What scared her most was her father was being treated like Sarki, what if Sarki gets offended by this activity going on in their home for as long as she could remember. It actually started small; two to three people would come to her father lodging their complaints about one thing or the other. Her father would promise to ask the king in their favor, words spread like wildfire and now look. Their home has been turned into a Palace.

     "Assalamu Alaikum" she said, going further into her father's compound. She had learnt to use the backdoor.
     "Wa'alaikum Salam. Is that you my darling?" Her mother called out from the living room. She squeaked a yes and headed to where she heard the sound of her mother. 
     "Maleeka welcome! Your father refuses to send these people home and keep me company" her mother stated frowning.
     "There's a TV for you to watch, why would you place your hope when you know he will never send them away. I pray they don't brand us as conspirators to Sarki one of these days" Maleeka said, offloading her long maroon hijab.
     "Don't say bad things Maleeka! They happen, be the type that always says nothing but good things. Besides, Sarki knows about it. He told your father to be the mouth of the people" her mother said smiling.
     "As far as I know, that is not a title umma. It's not even a thing. I keep telling you they don't see us as anything but leeches" Maleeka stated frowning as she walked into her own room to drop her handbag. Then she trotted outside.
Their house is a typical townsmen house. It was made from sand, stones and cement. Their rooms and living room lie adjacent to each other in a horizontal pattern. The kitchen and store is by the right hand side and the toilet and bathroom, left hand side. Facing the rooms is a Zaure (a big empty passageway leading to the inner parts of a house. Ps: it serves as a place where a suitor stays when he comes visiting a girl in a northern village. This is to avoid them wandering off, or doing hanky panky.) This is attached to the front door.     Their house wasn't much, it is a developing town, and many people live a little higher or lower than Maleeka's family. The councilors and people with ranks were the ones with beautiful houses. They were the ones with cars and the ones that sent their kids out of Birnin-Gabas or even out of Nigeria to school. A perfect example is the Sarki himself. The Zaure, where Sa'eed has turned to his consultation room, has a desk and a chair while they line up outside waiting for their turn. When Maleeka found out her dad even has a record book she almost fainted in annoyance. It meant this wasn't stopping anytime soon.
     "You shouldn't say vile things about Sarki and his household. For what it's worth, they do care about us" her mother retorted, smiling a little.
    "We are just a charity case for them. Sarki's mother made it clear to me. The only thing they haven't done is give us a house to live in. Umma they give us food, they furnished the living room and even the clothes we wear. I just find it a bit odd that they go through all this stress for us… Umma I'm hungry" she stated the last part when her tummy growled. She had forgotten all about the Royal family. Her mother served her the popular Shinkafa da mai & yaji (Rice Beans and vegetable oil & pepper). She sighed contentedly and dug in. She'd have to do her assignment tomorrow, after eating and praying, sleeping would be her top priority. Thank God tomorrow is a lecture free day for her.

The next morning was quite uneventful for Maleeka. She started her chores, washing the plates, arrange them in the kitchen. Sweep the whole house; mop the living room, her parents’ room and her room. Go fetch water from the general tap a few yards away from home, Wash the toilet and bathroom. Meanwhile, her mother prepares breakfast. Maleeka never adds a minute to her chore, it was something she tried doing everyday, so there isn't much dirt in the house. She only goes to fetch water for 3 to 4 rounds, because the water barrel in the house is almost filled up. Since she did her chores everyday, it was never hectic. When her mother served her with bean cakes and pap, she immediately started eating, after this she would do her assignment. Halfway through her food, her father came into the living room and sat on his favorite sofa, his food was also served on a stool in front of his sofa.

     "Maleeka?" he said, picking up a beancake.
     "Yes father"
     "I need you to accompany me to the palace today. Yarima and his siblings are back from school. Let's go welcome them" he stated, after swallowing the piece he had chewed. And just like that she lost her appetite, though she was far through her plate. Why did her father jump on every opportunity to downgrade himself in the eyes of these people?
Yes, they give them food. Yes, they gift boxes and clothes to them. Yes, they also gift bags and shoes to them. Heck, they gave them everything to make them be comfortable. It's obvious Sarki and his family pities them. She didn't want that pity. She wanted to be respected. She could remember when her father used to own a farm. He'd plant all sorts of crops. He used to have cows, sheep, goats and even fowls. But everything is gone now. They were at the mercy of the king.
    "I don't want to go," she said calmly. There was no element of surprise on his face. The older man knew how she felt about how devoted and clingy he is with Sarki. 
     "Why exactly? It's not like you're going to school or anything" he asked patiently. She wasn't sure he needed her to tell him. Does she need to narrate the story where Sarki's mother called her nothing, a peasant and an annoying child who is just like her father, Clingy and irritating?
     "Don't you want to see Azeema?" her father asked desperately, making her scoff. Azeema wasn't her friend. She just doesn't get why the older people would not stop attaching you to people you used to play with. Azeema never called her, unless she was coming back to Nigeria. And whenever her fellow rich friends come back home with her for any break, she would not call Maleeka. There was a time they visited and Maleeka happily went to see her supposed friend. Azeema refused to introduce her to them; in fact she avoided Maleeka and told her they were going out. That she should leave. She's encountered a different scenario to teach her the lesson she's learnt now.
     "Azeema is not my friend's father. We stopped being friends" she said, hoping he'd drop the talk. 
     "Nonsense, Sarki said Azeema asked him to make sure I come with you" he defended again.
Maleeka scowled. "I really don't want to go. I just want to rest"

     "You're going and that's final. You can't run away from people who care about you. We are leaving by 4pm. By then the council meeting would have been over'' her father started ignoring her angered expression.