The day I got married to Ya Hamid I was dumbfounded the fact that I wasn't the one he was supposed to get married to, it was Rahmat Ali and she was the one whose name was written on the invitation card.
What happened was that, Rahmat did something very terrible a day to the wedding. She went to Malibu Club with some of her crazy friends and threw a farewell party without telling anybody. Sadly, she ended up being raped on a live video by two of her male friends while drunk.
The video spread like wildfire the same night it happened, and at around 2am in the night we were awoken by Ya Hamid's parents who came to apprise us about what was going on. His mother was even crying incessantly.
They showed us the video and told us Rahmat's parents were unreachable, they had not been picking their calls nor replying the text messages sent to them. It was obvious they had seen the video too from another source.
The whole thing was a mess and something had to be done about it as soon as possible, hence both my parents and Ya Hamid's parents drove off to Rahmat's house.
In few hours time they came back with a jaw-dropping news for me, that Ya Hamid's wedding with Rahmat had been cancelled and that I was now the new bride. "New bride?" I puzzled.
Believe you me, the news made me to feel like the whole world was on my head. Not that I didn't like the idea but I was young, I was just 17 for God's sake and had only completed my secondary school. Why would they even chose me? Me of all the girls in our family! Was I so special or what?
Well, special or not special I really shouldn't agree to it the fact that marriage wasn't in my mind right now. What I had in mind was school, I wanted to further my education and become a Doctor in the future. They shouldn't just ruin my dream, please!
"You have to get over it, Amani!" My father said making me to burst into tears. He was so angry because even after his thorough explanation about how marrying Ya Hamid would clear our family name from what Rahmat did, I still didn't want to get married to him.
After the discussion, I ran to my room and cried until I could no longer cry. I kept telling myself I wasn't ready for the marriage until my mother Salaamed into my room, she came to console me.
She told me why they chose me among the rest and why I must accept their decision. It took her almost an hour to finally convince me, that too was because I had no other choice.
And that was it, I was swiftly prepared and then taken to our guest room for nourishment. Like seriously? I couldn't even imagine it and it wasn't long when people started fulling our house, I could hear their voices from where I was.
One funny thing was that, none of my friends knew about it yet. I couldn't even get hold of my phone talk more of bringing it with me to the guest room, it was like I was just dreaming.
All the boxes taken to Rahmat's house were returned and brought to me. Ya Hamid's sister was among the squad that went to the house, she said she was so happy that her brother was no longer marrying 'that witch' as she used to call Rahmat. Actually, she believed the lady was a witch because she was extremely beautiful and hardly smile.
Immediately the knot was tied, many family members stormed into where I was while yodelling (buda in hausa). Fresh tears strolled down my cheeks, I was finally Ya Hamid's wife. The crowd made it impossible for me to think. They kept singing and clapping over my head, I wished I could tell them to stop.
My whole day was ruined, and in the evening I was prepared for my husband's house. Some of my friends eventually managed to come, they were those that somehow heard the news. I thought they would mock me but none of them did that, they only hugged me and told me to be strong and to accept what Allah had ordained for me.
Just as I was conveyed to my husband's house, I was walked into a room with my head covered with a transparent veil. I could see clearly, the room was supposed to be Rahmat's room. Ya Hamid had once told us she liked blue colour so he made sure the room was painted blue for her. The thought made another round of tears to escape my eyes.