On the rebound

‘No, that’s not it’ he answered shyly. ‘Welcome Anti Bint, I didn’t hear your footsteps.’ He added with a smile.

‘How can you hear my footsteps when you are deeply engrossed with your packing? I hope you are not planning to leave before we get the chance to apply the lalle on you? I, for one, certainly plan to make sure that kamun ango (groom’s wedding initiation) takes place. Don’t think you can escape from me.’ I joked.

‘No, there is no need to worry about that Anti.’ He replied.

‘I know we have no cause to worry. I know that though you can’t wait to leave my sister’s old house for your brand new apartment, you will still be obedient enough to let us send you off the traditional way.’ I said.

‘No that’s not what I meant Anti Bint. What I am trying to say is there isn’t going to be a wedding.’ Mustafa stated standing in the middle of the room.

‘You mean you are going to have a dry marriage, just the wedding Fatiha and then we disperse? No, who is going to allow you to do that? Certainly not us, or our elders. We all want to celebrate the wedding of our parent’s first grandchild in the best way possible. Don’t spoil our fun.’ I warned.

‘You don’t understand Anti, the wedding is off. I am not getting married anymore.’ He declared simply.

‘The wedding is off? Then why did your mother send for me and specifically said we had last minute preparations to discuss before the d-day?’ I demanded.

‘Because she doesn’t know that the wedding is off. We just decided it, Fatima and I.’ He explained.

‘Ok, I think I know what’s happening here. You had a lover’s quarrel and as is usual at a time like this, you think you are incompatible so the wedding has to be stopped. Don’t worry, we’ve all been through that last minute tension. It doesn’t mean a thing. Let me just go in and join your mother to do our stuff.’ I assured him, turning to walk into the main house.

‘Just a minute Anti.’ Mustafa stopped me ‘please step into my room, there is something I want you to see.’ He said, pulling his mobile phone from his trouser pocket. I walked in and sat on the chair by the door. Then Musty handed me the phone and said.

‘I thought all was going on well too, until I got this message today. It was obviously not meant for me. But because I was the subject matter of the message she subconsciously scrolled to my name and sent it to me.’ He added. I took the phone from him and read the text message.

“You can’t believe the look on his face when he saw me walking into the fast food joint with Mustapha. I tricked Musty into taking me there by claiming it is my favourite fast food chain. In truth it’s because that’s where Hadi takes his lunch daily. I have always wanted to show him who I’ve caught after he dumped me for his ajebo fool. Anyway, there we were walking in while he was already eating his lunch. Mustafa was looking as elegant and handsome as ever and didn’t even look his way because he didn’t know him. I who did, could see the shock and even angry look he sent our way when we passed by him. He didn’t expect me to get a catch like Musty, but who said he is the last man on earth? With time I am sure I will get over him and the pain of his betrayal. And who knows, I might even come to love Musty, who is so nice it might not be hard to fall for him. Just wish me luck.” I raised my head when I reached the end of the text and said to him.

‘I’m truly sorry Musty, this must have been very hard on you.’

‘Yes it is Anti and in the light of this I can’t see a reason to go ahead with the wedding.’ He answered.

‘But we have gone too far Musty, everything is at such an advanced stage. Shouldn’t you give yourself a few days to see whether you’ll get over this?’ I asked.

‘I don’t think any number of days will make any difference. It is obvious she is marrying me on the rebound from her failed relationship. It is also obvious she is using me to make him jealous, to get him to regret what he did to her. But more importantly this is a man she still cares about because she actually said she is hoping to get over him with time and only then will she have the space to love me. I mean you’ve read what she wrote Anti Bint, there is nothing more to say.’ He added dejectedly.

‘Did you call her or you just replied the text?’ I asked.

‘As soon as I got over the initial shock of the message, I simply replied her that her message had come to the wrong person. I didn’t know whether she had discovered that herself by then. But five minutes after my reply when she didn’t respond I called her. She picked the call and just greeted me normally. Thinking she hadn’t seen my text I asked whether she had seen it. She replied that she had but that I misunderstood everything. She now invited me over to their house to hear the full explanation. I told her that everything in the message was self-explanatory, so she should forget about deceiving me any further and accept that we are through.’ I then put down the phone. Soon after an idea occurred to me and I decided to tell Mummy everything and then just travel out of town for a few days until the dust of my cancelled wedding had settled. I was just packing ahead of going to tell Mummy when you came in and saw me.‘ Mustapha explained.

‘I see, but don’t you think it will be a good idea to see Fatima and talk this over before you talk to your mum? There might actually be a good explanation to this.’ I insisted.

‘This text message speaks for itself Anti Bint, if I allowed Fatima to see me, she will make up a string of lies to control the damage. I don’t want to give her that chance.’ He replied, turning back to continue his packing.

‘But why is it necessary for you to leave town. If you have decided against going ahead with the marriage, you should just stand your ground and say so. There is no need to hide.’ I offered.

‘I am not trying to hide Anti, I just want to avoid meeting her people who will try hard to convince me of her innocence. You see when I called to say it was all over, she broke down crying and said I should come and meet her. When I said I would not, she insisted that her elders will be coming to meet mine because the wedding must go on. I don’t want to be forced into this marriage for any reason. I have my pride, she only wanted me to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. Well she had what she wanted, but I feel used and deceived and I can never be happy living with her.’ He declared.

‘You are right she had been deceitful.’ I conceded.

‘In fact you won’t know just how deceitful until you have seen how much pressure she was putting on me to propose formally, to send my people etc. My friends must have guessed she was up to something, they kept telling me we were going too fast. They said our courtship was too short and I that didn’t know her well enough. But my take was that she was so in love with me there was no need to drag things. My ego was so puffed up that the most attractive new staff in the office had fallen desperately in love with me. And all the time it was I who was being used. How ironic.’ He concluded zipping up his suitcase.

‘Yes it is. Anyway it’s a good thing you’ve found this out before the wedding. I wish you better luck next time Musty. You deserve someone who will love you for yourself, an honest and sincere wife. And you will get one soon inshAllah. Just trust in God and pray for the best.’ I said to him assuringly.