Gidan Uncle Hausa Book Complele

Description

"Haba Anty, honestly you didn't do well. How can it be this late and he is still sleeping? I am sure if it were his own wedding, Sauban wouldn't have spent the night anywhere else except with him. Even if he did sleep elsewhere, he wouldn't be this far away from Abiey at a time like this!"
"He arrived in town at one o'clock last night, and you know he is exhausted, but I will wake him up now."
"That’s why he slept in your quarters. He knows if it were in my house, he wouldn't dare sleep this late," Ammy said, displeasure evident on her face. Doc Zainab, who was sitting next to her, pouted.
"You are just prolonging the talk, Ammy. The more you talk, the more Anty will let him sleep even longer. Come wedding time later, she'll probably say she forgot to wake him up!"
Anty Amarya heard everything Doc Zainab was saying because she was sitting right next to Ammy. Anty just smiled, hung up the phone, stood up, and headed upstairs. She pushed open the first door gently and stepped into a room filled with the chill of the AC. It was dark everywhere, looking more like the middle of the night than morning. Anty turned on the room lights, and brightness filled every corner.
Right by the bed, she caught sight of her son lying facedown, his eyes closed. She walked closer to him, looking at his handsome face, and gently reached out to touch his hair. Immediately, he opened his bright white eyes—which showed no sign of sleepiness—and looked at her. She widened her eyes slightly, a smile still lingering on her face.
"You weren't sleeping?"
He closed his eyes again as he answered her.
"I couldn't sleep."
"I thought you were sleeping, which is why I didn't wake you up. Today is Sauban's wedding, or did you forget?"
He sat up and looked at her.
"No, that's why I came back yesterday, remember? But today I feel like I won't go."
Anty placed her hand on his abundant hair, stroking it softly.
"Today is an important day in Sauban's life, a day he might never repeat. As his best friend, you ought to be there with him."
Anty spoke, then stood up and walked to his closet, opening it. She pulled out an expensive gizner outfit and laid it on the bed.
"Let me step over to His Highness's quarters to get you a nice cap, since you abandoned your Hausa dressing traditions. But make sure you are dressed before I return. Narjis will bring you breakfast now."
He swung his legs down to the floor, shaking his head.
"No Anty, I can't eat anything right now."
"Even when you returned yesterday you ate nothing, and now you say you won't have breakfast? Abiey, didn't you tell me that everything would pass?"
He lowered his head, a smile of pure sadness and sorrow on his face.
"Everything will pass, Anty, everything will become a story. But that doesn't mean the love for Zahra has left my heart. Zahra's love married me, and I married Anty. I am just living with her love alive inside me. The day her love leaves my blood is the day I distance myself from life. I accept that everything will pass, except the love for Zahra."
He stood up and walked to the room's windows, pulling back the curtains that covered the glass door, allowing the sunlight to flood his entire room. Anty turned away despondently and walked out.
He puffed air out of his cheeks, blowing it softly. Then he turned and walked into his bathroom. As if forced, he took a bath, stepped out, and walked over to the dressing mirror. He stood looking at himself with a smile.
"Zahra, do you remember? On a day like this, I was the groom, dressed in white, while you were in the other room getting glammed up. You called me on the phone and asked, 'What color clothes did you wear, Abiey?' And I told you I wore white, and that they were even spraying perfume on me. You gave that sweet laugh of yours and said, 'I can't wait to see you, my Groom!'..."
"Abiey, my son..."
He spun around quickly, looking at Anty, who was holding His Highness's new cap.
"Zahra died a long time ago. Keep that in your mind, open your heart so truth can enter, and accept it."
Hot tears rolled down his face.
"Zahra is alive, Anty! She is right here with me...!"
He placed his hand over his heart. She bent down slowly, placed the cap on the table, looked at his tear-streaked handsome face one more time, and walked out without saying another word. As she pushed the door open and headed downstairs, tears began to gather in her eyes.
"May Allah comfort this boy and come to his aid."
Feeling uneasy, she walked down to the dining area. Narjis, who was busy packing breakfast for her brother, looked at her sister Aisha, then at her mother.
"Anty..."
Anty Amarya looked at her with concern. Aisha quickly put her phone down, stood up, and walked over to Anty with care.
"What happened, Anty?"
"Is it Abiey?" Narjis asked. Anty nodded, tears falling.
"I have never seen someone whose heart I pity as much as Abiey's. Whenever anything happens to him, no matter how small, it crushes me."
She pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked at Aisha.
"I used to think his mind was at ease and everything had passed, but since this return, between yesterday and today, he has completely changed. It’s almost like he is losing his mind, because now he even talks to himself, which he never used to do."
"Anty, I feel like Sauban's wedding is what's making him enter this state. He is bound to remember her," Narjis said as she picked up the breakfast tray. Aisha reached out, took it from her, and said:
"Give it here, let me take it to him."
Narjis handed it over without argument and pulled up a chair next to Anty Amarya.
Aisha gently pushed open the door to his room and entered. He turned around, adjusting his shadda gown. She stood waiting for him to finish before approaching. He looked at her and smiled, seeing Zahra instead of his younger sister Aisha. He remembered the time she walked into his room while he was trying to put on his suit buttons, standing and staring at his chest until he raised one eyebrow. Then she turned around, screamed, "Subhanallahi, I have seen something bad!" and rushed out of the room. He let out a loud laugh, turning his back to Aisha, which prompted her to call his name.
"Abiey..."
He spun around quickly, snapping back to reality. Catching sight of Aisha, he lifted his head, exhaled sharply, and lowered his gaze to look at his sister.
"Abiey..."
He walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, while she placed the tray on a small table and sat down beside him.
"Abiey, all this thinking of yours is what throws you into depression, and your depression suffocates us."
He looked at her, swallowing hard.
"I just can't forget Zahra."
Aisha's eyes instantly filled with tears.
"All of us couldn't forget her. Zahra was a cheerful woman who loved people, minded her own business, and belonged to everyone. Zahra had no issues with anyone. She was funny, her silly antics and playfulness were all adorable. No one could sit with her and say they didn't love her—especially you, whom love drew a direct line between. We know it's not easy, Abiey, but life has to be given some relief for peace and tranquility. Please, for our sake and His Highness's, have mercy on us. Abiey, you are a father figure, a basketball player without a third like him right now. If you fall apart, it will affect your career, and some people will be glad while we fall into distress and become a laughingstock..."
He looked at her, smiling as he reached out to hold her hand.
"I have never seen a sister who loves her half-brother the way my sister loves me, nor have I seen a stepmother who loves her husband's son the way Anty loves me."
She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder with sisterly affection. Not for a single day had she ever thought of Abiey as just a half-brother; she loved him in a way that made her feel as though Anty Amarya had given birth to him.
"Now get up, have your breakfast, and go to Sauban. I know he is waiting there."
Before she could finish, Abiey's phone vibrated and rang loudly. She quickly stood up, walked to the phone, and picked it up.
"It's Sauban..."
"Pick it," Abiey said, heading toward the breakfast tray.
"Hello, Groom," she said after answering and putting the phone to her ear.
"Tell your brother he hasn't behaved well."
"He's on his way, Groom, he's eating breakfast."
"Let him talk."
"I won't..." She hung up.
Abiey turned around holding his mug and looked at her.
"Did he hang up?"
"Yes."
She walked over to him, handed him the phone, and he slipped it into his pocket. He handed her the mug, walked over to his collection of expensive perfumes, sprayed some on himself, and turned to pick up his babban riga (grand gown). Aisha quickly picked up the cap she had seen placed aside and handed it to him. He took it and put it on.
"Wow Maa Shaa Allah! Glory be to my Lord who created this handsome figure."
He smiled. He knew he looked good in the clothes—not because the clothes made him look good, but because he made the clothes look good. If he were to enter a world men's beauty contest, nothing would stop him from taking second place—or first, if he didn't win. Slowly, he adjusted his two-and-a-half-million naira wristwatch.
"Don't tell Anty I didn't eat anything. Sit here, finish everything, and tell her I ate it."
"But I already ate my own!"
"Help a brother, please."
She nodded reluctantly, not really wanting to. He smiled, remembering when he once made Zahra do the same thing—only she didn't cover for him; she went straight to Ammy and told her after eating everything. He let out a sigh, walked to the door, opened it, and stepped out with a smile that enhanced his handsomeness, presence, and aura.
"Wow Maa Shaa Allah," Anty said, watching him walk down like a groom.
"Narjis, go get my car keys," he said as he finished coming down. Narjis stood up quickly, praised her brother, and headed back upstairs.
"Before you go out, go to His Highness's quarters first and greet him."
"No, I'm in a rush right now, I can't go."
"Haba Abiey, when will you and your father ever understand each other? When?"
He shrugged, trying not to look at fault.
"I don't know. Not a day, not a month, not a year, Anty—you know he doesn't love me, he hates me and..."
"And you hate him too," Anty finished the sentence he held back from completing.
"No, how could I hate my own biological father? I admire him, is what I meant to say. And if you don't want my mood ruined and me going to the wedding angry, let's drop this talk, please."
With concern, Anty said, "Alright, but promise me you'll go greet him when you get back."
"I promise," he said, reaching out to take the keys Narjis was handing him. He walked toward the front door of the large parlor with an expressionless face.

ZAHRA POV

"In another world you are dead, but in my world you are alive. The life we build will sustain mine, and we will make history in this world, Zahra. We will become an example for people to look up to, we will live and build a community full of proud families."
I smiled.
"May Allah show us that day, Deen."
"Ameen," he uttered, then rested his head on my neck, his hands wrapped around my seven-month pregnant belly. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly. A fresh wave of happiness swept through me. Truly, in another world I was dead, but in my world I was alive—a life full of blessings and overflowing joy. I placed my hand gently on my husband's hand and stroked it.
"You didn't buy us anything today."
"I left fruit for you before I went out," he said, his head still resting on my lap as he closed his eyes, breathing in the fragrance of the humra perfume on me.
"Well, that's fruit, not junk food. And I'm hungry; I can't eat what I cooked."
He opened his eyes, lifted his head from my lap, and turned me so I could face my husband's handsome face.
"Why? Do you mean you haven't eaten anything since I left?"
"My neighbor sent me rice and beans, I ate that, but that was since 12 PM."
"Don't you want tuwon semo (semovita swallow)?"
"You said water has to boil before you cook it, so I boiled water and poured the flour in like a paste (kamu), but it didn't turn out like tuwo," I said pouting.
He smiled, raised his blessed hands, and gently held my face.
"Is this how our married life will be, that you don't know how to cook anything, Zahra? Girls who grew up in wealthy homes love this lifestyle of not knowing how to cook, but you—you grew up in our kind of family, yet everything you cook messes up?"
"Well, Mama didn't teach me," I said again, making a face as if I were about to burst into tears if he touched me.
"Your mischief wouldn't let Mama teach you, but we'll learn soon, okay?"
I nodded, and he kissed my forehead. I made myself comfortable on his chest, and he hugged me tightly.
"Let me go buy you something to eat, then I'll make us some tuwo. Aren't you lucky with your husband?"
"No, the tuwo isn't done, and I haven't made the soup yet."
"Okay, let me put on some rice, will you eat that?"
"Yes, but add egg."
He felt his pockets, leaned his mouth close to my ear, and whispered, "I have some change today, I'll even buy fish and add it for you."
I hugged him, my love for him growing deeper in my heart.
"I love you, Deen."
"I love you more, my Babe," he said, then released me. I sat on the cushion while he stepped out of the parlor. I don't think there is any woman whose husband loves her the way Deen loves me. I don't believe any woman is more cherished in her husband's heart than I am in the heart of the husband who found a pure place and settled in it. I don't feel like any woman loves her husband the way I, Zahra, love mine. Truly, I, Zahra, am lucky to have the kind of man many women dream of finding. In the year and four months we have spent together, not for a single day did Deen ever find fault in me. Even if he saw one, he never pointed it out harshly; and if I did something wrong, he would make me understand with peace and wisdom so I would grasp it.

ABIEY POV

As he stepped into the parlor, Sauban stood up quickly, and they looked at each other with deep, affectionate friendship. Abiey marveled at how their shadda outfits matched in color and sewing style—only their caps were different.
"How did we end up wearing the same clothes?"
Sauban smiled, walked toward Abiey, and said, "Anty sewed them for us."
They embraced.
"I know you will make it. Welcome home, Dude!"
Abiey smiled.
"Congratulations, Dude! Happy married life, may Allah grant you peace."
"Ameen. Thank you."
"You look good, Groom," Abiey said after they pulled apart.
"I have to look good, I'm the groom today!"
Abiey smiled, walked over to a small chair, and sat down.
"I need something to eat, I haven't eaten anything since my last flight."
"Why?" Sauban asked.
Abiey shrugged slightly. "Just."
"Let me call for something for you to eat."
"Better," he uttered, slipping his hand into his pocket to pull out his phone and start tapping on it. Sauban called his sister's phone. It rang almost to the point of disconnecting before she picked up.
"Hello, Yaya."
"Get Abiey something to eat."
"Yaya, I'm about to take a bath, but I'll send someone to bring it."
He hung up without saying another word. After about 10 minutes, a beautiful young lady walked into the parlor carrying a plate of masa (rice cakes) and walked over to where Abiey was sitting. As she set it down and tried to stand back up, Abiey looked up at her with swagger. She froze standing, caught in his gaze.
"You're pretty..."
Between his words and his look, she didn't know which shocked her more.
"Thank you, Abiey."
He adjusted his gaze on her face.
"So you know me?"
"You're famous, who doesn't know you?" Sauban answered. Abiey turned to look at Sauban before turning back to look at the girl from head to toe.
"What if I told you I like you?"
She smiled and walked out of the parlor. Sauban just looked at him in shock.
"What if I say I like her?" Abiey said without looking at where Sauban was sitting.
"The girl is engaged."
Only then did he look at him.
"Don't you know how to convince her to love me?"
"Loving you isn't the problem, I'm sure she likes you. Breaking her engagement is the problem."
"That's the difference. If it were Zahra, she would have gone ahead and found the girl for me."
"Point of correction, that's the problem—you talk about nothing except Zahra."
"Yeah, she's me, I'm her."
"No, she's her, you're her. Stop fooling yourself."
Abiey crossed one leg over the other.
"I remember one day we were playing, and she wanted to see somewhere, so she said, 'Abiey, take me.' I told her your family wouldn't let you. Then she said, 'Kidnap me! I'll give you my Mama's number, call her and tell her to give you ten million, then take me away. When we return, tell her you reduced it and she gave ten thousand, and when she gives it to you, release me!'"
"And you did?" Sauban asked.
Abiey shook his head with a bitter smile.
"No. But if I knew that day would come where I'd live without Zahra near me, I would have kidnapped her and married her."
"Please eat your food..." Sauban said, looking at his friend. He didn't want Abiey dwelling on the loss of Zahra at all, because he knew it would affect him deeply.
At exactly one o'clock, Sauban's wedding was solemnized, and a reception was held at Tahir Guest Palace. Through all the moving around that the groom did, Abiey sat in one place, calm, only looking at them when he felt like it. Abiey was naturally an intense person who wasn't impressed by just anything, yet things others brushed aside as nothing were what he might consider important.
Sauban excused him, knowing what he was going through and knowing his friend wasn't one for lots of talk and noise ever since Zahra's departure. Abiey spent the rest of the day in Sauban's house. Even though Sauban wasn't with him—being elsewhere with other friends—Abiey stayed in Sauban's room doing nothing. He lay down, but he wasn't sleeping; his head felt empty, as if nothing was inside, because when he tried to think, nothing came to him.
He sat up, walked into the bathroom, stripped off his clothes, turned on the shower, and let the water pour over him. He closed his eyes, his body responding to each and every drop of water falling on his skin. For no particular reason, he felt a need to stand under the running water for a long time.
He stood for nearly an hour before turning off the shower, grabbing a towel to wrap around himself, and taking a smaller one to dry his body. He stood before the mirror, looking at the frame of his chest. He wasted time there too before pampering his body with fragrance, walking over to Sauban's wardrobe to open the section where he kept new clothes, hanging an outfit, grabbing his phone and car keys, and heading for the door. Just before he reached it, the door opened and Anty walked in, a smile on her face.
"Anty..." he uttered in confusion.
"What are you doing in the room, Abiey?"
He stepped back slightly like someone trying to figure out what to say. Anty stared at him.
"Uhm... Talk."
He smiled. "Anty, I don't feel comfortable around people, so I decided to stay here."
"Where are you going now that you're up?"
"Home..." he said hesitantly, though he hadn't planned on going home when leaving the room—and if not home, he didn't know where else to go.
"Abiey, is this how you want to live like a recluse? Today is your best friend's wedding, yet you're stuck in a room like you're afraid of people? You left him by himself—did you do well? And now you're telling me you're going home? Aren't you supposed to be part of the groom's entourage?"
"I am, I'm just going to go and come back."
"Who told you I was in this room?"
"I asked Ammy, she said she didn't see you. I called your phone and you didn't pick up, so I called Sauban and he told me you were in his room because you took the room keys."
"I'll give the keys to someone now and go find him."
"There's going to be a dinner later."
"I don't think I can make it, but I'll try."
"You have to. Dr. and Ammy went home just now so they can get ready and come for the dinner. But I won't be able to come back, I'm heading off now," she said softly, then turned as if to leave before pausing to look back at him.
"Abiey..."
She went quiet, unable to finish.
"You don't... have to go home today... You can sleep at Ammy's place if you like."
Abiey gave an unforced smile, stroked his head, and turned around.
"Did His Highness say I shouldn't sleep in his house?"
"No, I have somewhere I'm going today, maybe I'll sleep there. I don't want you sleeping in the house when I'm not around."
He smiled again.

Story Description & Metadata

## Analytics & Insights

• The Psychology of Grief (Abiey's Character): Abiey exhibits signs of severe, prolonged complicated grief and potential dissociation. His refusal to accept Zahra's death, his numbness ("head feels empty"), and talking to himself indicate a severe trauma response that is isolating him from his family and career.
• The Dual Perspective (Abiey vs. Zahra's POV): The narrative cleverly contrasts Abiey's agonizing reality in the present with a nostalgic, blissful flashback or mental sanctuary where Zahra is still alive and deeply in love with him. This highlights why he cannot move on—his emotional attachment is fused with an idealized past.

• Family Support System: Despite the cold relationship with "His Highness" (his father), the women in the household (Anty Amarya, Aisha, and Narjis) form an emotional safety net for Abiey, showing unconditional empathy and shielding him from his own self-destruction.

  ## Summary

  In this chapter of Ciwon-So, tension and emotional turmoil surround the wedding day of Abiey's best friend, Sauban. While the city celebrates, Abiey is paralyzed by intense grief over his late wife, Zahra. Despite efforts by his stepmother (Anty Amarya) and stepsisters (Aisha and Narjis) to pull him out of his isolation and get him ready for the wedding, Abiey remains trapped in memories of Zahra, stubbornly refusing to let go of her memory or move forward. Through emotional conversations, flashbacks of his deep bond with Zahra, and subtle friction with his father, the chapter paints a poignant portrait of a man drowning in a love that outlived death.

## Expanded Story Analysis & Description Table