Bazan Barshi Ba Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

Rayyanat! Rayyanat!! Rayyanat!!!

A sixteen-year-old girl came running out, saying, "Yes, Baffanah."

Her father stood silently, gazing at Rayyanat. She was a chocolate-complexioned girl, neither fat nor thin, possessing a modest and natural beauty. She wore a mismatched blouse and wrapper from previous seasons, along with a headscarf that did not match the rest of her attire. Her clothes were heavily patched all over without any neat tailoring, and she was holding a torn spot on her garment, trying to keep her skin from showing. He said, "Rayyanat, didn't you find a needle and thread this time?"

"Abba, I didn't find any. When I went, they said they wouldn't lend me any more because they are tired of buying them and I'm finishing up their thread," she finished in a tearful voice.

Her father said, "Don't cry, Rayyanat. God willing, today when the village head pays me for the farming work I did for him, I will buy you a needle and thread so you can be free from borrowing from the neighbors, you hear?"

"Okay Baffanah, thank you. May God grant success beyond usual."

He said, "Amen, Rayyanat. I am leaving, take care of yourself and stop wandering around the neighbors' houses."

"God willing, but Abba, don't you want me to walk you there today?"

"Rayyanat, how can you go out when your wrapper is torn, with the young men hanging around the village square?"

"That's true, Baffa. May God protect you on the road."

"Amen, Amen."

With that, he walked out with a hoe slung over his shoulder, while Rayyanat watched her father leave, his clothes equally old and worn out.

She stood watching until she could no longer see him, then she went back inside the room and sat down.

She looked closely at the small corner of her room, which contained hardly any proper furnishings apart from a small bundle of her clothes—no more than two or three sets—an old sleeping mat with a pillow shaped like a flattened loaf of bread, a mosquito net rolled up and stuck into the window frame, and two small calabashes in the room whose contents I do not know.

As she was inspecting the room, her stomach began to rumble from the hunger plaguing her. Since yesterday morning when she and her father last ate, they had not found anything else to eat up to this morning.

She lay down, hoping sleep might take her before her father returned, but hunger kept her awake just as it had the previous night when she had to fill her stomach with water just to be able to sleep. So now too, she got up and went outside to the water pot, filled her stomach to the brim, and went back to lie down.

Just as sleep was beginning to take hold of her, she heard the greeting of a friend named Sarat.

Rayyanat answered her greeting before Sarat stepped inside.

She was a tall, slender, dark-skinned girl who also possessed a modest beauty of her own. She sat down and said, "Rayyanat, please forgive me. Since yesterday I wanted to come, but the preparations for our trip to move to the city wouldn't let me."

Rayyanat managed a short smile. She felt as though she and her father were the ones going to the city, because she had a passionate desire to go there, yet she had never had the chance even once.

Sarat handed her a small black polythene bag—the kind meant for single-person marketing—and said, "Please don't say you won't accept it, because I know your nature. I didn't buy it for any ulterior motive, but because I know how crazily you love roasted cassava. I even went to the market to buy it for you, but please forgive me, I know you don't like receiving charity like this."

"It's nothing, Sarat. Today I will accept your gift because you are leaving and I don't know when we will meet again. Thank you, but when is the trip?"

"Today, right now. That's why I'm apologizing for not coming since yesterday. I didn't want it this way either, I swear..."

"Don't worry, because I know better than anyone how much you care about me, which is why there is no friend I hold higher than you..."

"Um, thank you Rayyanat. I must go now, my family is waiting outside by the car for me to come out."

Rayyanat stood up and they went outside. Rayyanat bowed respectfully to greet Sarat's parents before a young man stepped out of the car. He looked just like Sarat, clearly her older brother.

Rayyanat quickly lowered her head in modesty, fidgeting shyly. The young man smiled and said, "I have always loved you, Rayyanat, and I will never stop. No matter how hard or difficult things get, my love stays with you in my heart, even if I am no longer alive. Please, I beg you to accept this first gift I have ever given you. Whenever you wear what is inside, you will feel happy, as if you are right here with me. I hope my love will accept the gift I bought her, if only for the pure love she has for me..."

In her gentle voice, which always brought him peace, she said, "Yaya Anwar, I have never accepted a gift from any man except my father, but today I will start with you, and I promise you that you are the only man whose gifts I will continue to accept forever. I will never break the promise I made to you. Always remember this, so that I too can keep it."

He slowly closed his handsome eyes and said, "God willing, Rayyanat. Bye, we are leaving. Please take good care of yourself for me."

With that, he got into the driver's seat and started the car, holding back the tears trying to escape his eyes as he watched Rayyanat's face in the rearview mirror.

As for Sarat, she was waving goodbye to Rayyanat while tears flowed from both of their eyes.

She stood there until they vanished completely from her sight.