A BAR WA RAI HAUSA NOVELS COMPLETE 

Hearing a movement at the classroom door made the teacher inside turn around.

“Oh, Mallam Idris, good morning,” he said as he walked toward him and stretched out his hand to greet him.

“Good morning, Mallam Sale. Have you come in already?”

“Yes, I have. Are you looking for something?”

“Yes, something like that. But let me come back later because I have a class now.”

“Okay then. Masha Allah.”

They greeted each other again and Idris walked away.

As soon as he left, Rashida released a deep sigh and crawled out from under the desk where she had been hiding. She gave the students sitting near her a sharp look when she noticed they had been staring at her. Quickly, they all looked away so she would not insult them.

She rolled her eyes, placed her head on the desk in front of her, and lay there.

Mallam Idris went to the class where he had a lesson, but his mind was disturbed. He had hoped that when he arrived he would see Rashida’s face because he missed her so much, but that did not happen.

He tried to teach his students, but his mind kept wandering to Rashida. He wondered why she had not come to school today. However, part of him believed she was somewhere in the school but he had simply not seen her.

After his period ended, he left the class and called a female student. He asked her to go to Rashida’s class and tell her he wanted to see her.

The girl stood at the door and said,

“Excuse me sir, Mallam Idris said he wants to see Rashida Bashar.”

Before she finished speaking, Rashida quickly hid under the desk again.

The teacher looked around the class calling Rashida’s name, but she refused to answer. The other students were afraid of her and her temper, so none of them tried to expose her hiding place.

Finally the teacher turned to the girl and said,

“Go and tell him she is not here.”

The girl returned and told Idris,

“They said she is not here.”

He replied,

“Okay. Go back to your class and don’t let me see you outside again before breakfast break.”

“Yes sir,” she said as she ran back to her class.

Idris considered going to Rashida’s house to check on her but decided against it since he was not completely sure she was absent. His heart still told him she was somewhere in the school.

He went to the school clinic, thinking she might be there, but she was not. He then checked the dining hall and the kitchen—still no sign of her.

He walked around nearly every building in the school, but he could not find Rashida.

This made him very worried because she had never skipped school before, even though she did not like studying.

Finally he returned to his office and sat down with his head resting against the chair, feeling miserable.

When breakfast break came, he quickly stood up and looked through the office window toward Rashida’s classroom door, watching the students come out one after another.

But she did not appear.

Angry and frustrated, he punched the wall and turned to leave.

Just then he looked back through the window and suddenly saw her leg outside the classroom. Then he saw her peeping around as if she were searching for something.

She spoke to her friend Meenah while pointing toward Idris’s office.

Seeing this made Idris happy, thinking she was talking about him.

But what he didn’t know was that Rashida had asked Meenah to check if he was in his office so she could quickly buy something before he saw her.

He watched as she came out cautiously, bought something quickly, and instead of returning to the class she went behind the classroom with Meenah.

Idris smiled and sighed with relief.

“So she was hiding because she felt shy,” he said to himself.

He took the bag he had brought and looked at the phone he bought for her—a Tecno L7. As he looked at it, he spoke softly:

“With the help of this phone I will show you how much I love you. I will try my best to remove this extreme shyness that might disturb our marriage.”

He placed the phone back in the bag and left his office.

Soon he walked toward the back of Rashida’s classroom.

He found her sitting on a stone with Meenah. They were eating fried potatoes and bean cakes with zobo drink and cold water beside them.

Meenah was saying,

“Rashida, what happened? Mallam Idris came looking for you earlier and you hid. Then he sent for you again and you refused to go. I thought you two were close. Did you offend him?”

Rashida drank some water and replied,

“Honestly Meenah, I didn’t offend him. I’m just worried. And you know he doesn’t like seeing his students sad. I don’t know what answer I would give him if he asked me.”

Meenah said,

“But that means he is really looking for you. Don’t you think there must be a reason?”

As she finished speaking, she suddenly looked up and saw Idris standing near the classroom wall with his arms folded, watching them.

He signaled to her with his finger to remain quiet.

Rashida didn’t notice because she was focused on eating.

Idris gestured to Meenah to leave.

Meenah quickly made an excuse:

“Rashida, let me go get two more sachets of water because these won’t be enough.”

She left.

Idris cleared his throat and stood in front of Rashida.

Startled, she looked up and saw his legs. When their eyes met, she quickly stood up and lowered her head, trying to pass him.

He blocked her path with his arm against the wall and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“To class,” she said quietly.

“Sit down and finish your food.”

“I’m full.”

“Because I came?”

“No.”

“Then why? Don’t you want to see me here?”

“No.”

“Why did you hide when I came looking for you?”

She remained silent because she didn’t know how to answer.

Just then the bell rang for students to return to class.

He said,

“Make sure you wait for me after school. I want to talk to you.”

She nodded.

---

The Truth Revealed

Later when school ended, Rashida tried to run away but Idris was waiting.

He walked with her and asked why she had been acting differently.

Finally she said with tears:

“I love you, but you came into my life at the wrong time. My father has already chosen the man I will marry and he has paid my dowry. In twelve days I will belong to him.”

Idris suddenly burst into laughter.

She became hurt, thinking he was mocking her feelings.

But Idris explained that he himself was the man her father had chosen.

He told her how everything happened: how he told his father he wanted to marry her and how both families agreed.

When Rashida realized this, she became extremely shy and happy.

She quietly said,

“Forgive me, my teacher,”

and ran home.

Idris smiled and sent a young boy to deliver the phone he bought for her.

---

Meanwhile

Nuraddeen’s mother, Hawwa, still refused to accept the marriage.

She even went to a traditional spiritualist asking for charms that would make Nuraddeen hate Rashida.

But after trying many rituals, the man told her:

“This marriage cannot be stopped. It is written in your son’s destiny. Anyone who tries to stop it will face death because no one can fight Allah’s decree.”