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English Translation
A young girl, around 16–17 years old, was walking slowly with a food flask in her hand. She was dressed in a blue novou Ankara fabric with yellow touches and a yellow hijab. She headed straight for a tailoring shop named "Ni da yaya Habeeb Tailoring Center".
As she stepped into the shop, the cheerful expression on her face vanished completely, as sudden as rain stopping after a heavy downpour. She stood still, looking over the four young men inside while her eyes welled up with tears. In a heated state, she walked straight toward the young man facing the shop's entrance, placed the food flask down before him, and with a choked voice said, "Yaya Salman, I brought your food."
Hearing the name Salman, he finally looked up. Their features were striking as they looked at each other; his face was stern, showing absolute zero playfulness. He said, "Did you make a habit of bringing food to me because of your family?"
Quickly, one of the other young men—who was sitting right next to a beautiful young woman showing him sewing styles on her phone, and had kept his head down in guilt ever since the girl entered—interrupted him by saying, "Haba Salman, what is the meaning of this?"
Yaya Salman hissed in annoyance and said, "Wallahi, Habeeb, I pity you. A young girl is spinning you around like a cake in a frying pan. The day she chases away all your customers, that’s when you’ll learn sense. When you marry her, I wonder who will feed her! And you, what are you waiting for? Get back home immediately, and the next time I see your foot in this shop, I will break it! What kind of nonsense is this? As if love was only invented for the two of you! In just this past week alone, Haleesa has chased away over 10 of our customers! Are you going to leave, or should I get up and slap you?"
Running out of the shop in tears, she headed straight for home.
Furious, Yaya Habeeb said, "I don't like what you are doing, Salman. More than anyone in the world, you know there is nothing I hate more than sadness, baby love, but out of sheer wickedness and torment to my heart, you gave her a dog's chase."
Salman glared at him in annoyance and said, "Wallahi, you are lucky I didn't give her a severe beating so that your heart would be completely shattered, Yaya Salman!"
Yaya Salman paused. Yaya Habeeb cast a fierce, angry glare at him, let out a long hiss, and strode toward the shop’s exit. Quickly, the beautiful young woman said, "Habeeb, how can you leave without us finishing our conversation?"
Glaring at her, he said, "Do you even imagine I have peace of mind to talk to you? There is Salman; explain your sewing to him, and when I return, he will brief me." Finishing his words, he stepped out and left. Yaya Salman hissed, calling him a bastard coward, while the rest of the young men in the shop burst into wicked laughter.
She ran while crying, and passersby looked at her. Those who knew her asked, "Haleesa, are you okay? Why are you crying?" But she didn't even spare them a glance; her sole desire was to reach home.
As she stepped into their entrance porch, she bumped into Ammi’s huge ram, which Ammi had been driving out. It nearly knocked her down, and she jumped aside as the ram bolted out. She rushed inside. Ammi was standing with a switch in her hand—evidently, she had used it to chase the ram. As Haleesa reached the middle of the courtyard, she kicked off her sandals and threw off her hijab, which unfortunately landed right inside a pot of water! She let out a very loud cry and rushed into Ammi’s room, threw herself facedown on Ammi's silver bed, and sobbed breathlessly as if her life was leaving her.
Startled, Ammi rushed into the room and barked a harsh reprimand: "Hey! Why did you rush into my house with this frantic recklessness?"
Without turning to look at Ammi, and in a choked, tearful voice, she said, "Ammi, I saw Yaya Habeeb in the shop chatting with another girl! Ammi, don’t you know the burning pain in my heart whenever I see Yaya Habeeb go near another woman? I feel like I'm going crazy and..."
"Keep quiet!" Ammi snapped with a maddened shout that cut off the rest of her words. With utter disgust, Ammi began to scold her: "Haleesa, what kind of madness are you? What kind of childish foolishness is possessing you? This behavior of yours is not jealousy; it is pure nonsense and sheer delinquency! Open your ears wide and listen to me. I am getting tired of this foolishness of yours. Did your mother give birth to Habeebu so that you can dictate that he shouldn't look at any other woman except you? Or is it because you are arrogant that Habeebu is your cousin, and so you do whatever you please while he foolishly plays along? So hurry up and shut your mouth before I lose my temper and give you a severe beating!"
Right then, she choked back her tears because she knew Ammi’s ways—just a fraction of what she could do, and Ammi would mix her blood with nasal mucus. So to save face, she swallowed her tears as Ammi hissed and walked out of the room, shouting back, "And you better come out, the pile of dishes is waiting for you!"
With no other choice, she dragged herself up, wiping away tears and the mucus dripping from her nose. She headed straight to the water tap where a mountain of dirty dishes awaited. She fetched a small stool, sat down, and began washing the dishes, occasionally wiping her tears with the back of her hand. Her heart burned with pain toward Yaya Habeeb: Why do Ammi and Yaya Salman fail to understand that it is pure love for Yaya Habeeb that causes this intense jealousy in me?
Assalamu Alaikum.
Yaya Habeeb’s greeting cut through her inner thoughts. Quickly, she raised her head.
Wa'alaikum Assalam.
Ammi, who was in the kitchen, answered him. She came out holding a wooden soup ladle, glared at him, and said, "And you, foolish boy! She went all the way to the shop to upset you, and you followed her back?"
Yaya Habeeb didn't even look at Ammi's direction, nor did she expect any answer from him. She simply shook her head with a hiss and went back into the kitchen.
Yaya Habeeb stood leaning half his body against the wall, tilting his head as he watched her. She, too, couldn't take her eyes off him. She sent him a look of love blended with feigned annoyance, while he returned a look filled with absolute love and an apology, making him look completely pitiful. She glared at him, twisted her mouth, and turned her face away.
Feeling weak in the limbs, he walked over to where she was...
Summary
In this chapter of Ni da Yaya Habeeb, young Haleesa's fierce and possessive love for her cousin and fiance, Yaya Habeeb, leads to drama and emotional turmoil. While bringing him food at his tailoring shop, Haleesa is devastated and outraged to find him talking to a female customer about sewing styles. Her intense outburst prompts Yaya Salman (Habeeb's business partner and friend) to angrily reprimand both Haleesa and Habeeb, warning Habeeb that Haleesa's jealousy is driving away customers.
Distraught, Haleesa flees home in tears, accidentally throwing her hijab into a water pot. When she confides in Ammi about her heartbreak, Ammi harshly berates her for her immature and possessive behavior, forcing her outside to do a mountain of chores.
Shortly after, Yaya Habeeb follows Haleesa home to apologize. After a brief standoff, the two reconcile through sweet reassurances and playful water splashing. Later, as Haleesa prepares for Islamic school with her friend Zainab, she shares sweet, longing glances and passes a love note ("I Love You Yaya Habeeb") to Habeeb while passing by the school football field where he is playing. The chapter highlights the deep, consuming, and sometimes overwhelming nature of Haleesa's devotion to Habeeb, contrasted against the outside world's disapproval.
Description
This excerpt is a contemporary Hausa romantic fiction (Littafin Hausa) written by Hauwa Shehu Aliyu under the pen name NWA. It captures the quintessential elements of popular northern Nigerian romance novels (soyayya):
- Dynamic Characters: Haleesa represents the fiercely possessive, deeply emotional young heroine whose entire world revolves around her childhood sweetheart. Yaya Habeeb is the devoted, affectionate tailor caught between business sense and his love for Haleesa. Supporting figures like Ammi, Yaya Salman, and Zainab add realistic family friction, strict disciplinary oversight, and peer commentary.
- Cultural Setting: The narrative is deeply rooted in everyday northern Nigerian domestic life—featuring local tailoring shops (d'inki), Islamic schools (islamiyya), courtyard living, neighborhood gossip, and familial expectations.
- Emotional Arc: The tone swings smoothly from bitter heartache and strict disciplinary reprimands to playful banter, heartwarming reconciliation, and innocent youthful romance.
Analytics
Character Analysis & Dynamics
- Haleesa: Driven by emotional attachment rather than rational logic. Her youth (16–17 years old) amplifies her impulsive reactions, dramatic grief, and inability to share Habeeb’s attention. Her love is depicted as consuming ("like breathing").
- Yaya Habeeb: Patient, indulgent, and deeply affectionate toward Haleesa. Despite external criticisms from Salman and Ammi, he prioritizes soothing Haleesa's emotional distress over maintaining strict boundaries.
- Ammi & Yaya Salman: Act as the pragmatic, grounding foils to the romantic idealism of Haleesa and Habeeb. They represent community and economic reality, warning against how unchecked adolescent romance disrupts daily life and business.
Literary Devices & Style
- Sensory Details: Frequent use of physical descriptions (the blue novou Ankara with yellow accents, the silver bed, the water pot, the splash of dishwater) grounds the emotional drama in a tangible physical reality.
- Dialogue & Dialect: Natural blending of standard Hausa storytelling prose with informal youth slang, affectionate terms (baby love, Juliet, Romeo), and domestic expressions.
- Pacing: Fast-paced transitions between scenes (shop confrontation \rightarrow home scolding \rightarrow reconciliation \rightarrow walk to Islamiyya) maintain high emotional engagement for readers of serial romance fiction.
