ZAKI BOOK 3 COMPELET BY MAMAN TEDDY 

Part 1: The Deception of Maheerah

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned back toward her room, deeply bewildered by Mahee’s behavior. She couldn't help but wonder: Has this boy cast a dark spell over her?
After about forty minutes, Maheerah lay flat on her bed, nursing a body that felt incredibly heavy and battered. It felt as though some of her limbs were broken. She plunged deep into an ocean of worry regarding her lover—what on earth had Baba done to him? A terrifying sense of dread washed over her, and her mind refused to find peace.
A part of her heart desperately urged her to call him. Something was definitely wrong; the silence had gone on for far too long.
Reaching out, she dragged her phone closer and began checking it. Just as she feared, there was no missed call, nor a single unread text message.
Her body felt completely drained of strength, as though her nerve endings had been hollowed out. She dialed his number, but after five consecutive attempts, he still did not answer.
Her anxiety reached a boiling point. In all the time she had known him, Ja'afar had never refused to answer her call until today. There was no shadow of a doubt—even without being told, she knew he was furious.
As she lay there trapped in panic and racking her brain for a solution, a text message notification finally buzzed on her screen. She rushed to read it:

"Look, lady, stop harassing me right now while I am in the absolute middle of enjoying a beautiful moment of romance with my true soulmate. Since your father has officially kicked me out, that settles it. I swore to him that he will never set eyes on me near his house again, as long as I am a legitimately born son."

You can only imagine the sheer horror that gripped Mahee after reading his text. Despite the freezing cold weather, a cold sweat began pouring out from every single pore on her skin.
Frantically, she began typing a reply. A single glance at her phrasing made it obvious that she was no expert at text articulation. Her message read:

"For the sake of Allah's grandeur, Ja'afar, please do not torture my heart by depriving me of seeing you or hearing your voice. I cannot survive this. Just tell me what you want me to do right now—I desperately need to see you."

She hit send, then collapsed back onto her mattress, completely broken by misery. A double blow of agony had struck her simultaneously: the searing physical pain of her battered body, and the agonizing heartbreak of her soul.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the moment Ja'afar saw her desperate reply, he burst into a wicked, triumphant laugh. Turning to his friend Hanif, he bragged, "Do you see this, my man? Didn't I tell you? I know exactly what kind of love tree I planted in this girl's heart. I purposely gave it a deep, solid root system that will be damn near impossible to uproot."
Hanif let out a typical rough, street-style laugh, slapped his friend's shoulder, and remarked, "Honestly, my guy, you are ruthless! You know how to play the game dirty. But tell me the truth, throughout all of this, you don't actually love Mahee for real?"
Ja'afar laughed so hard his sides ached. He took a long drag from the cigarette in his hand, blew a thick cloud of smoke into the air, and sneered, "I calculated every single detail of this script. I set up this entire trap specifically for a day like today. Isn't she supposed to be the daughter of strict Islamic scholars? Now watch what happens next—she will be forced to bring herself right to my doorstep, and that is exactly where the real game begins."
"Just tread carefully, man. Poor Mahee, I swear I actually feel sorry for her," Hanif admitted with a sigh of genuine pity. "The poor girl poured a universe of pure love and anchored it onto you, completely blind to the fact that you've been plotting a cruel scam against her all along."
Ja'afar merely kept laughing. About thirty minutes later, he finally sent off a reply to her text. Shortly after, he said goodbye to Hanif, who headed back to his own neighborhood.
Up until that moment, Maheerah had not slept a wink, anxiously waiting for his reply. How could anyone possibly sleep in such an agonizing state of mind? She stepped outside, performed her ablutions, and returned to perform her late night Ishai prayer.
The exact moment she finished her prayers, she heard the distinct chime of an incoming text message. Bypassing her post-prayer supplications entirely, she snatched up the phone and read the text aloud:

'You will definitely never see me again, Mahee, unless you gather the courage to come by yourself right to where I am. If you can't do that, then accept the fact in your heart that our spirits have officially said a permanent goodbye to each other, and our eyes are done looking at one another. Address: DAGARMA, House Number 60.'

"Innalillahi wa innailaihir raji'un (Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)," she whispered, her voice trembling violently. She re-read the message three times until every single word was burned into her consciousness.
She stood up and began pacing frantically back and forth in the middle of her empty room. "My father has truly unleashed a floodgate of trouble that I do not possess the strength to withstand," she muttered under her breath.
She kept pacing back and forth, talking to herself like someone who had completely lost her mind.
"I can't possibly commit such a scandalous act, Jafsee, you just have to forgive me. Am I really supposed to sneak out of our family home without my parents' knowledge just to visit a boyfriend? That is practically impossible."
She caught her breath and sighed, "I love you beyond any words can describe, and I would do almost anything for you, but I am paralyzed with terror at the thought of doing this."
Eventually, her legs buckled beneath her, unable to withstand the agonizing pain of pacing, especially since Baba had ruthlessly beaten her legs the day before. She crawled back onto her bedding without even shaking off the dust, tossing and turning as her mind spun into a chaotic web of irresolution.
The next morning, Maheerah found it physically impossible to get out of bed. By 9:30 AM, she was still pinned to the mattress, her entire body incredibly stiff and sore. Parts of her flesh had swollen significantly, bearing severe bruises from the beating.
Umma poked her head into the room and noted, "Oh, Mahee! Have you become a heavy sleeper today? I honestly assumed you had already left for school when you saw me sleeping earlier."
Only then did Mahee force open her swollen eyes, fixing them heavily on Umma. With great difficulty, speaking like someone whose mouth was severely injured, she croaked, "Umma, I can't get up today. My entire body is in extreme pain, and my eyes are still heavy with sleep."
Filled with deep maternal pity, Umma consoled her, "Oh, you poor thing! Rest easy. It's completely natural that you can't move after the brutal beating you endured yesterday—thank God it wasn't worse. Let me go fetch some hot water to compress and massage your body so you can find some relief."
Mahee didn't say a word; she simply closed her swollen eyes.
A few minutes later, Umma returned carrying a small plastic bowl filled with steaming hot water and a small cloth. She went to work, carefully compressing Mahee’s bruised body. Once she finished, she brought breakfast directly to the room for Mahee to eat.
The hot water compress worked wonders. The severe stiffness in Mahee's muscles began to ease, and the swelling in several areas noticeably went down.
However, by late afternoon, the crushing weight of her emotional torment became too much to bear. She simply could not endure another hour without Ja'afar near her. Driven to desperation, she finally succumbed to the whispers of Satan and resolved to sneak out to Ja'afar's house.
To cover her tracks, she lied to her mother, claiming she was going to check on her sick friend, Zainab, in the Bashal neighborhood. Umma tried to stop her, reminding her of her battered physical condition, but Mahee insisted she felt much better and could handle the walk.
Through persistent persuasion, she managed to trick her mother into agreeing. Moving in a frantic rush, she put on a patterned Ankara long dress, tied her headscarf, threw on her hijab, and dashed out of the house, terrified that Baba might catch her.
However, at the front gate, she came to a dead stop. Standing right outside was her persistent local suitor, looking as though he had been waiting there for hours just to find someone to deliver a message to her.
Instantly, her expression shifted from deep anxiety to absolute fury. She acted as if he were completely invisible, attempting to brush past him, but he stepped squarely into her path to block her. "Oh come on, Mahee! I don't deserve this kind of humiliation from you. What on earth is my crime just because I love you?"
"Look, mister, get the hell out of my way! I have an important place to be, even if you have absolutely nothing useful to do with your life!" she snapped, letting out a loud, irritated click of her tongue.
"I am drowning in absolute misery, Mahee, please! Save this life that is completely dying for your love," he pleaded miserably, his voice cracking as if he were on the verge of tears.
She let out another sharp click of her tongue, stepped aggressively to the side to bypass him, and barked, "Right now, the misery I am facing is a thousand times worse than yours, and you are the direct cause of my problems! So I am going out to fix my own life. If you like, you can stand here and sleep on this pavement!"
With that final insult, she marched past him to the main road, hailed a commercial tricycle (Napep), and ordered the driver to head straight to the Dagarma neighborhood.

Part 2: Chaos in the House of Audu

A CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD
FREE PAGE — PAGE 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
In the middle of a modest compound, a massive woven mat was spread out across the courtyard. A swarm of tiny children—resembling a massive litter of mice due to their sheer numbers—were running wild, causing absolute chaos and mischief.
Over in a corner, the slightly older children were gathered around a single large communal food bowl, aggressively competing and snatching handfuls of food in a frantic race to eat.
Suddenly, Safiya reached out and aggressively snatched a large mound of rice and meat sitting right in front of Na'eesha. Na'eesha, who possessed a notoriously short fuse, didn't bother asking for an explanation; she instantly delivered a stinging, resounding slap across her younger sister's face.
"Oh my goodness! You actually dared to slap me?!" screamed Sadiya, a thirteen-year-old sister who witnessed the assault.
"Yes, I slapped her! Whose father told her to shamelessly steal the food right in front of my face?!" Na'eesha fired back.
Before the words could fully clear her mouth, a sudden, blinding slap crashed against Na'eesha's face, leaving her completely dazed and spinning. She whirled around, her eyes darting wildly to see which grown adult had struck her, because she never imagined that Sadiya would possess the nerve to do such a thing.
The moment she realized it was indeed Sadiya, her rage boiled over. She grabbed the young girl by her hair, violently slammed her head against the concrete wall, and began raining heavy punches down on her.
Dropping her plastic kettle instantly, Inna Halima rushed across the courtyard. She violently pulled Sadiya out of Na'eesha's grip, shoved Na'eesha backward, and screamed, "This girl is filled with pure evil! How dare you grab a young child and beat her senseless for absolutely no reason, you wicked, demon-faced brat?!"
"I did not give birth to a tyrant, and I certainly did not give birth to a demon brat! The true bastard brat is standing right in front of you—the one who started this entire mess by stealing!" Mama Rakiya yelled from inside her bedroom, having overheard the entire uproar.
Seething with rage, Inna Halima marched over to Rakiya's doorway and shrieked, "Look, Rakiya, get out of my sight before I completely lose control! If you're looking for a violent fight, I am a master at it, and we can handle this right now! You sat there listening to the entire thing, but because the bully is your oldest daughter, you folded your arms and watched her torture my child?!"
Rakiya let out a booming, mocking laugh and sneered, "Oh, dear big sister Halima! You know very well that unlike you, I don't micromanage children's squabbles. I prefer to let them fight so the strongest child can claim her rights. Besides, picking a fight with me is a dangerous game—you're about to unleash a storm of trouble that you do not possess the strength to withstand."
Hearing this, Inna Halima lost all rationality. The two co-wives launched into a vicious, explosive screaming match, as both women were notorious for their volatile, hot-tempered natures. They traded toxic insults back and forth, looking as though they were seconds away from tearing each other apart. The playing children stopped their games, forming a circle just to watch the domestic entertainment. One child cheered, "Our mother is much stronger!" while another countered, "Our mom has way more heart! Just wait and see who gets knocked out cold!"
Right in the middle of this explosive drama, Sakina (the daughter of Iya, the neighborhood's most notorious gossip) walked into the compound, calling out a greeting. She had come to buy henna from Lantai (one of the other co-wives in the polygamous household). However, finding Lantai's door locked signaled she was out, leaving Sakina stranded in the middle of a war zone.
Talatu (yet another co-wife), who had been lounging in her room enjoying the chaos, finally poked her head out when she heard the greeting. "What do you need, Sakina?"
"Um, I came to buy some henna..." Sakina stammered, her eyes completely glued to the fighting co-wives, greedily collecting every piece of gossip for her mental report.
"Oh, is that all? Bring your money, she left the stash in my custody."
Without argument, Sakina handed over the money while keeping her eyes wide open, absorbing every second of the domestic soap opera. Talatu handed over the henna package and chuckled, "Take this and hurry along. Trust me, if you stay here watching the madness of this household, you'll end up sleeping here or getting your own head cracked open." Laughing to herself, Talatu retreated back into her room.
Sakina lingered for another five minutes even after receiving her package, making sure the dust of the argument had settled a bit (though she knew that once these women started, they could go all night). Finally, she bolted out of the gate, her legs moving in a frantic sprint. She couldn't wait to reach home and break down every single detail of the massive fight at Audu's crowded house to her gossiping mother.
At around 8:00 PM that evening, Malam Audu was sitting on a woven mat in the middle of his courtyard. The evening air carried a pleasant, cool breeze, making it the perfect environment to relax outside.
Mama Rakiya knelt before him and placed a bowl of food at his feet, as it was officially her turn to cook for their husband that day.
At that exact moment, Inna Halima marched out of her quarters, sat directly on the mat, and said, "Good evening, master of the house."
"Welcome, Halima. How is the house? How are the children?" Audu replied.
"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah)," she said. Then, deliberately trying to provoke a fight, she plunged her hand directly into the food bowl that Rakiya had just served him.
She got exactly what she was looking for. Rakiya charged over, aggressively shoved Halima away, and screamed, "Look, lady! I didn't cook this food for you, and by Allah, you will not eat a single bite of it!"
Malam Audu, who had just molded a handful of food and was about to put it in his mouth, froze. He glared at Rakiya and snapped, "What is the meaning of this, Rakiya? Are you completely incapable of letting peace reign in this house, or what?"
"Malam, can't you see she is the one hunting for trouble?! I served her own portion in her quarters, so why on earth must she ignore her own food and come to meddle with yours?!"
Halima instantly chimed in, mocking, "Oh, I just noticed this batch looked much tastier. It looks like you added extra premium oil just to smooth over the master's bowl."
Furious, Rakiya roared, "I swear by Allah, big sister Halima, I will not allow you to eat this! It is not your cooking night, yet you have the audacity to sit on my husband's mat and expect me to tolerate it?!"
Seeing that the situation was rapidly escalating out of control, Malam Audu furiously dumped the food back into the bowl, stood up abruptly, and barked, "Fine! Keep your food, Rakiya, it's all yours! I won't eat a single bite either, since I can't even enjoy a meal in peace in my own home! Take it and use it as a cosmetic ornament! Halima, get up, let's leave." Dusting off his traditional gown, he turned away in disgust. He initially headed toward Halima's room, but changing his mind, he turned on his heel and stormed completely out of the house into the street.
Though it wasn't the exact outcome Inna Halima had planned, she was thoroughly delighted. At the very least, she had successfully ruined Rakiya's night, and their husband had technically sided with her. She knew that by now, Rakiya must realize that no matter how degraded a first wife might seem, she could never be truly discarded, because she ultimately holds the structural power of the household.
Malam Audu didn't return home until 10:30 PM. Upon entering, he poked his head into the rooms of his other wives to shout a greeting, before finally retiring to Mama Rakiya's room, which was located directly adjacent to Inna Halima's quarters.
The architectural layout of the crowded compound was highly problematic. Each wife possessed only a single room to her name, which had to fit her bed, chairs, and all her domestic belongings. The rooms were tiny, cramped, and there was absolutely no designated space or privacy for the children. The entire house felt suffocatingly compressed; hosting a single guest would completely disrupt the lives of the master and the children due to the severe lack of space.
Furthermore, the rooms were structurally connected wall-to-wall. One door was positioned directly next to the other without a single inch of clearance. Consequently, whatever transpired in one room could be clearly overheard by the neighboring co-wife. To make matters worse, the entire extended family shared a single restroom. In short, the architecture of the house completely violated the Islamic teachings of privacy and domestic boundaries as taught by the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W).
The following morning, after Malam Audu had left the house around 10:00 AM, some of the younger children were running around frantically, preparing to head to their local Islamic neighborhood school (Makarantar Allo).
Young Attahiru (Inna Halima's youngest son) walked over to Mama Rakiya, who was busy drilling her own children on their Quranic recitations before school, as was her daily routine. Rakiya was the only wife in the house who possessed a solid Islamic education, so she traditionally handled the tutoring for the household's children.
The young boy knelt before her and pleaded, "Mama, I haven't memorized my verse for today either. Please drill me."
She fixed him with a cold, venomous glare. "You are easily the most dim-witted, dense child in this entire compound," she sneered. "I swear by Allah, if I repeat this verse twice and you still fail to recite it, you'll have to explain yourself to your village people, you complete fool."
The boy simply nodded, completely indifferent to her insults, as he possessed a relentless determination to learn despite his slow comprehension.
She recited the verse twice and then commanded, "Now, recite it back so I can hear."
Without hesitation, he began reciting, but stumbled slightly over a few words.
In truth, Mama Rakiya hadn't initially planned to hurt him; she secretly admired his persistent drive to learn. However, as she raised her eyes, she spotted her bitter rival, Inna Halima, stepping out of her room. Instantly, the humiliation from the previous night flashed vividly in her mind, and she resolved to execute a cruel act of vengeance on Halima's favorite son.
CRACK!
Without warning, Rakiya drove a violent punch straight into the center of Attahiru’s skull.
The poor nine-year-old boy let out a blood-curdling shriek of shock and pain. Disregarding his cries, she grabbed his right ear, twisting it violently while screaming, "Why on earth are you so dense, you utter fool?! Then again, stupidity runs in the blood. Your entire family lineage probably operates on the brain capacity of a fish!"
Seething with wild rage, Inna Halima charged across the courtyard, violently tearing her son out of Rakiya's grasp. "Look, Rakiya, get out of my sight before I destroy you! Why must you act like a wild animal, completely incapable of happiness unless you provoke a violent confrontation?!"
She shoved her crying boy toward the exit. "And you, you spineless child, stand up, grab your wooden slate, and get out of this house before I take my anger out on your head!"
Wiping his tears and deeply shaken by the rough fall, the boy cried, "But Inna, I haven't memorized the verse yet! If I go to school like this, the Malam will beat me mercilessly! Please tutor me!"
What a disaster! Inna Halima knew damn well she was completely incapable of teaching him, as her own Islamic literacy was extremely basic, barely covering the bare minimum for daily prayers. Frustrated by her own inadequacy, she roared at him, "Get the hell out of my sight, you worthless, spineless coward!"
Terrified by her thunderous scream, Attahiru snatched his wooden slate and bolted out of the front gate in a panic.
The remaining co-wives in the courtyard burst into loud, mocking laughter. Rakiya jeered, "What a pathetic joke! Some people need to go back to school themselves before they can dream of raising the next generation."
Hearing this final insult drove Inna Halima over the edge. She lunged at Rakiya, throwing a wild punch. Without wasting a single second, Rakiya snatched a heavy wooden writing slate lying nearby, sprang to her feet, and lunged back at Halima, screaming, "You think you can just strike me and walk away scot-free?! That will never happen, you fool!"
A wild, chaotic chase erupted across the courtyard. The teenage girls and the other co-wives stood back, laughing hysterically at the spectacle. Na'ila (Talatu's oldest daughter) mocked, "Ladies and gentlemen, the real-life Tom and Jerry live right here in our house! The ones on TV are just cheap imitations!" She doubled over with laughter.
At that exact cinematic second, Rakiya closed the distance between herself and Halima. Putting every ounce of her physical strength into the swing, she brought the heavy wooden slate down in a violent, sweeping arc.
Instantly, everyone in the courtyard froze in absolute horror, their eyes wide with shock. The chaotic compound plunged into a deafening, dead silence, as if every living soul had been wiped out in an instant.
Mama Rakiya was the first to snap out of the paralyzing shock. She dropped the heavy wooden slate to the floor and rushed trembling toward Malam Audu—who had just stepped through the front gate at that exact microsecond, catching the full force of the blow directly to his head. Blood was already spurting heavily from his fractured skull.
"Oh my God, I am completely finished! For Allah's sake, Malam, please forgive me! I swear by Allah I didn't mean to hit you! It was a horrific accident!" she wailed in terror.

Part 3: Restroom Rush in a Shared Compound

A CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD
FREE PAGE — PAGE 9
CHAPTER NINE
A woman stood directly outside the communal restroom door, aggressively tapping her foot and twisting her body in sheer agony. It was glaringly obvious that her bladder was at its absolute breaking point, but she was forced to wait for whoever was locked inside to exit.
After two agonizing minutes passed, she lost her patience and shouted, "For heaven's sake, Iyan Hazze, please hurry up and get out! Unless your ultimate goal in life is to watch my bladder completely explode right here in this courtyard!"
From deep inside the filthy latrine, Iyan Hazze shouted back sarcastically, "My goodness, Jilde, you have serious boundary issues! Am I supposed to just cut my business short midway through just so you can run in?!"
"I don't care if you have to force your bowels back inside, you should have been finished by now! I swear to God, if you don't step out of there in sixty seconds, I am busting this door open and walking right in!" Jilde roared back, her Hausa heavily laced with her distinct Fulani accent.
In a highly sarcastic, dismissive tone, Iyan Hazze fired back, "Oh, please, feel free to walk right in! After all, we are both women, so it's not like we haven't seen the same anatomy!"
What Iyan Hazze completely failed to realize was that Jilde was a traditional, literal-minded Fulani woman who had absolutely no understanding of sarcasm or urban irony. Since she was under excruciating physical pressure, she took the invitation literally. She threw the door open, marched straight inside, and began handling her urgent business without even glancing at the corner where Iya was positioned.
Moments later, both women emerged from the restroom simultaneously. Iya was staring at Jilde in absolute, jaw-dropping bewilderment, completely stunned that a woman of Jilde's age could be so utterly dense as to not understand basic sarcasm.
In truth, however, Jilde didn't give a damn about catching Iya completely exposed. In her straightforward worldview, it was absolutely no big deal since they were both women. Besides, this was a heavily crowded, low-income rental compound (gidan haya); sharing facilities was part of the survival contract, so she didn't even bother offering an apology.
The moment Iya stepped out, she marched straight to her little commercial stand set up right outside her room, where she earned a living selling fresh soup ingredients and vegetables. Two young boys and a little girl were already standing there, waiting for her.
As she approached the stand, one of the boys piped up, "Iya, please give me fifty naira worth of tomatoes and spinach."
Without uttering a single word to him, she reached up, pulled a crumpled plastic bag tucked neatly into the thatched roof of her display stand, stuffed the vegetables inside, and handed it over to the boy. She then turned her silent, efficient attention to serving the next child.