As soon as you enter our street, you can tell there's a grand wedding happening. The house is very large, and even without being told, you can see it's a family house with a well-designed white paint. There are about thirteen sections in the house.

In the main hall of the house, the wedding celebration is taking place. The bride is adorned beautifully in a stunning Fulani outfit. The bridesmaids are on the side, taking selfies and teasing the bride.

"Khairat, hurry up and come out; you know everyone is waiting for you," someone called out to Khairat. I exclaimed, "Wow!" because she was a stunning black beauty. She turned her eyes and, with a little pout, said, "Okay, Mama, I'm coming out now."

Rashida and her friends came in, saying, "Please, Khairat, come out. You're the groom's sister, but you're making everyone wait. Our friends are all here, and they're only waiting for us."

Iman scoffed and said, "Oh Rashida, you're just making us look bad in front of this girl. That's why I don't like dealing with her at all. Now, when we go to others, they ask if this girl is a maid or something."

A deep sadness struck my heart, but there was nothing I could do because Iman wasn't my equal, and besides, I'm not one to fight.

I felt dejected because of the way Iman and her sisters, including Baby, looked at me. I couldn't understand why they hated me so much when they didn't treat the other siblings like this. Out of all of them, only Rashida and Amira liked me. Iman, though, shared the same father with us, but she despised me the most.

I sat on the arranged chairs inside the house. As I turned, I saw Hajiya Kaka, our grandmother, looking splendid with her makeup and red lipstick. I started laughing at her until she came back and said, "Hey, you, what's so funny? Malik and Maryam, it's me you're laughing at. I am too important for your mother to make fun of. What's wrong with this makeup? Do I look like a madwoman to you? Even if your mother were here today, she couldn't compete with me. So, get out of my sight before I lose my temper, you black scoundrel."

She walked away, chewing her cola nut and continuing her muttering. Kaka hated it when someone said her makeup didn't look good.

I wasn't hurt by Kaka's words because my mother was used to such insults from her. Kaka hated my mother simply because she wasn't her daughter and because my father converted her to Islam. This deepened Kaka's resentment towards my mother. Every day was filled with taunts, and what annoyed me the most was that Kaka didn't care who was around when she spoke. My elder brother Aliyu, favored by Mama, and my other siblings Salim, me (Khairat), and the youngest, Afrah, were all witnesses to this c

onstant disdain.