MY BEST FRIEND HUSBAND

The ancestral compound was alive with sound.

Drummers practiced under the mango trees, women in brightly colored wrappers laughed as they tied headscarves, and children ran around with flower petals and empty bottles of malt. The traditional wedding was three days away, and everything was spinning into place.

Idris stood by the upstairs balcony, staring down at it all.

The same soil he once walked in heartbreak now bore the footprints of his new joy.

He had come full circle, and he could feel it in his bones the weight of purpose, the peace of becoming.

Behind him, his mother adjusted his embroidered kaftan. "You've grown, Idris," she said, not just taller... but deeper. Stronger.

He smiled. "It wasn't easy Mom."

"It wasn't meant to be," she replied, her hands warm on his shoulders. "But you're exactly who you were destined to be."

As she left the room, Idris heard the low hum of his phone on the windowsill.

It was a message from Anna.

"Missing you..Can't wait for tomorrow's blessings day. Love you."

He smiled... and then frowned.

Just below her message was another.

Unknown number.

"Funny how the past always shows up when you think you've escaped it. See you soon, Idris."

His fingers paused above the screen. He checked the contact. No name. No picture.

Something about the message felt... familiar.

Almost like a whisper.

He shook it off.

"Probably one of those scam numbers," he muttered.

But the feeling wouldn't leave.

That cold flutter in his chest,the sense of being watched.

Later that evening, Anna and her family arrived for the formal gift exchange a warm gathering where relatives laughed, shared kola nuts, and performed the rituals of connection. Bela was there too, smiling, laughing, hugging. She carried a large tray of drinks like any helpful bridesmaid would.

But her eyes followed Idris every time he moved.

When no one was watching, her smile twisted into something else.

Jealousy. Rage. Longing.

She remembered the last time she saw him wet, heartbroken, rejected.

Now he walked like a king.

And he hadn't even looked at her.

That night, in the quiet of her borrowed room, Bela opened a small cloth bundle she had hidden inside her travel bag, inside was a small vial, the contents dark and oily, wrapped in palm leaves.

It had taken her a long time to find the woman who gave it to her, a seer from the outskirts of Asaba.

They said she had eyes that could pierce memory and herbs that could twist will.

Bela didn't believe in charms, not really.

But desperation has a way of making even the proud crawl.

She placed the vial on the table beside a single photograph she had secretly snapped earlier, it was a picture of Idris... and Anna. Laughing. Holding hands. Drenched in joy.

Bela stared at it for a long time.

Then whispered:

"If I can't have you, Idris… then no woman will."

The wind howled suddenly against the windows.

But there was no storm outside.

Not yet.