Hearts In Tune (Book One Of The In love Series)

Chapter 1

Hearts in Tune 1

Sameerah swung her Lacoste tote over her shoulder and walked out of her office with a quickness she usually didn't possess, but it was a call from her father that had her discarding lunch and carrying  sensitive company files to their helipad.

She liked to work out of their factory in Kano, just to be able to see show the machines worked and not just be fed false information by staff who were willing to be yes-men to anyone with a bit of cash. So she, as quickly as she could, walked to the building that housed the helipad and entered the elevator to the top floor.

As the steel box moved, Sameerah wondered what could prompt her father into wanting to see the books for the second time in one quarter, he was usually alright with seeing them once a quarter. She shrugged as she had nothing to hide, but went back to biting her nails. Her father could not chase her from the company, the least he could do, would be to send her off to be in another part of the country and start from scratch again.

Scratch, she was used to starting from scratch. Every other time when Sa'ad returned from wherever his flavor of the week wanted to be, and took a fancy to whatever company was making the most money, she would be transferred out.

The food company, however, was her pride and joy. She had hired noodle makers from China and Italy to come up with a suitable pasta style for the Nigerian palate and in the past year and half, they'd stuck to that recipe, making it a huge moneymaker for SaAd foodco. Their initial profit had run into hundreds of millions and they'd been able to penetrate the very tightly run Nigerian pasta market.

She got into the helicopter, got belted in and then watched as the food company disappeared slowly. She faced ahead, going through the notes she had made on her iPad for any kind of questions her father could ask. Her father tolerated tardiness from Saad alone, no one else could be tardy and unprepared around him.

As she went through the last of her notes, the heard the pilot communicate with the tower and lower gently unto their stately home in Maitama, Abuja. Her heart rate slowly turned up she got out of the helicopter, went through the elevator into the house and smelled her mother's signature turarenwuta.

On normal days, it would ease her mind, but this day, she could only take deep breaths and huge gulps of air before greeting her mother with a salam.

"You're here, Mimi?" Her mother asked from the sofa where she was instructing the cook. Sameerah nodded, took off her soft soled shoes and walked further into the huge living room.

Dark skinned, with a dimple that popped every time she gave a sincere smile, Sameerah was the very carbon copy of her mother. She looked, walked and carried her tall frame just like her. She was however, not as bright as her mother when it came to men, she didn't bloom early, which made her unlikely to get to know anyone of the male gender, nor did she grow into her body quicker, making her a gangly teen-like figure till her early twenties when she found her style.

"What are you doing in Abuja? I thought you said you had guests at the factory tomorrow?" Sameerah gave a tight smile and motioned up, for upstairs. Her mother dismissed the cook and turned fully to her daughter.

"Why won't you stand up for yourself? You let him push you here and there and here and wherever he likes?" Sameerah's face began to change as soon as her mother started talking. It was a tale as old as time that everyone knew, Sameerah was a sucker for her father's validation.

Which was fine, if he gave it from time to time, but Sameerah could never do enough, she was never enough, from primary school, 'Sameerah did not clinch first? How many heads does Saad have to be first in his class?' 'Why does Sameerah play basketball as her extracurricular sport? Is she a man?' And so much that, drummed into her head, made her bumbling mess always waiting for her father's pat on the head.

"Try, try Mimi, try to challenge whatever he says. You're not the first child in the world to gently turn down their father's request -and you won't be the last. Why did you even come? Go back, go back to Kano before I open my eyes." Sameerah took a deep breath before begging her mom to let her stay to hear what her father had to say.

"So you'll stand up to him?" She jerked her lips wryly, she had no idea what she would do once she reached her father's side. All her strength seemed to always seep away around him.

"I'll try, Mami. It'll try." Her mother, satisfied with that answer, pushed her back into her seat and went off to get some food for her. She returned with some liver sauce beside some hot white rice and a glass of water in another hand.

"Eat, eat up quickly." Sameerah took the plate and quickly wolfed down the food, she downed the glass of water afterwards and left her mother in the living room while she went upstairs to her father's study to face the music.

"You're here? Good. Sit down." She exhaled and sat down, thumbing her fingers. She had been at a friend of a friend's naming ceremony the past weekend so she still had a bit of henna left on her fingers. She could draw henna designs in her sleep and anytime she could spare, she drew for friends and family.

"I hear we won an award? Not too bad," Sameerah could sense a 'but' hanging in the air, but she still put her heart down and waited for her father to finish.

"But, I expected our year on year growth to sky rocket faster than this. Sameerah, are you distracted?" Sameerah jumped as she shook her head, she swallowed as she tried to find the words to describe what she felt.

"I'm not distracted at all, Baba. It's only because the economy has slowed down, that's what is affecting our growth. We are still on track to make four billion at the end of the fourth quarter, In Sha Allah. I have no fear." She watched her father nod, while going through the files she had handed his assistant as soon as she walked into the room.

"These don't show you're going there. You're only just at nine hundred million, how do you want to establish a new factory in Ogun if you keep this up? With your teeth?" All her relief went out and in came a deep fear. Her father was only like this when he wanted to change her from one position to another needlessly. She however loved the factory so much, she loved it too much infact.

"We are still on track. It's still the first quarter and we're only just in March, by April ending, we should have definitely reached one point two billion, you'll see. It's not all smack talking, we're working." Her father raised his head and appraised her with concentration. He nodded and Sameerah nearly deflated from the relief.

"It's just, you disappoint me so much. You've gone so long without a husband, thirty two, no husband? Sameerah, no man who wants to partner with you will take you seriously." Sameerah wanted to scream to the heavens, but she paced herself. How did their talk go from the company's growth to marriage?

"Oh you're asking how those are tied? They are! If you had a husband, children that grounded you'd not be so slow at work that our competitors are nearly beating us." Sameerah knew better than to say that they had just entered the market and though they had a share, their competitors had been there for over thirty years. Quality at times could not beat experience.

"I'll get married soon, don't worry." She said, to placate her father. He raised one bushy brow in her direction, making her heart beat fast. She had just walked into his trap.

"I give you till the last quarter. If by September you're not engaged, I'll find someone. Have a good day." She knew she was dismissed so she took her tote and left the room, waiting till she reached her room and her bed to scream like a banshee into her pillows.

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