AMAN

Chapter Two

Xxx

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur and before they knew it, they were in Sameer's car driving to Cactus restaurant, Victoria Island for dinner, it was a short and pleasant drive and Aman couldn't help but admire Lagos. she could really get used to this.. "well except the traffic" she thought with a small chuckle.
"Welcome Sirs, Madam" a tall and striking waitress said to them as they entered the restaurant.
"Do you have a reservation?" she said. "Mr SAA" Sameer replied with a straight face.
"I'm so sorry sir, I have your table ready with the ocean view. Please follow me sir" she said and you could tell she was now very nervous.
"This view is so amazing, I love it" Aman said looking with a wide smile as they sat down.
"Yeah I usually come here to let off some steam" Sameer said also admiring the view.
"Can we have the menus? I'm famished, and you know you don't have to stand here all night right?" Alhaji said to the waitress who was still standing by their table.
"I'll be right on it, and I do have to stay here, I'm your waitress for the night so I'm here to cater to all your needs" she simply replied.
"Get the menus I'll send the boys to get you if we need you" Sameer said waving her off.
"Is he always this rude" Aman thought rolling her eyes as she was handed a menu. In no time, the the table was filled with all sorts of food like chicken Alfredo pasta, garlic butter Lobster, Seafood chowder, braised beef with prawn fried rice and a sizzling lamb platters, God it looked like a mini buffet.
"My boy, you have stuffed me up and I am now ready to get some sleep as I've had a long day. Amani kema ya kamata ki je wurin su Muneera haka (You should be heading to muneera's), I'm sure they're wondering where you are, it's very late." Alhaji said looking at his watch, it was only 9pm but he felt like it was 1am.
Once the bill was settled by one of Sameer's boys, he broke the silence.
"Miss Mohammed, one of my drivers shall take you over to your friends house and Alhaji another will drop you off at your hotel. I hope that will be okay?" he asked as alhaji nodded but Aman was too busy chatting away on her phone "Who on earth could she be smiling with that she won't answer me?" Sameer thought.
"Amani, my darling girl I'll see you at 12pm tomorrow. Please be a good girl and extend my greetings to Dr Bilaal and Dr Zainab, i'll see them when I come over to pick you up In Sha Allah" alhaji said "In Sha Allah" Aman replied and with a quick goodbye to Sameer, alhaji was off. "Goodnight Miss Mohammed" Sameer said as Aman got into the car.
"Please call me Aman, Sir" she said as she wound her window up and she was gone too.

"Muneera if I had known I was going to be working for that man, I would not have agreed to come back to this country. Kinsan yadda yake wa mutane magana kuwa?(Do you know how he talks to people?) he thinks he's the king of the world. God I've not even started working for him but I hate it already." Aman said to muneera. They were now in muneera's room getting ready to sleep but she would not let Aman sleep without telling her about their most eligible bachelor in Lagos, she couldn't believe that Aman was here tearing up every girls dream "Ki dena Aman (Stop it Aman) how can you tell me that THE Sameer Aliyu Abdullahi is rude and full of himself? you admitted to being rude to him, so maybe you ruined his day by doing that. You know all these men. They like being in control" Muneera replied.
"You didn't even tell me, is he as handsome as all the pictures I've seen of him in magazines and newspapers?" she continued her questions.
"That's the only good thing about him, his face. he's just like they make him appear, he's tall, dark, a nice chocolate colour with a long face, slim nose, beady eyes, semi-full lips and beautiful curly hair but like I said, his attitude still makes him ugly" Aman said, rolling her eyes.
"I still feel it's cause you were rude to him. he has to be a perfect man" Muneera said and Aman already knew she was wasting her time by talking to Muneera about this, her best friend always saw the good in people no matter how bad they were, even when they were kids Muneera was always bullied cause of how soft she was and it got even worse when Aman moved back to Abuja to live with daddy. No wonder she was so happy when her parents told her they'd be relocating to Lagos to open up their own hospital.
"I knew you won't get it. Let me just call Kamal and complain since he will hear me out" Aman said.
"Sorry o, Kamal's forever" muneera said wiggling her brows. "Ouch" she yelled at Aman who threw a pillow at her.
"Yanzu ai zaki yi shiru (Now you'll keep shut)" Aman said sticking her tongue out.
"I'm so sorry princess, you'll only work with him for a year. Maybe even less if things go the way I want... I can't wait to make you Mrs Kamal Sadiq, matar Architect (Architect's wife)" his deep voice said over the phone.
"Hmm I can't wait for that year to be over" Aman simply replied,
"There he goes again talking about marriage, I'm not ready for this topic. I'm here complaining and he's adding to my headache please let me sleep Kamal" she thought.
"You must be tired, please get some rest. Love you" he said as if reading her thoughts.
"Alright, love you too" and with that, their call was ended. She could see Muneera in the corner of her eyes making dreamy faces at her.
"Can I ask you something?" she said glaring at Muneera who simply nodded sensing the seriousness in her voice. "Why are men these days in a hurry to get married? I mean I'd love to complete half of my deen but isn't it too early? I want to pursue my career, explore possibilities, make mistakes and also learn from them, I mean I have so much to look forward to, this is 2019 for crying out loud. I feel like I'm not ready for marriage. Kamal is so possessive and jealous sometimes." she said with a frustrated look.
"Hmm, is this a question abi complaint?" muneera said with a grin before continuing.
" I get where you're coming from Amani, I truly do.. but you can be all those things in your husbands house. I see nothing wrong with Kamal asking, I mean you guys have been together for about three years now? he's so sure of the woman you are and his whole family knows you so why not? There's nothing like too late or too early in the world of marriage, all we need to do is pray for the best and most pious of men. You will definitely know when the time feels right. Having said that, the question I should now be asking is... are you sure of him and do you truly love him? You should pray to Allah about it and search your soul Aman" she finished off and Aman was already questioning herself.
"I will In Sha Allah, thank you so much Muneera. I don't know what I'd do without you" now hugging her best friend.
"I'm always here for you.. let's get some sleep"

Xxx
Aman and Muneera were on the table having breakfast when they heard daddy's voice coming from Dr Bilaal's living room. "Let's go and greet him so he doesn't think you're not awake he's been here for 2 hours" Muneera said.
With a salam they entered, "Ina Kwana daddy (Good morning daddy)" they both said "Morning my daughters" Dr Bilaal replied.
"Aman you're already leaving us, we can't wait to make you a part of this family again, Alhaji it feels like just yesterday these girls were running around the house in Kano and now they're getting ready for NYSC. How time flies" he said with a smile.
"Our kiddos are now women Dr." alhaji said filled with joy.
"Toh Amani, let's get going to the airport, Sameer's driver is waiting for us" daddy added.
"I can't believe I won't see you till next month" Muneera said.
"You'll have me to yourself for the year when I'm here" Aman said giving her best friend a tight hug with tears in her eyes.
"Bye Abba, please give my love to Mamiey when she's back from the hospital" she said as he nodded.

ABUJA, NIGERIA
Alhaji Mohammed's residence

"I can't believe we're already back" Aman said to Maama and Haleema as she sat on the chairs in the kitchen.
"I'm not looking forward to working with that man Haleema, why didn't you come along? You would have kept me company while he was chatting with daddy in his office. He acts like an old soul" she added with a pout.
"You've been complaining since you got back. We can't believe you're back too and we can't wait for you to leave to work for that man as you call him, no more peace in this house" she said sticking his tongue out. Before Aman could reply, Monica their maid came into the kitchen,
"Madam Aman, there's an uncle waiting for you in the living room, daddy said I should call you".
"I'll be there soon. Please take some refreshments to him Monica." she replied as she made her way up the stairs to get ready, she couldn't help but think who was waiting for her. She changed into her black Hanayen abaya and with a spritz of her Prada Amber Oud perfume, she was out the door.
"Oh my God, what are you doing here?"