Bound ✅

Gazebo Perfect

"Aren't you going to pray  Zuhr? It's time."

Halima looked at the portion of hair remaining on her client's head and shook her head. She'd pray afterwards, she could not leave the hair.

Just as Hamdiyah left the shop, Jariyah and her sister skipped in. Their father closely behind. It was a scene like the other day but instead he stayed at the reception.

When Jariyah reached her, she held unto her skirt with a smile. "My daddy wants to see you." She looked at the already annoyed customer in the mirror and gently told Jariyah to tell her daddy to wait. She could not incur the wrath of this particular woman. The woman was a typical Nigerian, offended when walked away from.

"You can go. I'll wait. Just be quick." Halima sighed in relief and walked to the door where she unhooked her hijab from a hole on the wall and pulled it on.

When she reached him, he was backing her. Her boss, although a Christian had thoughtfully made a partition that made sure those outside could not look into the main store but those inside could see them. It worked well for men who wanted to look into the store at all costs.

"Assalamualaikum." She greeted.

The moment he turned was a moment Halima wanted to freeze. She used to raise her nose at Bollywood movies but now she understood the fuss. The man was gorgeous. Handsome would be an understatement. And he knew his clothes, he knew what fit his face also, those glasses were fire. Damn!

He could possibly pass for a thirty year old even though his mother already told her he was nearly forty already. Meaning, he wasn't a child so she wasn't letting him off.

"You're Halima?" She nodded while trying to clean her lips covertly. She hoped she wasn't drooling. Ah!, The man was fine.

"Why didn't you call me more. I could have picked if you'd sent me a message. I don't appreciate you going to my mother and making me look like an irresponsible father." Halima's foggy brain cleared immediately and she looked at him in surprise.

"You switched off your phone. And when your mother reached you two hours later, you were speaking from London." She raised a brow questioningly.

He tried to speak but she shut him up with a finger raised up. "Nah-uh. At all. No explanation whatsoever, all i shod get is an apology. I got home around nine pm. And in a country unsafe as this, I should have been home earlier." He made a motion amd moves his head to the side, visibly trying to control his anger.

"My mother got you our driver to drop you at home. Wasn't that enough?" Halima jerked her lips wryly. This man was being impossible.

"I don't know what you want me to say. Should I have left your little girls at the door of my shop till you returned from *London*? " He put his hands on his hat and harshly removed it and put it back in one motion.

"I didn't forget them. And it was my first time!" Halima cocked her head and drew her hands akimbo.

"I'm not a fool. You'd forgotten them three times in that one week. And I hear you didn't even remember until you were on the plane." He sighed, obviously defeated.

"You won this round. Next time, call my-" Halima didn't even let him finish. "Call whom?" He sighed again and put his hands forward in a begging motion.

"Please don't go straight to my mother again. I'm in enough trouble as it is." Halima nodded and turned around.

"And thank you for helping me get them home safely." She rolled her eyes but didn't reply.

*********

The security man opened the gate and Jariyah launched herself almost immediately at Halima. She probably had been waiting for her.

"Where's your grandma?" Halima inquired after exchanging pleasantries. "She's in the gazebo. She says the air there is fresh." Halima nodded and held unto the six year old's little hands.

By the time they'd taken different turns, that passed through the garden, the downstairs swimming pool and the party garden as Jariyah named it aptly. They reached the gazebo.

It was a raised square platform, roofed and surrounded by beautiful grassland and flowers. It offered a view of the main house and anyone there could see the gazebo perfectly.

"Ina wuni ma." Halima alerted Jariyah's grandmother with her greeting, she'd just finished talking to someone on the phone.

"How are Halima dear? Come in." Halima replied and walked further into the small room.

"How's work ?" Halima shook her head and dropped her bag on a cushioned chair.

"Alhamdulillahi ma." She had no other words for her job. She'd been there for nearly two years now and it was all bliss.

"Good. I want a nice hairstyle that will bring out my face a bit. I'll be hosting a party for my new store in Maitama." Halima nodded and opened the small bag that held combs and brushes in it.

"Are you thinking of marrying anytime soon?" Halima stopped, literally. She was about to use a small lining comb to open up her hair but she stopped. Even her ears rang like they'd been boxed.

"No ma. Not anytime soon. Infact never." The older woman bobbed her nearly all white hair in understanding.

******

Hi everyone,

This is a hi/bye situation. I just want to say thank you very much for one thousand reads. It's so amazing how much you all rate me. I love you all.

This chapter is for hajiyaammi. Thank you for all that you unknowingly and knowingly do for me. ♥️

See y'all soon. (My exams are reallyyy here🤧🤧😭😭)

TheOmoope.