"Is this truly Lagos?" Hanan gasps while she winds down her window letting the breeze sway her long permed hair.
"Yeah, we have a new Governor so there's a new change," Abdul replies.
"Wow! I'm amazed, Lagos looks more beautiful and free from holdups unlike before."
"Yeah, you've been away for 3 years, what do you expect, an underdevelopment?" Abdul chuckles.
"I'm happy to see such development." She smiled.
"And I'm sure you will be more happy to see our new house too." Nanny Ann chips in while she teasingly pulls Hanan's cheeks.
"A new house? What new house?" Hanan asks curiously.
"I didn't tell you, I wanted it to be a surprise, We moved to Ikoyi island last week."
"Really? What happened to the previous one?"
"I sold it and bought a duplex."
"Woah! That's great!"
"I had your room painted in your favorite colors." Nanny Ann smiled.
"You still remember my favorite colors? I only told you once."
"I do, I also remember your favorite food, everything about you, how can I forget?"
"Aww! Nanny Ann is the sweetest, don't let Amira know I said that." She laughs.
"Oh, that reminds me, what of Amira? I thought you were arriving together." Abdul asks.
"Yeah, her family decided they were stopping at Dubai to shop before returning home, Her brother is getting married on the 20th of this month to an influential girl and I was invited." She narrates to them happily.
"20th of this month?" Abdul mutters.
"I guess it's the season of weddings." He sighed.
"Who else is getting married?" She asks.
"It's..." He wished to speak further but he couldn't, so he diverted the topic.
"Congrats!" He laughed.
"For what?"
"The overall best student! We need to celebrate you." Abdul smiled giving her light taps on her arm.
"Yes, you made us so proud when we received the news, What a champion you are!" Nanny Ann also commends.
"Thank you."
"You deserve a gift," Abdul said.
"We should have lunch together like the old times." She suggests.
"Yeah we will, I prepared all your favorites." Nanny Ann smiled.
"Yeah, she did and she didn't even let me have a taste of the Dan wake." Abdul scoffed.
"You made Dan wake?" Hanan exclaims with a wide glare.
"Yes!" She smiled.
"Nanny Ann, what will I do without you? I crave Dan wake more than anything, I love you." Hanan pouts hugging her closely.
They enjoyed their drive back home chattering and catching up to the old times, Hanan couldn't be happier to be back to where she belonged, to the people who love and adore her selflessly.
After a while, they were driven into a glass duplex, the house was just the perfect description of luxury.
Hanan took her time to enjoy the view before strolling into the house together with two girls who struggled to pull in her pieces of luggage.
The house smells new and elegant, and after a while, she gets a flashback of the previous place she once called home the mansion.
"Hanan, you should freshen up, have lunch and rest." Nanny Ann says in the accompany of the two young girls.
"Okay, which way is my room?" She asks.
"Samira, take her to her room." Nanny Ann orders one of the girls.
Hanan observes the girl as she leads the way and can't help but remember Emma, she pictured Emma in her.
"This is your room, Ma'am." Samira shows her a door.
"Call me Hanan, not Ma'am."
"I can't call you Hanan, You're older than me, and I'm your servant."
"Call me whatever you feel like then." Hanan smiles in admiration for the girl's respect for her.
"I will call you Anty Hanan." She says taking her leave.
Hanan stood by the door expecting to get into an averagely designed room, but to her surprise, she got in to see the room overly decorated with welcome balloons.
"Woah!" She smiled admiring the room's decor.
"OMG!" She gasped once she saw a giant picture frame just above her bed.
"How did they do this?" She whispered wondering if she was dreaming, It was a childhood picture of her sitting on her mom's lap.
She smiled bringing the picture frame down, she kissed it.
"Mom!" She smiled, her heart filled with content.
"I'm sure she is happy to know you're doing fine." Nanny Ann walks in with a tray of food.
"Nanny Ann, did you do this?" Hanan quickly turns to face her.
"No, Abdul did, he found your picture in your things when we were moving and then he had it largely framed."
"Aww! How many favors will I owe him? This is beautiful." She mutters close to tears.
"They are not favors, he considers you his little sister, so how can it be a favor?" Nanny Ann smiled while getting her to sit on the bed.
"Yeah, but it's just too much, and by the way, I love my room, did you study interior design? Coz, this is Fab, everything is to my taste!" Hanan laughs.
"No, I just figured the room out with the help of an interior designer, I'm glad you love it."
"I'm grateful, and I'm more grateful to you for preparing this." She smiled pulling the tray of food towards her.
"Delicious like it's always been." She says munching a full spoon of the Dan wake.
"Don't rush your food." Nanny Ann smiled observing Hanan's features.
If Nanny Ann could remember, the first time she laid her eyes on Hanan was when she was just 18, looking innocently frail and miserable in a hospital gown, She wondered why anyone would want to harm an innocent child like her.
She remembers the first impression she had of Hanan was her beauty.
She had rich tanned chocolate skin that glowed, and her facial features were just too sharp to ignore especially now that she's all grown.
She scans her closely.
Her eyes were just as bright as ever, you could see them glisten in happiness, She was happy to see excitement in them unlike before when they were only filled with pain.
"Nanny Ann, Do I look that pretty?" Hanan smiled raising her gaze to Nanny Ann who had been staring at her for a while.
"Too pretty that I can't take my eyes off you!" Nanny Ann laughs.
"Woah! Nanny Ann, you're flattering me too much!" She laughs back.
"I'm being honest, have you looked at yourself in the mirror, you've changed a lot, you look prettier than I've known you."
"That's a compliment, thanks."
"Yes it's a compliment but also a fact, I'm sure you have a lot of suitors, are you dating anyone?" Nanny Ann asks making Hanan choke on her food.
She coughs struggling to wash down the food stuck in her throat with a glass of water.
"No, I'm not seeing anyone." She manages to reply once she clears her throat.
"Why? Are there no nice guys in America?"
"They're, I guess they are just not my type," Hanan mumbled.
"Okay, so you turned them down?" She asks.
"Yes." She nods recalling the several blind dates Lucy and Amira used to force her to go.
Both young and even old men who were enough to birth her wanted to date her, and now that she recalls she laughs at how disgusted and angry she used to get at her friends.
"Nanny Ann, don't worry, everything has time, I will date when the time is right."
"Hanan, 21 years of age is the right time, bring someone home soon, okay?" Nanny Ann stood up from the bed clearing Hanan's plate, she prepared to leave.
"Okay." Hanan smiled knowing she couldn't tell Nanny Ann that getting into a romantic relationship was the last thing on her bucket list.
"Freshen up and rest, you look tired, I will squeeze out some fresh oranges and have it sent to you."
"Thanks a lot." She smiled watching her walk out.
She remained on the bed scanning her new room in admiration, everything was comfortably done to her taste.
Her favorite spots are going to be her bed and the reading table just beside her bed.
She walked to her suitcases unpacking every item to where they belonged when she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Come in!" She says.
"Weldone Anty Hanan, is there anything you would like me to help with?" Samira the house help asks with a bright smile.
"No, thank you." She smiles back.
"I insist, I can see you arranging your clothes, I will help with that," Samira replies collecting Hanan's clothes to fold into her wardrobe.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Why does everything remind me of the mansion? Why this house?" She sighed returning to unpack.
Hanan spent the rest of her day unpacking, and by the end of the day, she finally hit her pillow after a warm shower.
She lays quietly on her queen-sized bed about to drown herself to sleep when her phone beeps.
She looks at the caller ID and it instantly makes her sprang up to sit.
"Oh shit! I forgot." She groans picking up Amira's video call.
"Finally!" Amira and Lucy's voices could be heard as they shoot her a death stare.
"What is your phone meant for?"Amira scoffed.
"I'm sorry, I got so occupied that I forgot to give you a call."
"Yeah, home sweet home, she's moved on and forgotten us already!" Lucy frowned.
"No! I can't forget you, not ever."
"So what got you so occupied to have missed 10 calls?" Lucy inquires with a raised eyebrow.
"You gave me 10 missed calls?" Hanan gasps.
"Woah! My phone must have been on silent, I'm sorry." Hanan pouts pleading with puppy eyes.
"You're forgiven, so how is everyone at home?" Amira sighed.
"They're all good and glad to have me back." Hanan smiled.
"Aww! Look at that home glow!" Lucy chuckled.
"What glow? I'm tired as Fuck!" Hanan sneered.
"You need a good rest."
"Yeah, so Amira when are you returning?" She asks.
"Soon," Amira replied. "I know you're bored without me." She chuckled.
"Super bored, but for now let's call it a night."
"A night? It's just 4 pm in Nigeria." Amira sighed.
"How can you tell?"
"I just got off a call with my bro, and from the window behind you I can see the sun shining brightly."
"Yeah we do see your bright room, and we do need a room tour." Lucy chips in.
"I will but not today, Let's call it a day please, I'm really tired." She pouts.
"Okay, sleep tight, I'll give you a call later."
"Bye girls!" Hanan waves before cutting the call to meet Abdul staring at her from the door.
"Abdul? Come in why are you standing there?" She smiled sitting up to meet him.
"I wanted to give you some space to have your girl's time."
"Girls time? I've had that for three years, Now is our time, Come in." She insisted adjusting for him to join her on the bed.
"Hanan!" He laughs taking his time to observe her as he sits beside her.
"OMG? What did you do? You did that?" She says dramatically pointing at the gigantic photo frame hanging above her bed.
"Really? Abdul, I honestly don't know if I deserve your kindness or not, and I don't know if I will ever pay you back in this world or the next, but I want you to know that I'll be forever indebted and grateful to you, I love you." She mumbles close to tears.
Abdul took his time laughing before he spoke up. "For a moment I thought you'd changed, Hanan with a foreign accent, looking tall, mature, and prettier than ever, but then I forgot that you were Habiba before you turned Hanan, You're still my innocent Habiba." He chuckles.
"And you will forever be my brother." She sighed pulling him into a hug.
They hugged for a few minutes before she recalled he owed her an apology.
"You ditched my Grad? Why? What was so important!?" She glared.
"I'm sorry, it was work-related, and nothing will be more important than my sister, I just got stuck, forgive me."
"Fine, understood and you're forgiven, so how is your business going?"
"With the expansion, I will say fine." He smiled.
"Congrats on the new house, it looks way too good!"
"Thanks, I did it for us, new house, new memories, let's erase the past." He smiled, but she read a meaning to his statement.
"Erase the past? Not all about the past can be let go." She mumbled frowning a bit.
"Mhm!" He mutters knowing where she is heading with the bitter look on her face, so he simply pulls her cheeks to brighten her face with a smile, which he succeeds in doing.
"We will talk later, I need to step out." He smiled back.
"When will you be back? We're having dinner tonight, don't forget."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I will make it to dinner, but I promise tomorrow."
"And then you say I'm more important? Ugh?" She smirked pushing him off her bed.
"I will make it up to you, I promise." He laughed walking up to the door.
"Bye! Go have fun."
"How about I treat you to dinner at a 5-star restaurant tomorrow?"
"Sounds delicious already." She smiled.
"Deal?" He asks.
"Sure!" She smiled waving him goodbye.
And as soon as he leaves, Hanan doesn't hesitate to shut the curtain and the light, going into a deep nap.
>>>A/N
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