Chapter 13

"I'll be back Hajiya. I just remembered I forgot something in the office."

I stormed out of the house not bothering to wait for her reply. I got into my car and drove out. One destination in mind.

Hassan Mohammed lived in Maitama, I got to his house in less than 30 minutes. The automatic gate swung open and I drove in.

I got out and walked to the front door of the white coloured duplex. I rang the bell, my hands in fists aching to cause him grievous harm.

The door opened to reveal him.

"What are..."

"What exactly is your problem?!" I snarled. He rolled his eyes and walked into the house, leaving the door open.

I stormed into the house, he turned, leaning against the wall.

"Why are you trying to intrude into my life? Don't you have anything better to do? Hasn't your father done enough damage to my life?" I shouted. He didn't say anything instead he just stared at me.

"Well? Answer me!!!" I snapped.

"Your ego is going to be the doom of you Abubakar. Whatever is going on between you and my father is none of my business. Hell, I wish he would just give you your company so you can do whatever you want with it. And about the clothes, I didn't do it for you. I did it for her." He replied.

"Yeah right" I snorted "you are always there, waiting for me to mess up just so that you can swoop in and be the hero."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Now you are just being delusional. The sun doesn't revolve around you neither does my life. But this shitty persona you built is full of shit. Hell where are all your so called friends? They left the moment they heard you had been cut off."

I swallowed hard looking away from him.

"I'm not the bad guy here. We were once friends, unfortunate circumstances led to us to this stage but I want you to no I mean you no harm." He finished.

All the rage in me left and I sat on the chair closest to me.

"How did you even know about her?" I asked staring at my hands.

"Baba sent me to take a file to Hajiya and I saw her then I saw your at that boutique and I put two and two toget..."

"She's not mine" I cut him off.

"I know. You might be stupid but not that stupid." He replied coming over to take a seat opposite me.

"Does he know?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, I don't think so." He replied. "You didn't tell him?" I inquired. Snorting and rolling his eyes, he shook his head.

"The old man would probably have an aneurysm" he said chuckling.

"Reminds me of when the school thought you and Jack were missing. Turns out you were at the Fieldhouse. I have never seen Baba Mohammad look so red before." I laughed, Hassan joined in, laughing.

"I thought he would pull me by the ear or something." He chuckled.

"Headmaster Charles had to pull him to the side."

"Hey do you remember The Head of the Charles Regatta?" He asked.

"Which one?" I inquired.

"The last one before we graduated." He answered.

"Oh man!!! I almost died" I said laughing.

"Fucking Mubarak thought it was a good idea to take a swim at night. He suggested we leave your body there and sneak back into our camp." He said.

"I would have strangled him if you lads had not held me back." I muttered.

"Rose almost had a heart attack when she found us in our knickers."

"Poor Rose" I laughed shaking my head.

"Remember sneaking eatables into school?" He asked smirking. I smirked back. We and some of the other students devised a means of getting snacks from outside the school by pretending to be sick, most times we got transferred from the school clinic to a hospital. From there, it was so easy getting the snacks.

"Lessons at Mr Woodstock's house were pretty awesome" I said stretching. Hassan smiled at the memory.

"Yeah... he was one of the cool ones. He let Becky and Zoe bake a cake in his kitchen for your birthday." He replied.

"One of the best birthdays ever" I whispered.

"Life was so easy back then" he said.

"So easy" I agreed before sighing looking at my wrist watch. It was getting late.

"I should get going." I said getting up. He also got up and we walked to the front door. He leaned against the door as I walked to my car.

"Abubakar" he called out. I turned to him.

"Yeah?"

" we cool?" He asked.

"Yeah man. We cool" I replied smiling.

*****************

I arrived at the office the next week late, rushing through the entrance I noticed all eyes were on me and the conversations had died down.

Yes people I still come to work, get over it.

I rolled my eyes and walked to my cubicle, dumping my bag. I headed to the office kitchen to store my sandwich. Again the conversation died immediately I walked in.

Okay this is getting annoying.

I opened the fridge and tossed my sandwich in before grabbing a bottle water. I exited the kitchen and made my way back to my cubicle.

I booted my system up and flipped through the new files getting lost in my work.

An hour later, I decided to go get coffee, pausing by Amaka's office.

"Hey. I'm going for a coffee run, any requests?" I asked. She raised her head before smiling.

"My usual. Are you going to the one near the office?"

"Yeah" I nodded.

"Go to the next one, the one close to the MTN office. That's where I get our coffee, they are faster." She instructed.

"Thanks" with that I walked out of the building to my car. It was a short drive and I made my way into the cafe.

It was sparsely decorated, a rustic look to it. I walked to the counter and ordered before sitting, bringing out my phone and scrolling through my messages.

I noticed a couple of ladies sitting by the side, their eyes were on me. Normally I was used to this attention but they were whispering and pointing.

First the office and now here. This was getting annoying.

"Sir, your order is ready" the attendant called from the counter. I got up and paid for it before exiting the building.

I drove back to the office and made my way to Amaka's office.

"Here you go." I said setting her coffee on the table.

"Thanks" she replied taking a sip.

"Hey... this might sound wierd and I may or may not be paranoid but people keep on pointing and whispering around me." I confessed frowning.

She sighed, turning to face me.

"Do you really want to know?" She asked.

"You know what's going on?" She nodded biting her lower lip.

"Have you checked Anonymous Abuja?" She inquired. I frowned wondering what my business had to do with the gossip site.

"No. I have no business with that site." I answered. She let out another sigh.

"Well, an article popped up about you claiming that the reason you were cut off was because you got a girl pregnant and you have a love child." She explained.

What the flipping fuck?!

My entire form froze as I tried to digest the words.

"I... I need to go" I whispered walking out of her cubicle. I headed to the bathroom, locking the door before sliding to the floor.

Fuck. Who would do this?

FUCK!!!

This CANNOT be happening

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I slipped it out.

Najma Calling...

"Hello" I whispered

"Abba,  I just saw. Oh my goodness, who could have done this?" She asked.

"I don't even know Najma. I don't know." I whispered.

"Are you in the office?"

"Yeah" I murmured rubbing my face with my hand.

"I'm coming to get you." She said, her voice leaving no room for arguments.

"Okay" I replied and she cut the call. I stood and walked out. Suddenly I felt self conscious of all the looks I was getting.

I rushed to my cubicle and packed my bag. I would rather wait outside in my car. I left the office through the back door not wanting to meet anyone else.

I got into my car just as I sighted Najma's Mini Cooper. She parked and jumped out, walking towards me.

"Hey" she whispered looking around. "Let's head back to my house."

I nodded and allowed her take the keys from me. She locked my car and dragged me to her car.

I felt numb all through, I could feel her eyes on me as she drove us back to her house.

"We'll sort this out Abba. We'll get to the bottom of this." She promised.

I shook my head, leaning against the window.

My life was crumbling before my eyes.

We arrived at her house and she immediately sat me down in the living room, pacing in front of me.

"Who could have done this? Who knows about her apart from us? God this does not make sense. Who would even do this?!" She whispered to herself.

My phone buzzed and I answered not bothering to check the called i.d.

"Hello, this is Muhammad Jauro's assistant. Your presence is requested by Mr Jauro immediately." She said. My grip tightened on my phone as I felt the anger rip through me.

"Tell him to fuck off." I snapped cutting the call. Najma had stopped her pacing and was looking at me curiously.

"Who was that?" She asked.

"Baba Muhammad's assistant." I muttered before groaning. "Najma. I don't know what to do" I whined.

She sat near me, taking my hand into hers. "We'll figure this out. Who do you think knew about her aside us?"

I shrugged trying to remember.

"The doctor that checked her out, the police officers, the woman from the orphanage. Those are the only outsiders apart from Hajiya's house helps." I replied.

"I don't think the doctor or the police officers would do this and the woman from the orphanage doesn't know us. That leaves the house helps. Any other person you are suspecting?"

I shook my head.

"Not that I can remember. No one knew about her, I haven't met anyone... fuck"

That conniving bitch

"What's wrong?" She asked alarmed at the murderous expression on my face.

"Stacey. We met at the ice cream shop and she made a comment about how Yasmim doesn't have the Barde look to her when I introduced Yasmin as a cousin." I grated out before leaping to my feet.

It's high time someone taught her a lesson in minding her business.

"Woah!!! Where do you think you're going?" She asked. I glared at her but she folded her arms and glared back.

"I know what you are thinking, you have a lot on your plate, the last thing you need is adding her to the mix"

I groaned flopping back to the couch.

"But why would she do that? What would she gain from this?" Najma asked out loud to no one in particular.

"It's Stacey, she loves her drama." I murmured wanting nothing more than to wring her neck until she turned purple.

Calm the fuck down Abba.

"Are you going to release a statement or will you just ignore it? I mean by next week there will be a new hot topic for the gossip blogs to salivate over."

"I don't even know Najma, I just want my life to go back to normal. I am so exhausted" I whispered laying and covering my face with my palms.

"You can stay here for as long as you want. There's food in the fridge and I think Khalifa recorded the new season of that show you two are obsessed with. You can call me if you need anything" she said getting up. "Let me have your keys, I'll have the driver bring it here."

I dug into my trousers and tossed the keys over to her.

"He better be careful with my car" I called out. She laughed and walked out, the front door closing softly behind her. I looked around and sighed.

So this is your life Abba, avoiding everyone and hiding out in your cousin's house... this is a new low. Even for you.

I brought out my phone from my pocket, I knew my socials were going to be on fire and I didn't have the energy to deal with it all. I switched off my phone and tossed it to the side.

*******************

It was late evening by the time Najma came back.

"How are you holding up?" She asked sitting across me.

"Like a hole should appear and swallow me whole" I replied looking at the ceiling. My life is literally crumbling and I have no control over it."

"Abba, everything will be fine" she soothed. I let out a humourless laugh.

"We both know it won't be." I whispered sitting up.

"I should get going. Thanks for letting me crash here." I said.

"Okay, just know I'll be here for you, always." She said handing me my car keys.

"I'll call you later." She uttered smiling. I forced a smile and collected my keys. She walked me to my car and watched as I got in and drove off.

I arrived home and parked the car, switching it off and staring at space. My mind was miles away. Sighing, I pressed my forehead to the steering wheel.

I had no idea how long I stayed in the car before I got out and headed into the main house.

I let out a gasp as a body collided with mine, Yasmin's arms wrapped around my legs. I stared at her before getting on my knees and hugging her.

All the stress of the day disappeared as I buried my face into her hair. For the first time since Amaka broke the news to me, I felt peace. I blinked trying to stop the tears from falling.

"We've been trying to get her to sleep but she refused. Every single horn she heard had her racing to the door waiting to see if it was you. I don't know what had gotten into her today but she'd been restless since, waiting for you to come back home." Hajiya explained.

I nodded at her words before lifting Yasmin into my arms. She buried her face into my neck, her hand fisting my shirt. Almost as if she didn't want to ever let me go.

Don't worry, I won't ever let you go

-----------------------------

Yaaaay they made up!!!

Seems like Abba just can't catch a break 🤦🏽‍♀️

Stacey is such an annoying human being 😑