Chapter 7

Najma decided to keep Yasmin with her while I packed. I was more than happy to be free of her even if it was for a while.

I was currently on my way to the club, I was going to be in hell the next day so I might as well make good use of my freedom.

The club was packed as usual with a long waiting line outside. I rolled my eyes at the line and made my way to the entrance, pressing 5 crisp 1000 Naira notes into the palms of the bouncer.

"Boss" he greeted stepping aside for me to pass. I spotted some of my pals at the VIP zone and walked over to them.

"Talk of the devil and he shall appear!!!" One of them shouted as I sat near him.

"Nice to see you to Sheriff" I smirked.

"You went MIA on us... making us start to think the rumours were true"

"What rumour would that be?" I asked as the waiter brought my usual.

"Your old man's friend froze your account" Imran answered.

My hand stilled before I took a sip of my drink, letting the cool drink soothe my throat.

"And who told you that?" I asked coolly

"Come on guy!!! This is Abuja, everyone knows everybody's business. So is it true? Are you really broke?" He asked.

"When has the word broke ever rhymed with Abubakar Abdullahi?" I scoffed. I felt Hassan's  eyes on me, a knowing smirk on his face. I glared at him as he chuckled silently while the others cheered at my words.

"In that case, our drinks are on you!!!" Sheriff hollered and Imran joined him.

Shit.

Maybe coming to the club was a bad idea.

"Uhm I..."

"Sorry boys but today's tab is on me." Hassan interrupted placing his Black Card on the table making the other guys laugh. "Maybe next time Omo Baba Lowo can pay for the drinks" I narrowed my eyes at the sarcasm lacing his words.

Stop being so annoying. He just saved your ass.

"Yeah next time" I muttered. A few minutes later Hassan decided to call it a night and he left. I couldn't just let him leave without talking to him so I followed him to his black BMW.

"No need thank me" he said without turning around.

"I'm not here to thank you. I could have taken care of myself. You don't need to protect me." I snapped.

He turned to me, stuffing his hand into his pocket.

"I know. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop. I didn't stop when we were in Secondary School so why should I stop now?" he replied, the stupid smirk permanently stuck on his face.

I glared at him, having no words for honest answer.

"A piece of advice, face what is important Abba, this world is fleeting. Don't get carried away trying to prove to some people that you are something you aren't." With that he flashed me a grin before getting into his car and driving off.

Wanker

I stormed over to my car and got in. Stupid know it all. He had become a thorn in my side since the first day of secondary school. I thought after we had graduated he would stay in England only to bump into the prat here in Abuja. I drove back home, heading straight to bed.

The entire night was ruined and to top it all off, tomorrow I was moving into a mini Alcatraz.

Kill me now.

The next week I fell into a routine, I had moved my belongings to the guest chalet behind Hajiya's main house. She had offered me a room in the house but there was no way I was going to stay there knowing my every action will be watched so I politely declined.

Khalifa and I weren't in speaking terms, Najma on the other hand came over as often as she could to see Yasmin. We had gotten the results of the blood test and thankfully everything was okay. She was surprisingly very healthy.

Yasmin took to Hajiya much better than I expected, she clung to her when I was not around. It was such a relief to see her looking well unlike the day I first saw her and the fact that she was sticking to someone else not me was an added bonus.

We were currently having dinner together, Hajiya, Yasmin and I.

"Have you heard from the police?" Hajiya asked.

"No, I'm going to the station tomorrow. I haven't talked to Najma about the radio station but I will." I replied.

She nodded as we continued eating in silence.

"What about your job?"

"It's sucks." I murmured.

"Really, and when was the last time you actually went to work?" she asked making me shock on my rice.

"Uh..." I trailed off.

"You thought I won't find out?" She asked shaking her head, disappointment evident in her eyes.

"Hajiya it's not like that, the pay also sucks, I barely make minimum wage. How can I be motivated to work harder?"

"Don't you even use that as an excuse, you don't go to work, how do you expect to get a raise?!!!"

Can we just get over this topic already?

"Have you talked to Mohammed recently?" She inquired and I felt my already shitty mood take a nose dive.

"I went to hi... my office and..." I started but was interrupted by Yasmin who seemed to be having a difficult time with the piece of chicken.

I leaned over to get her plate, placing it next to mine, I helped her cut the meat into tiny pieces she could handle. I did the same with the sausage before placing it back infront of her. I turned to Hajiya to see her smiling at me.

What?

I looked away clearing my throat, knowing what I was about to say would wipe that smile off her face.

You just can't keep them smiling can you Abubakar, you are on a roll!!!

"Baba Mohammad had my account frozen. The only money I have is the one I earn from the insurance company"

I couldn't look at her, the silence was already overwhelming, I couldn't bear to see the look in her eyes.

"I was waiting for you to tell me. Mohammad informed me before he took the action"

My eyes snapped up to meet hers.

she knew?!!!

"With the rate at which you were going, you would have bankrupted your parents' company in a couple of decades. I couldn't let that happen."

I swallowed hard, my hand tightening around the fork. Why was I surprised? She was Hajiya, ofcourse she would know what was going on.

"I'm sure you can survive on the minimum wage, You're not paying rent neither are you paying for your feeding and you have a car. So you can't complain."

I opened my mouth to argue but decided against it. My appetite suddenly gone.

I took a sip of the water before standing up.

"I'll take my leave now. Good night Hajiya." I said about to leave, I turned to Yasmin and rubbed her head "Goodnight Yas"

I decided to take a walk round the property before heading to my room just to clear my head.

In just a matter of days, my life had completely changed. I leaned against the wall when my phone buzzed.

Message from Stacy🍑🍑

Hey handsome, party at mine. Just the two of us😉

I stared at the message before deleting it, last thing I wanted to do was do something stupid and screw up. I had a couple of unanswered messages from different people.

Hey man, can we meet up at the polo club? We need to talk.

It was a message from Khalifa.

I was tempted to ignore it, I was still pissed at him.

Sure.

I slid the phone into my pocket and decided to head in.

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

The next day, I woke up early, Hajiya was just waking up by the time I was having breakfast.

"Good Morning Hajiya" I greeted as she walked into the kitchen. She frowned

"Isn't it the weekend? Why are you up so early?"

"I have to go to the police station, then I'm going to the polo club" I explained.

"Is that all you're going to do?" she inquired raising a brow at me.

And you wonder why I was so adamant about staying in the guest chalet.

"Yes Hajiya. That's all I am planning on doing" I replied sighing.

"Well then, off you go."

I forced a smile before leaving the house, the roads were pretty much empty, I drove to the Police station.

"Good morning" I greeted the dark skinned officer with a pot belly the size of a pregnant woman's belly.

"Morning. How can I help you?" He asked

"I made a report about a child I found on the streets a while back and I haven't been contacted about it" I explained.

The man pursed his lips, going through the papers in front of him.

"We haven't found anything on her. But you should know that cases like this usually end up  at a dead end. She was probably abandoned and in this economy, people are desperate, they are willing to dump whatever they feel is a liability. Just take her to an orphanage, that's the only solution I can offer you. You are wasting your time pursuing this."

I sighed staring at him. "So there's absolutely nothing you can do for me?"

"I've told you the only helpful thing I can."

I nodded and walked out of the police station

What a country we live in

I dialled Najma's number and waited for her to pick up

"Hello Abba, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm good, just finished talking to the Police"

"You did!!! What did they say? Do they have a lead?"

"It was a waste of time, they advised me to take her to an orphanage."

"Oh wow... that's just disappointing. I talked with my friend from the radio station, she said they got no calls." I leaned against my car

"Does this mean there's nobody looking for her?" I asked

"Possibly. Maybe she really is an abandoned child. It's quite unfortunate." Najma replied.

"We'll talk later, I have to go." We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

I drove to the polo club and parked near Khalifa's white Ford Explorer.

His obsession with the colour white was getting annoying.

I dialled his number

"I'm here"

"I'm on the field" he replied before hanging up.

I walked in and got suited up, one of the stable hands got a horse ready for me. I led the horse to the field before getting on, I squinted looking for Khalifa as the horse trotted further into the field. I felt someone near me, looking over I saw Khaifa on a horse.

"Hey"

"Hey" I replied.

"You wanted to see me" I prompted.

"Yeah, I wanted to apologize for the way I behaved earlier. I was just worried, I mean this is a big deal, hell it's a life changing event and no offence but with your track record of keeping commitments, it just seemed..." he stopped looking at me.

"Is the thought of me actually willing to change so inconceivable to you?" I asked

"Ofcourse not. People chan..."

"Then why won't you let me prove myself? You're quick to crucify. I know you don't believe this but that little girl, i don't know why...but... there's just something about her. I can't explain it but she... look it's either you're with me or you aren't."

Khalifa sighed "I didn't come here to argue any further, You're my cousin, I'll always be behind you no matter what."

I nodded.

"We cool?" He asked his fist raised in the air. I smiled

"Yeah, we're cool" I said hitting his fist with mine.

"Race you back to the stables"

"Oh you're on" I grinned digging my heels into the sides of the horse.

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

I walked into the main house, it was after Maghrib so I was pretty much in time for dinner.

"Good evening Hajiya" I greeted sitting down on the dinning chair.

"Good evening Abba, how was your day?" She asked

"It was good, tiring but good. How was your day?" I asked

"The same as usual."

I looked around wondering where Yasmin was. "Hajiya where is Yasmin?" I asked.

"Atine is getting her ready for dinner. She should be down any moment from now."

A few minutes later, Atine came in holding Yasmin's hand. Yasmin's eyes immediately met mine and she let go of Atine just as I stood up. She ran to me hugging my legs, I stiffened bit expecting the actions from her.

Okay

I lifted her up in my arms and awkwardly patted her back her before pulling back. She tightened her grip on me, we stayed like that for another minute before I finally sat her down on the booster chair Hajiya had gotten for her.

We had dinner and after dinner, I decided to stay and watch cartoons with Yasmin and Hajiya well Yasmin was watching cartoons, I was going through my phone and Hajiya was reading a book. I went to pray Isha, by the time I came back, Atine had taken Yasmin to bed. I decided it was the best time to tell Hajiya what was going on.

"Hajiya I went to the Police station today." I said

"And?"

"They advised me to take her to an orphanage, that it is very unlikely for anybody to come forward and as such they are not pursuing it any further. I called Najma and she said nobody has called the radio station asking about Yasmin."

She nodded, keeping her book aside.

"And you said the orphanage is not an option you are willing to consider?" She asked.

"Yes, if that's the highest rated then no." I answered.

"Well, it looks like she's going to stay here with us for a while but we'll continue looking for other options" she said.

I nodded getting to my feet.

"Good night Hajiya"

"Good night Abba and please don't mess this up" she pleaded.

"I won't Hajiya. I promise"

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