Sufyan had an impish smile on his face as he drove to Asokoro district. His friend, Hassan was in the passenger seat looking terrified.
"The girl is scary man! I haven't met her but I feel like pissing my pants already." Hassan said.
"How can you be going to meet a girl for the first time and you're this scared? Why'd you even agree to it?" Sufyan asked.
"It's all my mom, she wouldn't stop bugging me about the whole thing. Apparently the girl's mom is her friend's cousin and they're worried she isn't married since she's old and all that."
Sufyan honestly was tired of family members pushing for someone to get married.
"If she's as old as you say, isn't she supposed to be desperate to marry anyone? I mean most people tend to be, it's just humanly." He hadn't met this girl but he was intrigued by the whole situation.
"She definitely isn't, you know Shar'ib real estate and construction company right?" He continued after Sufyan nodded, "well she's the old man's daughter so she's rich, beautiful and isn't bothered. I've heard tales about her, they aren't funny."
At that Sufyan laughed, he was at work when Hassan had called asking him to please follow him later in the evening to meet with a girl his mom had set him up with, he wasn't surprised, that was the life story of all his single friends, their families were constantly trying to get them with a girl.
"I think I've heard of her, Sabeerah AbdulMalik right?"
"Yes! That's her, businesswoman down to the core. You should hear my cousin who works at their firm talk about her, she's rude, annoying and bossy. She once hit a man her father's age because he mistakenly spilled water on her shoes, the disrespect."
Sufyan bursted into laughter, releasing one of his hand from the wheel to hold his stomach.
"You're being a rumour monger honestly, those sound exactly like a fabricated tale would. If you have your whole judgement about her even before seeing her, plus your obvious disinterest, I don't get why I'm still heading there."
"Well I'd love to see what she's like, I saw pictures on Instagram and she's very beautiful but I did tell my mom twenty eight is too old for me."
"You're thirty-one and no lady is complaining you're too old for her." Sufyan pointed out.
"Well I'm a guy, these ladies have their biological clock ticking. Twenty eight and unmarried, really? What has she been doing? Probably being excessively choosy about who she'll marry considering her family's wealth, these rich girls and their pompousness."
Sufyan frowned. "Hey man, you're being really judgmental and honestly I'm not comfortable with it."
"I'm sorry, I'm just a nervous wreck okay? Consider this a coping mechanism." Hassan said rubbing his hands together.
"It's not a healthy one."
"Stop being a mom. We're almost there right?" Hassan asked as Sufyan cornered into a street.
Sufyan didn't really like Hassan sometimes, the guy was a sicko no doubt but he was also a good guy other times.
"Yup! House number 4." He stopped the car in front of the gate, staring at the humongous mansion that lay ahead.
"Wow." Hassan breathed out with a glazed look as he took in the house.
A knock on Sufyan's window side jolted them both, he winded down to see a uniform man staring down at him with an intimidating look on.
"Who are you?" The man asked in a deep authoritative voice, Hassan whimpered quietly and Sufyan almost whacked him for being such a scared cat.
"I'm Sufyan Zubayr and this is my friend Hassan Bashir, we're here to see Miss Sabeerah AbdulMalik." Sufyan answered in a steady voice.
"I'll be back." The man said before leaving.
"This whole situation is scary Sufyan, can we just go back? I'm not in the mood for having issues with these rich people." Hassan muttered.
"Rich people but they're also humans and besides your family isn't poor and neither are mine so what's the intimidation about?"
"They aren't just normal rich like I and your family bro, they're wealthy. They're like at the top hierarchy with the president and all of that, probably going to look down at us with their nose high up in the air when they ask about our professions, I've told my mom to stop associating with..."
"Okay I've had enough Hassan, can you just stop with your prejudice against the rich? Especially a family you know nothing about? Honestly it's making my stomach churn."
"I'm sorry, it's just my nerves acting up, I'm never comfortable with people whom I deem above me, I always feel like they're all judging me you know how it is."
"No I don't and you should wait for someone to judge you first before..."
"She's expecting you." A deep voice interrupted Sufyan. He nodded before driving his car through the gate.
The house was even more beautiful, the walls gleaming.
"Wow, I've never been somewhere like this before and did you see the cars parked outside? These people are rich!" Hassan whispered in his ear.
"Assalamualaikum." Sufyan greeted with a small crouch as soon as he sighted an elderly woman who looked like the lady of the house, Hassan followed suit.
"Walaykumsalam, please take a seat." Simultaneously, he and Hassan sat down. The woman was gorgeous, she was dressed in a flowing abaya, her fair skin shone and her eyes seemed to be smiling.
"How're you both doing? What'd you like to have?" She asked.
"Water is fine ma'am." He spoke up when he noticed Hassan was tongue tied from awe.
"No, no, not water. Wine perhaps? It's non alcoholic."
He nodded.
"Your friend too?" She asked.
"Yes, I think." Sufyan answered nudging Hassan a little but his eyes were focused on a work of art that seemed to cost a lot.
A girl Sufyan had barely noticed left the room probably to get their drinks.
"You're welcome to my humble home, my husband is away for work but my daughter is getting dressed, she'll join us soon." Sufyan noticed she spoke directly to him probably mistaking him for Hassan, who wouldn't with the way the fool was acting?
"Oh that'll be nice. I'm actually Sufyan, a friend of Hassan here." He said elbowing Hassan and that was when his attention finally switched.
"Yes ma'am, I'm Hassan Bashir, we spoke on the phone."
The woman smiled but he didn't miss the flitting look of disappoinment that had crossed her features.
"It's nice to see you, how's your mother doing?" She asked Hassan. Sufyan let his eyes shift to other things now that he knew she'd be less interested in his business considering he wasn't the one meeting with her daughter.
"Umma I'm going out to grab some chocolates and Pringles from the mall quickly." A girl announced coming into the living room, Sufyan's eyes turned to her, she definitely wasn't Sabeerah, she looked younger and friendlier if the tales were true, plus she said she was going to the mall so nope! The women in this household were strikingly beautiful though, this one was dark skinned and slim with innocent eyes.
"Assalamualaikum, pardon my manners." She said to him and Hassan.
"Walaykumsalam." They both answered.
"This is my last daughter, Huda. Huda these are Hassan and Sufyan."
"Nice to meet you guys. See you later Umma." She said hurrying off.
"Don't be late for dinner." Her mom called out but Sufyan doubted she heard.
"Sabeerah will soon be down." The woman assured with a tight smile, Sufyan had an idea Sabeerah was intentionally stalling because she was being forced.
He wasn't surprised when she came into the sitting room in sweat pants and a baggy T-shirt with a veil carelessly draped on her head but he was surprised at how his heart did a double flip when their eyes met and her lips curved into a smirk.
Ya Allah please, this is the woman I want to spend my life with!
His thoughts scared him, he was sure it showed on his face. God! What had he gotten himself into? He wanted her.
Sabeerah intentionally took her time before coming down, she didn't bother changing out of her casual wear. She just wanted to get this meeting over with, if he was who she wanted, let the marriage whatever begin.She headed into the mini parlor and as soon as she stepped in, her eyes met with a man seated on the couch.He had smooth dark skin and beautiful face, her lips involuntarily lifted up in a smirk, she'd met different men from different places, very handsome ones, princes who'd been interested in her so him being good looking wasn't endearing, it was just a bonus.Her mother expressed her distaste in Sabeerah's outfit and tardiness with her eyes.With a tight-lipped smile she said, "Sabeerah, come and sit."The other man probably her to-be husband's friend turned to look at her, she saw him gulp before smiling at her awkwardly.Sabeerah sat next to her mother."You could've dres
It's been three weeks since Sufyan had seen Sabeerah and it's been almost impossible to not think about her. He'd had a huge fight with Hassan about his behavior and he was still apologising but Sufyan wasn't ready to rekindle their friendship.Sufyan had found Sabeerah smart mouthed, intelligent and stunningly beautiful. He was trying his best to get her out of his mind, there was no way anything would happen between the both of them considering the way they'd met. It hadn't stopped him from stalking her on her social media pages though, she didn't have much pictures of herself but she posted everyday, about her job, motivations and advices."Dunce what are you thinking about?" Zubayr's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as he stalked into his office."You're here again?" Sufyan whined."It's not your fault." Zubayr rep
On days Sabeerah spend with her brother at the office, she was almost tempted to let him head the companies so that he'd run it down with his lack of knowledge and her father would see how much of a complete idiot his favorite child was.She couldn't though, Shar'ib would keep getting successful as long as she was her father's daughter."Why would you ever talk to them like that? You're supposed to be gentle in your dealings." She chided.He rolled his eyes at her. "Gentle with them? They need our help, not the other way around.""No that's where you have it all wrong Aakhil, we need them to sell their land to us so we have to persuade them that we're the best among all the other offers they've received.""Fuck them! We're the best, we're offering a whopping sum of fift
Sufyan didn't hate Halima but he didn't like her either, he honestly still couldn't fathom how he'd gotten tangled with her but he was sure this was all Maryam's fault."Brother Sufyan just give it a little while, you'll love her, you'll see." Maryam said serving him a glass of juice. He was at her house visiting, her husband was out if town and her daughter was taking a nap."She's good but I'm just not feeling the whole thing, she does everything just to please me, I want a partner not a servant." He said running his hand through his hair, Halima was driving him insane, two months of being with her and he was so stressed.She always wanted to talk to him, hear from him, do things to please him. He couldn't even have a normal discussion with her because she always agreed with his views!"I don't see a problem with a woman
"Hajrah don't you dare take another step!" Her mother's loud voice stopped her at the foot of the stairs."Umma I'm done talking about this with you." Sabeerah said with an edge to her voice."No you're not, what's with this obsession about your job? I'm tired of watching you do this to yourself." Her mother's voice broke and Sabeerah rolled her eyes before turning to her mother."I'm not doing anything to myself Umma, you're the one bothering yourself with something totally unnecessary.""Not being rude Addah but it's not unnecessary, I mean...""I will walk over there and hit you if you say another word." Sabeerah interrupted glaring at Huda who flinched before picking up her phone and giving it all her attention."Sabeerah it's high time, don't you
Sufyan's cheeks were begining to hurt from how much he'd had to fake smile, at this point, he wished he could disappear from this moment.Hadassah gave him a sympathetic smile. "You look tired Brother Sufyan and I'm sure we're all boring you."Two pairs of eyes belonging to Zubayr and Halima turned to look at him."Eh, just a little." Sufyan said with a little laugh. Somehow Halima had blackmailed him into having to bring her along to a dinner invitation from Zubayr and Hadassah, and now he wasn't even enjoying himself.Halima looked at him with worry and he felt his heart clench with guilt. "Should we leave?" She asked."No, no. I'm fine." He said immediately, he wasn't ready to be alone with her."He has to be." Zubayr said thro
"Baba Doza!" Sabeerah screamed excitedly as she sighted her paternal grandfather in the sitting room."Ina kwana- good evening." She greeted falling on her knees in front of him. She'd just returned from the office and from the extra cars she had noticed at the garage, she realized they had visitors, she just didn't know it was Baba Doza, her favorite old man.During his youth, he had been a bricklayer but he could also do many other things, he'd been very hard-working and was always looking to doing the most tedious tasks with such vigour, it had earned him the nickname bulldozer and then everyone else shortened it to 'Baba Doza' as he became older, to the extent even his family members called him that and it always made him smile, he claimed it reminded him of his former energetic self."Sabeerah." He said pulling her into
The weather was hot and Sabeerah was irritated with everything, not that this feeling was an uncommon occurrence but today was an exception."Sarah how long have you been working with me?" Sabeerah asked lightly tapping her nail on the huge mahogany desk in her office.The girl swallowed nervously. "Three years now ma'am.""How much longer do you think you'll keep working with me?""I hope for many more years ma'am.""You have very high expectations from yourself Sarah and it's sad that I don't share such delusional thoughts so if you want to keep working with me, you'll better get your ass out of here and go find the name of the bastard who's trying to snatch the Fadlore farmhouse from our company. Go, now!"She screamed and Sarah scampered off looking very terrified."The poor girl." Matt commented looking at the door Sarah had hurried off through