Replacement girl Episode 11 & 12

11/12
REPLACEMENT GIRL
CHAPTER 11
 
 
Ever since Naziha and I visited that clergyman, I refused to follow her to any clergyman’s house again and that made her furious. She said I was irresponsible.
Today, she went out as early as possible without my knowledge. I could tell she went to see a clergyman again. It was obvious because I couldn’t find the money I kept in my drawer when I woke up from sleep. The money was almost N200k, something I kept to settle Humairah and Sarah’s monthly salary.
Sarah started working in my house few weeks ago, she had been helping Humairah in many things. I was told she was a good cook but when I first tasted her food I couldn’t help but to make a witty remark on it. I told her to just leave the cooking to Humairah and concentrate on other aspects. I thought she would be sad but she smiled and took her bow. She was a married woman with no children yet.
Today being the first day of the new month, I supposed to pay both Humairah and Sarah their salary but since Naziha had took the money from my drawer and I didn’t have much money left in the house, I had to take a drive to the nearest ATM to withdraw some money from my bank account, or was there any other alternative?
Dressed in a black polo t©p and a blue jeans, I put on a black face cap, took my car key and master card from the drawer and left the room. Both Humairah and Sarah were in the sitting room cleaning and mopping when I walked to them. They both greeted me and I could see the – where is our salary – look in their faces. I smiled and shook my head lightly. “Maybe I should start paying you both via bank transfer” I said as I brou-ght out my phone from my pocket and began swiping throu-gh.
“Yes!” Sarah said.
“Huh?” Humairah uttered.
“Sarah, give me your account number” I said and thus she quic-kly called it for me. “Did you receive it?” I asked after having successfully transferred the money to her. I heard the beep of her small phone but I had to ask to be sure.
“Yes, thank you so much sir!” She said.
“You are welcome” I smiled and turned to Humairah. “How about you, Humairah?” I wrinkled a brow.
“Actually, I… I don’t have a bank account” She coyly stuttered.
“Like seriously?” I tea-sed.
“Yes, she doesn’t have any” Sarah chimed.
“Hmmm” I huffed and shook my head. “Adjust your veil, let’s go to the bank and open a tier2 savings account for you” I said.
“Sir?” She dropped her jaw in surprise.
“Yes, or don’t you want to have an account too?” I wrinkled a brow.
“I… I want to!” She said as she rinsed her hands in a bucket and adjusted her veil. “Let me go and get my sli-ppers”
“Okay, meet me in the car outside when you are done!” I said walking out of the house.

While waiting for Humairah in the car, I tried calling Naziha to hear from her but her number was unreachable. Where could she be for God’s sake? I mulled over as I began texting her.
“Naziha, where are you plea-se? I tried calling your number again and again but it was unreachable. plea-se call me when you get this message. I love you!”
I plugged the phone on charge and quic-kly ignited the car engine into action as soon as I saw Humairah coming. She had wanted sitting in the front with me but then she moved to the back door and stormed in. Was she shy or what?
“Why?” I asked staring at her throu-gh the rearview mirror.
“Why what? She puzzled.
“Why did you change your mind?” I asked.
“I don’t un-derstand, sir” She said.
“Okay, forget it” I muttered as I drove us out of the house in speed.
I was a lover of driving, I didn’t like to be driven by my driver unless if I was sick or something. I loved to drive myself always and I never get tired of doing that.
“Do you have a phone? I mean, a number because it is ess£ntial” I said.
“Pres£ntly I don’t, but…”
“No buts, let’s get you a new phone” I said as I made a U-Turn and changed our route. She was very happy to hear that.
“Thank you, sir” She said.
“It’s okay” I said as I pu-ll-ed over – adjacent a phone shop by the junction. “Let’s go” I said storming out of the car. We went in and surprisingly I saw one of my old friends. “Bashir, is this you?” I puzzled.
“Ahmad Jaafar Zaki, the sole heir of Zaki Company!” He squealed as we shook and dragged each other into a hvg. “Kai, ba-ba ka boye fa (Oh man, you’ve been out of the radar)! How have you been?” He said.
“Hmm, bazaka gane ba abokina (You won’t un-derstand, my friend). How’s Raliyah? Hope kun fara zuba (you’ve started giving birth to) children alre-ady?” I tea-sed him forgetting the fact that a teen was standing close to me – Humairah!
“Ba kaki zuwa auren mu ba (you refused to come to our wedding), anyways yaran mu yanzu biyu (our children are now two)” He said.
“Kai (what?), you are a sharp shooter al qur’an (I swear)!” I tea-sed.
“Ni koh (me, huh)?” He laughed out louder. “How is Naziha? Don’t tell me kishiyar ta ke ga (this girl here is your second wife)!”
“No! Naziha is fine, and this one here is my employee. I am here to get her a phone” I said.
“Phone?” He gave me a weird look. “I am s-en-sing something here!”
“You are s-en-sing things, do you own this shop?” I changed the t©pic before he killed me with his exaggerations.
“Yes, I have two more others across the city” He said smiling broadly.
“A man who finds a good wife finds good thing, Raliyah has really changed you!” I sm-irked at him. He wasn’t the type that liked business. I knew it was the work of his wife, she was a business woman.
“Of course she did, and I am very happy wallahi (I swear). We do have our ups and downs but Alhamdulillah (thanks to God), things are moving just great with us” He said.
And that made me to think about my own wife, Naziha. If only I could change her back to who she was. “You are lucky” I gulped and smiled at him. “Anyways, I nee-d Galaxy S9 if you have it and also an MTN sim card”
“Yes, there is S9…” He brou-ght it out of a glas-s shelf with its container and placed it in front of me. “Here is the MTN sim too, but she nee-ds to register first. Let me call one of my boys to do that for her” He said with a broad smile.
***************
*The next day*
*HUMAIRAH POV*
Yesterday was amazing, my Ahmad got me a phone, a sim card, and opened an instant savings account for me. I didn’t know how to thank him, he had done so much to me. He paid me my salary and we drove back home.
One impressing thing was how ATM cards were made, mine was erected in front of me using a machine. The banker in charge told me I was very lucky to have Ahmad Jaafar by my side, if not even BVN could take me days to get. Well, I was lucky indeed!
Today Sarah didn’t come to work early, she was kind of ill so she had to take some pills first. I did her chores for her and as soon as she arrived she began helping me with mine despite asking her not to, she said she was fine alre-ady. Well, I didn’t argue with her.
We were in the kitchen chitchating and cooking dinner when Naziha bounced in without a Salaam. “Hey Humairah, where is that phone?” She glared at me.
“The one Oga (boss) bought me?” I quivered.
“No, the one I bought you! Yar iska kawai (Stupid girl)” She said almost giving me a sl@p. She was so engrossed in anger.
“Okay, ma” I said as I quic-kly brou-ght out the phone from my bag which was on a stool and handed it over to her.
“He doesn’t have money to pay for my trips but he has money to waste on you!” She said bouncing out of the kitchen. Just then we started hearing Ahmad disputing with her, we couldn’t clearly hear what they were saying but in few seconds she c@m£ back with the phone and handed it over to me. “I never knew you took loan to buy it, I thought it was free!” She mischievously smiled and left.
“Loan?” Sarah giggled as she gently pats me. “So, Ahmad told her you took loan?”
“I guess so, meanwhile it is free” I said.
“Well, you should keep your mouth shut before she hear that from you. Seriously, I am scared of that woman. She can kill” Sarah said as she washed the vegetables gently into a glas-s bowl.
“She can’t kill me” I said as I returned the phone into my bag and continued with what I was doing before she c@m£.
“Like seriously? She can not kill you because Ahmad loves you too, right?” Sarah hypothesised with a wrinkled brow. She had been saying Ahmad loved me ever since she c@m£, I didn’t know why and she wasn’t willing to tell me. Was she jealous or something?
“Why are you always saying he loves me? Did he told you that?” I queried.
“Maybe not, but his actions says it all” She said as she gave me a weird gaze.
“Well, it is not a crime if he does” I blu-shed.
“I knew you love him too!” She squealed.
“Huh?” I wrinkled my brows.
CHAPTER 12
 
*HUMAIRAH POV*
As soon as we finished cooking dinner that day we served Ahmad and his wife, thus Sarah took excuse and left before time due to her piercing headache, it had started again.
I ate my own dinner in the kitchen and just as the boss and his wife were throu-gh with theirs, he texted me.
“Humairah, we are done”
Of course I could re-ad, I didn’t drop out of school until I reached secondary level remember? I smiled at his text and unhesitatingly left the kitchen to the dining area. Before, it was a scream but now it had turned to text message.
I cleared the dining, took the tableware to the kitchen and washed them. That was my final task for the day so I went back to the dining area and bade them goodbye before going outside. Faisal and Mubarak were busy eating their meal when I tea-singly announced my pres£nce to them with a vehement cl@p.
_________________
“God of mercy!” Mubarak squealed.
“Mtsww (hisses), I thought it was oga (boss) or madam” Faisal muttered and continued eating.
“Well, I am your madam” I sm-irked.
“Yes, you are his madam!” Mubarak giggled pointing at Faisal.
“Hey, didn’t I warned you to…” I said as he cut in.
“St©p calling you his girlfriend? Come on Humairah, you know for sure that you are his girlfriend” Mubarak tea-sed.
“I–am–not–his–fv¢king–girlfriend!” I said laying emphasis on my words.
“Yes, you are not my girlfriend!” Faisal chimed. “And what will I even do with a short girl like you? You don’t even know how to cook”
“Well then spill all the food you’ve eaten so far and go get a girl that can cook better than me, mumu (idiot)!” I hissed, and that made both of them to bust into a scornful laughter. They loved teasing me a lot.
“I will surely…” Faisal was saying when he quic-kly drew back his words.
“Good evening, sir” I heard the two fools said in unison and that made me to wonder what was going on.
Was I the one they were calling ‘sir?’ I mulled over. But, if I was the one why weren’t they looking at my direction? Was someone behind me? I gulped. Hence, I decided to turn and see for myself. Behold, it was Ahmad with his hands in his pocket standing like a statue. “Huh?” I wrinkled my brows.
“Your voice is very loud” He said to me with no iota of smile on his face. What was going on? Had Naziha done something that changed his mood?
“I am sorry sir” I gulped with my heart beating fast.
“You should be!” He coldly said to me and then turned to Faisal. “St©p eating that food and take her home, it’s getting late!” He commanded and walked away.
“You see what you caused, right?” Faisal said to me while washing his hands with a kettle.
“It wasn’t my fault but I am sorry” I said to him.
“It’s okay, just go and wait for me in the car” He said forcing a smile on his face. “Mubarak will keep the remaining food for me, so don’t worry” He added.
“Okay” I muttered as I went to the car and stormed into the back seat. Just then, a text arrived in my phone which re-ads;
“I don’t want to see you talking to those fools in that manner ever again. If you keep on doing that I will replace them!” Ahmad’s text made me to puzzle.
What was he talking about? I wondered while staring at the screen when someone got into the driver’s seat. It had to be Faisal so I didn’t mind looking up. I kept staring at the text message with lot of thoughts pacing my mind when a voice brou-ght me back to reality. It was Ahmad, and behold he was the one that hopped into the car not Faisal.
“Humairah, that text is just a warning so don’t be obsessed” He said.
“Huh?” I blurted out totally confused.
“Yes, and by the way I will be the one to drive you home today. So if you haven’t fastened your seatbelt plea-se do that” He said and just then he gave me a cute wi-nk throu-gh the rearview mirror.
“Huhhh?” I wrinkled my brows with a smile, my happiness knew no bound!
“Why do you always do that ‘huh’ stuff?” He said as he quic-kly ignited the engine into action. “I am asking you”
“I don’t know, sir” I blurted out.
“Like seriously?” He huffed.
“Yes, sir” I gulped.
“Okay then” He said and thus drove us out in speed like he did yesterday.

Ahmad Jaafar didn’t know where I lived so I was his navigator. Throu-ghout the drive, I was pointing out directions to him from the back seat where I was.
“Thank you, sir!” I said as soon as we reached our destination, and just as I was about storming out of the car he told me to wait which I unquestionably did.
“Naziha was angry when I told her I was the one that bought you that phone, I was surprised how she reacted” He huffed with a smile and continued. “So I lied to her that you took a loan for it and she fell for the trick”
“Hmm” I sighed.
“Let it just be a secret between us. She shouldn’t know it’s free, okay?” He said.
“Okay sir” I nodded my head.
“Goodnight” He said.
“You too sir” I said as I gently alighted the car.
“Alright” He gave me a cute smile and drove
 
Tbc